Loving Your Organization

David Sims suggests that, initially, loving your organization is problematic in a variety of ways. He is reasonable in his arguments, and also sees the contrary point of view. We can consider that it is equally possible to argue that not loving your organization is also problematic. Love carries with it a sort of optimism, a belief that the focus of our love has possibilities, that there is a way in which the subject of our love matters. Loving our organizations means that we will approach changing them with an appropriate level of care. It also means that we must be optimistic about what we can create collaboratively.

This can be challenging. As change agents, we often come into organizations when they are seriously damaged and in need of repair. The culture may be dysfunctional and the structure may be full of inhibitors. Employees may be disenfranchised and leadership may be ineffectual or despotic. The list could go on. It is hard to love the damaged organization, but by loving it, we can more easily recognize its potential. It is this potential that we can nurture as part of the change process.

Further, loving our organizations means that we will likely approach the change process with an ethos of care. As the changes progress, do not judge harshly or make rash decisions. We will not blindly follow our plan for change, but notice where an approach needs more nuance. Protect and preserve that which is good about the organization, and that which you can use in the future. Actually listen to the ideas of incumbent employees rather than dismissing their ideas as “old school” or as “simply” resistance. Just as with a spouse, we cannot separate the attributes that attract us from those which may irritate us; so too must we accept the organization as whole cloth. Unlike a prospective spouse, with an organization, we can likely have some degree of confidence that we can actively change those attributes that act to hold the organization back form its full potential.

Look around your organization. Do you love it? Could you love it? What is there that attracts you to it? What is it about the organization that matters enough for you to grow to love it into a more productive, harmonious, effective, sustainable, life?