Paradigm is “the way you see something, your point-of-view, your frame of reference or belief.” Paradigms can be harmful. It can narrow your thinking and it can create biases that hinder development, progress, and growth. The only way to avoid these biases is to have a paradigm shift.
Paradigm shifts remind me of the fourth pillar of my personal leadership philosophy, (S.H.I.P. – Sincerity, Horsepower, Impact, Perspective), “perspective.” The whole concept of perspective, in context of my leadership philosophy, is about taking a holistic view of an environment. In the past 20 years, I’ve worked at 13 different roles in my organization. This allowed me to organically get the perspective team members across the enterprise.
Quickly after taking over an IT support team five years ago, I’ve pushed to actively promote “perspective” by requiring each team member to shadow individuals at different departments, specifically those that are customer-facing. This brought a deeper appreciation for work we do, and the customers we serve. The newly felt acquired appreciation is just the tip of the iceberg. From that point on, the team was able to come up with several process improvements, self-service tools, and other innovative solutions that will ultimately enhance the user-experience of the customers we serve. It undeniable how much value paradigm shifts bring to an organization through the lens of its individual team members.
Here’s a story, by Frank Koch, that originally appeared in the “Proceedings,” the magazine of the Naval Institute. It’s a short, yet insightful story that clearly illustrates the importance of paradigm shifts. This story was also featured in the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey.
Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.
Lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees."
Back came a signal, “Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."
The captain said, "Send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees."
"I’m a seaman second class," came the reply. "You had better change course 20 degrees."
By that time, the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send, I'm a battleship. Change course 20 degrees."
Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."
We changed course.
Not considering the perspective of the seaman second class would have been a tragic mistake for the captain and his crew. Let’s not catch ourselves making this type of mistake. Let’s make it a point to keep shifting our paradigms so we get the right and holistic perspective of every situation.
Crowdsourcing FTW
Please share some activities you’ve done—for yourself or for your team—to get the perspective of different points-of-view in your organization. It can be internal customers, like ours, or your actual external customers. What type of improvements spawned from these activities? How are you doing things differently now with that new found perspective?