How to deal with the Powerlessness Syndrome in systems-level change? There is H.O.P.E.
I’ve been overwhelmed by all what is going on with the world’s current state of affairs. On top of the current conflicts we experience (climate emergency, wars in different parts of the world, economic crisis, growing inequality…), the war in Europe, something that seemed unthinkable some months ago for a European citizen like me, has taken an emotional toll that hampered my systems leadership capacity. I felt small, angry and frustrated, to a point that these afflictive emotions dominated my state of mind for weeks. This situation translated into a feeling of powerlessness that inspired the topic of this article. Let me explain.
During my work in coaching and facilitating system-level change with senior executives, managers and entrepreneurs in both the public and private sectors, I often find people in this similar state of powerlessness. Whether it is in facilitating the sustainable transformation of organizations, the design of regenerative business models, or the development of more agile and impactful ways to evaluate and design international development programs, dealing with the feeling of powerlessness becomes one of the main obstacles against system-level change. But, what is exactly this powerlessness syndrome?
The powerlessness syndrome, explained
The powerlessness syndrome usually appears when we are becoming aware of the system’s dynamics and underlying structures, which seem too far from our scope of influence. In such situation, we feel we have no power in changing the system. Imagine, for instance, a small paper manufacturer that wants to address climate change. It may start by sourcing its paper supplies from forest certified sources, reducing its water consumption and fostering the use of renewable energies. But still, it may think these practices are unworthy because the only way to truly affect change is by forbidding big corporations from deforesting big planetary lungs such as the Amazon. Or picture a UN resident coordinator trying to stop the conflict in a country that is immersed in a war caused by the will to control natural resources. She may feel frustrated by the inaction of the Security Council. Or imagine a person that wants to end extreme poverty by advocating the need for a universal basic income, but feels overwhelmed by the corporate tax avoidance of global IT corporations, which could entirely finance a basic income.
In front of the magnitude and complexity of systemic challenges –often called wicked problems- we often ask ourselves: what can I do to change the system? When the first reaction is something like ‘I can’t do anything myself, it is not in my hands’, or ‘this is something politicians or big corporations should fix in the first place’, then we experience the powerlessness syndrome.
The powerlessness syndrome is the diminished self-perception of our degree of agency in affecting the betterment of our social, economic, and ecological systems.
People with this syndrome feel too overwhelmed to focus their energy on finding creative solutions. Instead, they may (unconsciously) decide to place themselves in a protective space far apart of the job of systems transformation. Sometimes, as a systems leadership facilitator, I wrongly labeled that as resistance to change. It is not. It is a rather legitimate self-defense mechanism that arises for coping with the feeling of powerlessness.
So yes, this is bad news. The powerlessness syndrome drains our motivation and steals our power to act. It is a signal that the underlying structures of the system are beating us. But here’s the good news. There is something we can do about it.
What can we do to overcome the powerlessness syndrome? We can use H.O.P.E.
Once we assess and acknowledge the presence of the powerlessness syndrome hindering our work in facilitating systems transformation –in ourselves or the team we are accompanying- the HOPE framework can guide us in restoring our power as change catalysts. I’m sharing this framework as I developed it: as a whole. I have seen the utility of working on the following four steps as a sequence. But I sometimes worked in some of the areas separately, depending on the context of the intervention. You may try as you see fit. However, based on my experience, there is some power and beauty in addressing these four steps as one process. Let’s turn the power on by:
1. Healing by honoring and accepting our suffering for the World’s current state of affairs. This step is fundamental for recognizing and legitimating the suffering that comes with becoming aware of the mental models and underlying structures that, explaining the current system’s dynamics, are no longer aligned to our mental models. This decoupling is one of the causes of this suffering. Some people may tend to avoid speaking up about the afflictive emotions that come with this awareness, and shield themselves from the powerlessness syndrome. As facilitators, we need to step up, facilitate this inner-outer process of awareness and name these emotions in a collective exercise of healing. This is something I learned from Joanna Macy’s work that reconnects. It has been instrumental for me in dealing with the powerlessness syndrome ever since. It places people in a calm, accepting and compassionate state of mind, ready to listen and embrace what the future holds.
2. Opening up to a world full of possibilities. This step is key for shaping a mindset focused on sensing and recognizing abundance, as opposed to a mindset forged under scarcity, which is the dominant state of mind nowadays. Opening up to abundance starts by becoming aware of our interconnectedness, that is, how we as individuals –our sense of self- do not exist separately from other human and sentient beings, including the planet Earth as our main home and primary source of our existence. It is about feeling our inter-being. In the words of the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, “a person is empty of a separate self. Thus, it is full of everything, full of life”. Sensing this universal interdependence allows people to transcend the remaining limitations or internal resistances that may be left. As they go through, they connect with the agency capacity that we all have as systems participators.
3. Purposing, connecting with the passion and purpose that unleashes the energy and motivation we need to act. This step is critical for making sense of what the team is doing, and for reminding people why they are working together and what they would like to do together as a team to foster system-level change. Some people may react negatively when they hear the term ‘purpose’. If that creates resistance, you may focus the attention on recognizing what they are passionate about. Purpose and passion cannot be decoupled. But in any case, passion is about finding the internal motivation that inspires one to do things that have a positive impact on others (purpose). Discovering and articulating the purpose out loud allows unleashing and focusing the energy on what needs and wants to be developed.
4. Engaging with others to harness the power of collective action. This step is of the essence for building a safe space of exploration. In doing so, facilitators may focus on three things. First, on creating the conditions that allow creativity to emerge. This implies working on the right physical space and time setting where people can concentrate in engaging with one another, away from the distraction of everyday busyness. Second, facilitators may focus on generating the right psychological safety that provides participants with the freedom to be present as they are, without constraints. And third, facilitators may bring in the right mix of collective intelligence tools that are useful for co-creating and designing the initiatives that will contribute to changing the system, always fitting the context of the intervention.
Finally, I’d like to share something important. To deal with the powerlessness syndrome and facilitate systems leadership, one needs to feel hopeful. And hope is, as Vaclav Havel brilliantly described, “not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out”. It is with this spirit that I hope this article will be useful to you.
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