Week #2 — Not everyone can be part of it

Isn’t this a provocative title! Am I bad?

I feel change coming

It’s in the mirror. It’s hard for me to put words on it. Things were clear in my mind. Now there is no clarity anymore. Like if I was currently reorganizing things in my brain. It is currently moving. Not in place yet. Have to wait. The easiest for me would be to put a page 404 here. But I want to go out of my comfort zone.

I start to feel that great teams (with strong connections between people and a meaningful mission) is not open to everyone.

1. Not everyone can adapt to a people-centric (=teal) organization. I start to believe that if you are not clear about your belief system, you just behave according to what other think. In that case, you need to be told what to do and cannot be self managed.
2. A social contract must be specific. There are two parts in our social contracts. The first part reminds us that we are in a people-centric organization : it means that people are (at the core of) our objective / purpose / mission / share desire / common dream. The second part of the social contract reminds us that we are a team; which means that we are specific; which implies that our team is not like any team and our social contract must be specific. Not everyone can be part of ours. Otherwise we are not a team, but just a random collection of people.

A little story about Southwest

Here is a little story to illustrate that. You might know it already.

Humour is part of Southwest Airlines social contract. Employees like David Holmes use humour at work (see video). Some clients don’t appreciate that. Once they received a mail from a customer:

“You should not use humour when dealing with security issues… You should remember that many people died in the country in terrorist attacks because of security issues”

Most companies send an excuse letter to such customers. Southwest just sent 4 words: “We will miss you”. Humour is part of their social contract. They don’t force people to accept it: customers can fly with American Airlines. But humour is part of their identity and they protect it.

At the end of the second week, I am really tired. I felt the energy completed my personal mission statement. Here it is.

Why I am at the practical self-management intensive?

What does a great experience look like for me as a participant?

How does my participation support the mission of this project?

What support do I need to ensure I achieve my personal participation mission?