Bring the Patterns for Change behaviours to life with your team

Tess Cooper, founder of Collaborative Future, brings her experience building equitable and inclusive organisations to share a short guide for applying Patterns for Change with your teams.

Ways of thinking about these behaviours

Most civic organisations would say they exist to create change within the world or people’s lives. But, in many ways, we have been conditioned as individuals and organisations to be comfortable with and drawn to the status quo.

Ultimately, our organisations are microcosms of society. No matter how small or big, how established or new, organisations are ultimately made up of and influenced by people. And those people bring with them centuries of conditioning and human experiences that shape how we work and to what extent we perpetuate harm or trauma through that work.

So whether we endeavour to create change through our work, or change is thrust upon us by extenuating circumstances, our organisations and people need to embody and embrace change in a meaningful and purposeful way through how they choose to exist.

With true change there cannot be a roadmap. For if there was it would be built based on a history that helped get us into this mess in the first place. Instead there are behaviours that can hold us and give us collective courage to step into the abyss or the chaos. This is what Patterns of Change sets out to achieve. To bring us together around a set of principles that can carry us all into a new world.

For some these patterns for change will seem small and inconsequential, perhaps because these people and organisations already embody them in their daily work or perhaps because it seems impossible that these behaviours could help us to navigate societal problems that seem insurmountable. While others will understand the words on the surface but will never have really known what it feels like to exist in this way as a person or a team.

Wherever you are on your journey with understanding change we ask you to take what you need from this space and give back what you can. You might decide your organisation is pretty good at doing most of this stuff, but perhaps could benefit from more experimentation and figuring out what ‘know by trying’ means in your context and work. Meanwhile another organisation might be all about experimentation but that leaves no room for ‘Understanding your limits’. Through connecting generously in this space these organisations or individuals will be able to help each other to continuously learn and transform for the better. These behaviours are not linear and they do not need equal focus. Some will hold more meaning at different points in your journey than others.

1. Know your why

Many of us only spend time exploring the “why” when we first start new projects. But our purpose as organisations or as individuals is continuously pushed and pulled by others that exist within our sphere. Other people’s interpretations of who we are and why we do what we do affect us deeply. At the same time we also hold onto narratives about ourselves and our work that no longer serve a purpose and which can lead us into harmful cycles. Many organisations get caught in the trap of continuing with unnecessary practices or processes because “that’s the way it’s always been done”. So even if you think you know what you or your organisation stands for it’s important to continuously come back to that and practice recalibrating or rearticulating our purpose as we learn and grow.

Below are some coaching exercises and questions to help you do that:

• In one sentence, what defines your intention in this issue or situation? How does it feel?
• When do you or your team have most energy for the work you do? What is it that creates that energy?
• What past experiences are driving your current behaviours? Why is that important and what do you need to change?
• If money or time wasn’t an issue what would you be putting your energy into?
• Exercise: If your organisation or project was a [building / tree / system] what would it look like and why is that? What would your ideal version look like? What’s the difference? What is meaningful about this?

2. Set directions together

Having a shared understanding of where you are going can help everyone make better decisions along the way and ensure that people are motivated to achieve their goals. But it’s also hard work to build that common goal especially when you are heading into uncharted territory or substantial change as an organisation as people’s interpretations and level of involvement will inevitably vary. It’s important to regularly reflect on who is shaping the direction. How diverse are the people that are influencing decisions and language around your goals? The more representative you can be in the process of setting directions the more likely it is that your whole team will feel connected to your shared ambitions.

Here are some coaching questions and exercises that can help you to define and communicate your common goals in a variety of ways:

• What approach would give the best chance of a great outcome? Who might have some different answers to this question?
• What or who from outside the team or company could influence the situation and how?
• What will indicate to us all that we are on the right path or falling behind when it comes to achieving our goals?
• What are the apparently contradictory or conflicting ideas and perspectives that seem to be in play? How might they be considered in ways that they are supporting each other?
• Exercise: Work with a diverse group to plot actions or deliverables on an impact versus cost/effort scale. This will generate a shared understanding on what direction feels both most feasible and exciting for the group.

3. Listen and share bravely

We cannot underestimate or undervalue the space and time that is needed for listening to one another and building the trust to be able to speak up and be heard. Even though many organisations are getting better at adopting the artefacts of listening — such as appraisals, team retrospectives or user research — so many of us rarely listen openly and hear one another deeply, and in turn this causes people to feel less confident to share bravely.

When we don’t spend time actively testing our assumptions and opening ourselves up to different ways of thinking we end up perpetuating the same problems. Listening and sharing bravely is about making space for us all to be more human, and to come together collectively to build resonance that has the power to carry everyone through to either the next stage of an organisation or project life cycle, or even through personal transitions or wider societal change.

This practice is fundamental to all of the other practices. For example, without building the space and the muscles you need in order to listen and share bravely you will never truly discover your ‘why’, or learn your limits.

By asking yourself and others the questions outlined alongside the other principles you are already starting the work of listening and sharing bravely. But you can also practice the following to build open and honest communication:

• To create psychological safety in spaces where you are inviting people to share bravely ask everyone involved “what would we value from this space and what are we mindful of?”
• When you share something important, invite the person that was listening to tell you what they just heard (or vice versa).
• Use the change triangle during conversations to overcome defensiveness, spot your triggers and identify and communicate your emotions, rather than just your opinions or thoughts.
• Exercise: Practice deep listening and empathy by asking others to tell you a story of when they have or haven’t felt heard, seen or respected.

4. Build on what’s strong

A resilient organisation, network or person requires core strength. What is it that holds you up in times of crisis or change? Focussing on building up what you’re already good at will bring energy to your other work and ensure you can keep moving forward with developing the parts that might be weaker. As organisations and individuals we are all part of a wider system and a wider change which means that it is a waste of time and resources when we try to be everything to everyone. It is much more beneficial to focus on what you are uniquely good at and then collaborate with others to fill the gaps.

Below are some coaching exercises and questions to help you identify that:

• What valuable experiences or unique perspectives do I/we bring to this problem?
• What strengths will help you — yours, those of others in the team, those of others outside the team?
• What is working now, and how can you do more of that?
• What is missing from your or our skillset/knowledge/resources and how can we collaborate to fill those gaps?
• Exercise: Ask your team to complete a strengths test and map your respective strengths to show the best ways of approaching your work and what external support or new hires you may want to bring into the team.

5. Know by trying

Many civic organisations can often feel like experimentation is risky because it directly affects people’s lives if something goes wrong. But if we start from a place of understanding that there is so much within our system that needs fixing (and so much within ourselves that needs healing) we can then make space to imagine new worlds and possibilities through trying something different rather than relying on pre-existing knowledge. In an ever changing world we don’t yet have all the answers and we are going to make mistakes.

Piloting and experimenting with new ways of being and doing transforms how we learn and grow. It creates space to find undiscovered answers and stops people from being able to put off solving a pressing problem because they are too busy theorising it. While it may feel risky, practicing how we run pilots and experiment with change can offer people a way of connecting to the bigger picture, and help us to understand what we are embarking on.

Below are some coaching exercises and questions to help you or your team feel confident and excited when implementing this principle:

• What would you really love to try — just to see what happens?
• What other things might you do (safe-to-fail approaches) to test the water at the same time?
• How will you know your experiment is working?
• What’s the smallest thing you can do right now to get this moving?
• What are the consequences of not acting to change the situation? (This helps to demonstrate the importance of trying something)

6. Understand your limits

When there is passion and purpose involved in our work, and a feeling that there is still so much to be done, we can quite often forget that sometimes the most productive thing you can do is to rest. Both organisations and individuals need boundaries and space to recharge. This is about sustaining ourselves and ensuring that the important work and change we are driving can continue into the future.

When we don’t know our limits we can risk burning out too quickly or find ourselves running in circles without the clarity we need to make the best decisions. Take time to understand your limits or your organisation’s limits through regularly reflecting on the following questions:

• What are the consequences of not acting to change the situation? (This is used to get us comfortable with the risk of not pursuing something right now)
• What obstacles might you encounter and what plans do you have if they happen?
• What is out of your control?
• How do I/We know when we are running out of energy or when our boundaries have been crossed? What signals can we spot for each other?
• Exercise: Understand your relationship to risk and map the impact or likelihood of risks that your team are concerned about on a scale.

7. Connect generously

Through times of change it’s easy to become guarded and divided. We sometimes develop a tunnel vision where everyone and everything else can seem like a distraction. But connection is fundamental for building resilience. We are all part of an ecosystem and so when we strengthen our connections with others we strengthen ourselves.

It can feel scary to share openly and give others our time and energy, but someone has always got to make the first move in order to unlock the potential of a mutually valuable collaboration. Being generous towards other individuals and organisations will transform how you work and provide more opportunities for you in the future.

Below are some coaching exercises and questions to help you or your team explore ways of connecting generously:

• Think of three people who might offer you a new perspective on this situation or ambition. What’s stopping you from asking them to contribute?
• What influences from outside the team or company could influence the situation and how?
• What could you offer to others without expecting anything in return?
• Exercise: Draw your ‘circle of trust’ by listing out the first 5–10 people that come to mind who you trust in your work. Reflect on the demographics and perspectives that are represented. Who isn’t represented and what could you do to change that? How could you be more active in creating trust with a wider group of people?