Becoming a Social Enterprise takes guts

Because you have to let go

Let’s compare the growth and development of a company to that of a human. The child starts out with almost no control over its movements and actions, hitting and missing while getting a grip on coordination. It will start to crawl at some point, and move on to walking, leaping and dancing eventually.

All of this can both be supported, facilitated and hindered by its parents. But the child needs to do it herself to become succesful at being a human. We watch the child develop, and let it find out on its own.

A typical organisation is in a different stage of life. Any typical organisation in this day and age is probably discovering that the patterns, methods and reflexes that were so useful once, are now becoming dysfunctional.

The traditional Command and Control-model that applies to many organisations and corporations, is increasingly challenged by a world that requires extreme transparency. Now, it seems, all that hard-learned behaviour for success needs to go.

Imagine being part of the leadership of a corporation that is challenged, through social media, economic changes and social changes, to move from a (now) traditional Anglo-American corporation model to a modern Social Enterprise. Would you know where to start?

“Be the change you want to see in the world” are the wise words from mister Ghandi, and it is what it all boils down to. But to get there, three things need to happen first:

1 - You need to see your current organisation and your position for what they are. Some stuff is there to make sure other stuff does not happen,

2 - You need to be able to create a huge tolerance for uncertanty. Because you might be able to rationally understand what needs to change, but the organisation will resist any efforts to change it,

3 - You need to find a way to get the trust of your employees to start making the transition with you. Because by changing the company, you will not only change your world. You will also up-end their life.

Learning stuff can be hard. Un-learning stuff is the hardest thing. Ever.