PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com Word count: 1000 Summary: One of the great obstacles confronting leaders who want to institute change in an organization in order achieve better results is the status quo. The author shows unique ways to deal with the status quo focusing on using the tested methods of non-violent action. Leadership And The Attack Of The Status Quo by Brent Filson Leaders are continually being thwarted by a powerful, relentless adversary -- an adversary they often are hardly aware of. The adversary is their organization's status quo. The status quo is simply the existing state of an organization. You might ask, "What's wrong with the existing state of an organization?" My response is, "A great deal." In fact, the status quo of any organization is almost always wrong. The trouble with the status quo isn't that it gets poor results. After all, if you know you're getting poor results, you can do something about it. You can start taking steps to turn them into good results. The trouble with the status quo is that it gets mediocre results but represents them as good results. And poor results are less harmful to an organization than mediocre results misrepresented as good results. Leadership is not a measure of results. Results are a measure of leadership. A leader should be getting not average results but more results faster, and "more, faster" continually. The status quo is the enemy of "more results faster continually" simply because the status quo is in business to be the status quo first and get results second. Its number one priority is always self-preservation, and it will attack anyone who threatens its existence -- even those who are trying to show the way to great results. For the way to great results, to more results faster continually, involves leaders challenging, of necessity, the very existence of the status quo. Of course, without the impulse toward self-preservation, organizations would quickly fall apart. But when the impulse hijacks the need of the organization's leaders to adapt to changing circumstances, the status quo is the problem not the solution. There are many ways to overcome the status quo; and some of the most effective come from a source one might not link to organization dynamics, non-violent action. Throughout history, non-violent action has played a key role in the struggle for social (status quo) change. But most leaders don't know that the strategies and tactics associated with such action can help overthrow the status quo of their own organizations. Violence is rough or injurious force or treatment, and that describes the treatment you'll get from the status quo if you cross it. Of course, I'm not talking about outright physical violence; but having people get fired, transferred or neutralized, getting new programs squashed, thwarting productive change can indeed be a kind of violence done by the status quo. The many successful uses of non-violent action provide an arsenal of best practices on how to defeat any entrenched status quo. Why is non-violence effective? Mahatma Ghandi called non-violent efforts to improve society "experiments in truth." Non-violent action embraces a truth of human psychology: the need for people to interact with one another in free, open, honest ways. There are many guidelines for non-violent action that can help you deal with the status quo, but let's focus on four that Martin Luther King used. They'll help you deal with any status quo you come up against. (1) King said non-violence is passive physically but active spiritually. When we talk about spiritual matters in organizational leadership, we focus not necessarily on religious dynamics but on the human spirit which a key aspect of such dynamics. There is a rule in history that when people needed to meet great challenges, one thing first had to take place, a leader had to gather people together and speak from the heart. That heartfelt speech created heartfelt action. And cementing that speech and action was in many cases vigorous human spirit. When the status quo turns on you, the great abundance of non-violent responses, tested throughout centuries, teaches a two part response. First, you connect with your spirit. You make such connections by manifesting the values of that spirit, trust, courage, patience, understanding, helpfulness. Second, you connect with the spirit of your opponent -- in this case, people representing the status quo. You do this by developing a flow from you -- and ultimately between you -- of kindly, helpful feelings. When they see that we are trying to better understand their concerns and want to help them solve the problems of those concerns, we are making a kind of spiritual connection that can encourage them become open to our concerns as well. (2) King said non-violent action does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent but to win their friendship and understanding. Though the status quo does violence, it is, on the whole, not composed of violent people. Your boss, your colleagues, the people on your team can all make up the status quo. In fact, the status quo is powerful because it is composed of the people you interact with daily. You will ultimately need these people as your understanding friends to help you implement the changes you want. (3) King said non-violent action attacks the forces of the status quo rather than the people caught in those forces. In order to be guided by non-violent philosophies and strategies in your dealings with the status quo, you should differentiate between the people who attack you and their actions. Respect the people as human beings while you disagree with and confront their actions. In this way, we can communicate our trust in them, opening the way for them to trust us. We want the status quo to trust us. After all, if one has the power, one can force the status quo to make some changes -- though when forced to change, it usually goes underground and carries out guerrilla warfare. But trying to force change is not as effective in the long run as convincing the status quo to choose to change. It is in mutual trust and respect that the status quo will choose to change on our behalf. (4) King said non-violent action seeks to eliminate bitterness and hatred that can arise in your struggles against a foe. Make no mistake: the status quo is your foe. However, when dealing with the status quo, don't indulge in hate campaigns, recriminations or unseemly verbal confrontations. To retaliate with bitterness and hatred only strengthens the hold the status quo has on the organization. Keep an open, friendly manner. By developing friendly relationships with those who oppose us, we create an environment conducive to change as well as personal and professional growth. This does not mean that we accept from others abuse or rude, aggressive language. In fact, our friendly manner should allow us to have frank, open and honest relationships with those we struggle with. In these relationships, we should truthfully and openly communicate our concerns and differences of opinions so we might resolve them easily and directly. When we try to make changes in an organization delineated by a robust status quo, it will always turn against us and try like the devil to thwart our plans. But we can turn the attack to our advantage when we are guided by Martin Luther King's four attributes of non-violent action. Under such guidance, we'll pave the way for much needed change and, in the bargain, achieve great results. 2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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