Navigate the Swirl. Richard Hawkes

but to exactly what end?

Whatever the particulars, too many people I meet seem to live with a gnawing feeling that their team and indeed, their organizations as a whole, could and should run more smoothly, more purposefully, and more effectively. They long for a sense of direction and flow—like a broad, deep river flowing steadily toward the ocean, gaining momentum and power. They sense the potential, and many even have a vision of what's possible—a vision that inspires and motivates them. But they are unable to actualize it amidst the daily swirl. They have an aspiration to be part of a great company, populated with engaged, accountable, committed people doing meaningful work to serve the company's customers and other stakeholders. But they don't know exactly what changes they need to make to achieve this end. They may even have a sense of what needs to be done, but the task feels too daunting. Despite their positive aspiration, the gap between “here” and “there” is an uncomfortable chasm of confusion, and too often, at the bottom of that chasm lies a rusty wreckage of false starts. Elegant strategic plans. Expensive consultants. Inspiring off-sites. Complicated re-orgs. Their daily experience is not the buoyant current carrying them forward, it's the Swirl.

      The Swirl is an absorbing state of organizational inertia. It draws our perspective in on itself, narrowing our vision. Our very consciousness runs aground in the muck of the everyday. There is always another problem to solve, pain point to acknowledge, issue to fix, turf battle to win, drama to ameliorate, or political challenge to overcome. And in the midst of it all, we lose track of the future. We forget that we're all on a journey together. Questions like “Where are we going?” and “How do we move forward together?” fade into the background as the endless demands of the everyday stifle our momentum like heavy weeds entangling the rudder of a boat.

I've been an organizational consultant for several decades, and have guided hundreds of organizations, large and small, as they have navigated the journey of growth. And what I've observed is that the Swirl isn't just an expression of organizational dysfunction. This all-too-common experience is a symptom of a much greater challenge. In fact, it might be described as the defining challenge facing organizations today. It's not just a sign that something's wrong with the way things are; it's a wake-up call that signals greater potentials ahead. It represents a critical inflection point in growth that most companies will encounter at a certain stage of their journeys—and that many are finding themselves in the midst of right now. There are a number of factors, both internal and external, that come together to create this frustrating experience. I'll explore these in more depth in the pages ahead, but it comes down to a few key issues.

      Internally, it happens when the company reaches a point at which one leader or small top team, however good they may be, can no longer simply direct the company's operations and guide its growth. This may be a result of the company's size or the complexity of the business model; it may also be because the culture of the organization has started to chafe against traditional hierarchy and bureaucracy. Senior leaders and teams no longer have the bandwidth to be in the salient details of the business. They have become remote managers, dependent on others for key insights into business and operations. They are too far away from where the value is actually created.

      Externally, it happens because the world around the company, the technologies available, and the markets in which it is operating are changing faster than the company is able to respond. In today's business world, that experience is heightened by circumstances like the Covid-19 pandemic, which has overturned the way we work, leaving organizations large and small frantically paddling, trying to figure out how to operate with a remote workforce while at the same time reinventing business models to meet new rules and more challenging market conditions. And there's no going back to business as usual. The questions we're asking now—How do we align a team and work interdependently when we're not in the same space? How do we make our business models more resilient? How do we win customers' loyalty so they'll stick with us during tough times?—will all continue to be relevant. And the underlying challenge for so many organizations today is this: How do we move from a hierarchical structure with one leader or executive team at the top to a more networked or team-based structure in which leadership is distributed throughout the organization? I call this the shift from directive leadership to distributed leadership.

I'm certainly not the first to broadly identify this as the critical organizational challenge of our time. Many distinguished business thinkers and leaders have addressed it, and many innovative solutions have been and continue to be proposed, developed, and adopted. Some focus on changing the way leaders lead; others focus on shifting corporate culture to be more inclusive and equitable. Some involve radical shifts in organizational structure to eliminate hierarchy or bureaucracy; others rely on the implementation of operational processes and practices that create more agility and flexibility. I've come to believe that all these approaches have a role to play if an organization is to truly free itself from the Swirl and meet the challenges of the moment.

      In 2007, with a group of talented business leaders, I founded Growth River, with the intention of bringing together everything I've learned and sharing it with teams and organizations that want to unleash higher performance. I call it the Growth River Operating System. It's based in my own experience and practice, but it also draws on and attempts to connect some of the best thinking in organizational development and business theory—including Lean, Agile, Theory of Constraints, and Operational Excellence (OpEx). I've also been influenced by other disciplines—complexity theory, evolutionary biology, systems theory, psychology, ontology, and integral philosophy. If that's starting to sound too high-minded, let me assure you that all my thinking and approach has been forged in the crucible of creating growth and delivering value. This is a rational, systematic, analytical, and results-driven approach that includes a comprehensive leadership and management toolbox. And front and center in this approach are people: messy, inspiring, unpredictable, creative, surprising human beings. After all, what is a business without people, for better and for worse?

      Because people are front and center in this approach, the “social system” of an organization will get special attention in these pages. It's an essential aspect of the Growth River approach, culminating in the Seven Crucial Conversations. After all, the Swirl is an expression of a dysfunctional social system. Growth and high performance are the product of a social system intentionally created. The road to such a transformation must ultimately pass through individuals and teams, and the productive and purposeful conversations they engage in. Change driven at this level of the organization has the potential to reach all the way down to the ground, and take root.

      This is not a theoretical supposition. My experience has shown me that there is a way out of the Swirl. There is a flow to the development of a team and the growth of a business. There is a steady current that can guide us from unproductive chaos to high performance, and that can carry a company from bogged-down and bureaucratic to agile and collaborative. And you don't have to figure it all out for yourself—you can chart your course by principles that are tested and proven.

That doesn't mean you'll always be able to see the way ahead, however—by its very nature this is a transformational journey, a form of fundamental change that reorganizes the whole system of roles and relationships that the organization is built around. How that might look and how it might feel is difficult if not impossible to imagine when you are on the front side of it.

      I can't tell you that the journey will be easy. Transformational journeys aren't like that—at least not when they involve human beings. They offer too much to be proffered for so little. This journey will involve real work—reflective moments, honest conversations, hard-won insights, and difficult choices. It will include making important distinctions about team, business, and organizational life. And it will require courageous leadership.

      If you're holding this book in your hands, I will consider you a leader, whether your job title confers that role officially or not. Anyone can be a leader on this transformational journey. Wherever you sit in your organization's system of roles, you have the opportunity to use the language, tools, and ideas in this book to create greater alignment and growth among your team. Whether that team is a small functional team responsible for a specific task or an executive team steering the company, its transformation will inspire and catalyze higher potentials in other teams. As teams become high performing,