Margaret Heffernan’s book Wilful Blindness has got me thinking about the systems we live and work in; and how we often go with the crowd, rather than following our own path.
She quotes multiple examples of big organisations making huge problems for themselves, by ignoring the signs that something is not right. The banking crisis is an example of how multiple organisations in a system ignored multiple signs over multiple years. So dangerous for the companies and for our societies.
I’m just as intrigued about the wilful blindness going on at an individual level. I am noticing how individuals I coach are shaped by the systems they are in. It’s hard to be authentic and true to yourself when you are trying to “fit in” with a culture, and do what is expected of you to get a good performance rating or a promotion or a pay-rise. I’ve started to ask my coachees whether that is really what they want. Or would they prefer to stand out for who they are. Be recognised for their strengths. Swim against the tide a little, go against the flow.
I know this from my own time in corporate life, and I recognise now where I might have shouted a little louder to make my contrary point of view about coaching heard. I know that things have changed significantly in that culture, but I wish I could helped the organisation see what it was missing sooner.
I know it’s easier to be “obedient”. But it’s not very fulfilling. How can we start to see the system instead of being blind to it? How can we see the part we can play in that system, that is useful to us and to the organisation’s outcomes?
