Seeking Stability in an Unstable World neatly summarises my view that many managers and staff in organisations want the world to metaphorically "stand still for a day or two" so they can catch up and enjoy some stability and predictability. But:
Knowledge, information and speed force us to carry on at a faster pace – “just to keep up” with the way things are developing and changing. In other words, many want to see a semblance of order, process and structure - but - we live and work in unstructured organisations where those facets simply do not exist any more - a fascinating paradox.
My view about coping with the current environment is essentially pragmatic. I believe we must learn to live in the unstable world of unpredictability - bordering on chaos – then rise above it to a state where we welcome, encourage and celebrate change.
Throughout history, people have risen to challenges. The current Information Technology “revolution” presents us another massive challenge. I believe history will record that we are currently living through something as profound as both the agricultural and industrial revolutions.
A few simple anecdotes illustrate the changes.
1 I am old enough to remember the introduction of the Electric (please note electric not electronic!) typewriter in the early 1970’s. At that time I worked as a teenager in a clerical job in my local hospital. The person supervising the typists in our medical records office was an experienced woman approaching retirement. She had been trained and brought up on manual typewriters. She said “these Electric Typewriters will never replace the manual” - WOW!! - I wonder how she would feel now - some few years later and a mere “blink of the eye” in historical terms. It seems everyone who has an office desk, has a personal computer as part of their must have survival kit. We all do our own word processing – we are all our own secretary and we are all producing self regulated quality in the product that comes out of the printer.
2 Nowadays, I hardly ever send a letter through the post. Somehow the process of licking an envelope; folding my letter carefully; placing it in an envelope; licking another piece of paper called a stamp; and then posting that envelope into a box; for someone to – hopefully – deliver, seems an almost antiquated process.
3 When did I last go to my bank? I can now manage my finances from the comfort of home via on line banking without reference to another human being. Yet I still remember very well the days when at 3.30 pm on a Friday if you had not got the cash to get you through the weekend then “forget it chum” - the banks were closed till Monday morning. Now if I need cash at 3 am (though god knows why I would need it) I can walk down the road to my nearest cash point and get it.
4 Could I possibly have even dreamed in my youth that: “Take away” food would mean anything more than “fish and chips” - or that …. not only is there a vast choice of take away food - but I can actually sit in my car – order my food, pay for it – then drive round to the other side of the shop to collect it and eat it in the car without even having to exercise my limbs - other than reaching out of the window to pay the assistant.
5 As a youngster working in my local hopsital I saw patients - complete with their eye patches - lying in hospital beds for days, as they recovered from their “major surgery” to remove cataracts. Nowadays it is only a slight exaggeration to say patients can “slip away” for an hour at lunchtime, during their busy working day to have cataracts removed through laser surgery.
