Find order in chaos: The power of patterns

What patterns are you seeing in your teams?

Last week, I had the pleasure of learning from two inspirational colleagues in the organisational change field, Paul Zonneveld and Joan Lurie.

Paul shared a valuable insight:

“Where the noise is, isn’t necessarily where the need is”.

And Joan reminded me that:

“Everything has meaning”.

They urged me to look for patterns in complex systems.

As I continue to coach teams in large complex organisations, I’m noticing a couple of patterns and themes emerging.

One of these is around strategy:

Organisations are trying to figure out what to invest in. 

Strategy is a set of choices:

How it aligns with their purpose.

How it translates into projects, initiatives and priorities for your people.

In some cases, it’s the reverse pattern:

People are asking what the work they’re doing is in service of.

They want to connect it to something greater, something with meaning…

and there’s a real opportunity and need for leaders to step into this meaningfully.

The other pattern relates to individuals and their feelings of self-doubt. I hear things like:

“I’m not good enough”

“I don’t know what to do with my life”

“I still feel like I don’t know anything”

I’ve heard these sentiments from people at all levels, including executives.

What patterns and themes are you sensing in your teams?