ORIGINS of the Model
For Godwin, multidimensionality impacted and influenced him at an early age.
Godwin is Indian Australian. Born and raised in India and moving to Australia, he learned at a young age the need to understand and speak to different cultural world views as well as relate to diverse generations, classes and religions living in close proximity and in meaningful community.
This multifaceted diversity was a good practice ground for understanding varied perspectives and learning to communicate with different world views and values sets. At the same time there was a need to find and express a core, authentic self in work and in life.
Godwin has worked across a range of different industries and countries. This has provided him with a nuanced understanding and respect for diversity, and the creation of meaningful and aligned choice within that diversity.
Whether in the role of advisor, coach, facilitator or speaker, multidimensionality gives Godwin’s clients an experience of respectfully working with human tensions and organisational tensions in many dimensions. These tensions are ever-shifting opposites that seek an equality of place, voice and respect.
Targeting opposing tensions – in people, teams and organisations – allows for less resistance to needed/desired change as well as more pathways being made available for achieving those changes. This increase in strategic choice and empowerment is also more sustainable for leaders, individuals, teams and the organisational system.
Learn more about MLS™ and opposing tensions here.
Why Machine-like work and leadership thinking is inefficient
Another ignition point for the development of the MLS™ methodology was the frustration, disengagement and dehumanisation observed in many leaders, professionals and teams in modern organisations.
Godwin sought to pin point the roots of this by finding the dominant system’s paradigms driving work and organisational behaviour. These paradigms – like personal world views – were found to be largely unconscious and unquestioned.
It is useful to describe system’s paradigms as Archetypes (personified symbols for powerful and unconscious patterns of mental models, values and beliefs that drive behaviour).
In most large, modern organisations the archetypes informing data gathering, analysis, problem solving and decision-making are:
- The Engineer
- The Economist
- The Psychologist1
(Adapted and inspired from the work of Peter Block, 2002).
MLS™ goes further than this to root causes, asking: ‘What drives the dominance of these three archetypes for modern work, leadership and organisational behaviour?’
One higher level paradigm behind these three archetypes is the framework and principles of Newtonian science. This can be seen in the strong emphasis on a rational, linear, sequential, prediction- based, mechanistic view of view of work, management, behaviour, change, economics and processes.
And yes, these ARE important design and organisation factors. Yet on their own, they are incomplete and thus limiting to an organisaton.
The cost of the dominant paradigm
The Newtonian world view (if over emphasised) is both limiting and can also be dehumanising for organisational, team and personal pursuits of success and excellence.
The benefits of this paradigm are certainty, predictability and a sense of business confidence.
However, there are costs. This way of thinking and leading in organisations can elevate tangibles, ROI, prediction, utility and measurement above all else.
Further, and perhaps necessarily, the following powerful elements are ignored or devalued:
- meaning
- empathy
- surprise
- playfulness
- connection
- commitment
- trust
These are vital and intangible performance factors. Factors that, when integrated, can bring higher levels of engagement, performance and efficient results, for the longer term.
The MLS™ method adds and integrates the above factors by injecting additional archetypes to the dominant Newtonian ones. Archetypes that spark leaders to be more aware of and proficient in the realm of the:
- Chaordic
- Artistic
- Cultural
- Quantum
These elements when weaved into the Newtonian and utilitarian paradigm elevate leadership capability and the probability of successful transformational change efforts.
If these elements are not integrated into change, improvement and leadership development efforts you experience reversible engagement levels, results and success. This can in part be due to a conflicting and unintegrated tension between efficiency cultures (based on Newtonian and economic thinking) and authentic cultures – within the leadership team and thus in the wider organisational culture.
What is an authentic culture? It is one that encourages self expression and meaning together with excellence and high quality outputs. This applies to the leaders and the wider workforce. The alternative to this is hight output with machine like, robotic behavior. This can work but runs the risk of unsustainable motivation, innovation and committed high performance behaviors.
As a holistic, integrated and pragmatic transformation methodology, MLS™ enhances levels of engagement, adaptability and positive change in manner that is more efficient, respectful and sustainable for leaders and their organisations.
Learn more about MLS™ and opposing tensions here.
Learn about the MLS™ Methodology.
Reference:
Block, P. (2002) “The Answer to How is Yes”
Note:
1Psychology here is not inclusive of depth psychology, quantum or transpersonal psychology but rather more the purely cognitive and behavioural psychology approaches common in organisational development programs. These are useful approaches but incomplete and lacking the holistic, non-linear or quantum elements that sustain transformational change and leadership development.
