“Chaos should be regarded as extremely good news,” write Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master. When I first read this sentence, I had to stop reading. I reread it multiple times before I could begin to grasp the power and depth of this one short sentence.
When I coach leaders in person or over the phone, I often remind them about The Law of Chaos: “The world does not change through balance, order and security, only through chaos.” This always stops the conversation for a moment. People have to really think about what I just shared with them. This is because most people in leadership and management positions are somewhat afraid of change, particularly any level of change that creates chaos.
However, after many decades of working with these same leaders and managers, I have learned two things. First, it is not change that makes them uncomfortable. It is their fear of the messy unknown that comes with it. Second, it is their fear of losing control that makes them regard change as dangerous. As Richard Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja in their book, Surfing The Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business (Three Rivers Press, 2000), wrote “humans tend to regard chaotic that which they can not control.”
During times of market instability, and where leaders have limited visibility of the future, for me to tell an executive that chaos is “extremely good news,” they must think I have gone a touch crazy in my old age. Yet, what they fail to recognize is that an organization must move toward "the edge of chaos" and then stays there during times of limited visibility. They also need to remember The Law of Chaos. In order to go from one level of performance to a new, better and different level of performance, there is going to be a change in balance, order, or security. One can not maintain status quo and achieve a greater performance level.
Still, the word “chaos” is not a widely used word in the world of leadership and organizational change. No leader this fall is going to stand up at an all employee town hall and tell them, “I have good news for all of you gathered here today. 2024 is going to be filled with lots of chaos. Congratulations! May you each be successful.”
I think we struggle with the word chaos because we do not understand the word chaos. The dictionary defines it as “complete disorder and confusion,” “a state of utter confusion or disorder,” and “behavior so unpredictable as to appear random.” And from this perspective, I would struggle with the word too. I don’t think a single person wakes up on a Monday morning and hopes that when they get to work everything and everyone will be in complete disorder, unpredictability, and utter confusion.
And yet, the best and most courageous leaders know two things. First, we are moving to the edge of chaos, not into full chaos. Second, we are going to go through a normal period of organizational change called The Trough of Chaos where some people, not all people, will have to modify how they work, which can trigger issues related to control, order, and predictability.
The key to unlocking the whole change and edge of chaos thing is focus on the definition of chaos. The word is defined as complete disorder and utter confusion. If, however, all involved understand the difference between what is not changing and what is changing, i.e. there is a plan, and if all involved understand what is normal human behaviors and leadership choices at the edge of chaos, i.e. we have clarity about the plan and what we will encounter as we execute it, then the edge of chaos can be challenging and tolerated. It could even be framed as “extremely good news.”
For what I have learned as an executive coach is that people and organizations can transform the edge of chaos into a challenge when they have clarity about the plan and their role in it, i.e. a strategic perspective, the support of a team, and a safety zone for strategic dialogue which includes the sharing of facts and feelings.
Right now, when we think about 2024, we know it has the potential to be a challenging year on so many different levels. We also know there is the potential for a fair bit of chaos. And yet, we as leaders can make choices now to help all involved understand that we are prepared and working hard to go to “the edge of chaos.” And that we will stay dedicated and clear about our mission, vision, and core values in the midst of it. This way we will individually and collectively move through those challenging periods and come out on the other side of 2024 grounded and prepared for the second half of this decade.
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