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March-April 2010 |
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The
Influence of Paradigms
Paradigms. They
help define your way of thinking and your actions. Everyone
operates with a set of paradigms, some of them you are aware of and
others may operate at a subconscious level. Your paradigms are
influenced by many factors including your upbringing, your education,
your job, and your life’s experiences. Paradigms are “models”
that help you understand how things are, or at least how you perceive
things to be.
Don’t think you have paradigms? Let’s look at an example and judge for yourself. You see a young person at the mall with long, multi-colored hair, baggy pants hanging low and a couple of body piercings. What comes to mind? Do you think they’re cool? Fashionable? Independent? Odd? It doesn’t really matter what comes to mind. The point is, whatever comes to mind is your paradigm, or perception, of a person who dresses like that.
What influences you to think this way about a person you don’t even know? It may be the way you were raised. It may be the type of people you associate with. It may be how you dress or the restrictions you place on how you allow your own children to dress.
Would
you trust this person? Would you hire this person? Would you give
this person a fair evaluation? Your decisions and actions are influenced
daily by your paradigms.
What
about your fire department? If an individual can have paradigms,
can fire departments? Indeed they can. Organizational paradigms are
represented in many forms, including culture, beliefs, attitudes, ethics
and the actions of the individuals, and groups within the
department. Some departments may work hard at maintaining the
status quo. Others may be innovative and seek new ways to serve the
community. In some departments the suppression division may be
viewed as more important than the prevention division. These are
all organizational paradigms that have been formed by formal and
informal leaders whose beliefs, attitudes, ethics and actions have
contributed to the formation of a culture.
The
paradigms you hold, individually and organizationally, have a
significant influence on how you receive, and consequently if you accept
or reject new ways of looking at (and doing) things. In order to learn
and grow, individually and as a department, you must be willing to be
open minded to new ideas, new information and new knowledge.
This
brings us to one of the fundamental differences of management and
leadership. If you control your department to ensure it operates
within the confines of the existing paradigms, you are displaying the
qualities of management. If, on the other hand, you encourage your
department to try new and innovative things, to take a risk, to make
mistakes and to learn and grow, ensuring that the environment nurtures
such behavior, then you are displaying the qualities of leadership.
The
environment you create and support will significantly influence your
personal success and the success of your organization.
Unfortunately, many people are taught at a young age to abide by all the
rules, to sit quietly until spoken to, to always color within the lines.
Over time, this conditioning creates paradigms – models of behavior
that are considered to be “normal.” One of my favorite
exercises to use with students displays the powerful force that
paradigms have on your thinking. In the exercise, I have the
students draw nine dots on a piece of paper in the following
configuration:
Then
I provide them with the following instructions: Without lifting
your pencil off the paper, draw four straight lines that connect all of
the dots. You are not allowed to backtrack over a line you’ve
already drawn. Feel free to pause here and try to solve this problem
yourself.
In
a room of 100 participants, it is not at all uncommon for only two or
three to be able to solve the problem. Yet the solution is quite
simple. You may be among the rare few who were able to come to the
solution with ease. If you are like most people who have faced this
problem, you’ve agonized over how to connect the dots and tried
numerous patterns without success.
What’s
the trick? There is no trick. If you were not able to figure out the
solution, it is because you are bound by the confines of your own
paradigms. Something in your mind, something you believe in, has
restricted you from allowing your mind to be open enough to see the
solution. Frustrating as it is, this problem (or opportunity) is a
simple exercise. Imagine the challenges faced when your paradigms
are applied to the complex organizations you work in. Imagine how
difficult it can be to break through your normal ways of thinking to
find new and creative solutions to problems. Imagine how difficult it
can be to think outside the realm of what is perceived to be “normal”
or “right” or the “way we’ve always done it” when the entire
organization thinks the same way.
To break ranks with existing paradigms is risky. There are sure to be many standing in line to criticize your efforts. However, if you desire to see your business grow and prosper, you must contribute to advancing the knowledge of the department. The challenge is to open your mind to new ways of thinking. Maybe the young person with the multi-colored hair and piercings is overflowing with creativity and looking for ways to express it. Maybe their “different” way of thinking is just what your department needs to break out of old paradigms and to advance to new ways of doing business.
To
change and accept new ways of thinking and doing things is not something
that will come easy to most people. After all, you’ve spent a
lifetime (or a career) developing your paradigms. Many of them
exist at the subconscious level and define what you see as “normal”
in your world. It takes a very conscious effort individually and
organizationally to see your world (or business) in new ways and to
develop a new understanding.
To see the solution to the
puzzle above, click here.
Richard B. Gasaway, PhD,
served 30 years as a firefighter, paramedic, company officer and fire
chief. He now serves as the president of the Gasaway Consulting Group.
He can be reached through his website at www.RichGasaway.com.
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