Dealing with new kind of complexity requires extraordinary abilities and paradoxical logic.
The core chain of capabilities and actions (suggested on the basis of extensive research from multiple disciplines) appears paradoxical, “strange,” and unfamiliar.
The previous post explained why meta-capacity is needed not only to manage dissonance among participants in transformation projects (T-projects) (government, industry, academia, society), but also to intentionally create it. From a conventional logic perspective, this may cause resentment and rejection. But only until we realize that skillful dissonance management opens the floodgates for innovative solutions enabling the system transformation.
Rare teams implementing T-projects are able to produce unique socio-cognitive resources to "unite" otherwise incompatible values, norms, ideas about what is best, interpretations of situations, etc.
The right approach: it all begins with reframing perception to "discover" these "hidden" socio-cognitive resources. They represent the concept of a "comprehensive value system" that "lives" in every era, country, and culture. These are universal strategies of wisdom that ensure successful survival in conditions of uncertainty, complexity, paradigm shifts, and existential challenges. The problem is that such a value system is not captured by an overloaded perception and a "comfortable" view of problems. In the 21st century, transformational transition is a survival challenge, unconscious for most. There are many reasons for this insensitivity. Therefore, most T-projects "perish" under the weight of polyphony.
But successful teams, by skillfully generating these socio-cognitive resources, erase contradictions and create a space for a shared view on the problem.
How the lack of unique socio-cognitive resources leads to the failure of T-projects?
At the initial stages of a project, all participants are inspired by novelty and promising prospects. An opportunity arises to break free from routine inertia. Everyone strives for change, dynamism, and a sense of belonging to something meaningful. However, conflicting values and opinions are overlooked, and this problem typically flares up in the final stages of a T-project. No one is willing to compromise their opinions or acknowledge the dangerous, almost existential, power of change. In other words, unresolved contradictions carry over into the stages of finding and implementing solutions. Transformation slows, stagnates, and stalls. Similar cases abound.
What does a properly prepared T-project look like?
Phases of dissonance and consensus alternate. Actors move from generating ideas based on diverse perspectives to implementing actions, ensuring a constant, delicate balance between consensus and dissonance. Stagnation in dissonance would lead to continuous generation of new insights without achieving resolution. In turn, stagnation in consensus means the absence of reflective cognition, hindering problem re-evaluation and blocking alternative approaches. Solutions may be efficiently implemented but fail to produce an effect.
Conclusion. Transformation critically depends on dissonance in several aspects. Dissonance must be generated (a necessary condition) and productively mobilized using unique socio-cognitive resources. This requires willingness of actors to engage in deep dialogue and cognitive reflection, and it depends on institutional legitimacy of such practices. The resulting solution must differ sufficiently from the existing system to exert transformative pressure, yet remain close enough to create productive tension with incumbent structures.
All of this requires time, a constant commitment to reflective and iterative processes, methodological support for productive interaction with dissonance, and those very “survival values” against the backdrop of the modern “comfortable” interpretation of the destructive side of change.
When we consider this process in its entirety, we realize that we are dealing with a timeless innovation that constantly remains out of a perception that is scattered and weary from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Any transformational approach will be successful if it begins by revealing this innovation – the unifying, unique socio-cognitive abilities – and consistently implementing it.