"False Flat" Syndrome
False flat is a term used in cycling and it refers to a situation that occurs when one is pedaling in what one believes to be a flat road.
The mind is a funny organ an tricks us all the time. Faced with a perceived flat portion of a road, ideally in a sunny day in a California road with low humidity and no cars, the mind relaxes and perceives the challenge of pedaling the next few miles to be easy and consistent. We are basically seduced by our visual perception of the terrain. Said perception starts to change as the pedaling becomes arduous for no apparent reason and we start to feel differently. All the while the brain is still persisting in that this should be easy; it is a flat road after all.
Is is amazing how a 1% to 3% incline, not readily evident to our visual sense, can affect physical effort and of course results over a long period. The longer the miles pedaled in such a section, the longer the struggle and the longer the dissonance.
In my experience a very similar thing happens in organizations that are trying to be more innovative. It happens when the resident culture tries to delay and block business models and innovation that threaten the status quo.
How?
By engaging with the new change-driven culture (one of the side benefits of an innovation practice) via a collaborative approach that with time proves to be a form or quiet resistance, the resident culture basically aims to kill and/or delay new ideas. This syndrome is exacerbated by organizations that repeatedly engage in restructurings that induce "wait and see" behaviors. There are many versions of these behaviors that I will not detail here but suffice it to say they are there and obvious for the analytical eye.
These behaviors are the corporate equivalents of the false flat syndrome and if not recognized and addressed, it will kill innovations and new ideas. Gauranteed.
The mind is a funny organ an tricks us all the time. Faced with a perceived flat portion of a road, ideally in a sunny day in a California road with low humidity and no cars, the mind relaxes and perceives the challenge of pedaling the next few miles to be easy and consistent. We are basically seduced by our visual perception of the terrain. Said perception starts to change as the pedaling becomes arduous for no apparent reason and we start to feel differently. All the while the brain is still persisting in that this should be easy; it is a flat road after all.
Is is amazing how a 1% to 3% incline, not readily evident to our visual sense, can affect physical effort and of course results over a long period. The longer the miles pedaled in such a section, the longer the struggle and the longer the dissonance.
In my experience a very similar thing happens in organizations that are trying to be more innovative. It happens when the resident culture tries to delay and block business models and innovation that threaten the status quo.
How?
By engaging with the new change-driven culture (one of the side benefits of an innovation practice) via a collaborative approach that with time proves to be a form or quiet resistance, the resident culture basically aims to kill and/or delay new ideas. This syndrome is exacerbated by organizations that repeatedly engage in restructurings that induce "wait and see" behaviors. There are many versions of these behaviors that I will not detail here but suffice it to say they are there and obvious for the analytical eye.
These behaviors are the corporate equivalents of the false flat syndrome and if not recognized and addressed, it will kill innovations and new ideas. Gauranteed.
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