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Embracing Nature to Manage Business Change
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Embracing Nature to Manage Business Change
I’ll admit it. I’m usually pretty cynical about business books. Yet when a new release that compares the laws of nature to the principles of business crossed my desk, I had to learn more.
It’s called Powering Change, the Hidden Resource to Unleash Potential, Productivity, and Profits, and I welcomed the author Tabitha Scott, a recognized thought leader who specializes in harnessing human dynamics to ensure sustainable success, onto a bonus episode of The Business of Tech.
Ever wondered what your business has in common with nature? If the answer was no a few moments ago, I’m sure you’re curious now. Here’s how Scott’s comparison helps organizations thrive:
Businesses as Living Organisms
Scott writes in her book that leaders should view their businesses as living organisms. I began our conversation by asking the obvious: What does she mean by that?
She explained that everything in this world – every plant, animal, human, and even business – is all made of the same energy and goes through the same cycles:
“Whether it’s the laws of motion or complex physics theories, we can predict how to implement our technologies better based on growth cycles. They’re the same throughout all of nature. You can’t skip from beginning and birth all the way over to maturity and decline. It predictably will go through phases. If you’re good at catching them, then you’re going to know more about what to sell to your customer.”
Scott illustrated this with the growth curve we’re all familiar with. You can put plants and animals on it, but you can also place people, technology, and businesses along it.
For example, people who excel at startups are going to be at the tip. At the top, you’ll find risk-averse people like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory. Generative AI is more future-forward, and in the middle are execution-focused things like data management.
And, according to Scott, you can leverage this mindset to decide what moves to make and when:
“The more we can recognize the need we’re serving right now and then align it to the right part of that curve, the bigger the bang for the buck. And that’s how we get people to move.”
Increasing Engagement by Prioritizing Morale
With so much constant change, particularly with technology, leaders often struggle to boost morale during growth periods. In Scott’s book, she proposes that the key to keeping spirits and engagement high is to track where you are in the growth cycle of nature.
“A lot of your listeners are leaders working with teams that are burnt out and frustrated. The more you can recognize where they sit along that growth curve, what energizes them, what gets them into action every day, and align their role with that, the more they can contribute in the place that they feel most energized, and then you avoid burnout,” she said.
To bring this back to earth a little bit, I asked her how she advises leaders when both they and their teams are feeling overwhelmed. She shared her Triple A framework:
Assess: where is your sweet spot along the growth curve? What kind of technology do you need there?
Align: blend different types of workers to align their skills with the project at hand, prioritizing cognitive diversity.
Adapt: be like water flowing in a stream. If something gets in your way, flow around it, whether it’s with teamwork, technology, or returning to your sweet spot on the growth chart.
Leveraging Nature to Boost Sustainable Business Growth
Scott specializes in helping businesses achieve sustainability. So how can leaders invest and build while ensuring sustainability over time?
She returned to the energy we all share:
“We actually have an infinite amount of energy inside … to make it sustainable, the more you can stay in the flow, the more you can direct what you’re doing into those areas to get that venturi effect where you’re more powerful, you get more throughput, and then align to that as much as you can. That’s how it stays sustainable.”
In case you’re curious, Scott’s philosophy here came from her electrical background. She’s used to thinking of the flow of energy, particularly how to control and maximize it.
How to Evolve Your Leadership Style
All of this sounds ideal, but in IT, we’re constantly dealing with the desire to change, transform, and try the new big thing. For a leader who recognizes the need to shift their management approach, but also deals with a lot of organizational change, what are those initial steps you can take for sustainable success?
In short, Scott urges people in this position to try implementing new things at the optimal time in the growth cycle:
“For every business crisis in the world today, nature has an answer. And if you look at the growth curve, at the growth cycles, then you’re going to put the right solution in at the right time,” she said.
For example, mature organizations that have stable cash flow are in the perfect position to experiment with creative solutions, design thinking, and human design projects. On the other hand, organizations that are trying to streamline things and become more lean should wait until a growth period to experiment.
“You have to simplify and stabilize, and think about putting in the right technique at the right time,” she said.
This goes for both internal strategies and client strategies:
“If you want to implement something powerful for your clients, then make sure to figure out where they are in the growth cycle right now. And then what you want to be selling is something that is just the next step ahead.”
Delivering the Flexibility Employees Want
I’ve long believed that the pandemic revealed some poor management practices that were covered up by in-person work. Four years later, it’s clear that employees still crave flexibility and control (beyond the simple in-person v remote debate).
So how can Scott’s philosophy also help leaders navigate the evolving desires of their teams?
Again, it goes back to energy. She emphasized that everyone is energized differently, so a major mistake leaders make is assuming everyone is energized just like them and stimulated by the same things they are:
“Quit trying to make it one-size-fits-all. Realize that everybody has a different way of being productive and allow them to do what energizes them the most. Just take it each person at a time and do what’s best for them. And that’s how you get the most productivity.”
Insights for IT Teams
For the IT audience in particular, Scott wants us to view nature as a powerful teacher. Her book has a chapter on mycelium networks and how they’re evolving faster and becoming more sophisticated than even our most prominent emerging technologies like AI.
“This book really repositions nature as a victim to something that you probably should have FOMO about because you’re going to be missing out if you’re not paying attention to the laws of nature around you,” she said.
For a refreshing take on the business book, you know where to look. Tabitha Scott’s book is called Powering Change, the Hidden Resource to Unleash Potential, Productivity, and Profits, and it’s available for pre-order now. You can also learn more about Scott and her work at www.TabithaAScott.com.
Did Scott’s insights resonate with your business? As always, my inbox is open for stories, questions, or whatever else is on your mind.
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