Not Knowing and Knowing Enough
In this 3rd article of my series “Playing the Changes: What Jazz Can Teach us About Leadership.” We’ll explore the discomfort of not knowing, being a beginner again, and how to support people moving through adaptive change - the often tumultuous kind of change called for when responding to challenges that have no known solutions.
Practicing Jazz
I wanted to play jazz, but didn’t know where to start. I only knew how to play music that was written down by people like Bach and Chopin. I didn’t know how to turn the sparse symbols on a jazz lead sheet into the music I heard on recordings. The gap between “not knowing” and “knowing” seemed impossibly wide. I didn’t know how to cross it by myself.
My mom found a Jazz Summer Camp that looked like it would help. For one week, I was immersed in jazz. I learned basic technique: chords, scales, jazz harmony, how to improvise over a blues tune, how to read a lead sheet, how the players interact.
I came up against adaptive challenges too - challenges that required me to change my mindset and priorities. I had to do the adaptive work of being a beginner again. I was really good at playing classical music. Now, I could barely play a melody line with the right rhythm. I had to reframe the constant sense of “failing” and “making mistakes” in front of people from whom I wanted acceptance.
Camp taught me the shared language of jazz. It was also an important holding environment for me: a place where I couldn’t avoid my fears and had the support and safety to experiment with new ways of being. I was scared AND kept practicing. My teachers and campmates helped me jump the gap between “not knowing” and “knowing enough.” Things were starting to make more sense.
Practicing Leadership
When leading adaptive work in organizations, we need to be attuned to the holding environment (or absence of one). People need support and challenge to do the deep work of examining mindsets and experimenting with new ways of showing up, working together, and working with their stakeholders.
Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky (1) write about how effective holding environments help groups stay in the “zone of productive disequilibrium” - a place where things aren’t “too hot” (where things break apart) or “too cold” (where motivation is low). Elements of strong holding environments include a shared language and shared orienting values and purposes.
The leader’s role is rarely to solve the problem or to “decide and announce.” It is to help the team stay in this “zone of productive disequilibrium” and to continuously take the temperature, turning the heat up or down as needed. This enables the team to jump the gap between “not knowing” and “knowing enough” to make the needed changes.
Reflecting (come improvise — share your reflections in the LinkedIn comments!)
What personal holding environments have you experienced? Do you have one right now?
How can you create or strengthen a holding environment in your organization?
Listening: “Straight, No Chaser” by Thelonius Monk (The song that helped me learn the blues)
Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky write about holding environments and the “zone of productive disequilibrium” in their book “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership.”
