Downstream: ‘Behaviours’

Upstream: The kind of person you are.

What’s downstream flows from what’s upstream.

All too often, at least in the organisational world, we try to work with what’s downstream without paying any attention to what’s upstream.

We invent behaviour frameworks, cajole people, and tell them what to do without giving any consideration to what it takes to be the kind of person who has new ways of acting available to them.

We’re looking at what we so urgently want to be present without looking at its becoming.

It’s like tipping fish into a dry river and expecting them to survive without doing the difficult and important work of attending to the spring. And just because it’s quick and obvious doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do, or that it will go any way to addressing the difficulties you’re experiencing.

Photo Credit: Ian Sane via Compfight cc