Bill O’Brien, the late CEO of Hanover Insurance, once told C. Otto Scharmer, author of Theory U – Leading from the Future as It Emerges that when facilitating corporate change, the success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.

This idea, that to create change in the new world of business, leaders need to look inside themelves first and connect with their own instincts, deep understandings and self-awareness, is the key to creating the kind of change that businesses need to succeed in the future.

It’s no good using the past to inform the present and future. What went well before, what the consensus of opinion is, and what is comfortable for the majority will only return businesses to the old world where external measurements and influences based on past experiences were used to decide on the future direction of the business.

According to C. Otto Scharmer, leaders need to engage in internal work before even considering change interventions. There are three kinds of internal work that need to be engaged in:

Suspending habitual patterns and seeing the situation with a fresh pair of eyes

Redirecting your attention from the exterior to your interior mental processes and really listening to yourself

Letting go of old identities and intentions

It is only when this internal work has been completed that leaders will be open to new visions and intentions, to redirecting attention to exterior action, and to creating new action, structures and practices to lead the business forward.

Every leader, whether a CEO or a learning and development designer, can benefit from turning inwards and connecting with their own source of wisdom before automatically adopting ideas and structures that are acceptable to the majority. These ideas will usually only present you with what is already acceptable and comfortable, and therefore what fits with the existing status quo.

Thus, the new learning and development will be first and foremost about internal awareness, insight and personal change. And coming out of this process will be new ideas, decisions and actions that will propel your business into a successful future.

James Irvine, Team Egyii, Singapore