XCS – A New Paradigm, kind of.

Colleen’s last post about mindset shifting brought to mind the importance of Paradigms.

The primary reason for cultural resistance to change is the momentum held in the current paradigms.

A paradigm is a set of rules or expected actions used to solve problems. After time, the paradigm becomes the norm and thus drives the way we act in certain circumstances, many times without thinking or justifying our actions. We simply trust the paradigm. (For more info on paradigms check out Joel Barker, he is my paradigm guru- quite good.

For example:

Problem: traffic accidents at intersections

Solution and new paradigm: traffic lights – red=stop, green=go.

At first the current paradigm (slow down, proceed with caution dodging crossing traffic) will resist. After a while the new paradigm will begin to take hold as it proves effective in solving problems. Over time the paradigm is refined (add a yellow light, add arrows, add time delays) with more problems being solved as the paradigm matures.

The adoption of new paradigms can be painful but can also be very beneficial. There are risks – (to be discussed in future posts, if there is interest).

The current Customer Satisfaction paradigm is: Customer satisfaction is good as long as we can afford it (CS is a short term expense, for an unquantifiable, future benefit) This paradigm never really worked, but lacking the tools and processes to measure the benefits, what seemed logical prevailed.

XCS is a new paradigm that solves many of the uncertainties of the old and shows us the mechanism to attain loyalty and measure the progress and financial benefits to the organization. It is simple and easy to follow.

As Paradigms go, its not the most difficult to introduce into a culture.

Try it.