A Luther level inquiry
Do you ever feel like you’re doing the wrong thing for the right reasons?
Any fellow Luther fans will know that he did this A LOT, caught in systems and circumstances where in order to achieve the best possible outcome for the people he was protecting, he broke some very big "rules"
It's a bit of an extreme example, but it got me thinking - how often do we get caught out by ideas of right vs wrong?
Now we're not talking Luther level actions here... that's a bigger discussion for another time (when we're feeling brave!) but take the idea and consider.. within organisations and teams, does following a "correct" process sometimes lead to poor outcomes? Does conforming to established practice feel uncomfortable? Does taking the time to think, discuss and maybe even challenge status quo feel like you're risking something?
I believe The Why to be of real significance here, particularly when theres a misalignment with How's and What's or even a complete absence of Why within our meaning making... particularly in complex organisations and systems.
Luther's Why was very strongly formed, resulting in near constant conflict with the How's and What's (processes, laws, rules, practice, culture) in his personal and professional life when they didn't align. So strong in fact, he took actions that broke laws, risked his career and hurt those he loved.
He believes one life is all we have, life and love. Whoever takes life steals everything. - Zoe Luther
Again, Luther action is possibly not the level to aim for... it caused pain, death, prison and all sorts (sorry for the spoilers to readers who haven't watched it yet). So what can we take from it? Well, maybe this..
The notion that within any given context, if we start with a defined, well understood sense of compassionate purpose (The Why) then how we live, love, work, relate and act (How's and What's) become easier and far more inspiring to commit to. Conversations about How and What we're doing and Why we're doing things become much easier in times of challenge because the Why generates its own loving space in those conversations for people and maybe even culture to evolve and grow.
Wonder what Luther would have made of Coaching?
Photo Copyright BBC 2015
This blog post was also inspired by the work of Simon Sinek - simonsinek.com