Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 9. Source pages: 2.
The drama around Act 251 notwithstanding, truisms in our situation keep a’ coming. I can think of two that apply.
1) You have to hit bottom before you can get better.
The organizational design (bylaws) was deficient long before Act 251. The main structures appear to have been in place for a long time, maybe from the beginning. Until recently, most of us never thought to look at them at all, much less from the perspective of organizational design. (And LPA had lost most of its IOs and social psychologists anyway, so who was to point out that the emperor had no clothes?) The bylaws may have been a good idea once upon a time, but the overlapping presidents and unlimited appointed chairs who vote for members, without feedback loops or even the right to call emergency meetings, will not help an organization thrive. While vulnerable to special interests, the subtle, insidious problems were worse because they were invisible. The design reduced critical functions: innovation and creativity; the ability to identify genuine problems from lower in the organization; distortions by those in power that seriously gummed up decision-making; lack of adjustment to the larger social environment. The symptoms were all there – low membership relative to licensees and professors, low involvement, low communication, low genuine trust. It all hit the fan with 251.
2) Every cloud has a silver lining.
It might have required something like 251 to kick over the beehive. For those of us who weren’t ever going to be interested in practicing medicine, we’re awake now. There is the chance to fix our organization, realign all sorts of fascinating and worthwhile connections, and solve some of our systemic problems. It has helped to know why the organization has been slowly losing vitality. We have a good diagnosis.
One of the designers of 251 said at the bylaws meeting that the rest of us were “dinosaurs,” but it doesn’t feel that way. Actually, things feel pretty darn invigorating.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.