Best of HigherEDge, first published on February 7, 2014
Ron Heifetz’s concept of viewing organizations “from the balcony” frequently comes up in our leadership development programs. It’s been helpful to me as a reminder to keep my eye on the big picture. Bonus: Todd Thorsgaard provided another view of this concept in this post from November 2015.
Dee Anne Bonebright
One of the first elements in leading change is to assess the current state. When we’re busy leading day-to-day efforts, it can be easy to lose the sense of the big picture. We can forget to take time to think about where we are now, and where we want to go.
Ron Heifetz is one of my favorite authors on change. His concept of “getting on the balcony” has been useful to me and to participants in our leadership development programs. Here’s how he describes it in his book Leadership Without Easy Answers.
Rather than maintain perspective on the events that surround and involve us, we often get swept up by them. Consider the experience of dancing on a dance floor in contrast with standing on a balcony and watching other people dance. Engaged in the dance, it is nearly impossible to get a sense of the patterns made by everyone on the floor. Motion makes observation difficult. Indeed, we often get carried away by the dance. Our attention is captured by the music, our partner, and the need to sense the dancing space of others nearby to stay off their toes. To discern the larger patterns on the dance floor – to see who is dancing with whom, in what groups, in what location, and who is sitting out which kind of dance – we have to stop and get to the balcony.
What helps you to step back occasionally and take a look from the balcony?
Dee Anne Bonebright
Higher EDge 