The Reactivity Gap

Where has all the innovation gone? If you find yourself and your organization in a posture of continual reactivity, you are likely experiencing a reactivity gap.

A reactivity gap sees companies lose their edge because they are moving too fast, without pause, without thought, and with a lot of friction. There are times where things flow and moving fast feels good and brings results, this is not one of them!

On the surface we see anything from declines in market share, revenue and/or profit, vendor contracts, to follower numbers and industry relevance. However, beneath these metrics are the issues that actually cause the reactivity gap. 

The clearest indicator is the lack of time to do anything but react. A lack of time to pause, step back and assess, a lack of time for strategic thinking, a lack of time to listen.

A further pattern is an over-reliance on the language and practices of efficiency, like:

• More ordered, quasi mechanic meeting structures

• More emphasis on automation via software tools. Tools tend to drive consistency, not innovation. 

• Offsites and strategy calls become fixated on content and 'alignment' rather than allowing for collaborative ideation.   

Chronic time shortages are entangled with other causes: 

• Meetings become a site of self-aggrandizement and propaganda as team leads try to show how they (and their team/department) are still relevant. 

• There is an atmosphere of forced positivity. 'Everything is amazing' and 'we are all going to make it.' 

• The honest communication needed to deal with issues at hand slips and disappears

• Dialogue turns to performative 'real talk' often using war-time terms and phrases like 'battleground', 'in the trenches', 'pursuing an aggressive campaign', 'fighting uphill  battles', and so on. 

If leaders don't land on something that shifts the needle quickly, their jobs can be on the line. Eventually, the survival of the whole entity can come into doubt. The stress that arises from this situation can be incredibly strong and even accelerate reactivity. Similarly, having to perform  excessive optimism or a constant war-time posture can be exhausting for leaders as well as workers alike.

It's not just organizations (groups of people pursuing a shared goal) that move into gaps of reactivity, individuals do as well. In fact we all experience this modality. It's what happens when we face a situation to which we can only react, one where we cannot pause and consider, or regulate our reaction. 

So how does an individual get through this, let alone an entire organization?

The first step is to notice when you're just reacting. This sounds simplistic, but it is far reaching. Noticing what is happening, taking a step back and thinking about what could be influencing your current state helps create the space to choose how to respond. When you stop reacting to every little discomfort you can start to mindfully discern where to start - how to decide what to focus on, now.

Good team leadership here is trying to provide this space for others to notice their reaction. This could look like a simple question in the middle of a strategy meeting: 'what are you noticing about your reaction to what is being said?''.

After practicing independently, these cues and questions can be extended to the organization or system in which you work. From there, there are multiple actions that you can take. 

Conducting a well planned, spacious process of revisiting the values, purpose, and story of the organization can help recentre why you're doing what you're doing, who it is you're serving and whether the original goal still stands, or whether it has shifted. Participating in this kind of process can create crucial space and inspiration to envision new strategies and tactics. 

A process like Ecocycle Planning helps leaders understand what can be composted (let go of) in the strategy to make room for something new.

TRIZ can be a playful yet serious way to illuminate areas where you are (all) already in a reactive mode - by asking reverse-psychology questions like ‘what are all of the things we need to make sure we do to be in a state of reactivity all the time’ the group can go extreme on the anti-question, and then in the next step, be surprised and maybe a little confronted when they answer the question ‘so, what of these are you doing currently’, with the final step agreeing on how to mitigate or stop those tendencies.

It can be very difficult to move out of a reactivity gap on your own, and there are many more practices and tools that can help shift teams and organizations . If the above resonates with you and you want help in breaking this pattern or feel the need for guidance, don't hesitate to get in touch ask@mindthegaps@gmail.com