The Initiatives Complex occurs when the team overuse the Explorer team role.
Healthy use
When used appropriately, the Explorer team role is used to promote exploration of new and better ways of doing things. Explorers uncover hidden potential in people, things or situations. They break new ground, and are often looking one step beyond the current situation to pursue unexplored avenues, until all the possibilities have been exhausted. Explorers often challenge the status quo and experiment with the introduction of change, to see if the situation can be improved or new potential uncovered
Excessive use
If the Explorer team role is used to excess, however, and Group-Think sets in, then the team starts to introduce change for change's sake. They start down one unexplored avenue but then see another potential opportunity which they start pursuing. The team spend less time 'following the hare' than releasing new hares into the field. They may make the mistake of 'changing a winning team' because they think things can still be improved, but they fail to assess properly the impact of that change. Their orientation towards change means that they can fail to extract the full benefit from things that are already working well. If they are a management team then their staff may well start to suffer from change fatigue.
The complex is given the name "Initiatives" because the team keep starting new initiatives without properly closing others off.
Solution
Complexes can be very difficult to deal with. See our general page on Complexes for more information.
A good facilitator or consultant can help the team in various ways, such as:
- Getting the team to analysis the consequences and cost of introducing change itself, both in monetary terms and the impact on people
- Making sure that past initiatives remain, or are brought back into, the centre of the team's consciousness and not dropped until the initiative is closed off properly
- Establishing a gatekeeper or gatekeeping process that prevents new initiatives being started until certain criteria are fulfilled.
Psychology Footnote
The Initiatives Complex results from rigidity in the team's use of extraverted iNtuition.
See all sixteen team complexes.
©2013 Team Technology. Privacy policy and cookies.