For Zen Buddhists, the word shoshin refers to a beginner’s mind — a state of openness and wonder that allows a person to approach life unfettered by the preconceptions, biases or habits associated mostly with the predominant western views of knowledge and experience in organizational life. It was first used by Dōgen Zenji, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in the 13th century. Later on in the 1960’s it was popularized by another Sōtō monk, Shunryū Suzuki, in his teachings and his book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.
It’s fundamental premisse is not knowing but the exact opposite of not knowing, coupled with an eagerness to learn. Expertise in that sense is only temporary, and results in you realizing more and more that ‘the more you know, the less you understand’. It humbles you in your judgment but enables you to see and appreciate things more for what and how they are. It requires cultivating your curiosity.
Shoshin in today’s business age
In short: the shoshin perspective means standing still and reflecting for later, in a business world preoccupied with action modes, continuously running and firefighting right now.
Most of organizational life in today’s business age is driven by a worn out, mechanistic worldview, based on partial knowledge of half truths, so called best practices and a cynical view of mankind. This results in a business world governed by assumptions, with poor leadership and low on trust. A business world that lacks valid insights – especially when it comes to the soft, ‘fluffy’ stuff of human behavior and organizational culture. And a business world concerned with doing things the way we’ve always done it, as we have no idea how to actually change it. This can only work if you operate in a stable environment. But in this day and age, hardly any environment is that stable. So operating that way just won’t hold. In order for an organization to be ready for the future and the dualities it will face, it has to be able to adapt to it’s environment. It has to be ready for tomorrow’s business age. But logically, poor insights lead to bad actions and worse results. And to a way of working no one is happy with. Everybody would like for it to change, from the CEO to the shop floor.
Why would you keep working in a way that actually, really no one is happy with?
From the shoshin perspective this means continuously challenging the knowledge and understanding of your organization and it’s environment. It means using proven, scientifically funded methods to gather valid, reliable insights – especially on the soft, fluffy stuff of human behavior and organizational culture. For it’s your people that make your organization run, or not. And these valid, reliable insights in turn enable interventions that actually work, and change that actually sticks. Be it small behavioral changes or complete organizational culture overhauls.
Improving (management) practices
This calls for what Pfeffer & Sutton call Evidence Based Management: making decisions and applying sound (preferably scientifically funded) methods of management based on the best information possible, while also continuously working on improving this information. It requires differentiating practices and insights from Business Administration, Risk Management, Organizational Psychology, Corporate Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, Systems Thinking and so on. And it requires a different type of leadership from the one predominant in the modern day western world. The amazing thing is, that once you start using these multiple lenses, everything seems connected and starts to make sense.
Once you start using multiple lenses, you run the risk of wondering why you never saw it this way before. But that’s ok. It’s part of the process.
But science based management in itself is never a goal; the application of well tested methods of the (social) sciences must have practical implications. Or else it won’t work, for you and your organization. So we see it as our goal to make you both think and do things a little differently from before. We will try to foster your curiosity, to help you make the desired change stick. To help you think further and deeper and to listen better.
Shoshin topics in organizational life
While shoshin can be a lense for everything in organizational life, the following are some soft, fluffy topics it has worked for.
- Organizational Culture & Behavior;
- Organizational Learning & Development;
- Governance & Organizational Design;
- Leadership & Coaching;
- Performance improvement;
- Risk & Internal Control Awareness;
- Systems Thinking & the Ecosystem Perspective.