{"id":827,"date":"2016-08-09T13:29:21","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T18:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepurposeinst.wpengine.com\/?p=827"},"modified":"2019-06-18T15:57:36","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T20:57:36","slug":"dealing-with-dissonance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/dealing-with-dissonance\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with Dissonance"},"content":{"rendered":"

As human beings, we get very uncomfortable when our internal beliefs don\u2019t match up with our external reality. When what we believe<\/em> and what we see or do or experience<\/em> don\u2019t align, we consciously or unconsciously yearn to reconcile the discrepancy.\u00a0\u00a0 There are several possible paths we might take to alleviate this cognitive dissonance and restore the harmony between our inner and outer world:<\/p>\n

1. We might overhaul what we believe to better align with the reality that we see<\/strong>. This strategy is very rarely used by us humans. Even when we see and experience a reality that disproves our beliefs, we\u2019re very unlikely to throw in the towel on our beliefs and update them accordingly.\u00a0\u00a0 This brings us to the most commonly used strategy\u2026<\/p>\n

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2. We dismiss contradictory information and seek out confirming evidence<\/strong>. We really like this strategy. It makes us feel comfortable and safe and validated.\u00a0 We tend to trivialize facts that contradict our beliefs (\u201cit\u2019s a lucky fluke, an exception to the rule\u201d<\/em>) and cherry-pick facts to substantiate what we believe (\u201csee here\u2026x, y, z, proves that I\u2019m right\u201d<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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3. We can remain steadfast in our beliefs AND work diligently to create a new reality<\/strong>. We believe so deeply and passionately about something that we consciously and intentionally set a course to create a new reality that reflects what we believe. This is exactly what Roger Bannister <\/a>did. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he believed that it was humanly possible to run a 4-minute mile.\u00a0 And on May 6, 1954, he\u00a0ran the mile in 3 minutes and 58 seconds.\u00a0 His commitment to his belief liberated him from the self-limiting and self-fulfilling prophecy of the old belief and he created a new reality, a new standard in the world of running.<\/p>\n

This got me thinking about the current ascendance of Purpose in the business world.<\/p>\n

Historically, the prevailing belief about business is that its fundamental Purpose is to make money\u2014and that’s fairly consistent with how it feels to work in most corporate environments.\u00a0\u00a0 You tell me we\u2019re about making money and every day I walk in the door and am held accountable to sales goals, market share, profit margins, comp store sales, stock performance, etc<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 No cognitive dissonance there.<\/p>\n

But what happens when Conscious Capitalism <\/a>comes along to\u00a0challenge the reigning belief system\u00a0— replacing it with a new belief system declaring that the Purpose of a business is to have a clearly defined, higher order Purpose beyond making money?\u00a0\u00a0 How is an employee supposed to reconcile\u00a0that idea or belief about business\u00a0with a reality that\u00a0may not\u00a0appear to be in sync just yet?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you deal with the dissonance?<\/p>\n

Here’s what you can expect to see and some tips on how to deal with it:<\/p>\n

1. When there is too much dissonance between what a company says and what it does, the Purpose is very likely to be rejected by the organizational body<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Employees will either contest it outright or slowly kill it through neglect; creating a sense of congruence by returning to the de facto<\/em> profit-driven Purpose.\u00a0\u00a0 One company I recently worked with had a Purpose that people believed was a noble and worthwhile Purpose\u2014they found it exciting and motivating\u2014but \u00a0employees were held accountable for metrics that were in many ways diametrically opposed to the Purpose.\u00a0 As one person said, \u201cI\u2019d love to be a part of that Purpose but to work towards that here would come at the detriment of my career or possibly my termination. Let\u2019s be honest-our \u00a0real Purpose is to make as much money as humanly possible.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the deal<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0 Actions speak louder than words.\u00a0 If you want to reconcile the dissonance between your Purpose and your reality \u2013 be very explicit about the actions the company is willing to take to become a more purpose-driven company.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. When a company says they have a higher Purpose and a good amount of their daily activities reflect that Purpose, employees will look for confirming evidence to validate the Purpose and may dismiss information that calls it into question.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 For a time, this tendency is healthy insofar as it builds confidence in the validity of the Purpose and enables some positive Purpose momentum to be built.\u00a0 Great. Coming out of the gate, you want people to feel justified in their pride and excitement.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want the wet blanket of a brutal reality check dousing the flame you\u2019re trying to create. \u00a0\u00a0This is actually a helpful instinct to get Purpose off the ground in an organization.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the deal<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Embrace and celebrate the evidence of your Purpose in Action to get the Purpose flywheel going.\u00a0\u00a0 Dissonance will certainly emerge and it will need to be addressed but don\u2019t let it be a buzzkill right out of the gate.\u00a0\u00a0 Establish legitimate momentum based on the good that the company is doing in order to create true believers with the will and determination to (in time) tackle the contradictions in what a company says and what it does.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3. When a company has a higher Purpose that people deeply believe in (irrespective of the organization\u2019s current state)\u2013 employees can doggedly pursue the creation of a new reality<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 Employees might say, \u2018I deeply believe in this Purpose and although the reality doesn\u2019t fully align with it now, I believe we can create a new reality to fulfill the promise of our Purpose.\u2019 <\/em> Belief is one of the most powerful forces for creating your reality.\u00a0 It\u2019s why Placebo treatments work just as effectively as real treatments. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s why kids who are told they have a high IQ (even when they\u2019re perfectly average), perform better than their higher-IQ peers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The things we believe shape our reality.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the deal<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you genuinely believe in your Purpose\u2014and you\u2019re willing to confront the brutal facts and pay the price to succeed \u2013 you can create a new reality.\u00a0\u00a0 But you need true believers.\u00a0\u00a0 There has to be deep and genuine buy-in of the Purpose in order for it take root in a way that will produce extraordinary results.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So as you think about embedding Purpose in your organization remember:<\/p>\n

>Don\u2019t give-up on your Purpose when faced with some internal dissonance.<\/p>\n

>Get the Purpose flywheel going by collecting and celebrating evidence of the Purpose in Action.<\/p>\n

>Harness the power of the true believers to create a new reality \u2013 using the power of your Purpose to show the world what\u2019s actually possible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As human beings, we get very uncomfortable when our internal beliefs don\u2019t match up with our external reality. When what we believe and what we see or do or experience don\u2019t align, we consciously or unconsciously yearn to reconcile the discrepancy.\u00a0\u00a0 There are several possible paths we might take to alleviate this cognitive dissonance and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,20,10,55],"class_list":["post-827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purpose","tag-cognitive-dissonance","tag-conscious-capitalism","tag-purpose","tag-roger-bannister"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}