How Long does Change Take?
The past few weeks has seen momentous change in North America's political spectrum. From municipal elections across Canada (see Rob Ford in Toronto and Naheed Nenshi in Calgary) to the rise of the Tea Party movement in the United States. Citizens are using their votes to voice their opinions. This leads to the question, how much time should pass before we, as a society should expect change?
Is two years enough? Americans seem to think that this is plenty of time to solve a problem that was 8 years in the making (economy).
What about social issues like ending global poverty? Jeffery Sachs, in his book The End of Poverty, says that we can eradicate poverty in our lifetime. Is a 20 year generation cycle enough time?
Systemic problems require course reversals that, similar to the Titanic, can't happen in sight of the problem. These changes require ongoing evaluation in order to allow for integration of new innovations and an understanding of what success will look like at the other end. It also means, that there is clear communication and acceptance of values for what is most important.
In North America, change is viewed very differently between Canada and the United States (Mexico adds a whole other layer of an emerging economy). For example, in Canada, access to health-care is a right, not a privilege (though if you know someone in the medical field your access to treatment time seems to be faster than if you don't... speaks to a two-tiered system). In the United States, the social consciousness is around "picking oneself up from their boot-straps" is the expectation. Government is there to lead and manage the change, not to be the solution to change (i.e. financial bailouts).
What is the change that we are looking for? How long will we wait for it? Or, is it a matter of waiting? Change is in the air, when will you feel we have hit the target?
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The Damage of Impatience
It is certainly my observation that people have unclear and unrealistic expectations when it comes to societal change. Even worse, when we don't get change fast enough, even without clear benchmarks to measure progress against, we cut things off prematurely ensuring that the change will never occur.
Too bad that we've become more impatient at a time when the change required is even more complex and the demands of community leadership even more difficult to assess against conventional measures. Real change requires a dedicated and enduring effort that mobilizes and leverages the efforts of everyone; a comfort with ambiguity and a commitment to trusting each other during times of significant uncertainty.
I wonder if there is anyone up for this challenge?
Damage of Impatience - Response
Hi Laurel;
You pose an interesting question around patience for change. Growing up in a micro-wave society where dinner is cooked in minutes, not hours; where global travel is in hours not days and environmental impact is in years and not decades; we have been conditioned to not have patience for change.
I am wondering though, if this is really a problem... I like what you say about needing to embrace the ambiguity in order to keep moving change forward. I think because society moves so quickly we are not in fear of analysis paralysis, but we could be faced with rash decisions with un-intended consequences.
CBC had a TV show the other night, Playing God with Planet Earth, and it posed the same question - at what point do we stop talking and start acting... or rather, at what point do we stop acting and start reflecting?
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