I’m Reckoning With Reckoning

I’ve noticed that reckoning has become the go-to word for talking about extreme situations that expose some disturbing reality that had previously been hidden from view. It’s often used in discussions involving racial and gender disparities and in activist movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. Increasingly, we see reckoning used in the context of technology, entertainment and business, often related to issues of safe and equitable organizational cultures and addressing systemic racism.

Typically, business leaders tends to shy away from words like reckoning because they don’t provide a set of standards or principles upon which something else can be objectively measured. And while reckoning implies some kind of calculation, not everything within the social realm is calculable, which causes a problem for organizations and their leaders.

Reckoning, in a neutral context, refers to a way individuals or groups deal with a problematic situation. It implies a process but not an outcome. But when reckoning is used in the context of organizational culture, it carries with it the added dimension of an expectation for change. And whether we are talking about change in individuals, change in groups or whole systems, change does not come easily.

This is where organization development, a unique approach to the problem of change with its own history, knowledge and values, can be extremely valuable to organizations in their reckoning. Organization development embraces systems thinking and views problems within organizations through a lens of human interactions and processes that involve the interrelationship of learning and change.

The psychological linkage between reckoning and organization development comes from how in systems, change is often preceded by an unexpected situation that forces people to reevaluate aspects of their life and their belief systems. In extreme situations, this can produce a disorienting dilemma, an experience so profound and unexpected, that it can produce changes in people’s understanding of themselves, and potentially how they live their lives.

Anyone who has experienced a disorienting dilemma knows what I am talking about. The experience can provide stunning clarity to a challenging situation, or a clear view of what had previously been unseen.

There is a concept from antiquity that is helpful in understanding the link between “reckoning” and organization development. The ancient Greeks had two words for time. One is Chronos, which refers to chronological or sequential time. The other is Kairos which signifies a period or season; a moment of indeterminate time that appears with the right amount of force to cause something of significance to happen. Organization development is about Chronos; intentional and sustained processes for change over time. Reckoning is about Kairos; the right or opportune moment for change. And both matter.

My main purpose for linking organization development with reckoning is to expand ways of thinking about systemic problems in organizations, institutions, and society; to reinforce how people, acting together, can engage in processes that support innovative thinking that leads to real solutions to real problems. I want to develop a heightened appreciation for the complicated barriers to change along with a deepened empathy for the experiences of those who have been oppressed and disenfranchised. But most importantly, I do not want to miss this moment of reckoning.