by Derek Olsen
A couple of weeks ago I was floating downriver in an open kayak, when suddenly I was rolled over and dumped into the water. Although I remembered to float feet-first on my back, I'm inexperienced swimming in rapids and I wanted to get quickly back into the kayak.
My first instinct was to try to stand up in the river -- a painful mistake. Because I was clenching my double-blade paddle with one hand, I had only one arm with which to swim for the kayak, which was getting further away. The paddle caught the current and pulled me under, but I held on tight. If I let go, I reasoned, I wouldn't be able to steer the kayak once back in it. (Plus, I didn't want to buy a new paddle.)
Finally, I knew that I wasn't getting back into the kayak, and I wanted out of the river. I needed both my arms free to swim to shore, so I had to let go of the paddle.
We use Otto Scharmer's Theory U model in our work with leaders to expand their capacity for withstanding unpredictability and uncertainty, and to help them let go of the desire to control. Letting go -- of control, of agendas, of the past, of preconceived answers -- is central to the model. Letting go of fear, judgment, and cynicism is a doorway to letting the truest answers emerge from pure presence.
My fear of being in the water drove my futile attempt to get quickly back into the kayak. If I had chosen to relax and stay calm, I could've simply floated along and enjoyed the ride until the current carried me past the rapids.
Change can be like the current in the river. It knocks us down and drags us under if we try to stand in one place, but if we're willing to ride through the chaos there will be calm again on the other side. Like my trusty paddle, we hang onto things long past their usefulness.
The solution for me was to let go and stop struggling. I later recovered the kayak in a calm spot downriver.
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