Sometimes inspiration comes from the oddest of places for my blogs, so forgive me is this one is a little out there. Today I wanted to talk about change but using the analogy of a caterpillar’s metamorphosis. I think it’s actually a great analogy foar any company where they are undergoing large scale transformation or change.
I was talking a lovely snowy Sunday walk along the river here in St Albans and, as is my way, I was listening to a podcast – this time it was an interview with Bruce Lipton and he was talking about societal level humanity type change and he used this analogy and it just resonated with me on so many levels.
So let’s start with the caterpillar’s version of the experience.
The Monarch butterfly lays its eggs on the milkweed plant.
The day the eggs are laid – the plant is flush, green, full of leaves, and thriving with health.
Within few days of the caterpillar hatching they eat every leaf off the plant leaving just the stems. The caterpillar is so veracious it eats up its entire environment.
When there no more leaves – it goes into a chrysalis and turns into butterfly – emerging as an animal that has only the lightest of touches with its environment – the exact opposite of its previous incarnation as a caterpillar
“In order to be able to become a butterfly, the caterpillar has to fall apart completely, decompose down to its very essence, devoid of any shape or consciousness. It literally dies. There is nothing left of it. And from this liquid essence, the butterfly starts to put itself together, from scratch” – Kristin Vanlierde
What is happening inside that chrysalis as it undertakes that metamorphosis?
Well, a caterpillar (like any animal) is made up of trillions of cells. Whilst it’s a caterpillar there are lots of roles to fulfil as the it grows. There is food aplenty from the milkweed plant, there is processes of growing, moving, all the systems are working in harmony. Then comes the time that there is no more growth – the environment is now barren. So, into the chrysalis it goes – in there the structure starts to fall apart, cells turn into a soup – the old roles, processes and systems are breaking down and disappearing.
From that soup a set of cells called the imaginal cells start to organise themselves into a new structure. You see the imaginal cells – they have a vision of the future that is a butterfly. The cells of the old now start to contribute to the new and the butterfly emerges from the soup, ready to emerge from the chrysalis and fly away..
“Here’s the amazing thing: the caterpillar and the butterfly have the exact same DNA. They are the same organism but are receiving and responding to different organising signals”. – Bruce Lipton
Bringing it back to Us.
That’s where a lot of other companies are
The cells in the caterpillar are like the team who work in a company – we have roles we all play to ensure the survival of that company, we have food (money), we have processes, structures etc. At some point the environment we are in (traditional model of Financial Services) has become barren – there is no more growth or food available we cannot survive, we have to become a butterfly to continue to exist in the competitive market we are in. We have to go into the chrysalis. We have to break down the structures (mindset, culture, ways of working, processes), and rebuild new ones.
If we hold on to what we have today, then change is scary and hard. But if we can change our point of view, embrace the imaginal cells and focus on what is being built – something new and different is going to manifest itself.
“For in order for life to change, we need to change ourselves. But to live through a metamorphosis such as we claim we crave; we have to surrender everything.” – Kristin Vanlierde
Like the cells in the caterpillar we have 2 options – we can focus on what is breaking down, or on what is building up.
BREAKING DOWN:
If we persist in trying to hold onto what is breaking down – that’s a stressor – the structure we have known is not going to continue working the way it has, and if you consider yourself integrated into that (and we all are) then that’s stressful – seeking to survive and always looking out for the next aspect that will breakdown, constantly worried about how that may impact us. Stress is insidious - I’ve talked many times about the impact of stress – on our minds, bodies and all aspects of our lives. It’s the leading cause of death the world over, and something we all know we need to manage, especially at times like this when around us fear and isolation are abundant.
BUILDING UP:
But, if we can gain the awareness that the what is coming down is necessary to solve the problem – and that building something new is a required certainty – then we can redirect our attention to what is being built. That’s the profound difference. That isn’t stress, that’s hope. A vision for a brighter future – that brings health and vitality.
“The greatest gift that you have to give another is that of your own self-transformation” – Lao Tzu
Within many industry there are certain trends - like the adoption of Digital and Cloud technnologies, or DevOps ways of working that is heralding in a new age – not just in tech but in how businesses do business – it’s a transformation and anyone who doesn’t keep up with the pace, risks being unsustainable (like a caterpillar that doesn’t become a butterfly)
“if the cocoon bends and stays bent, the caterpillar is probably dead”
So, each of us has to decide – are we afraid because what we know is coming down? or hopeful because what is being built is taking us into a future we can thrive in, not just survive in?!
As with are caterpillar - we need to change – and for that to happen we first have to fall apart, so we can then come back together in a new way.
“I’d rather be this walking metamorphosis than having that old formed opinion about everything”. – Raul Seixas
If your company is going through a metamorphosis – we are in the chrysalis – we are transforming into a new company.
This path is the only one that offers opportunities for a new sustainable company.
The extent to which the whole company needs to adjust its view to embrace the new world is like waiting for the caterpillar cells in the soup to start to contribute to the imaginal new structures.
You need to be the imaginals – be part of setting the vision, the future and helping others to break away and start to build the new.
Everyone else needs to consciously choose to be part of the solution, not continue to hold onto the problem.
We need everyone to decide to take personal responsibility to educate themselves, to seek out where they need to breakdown a mindset, a process, an approach to enable it to be re-built and to seek out imaginals to help them achieve that.
We are a colony of trillions of cells – just waiting to become a butterfly….
“Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking, but a full-on metamorphosis” – Martha Beck
Until next week…
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