A paradigm shift is an awesome thing; it is a a change in the basic assumptions.

People often become stagnate. Left to our own self destruction we can tend to stick ourselves in status-quo situations avoiding any disturbance. It is comfortable... It is the way we have always done it... Why change - it works?... The list could go on for some time.

Often, you will find that in some organizations with no new introduced - the cycle continues to spin and spin without any clear next direction. New may come in the form of staff, equipment, departments, etc. New can also come from books, audio or some other text/audio method. If we do not continue to press forward, we are surely falling behind. There are some jobs that are very habitual by nature of the process but that does not mean you should not look for a new point of view.

Let me share a quick example. Once there was a training session where we had to build a space ship. The supplies were handed out and that was the only supply you were allowed to use. I am sure we could have bartered between one-another, but that was not the real core concept. The rules were that it must fly, and hold people. I watched people take tap and make the coolest airplanes. Some even did the special tail holds and tapes. Some used the paperclip to weight the front so that the plan would go further. Everyone took extra time to color, and use the proper supplies. Some even made little people that sat in the plane, while others drew people on the paper showing illustration of carrying people. This must have been a 3 hour event (exaggeration) but it did feel like it. While I am watching everyone use the pipe cleaners, tape, paper, markets, rubber bands, I see several flights take off. While others crashed terribly. I still did not touch my plane. The teacher, at that time,  started to wonder a bit when I do not participate. At the last minute, I drew a couple of people on the paper. I then proceeded to roll the paper up into a ball. I tossed the round space ship and it soared across the room actually winning the competition. It was a different way of thinking.

Lastly, I will leave you with my favorite point of view / paradigm shift passages - coming from Covey.

Covey opened with a story of Captain Horatio Hornblower.  As the story goes, one night at sea, Horatio awakens to find that a ship is in his sea-lane about 20 miles away and refuses to move.  Horatio commands the other ship to move starboard, 20 degrees at once.  The other ship refuses and tells Horatio that he should move his ship starboard, 20 degrees at once.  Next, Horatio tries to pull rank and size on the other ship, stating that he's a captain and that he's on a large battle ship.  The other ship replies, and it turns out it's not actually a ship, but a lighthouse.(http://sourcesofinsight.com/lessons-learned-from-stephen-covey/)

Are you the boat communicating to the lighthouse? Are you the lighthouse operator trying to send a message?

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