The Corporate Butterfly Effect.

Imagine a world where everything matters. Every action has a reaction, and every splash causes a ripple. Your impact has the potential to change the lives and destinies of total strangers all around that world. You can’t predict those changes however you can be sure that they will take place sooner or later.

We live in that world, you and me. At this precise moment, we are connected. I may be influencing you – in the smallest way possible, but every drop in the emotional ocean counts for something. I might for example randomly suggest that you go and check just how much of the Great Barrier Reef has disappeared this year…. You’re probably far too busy to do it now, but the thought will be filed away in your long-term memory only to be recovered at a suitable point. Some of the Brits reading this might be taken by the first letters of the three words Great Barrier Reef…. GBR. They might think about seeing those letters on their national sailing boat, connecting such thoughts about the pollution of our oceans and checking out a story about the state of the Olympic sailing venue in Brazil next year. In any case, some of you may be more likely to pick up some litter that washes up on the beach next time you visit.

You can’t predict the outcomes of your actions. They have potentially infinite ramifications, and one thing is for certain, each individual action will have its own impact. It is fair to suppose that the more positive actions might have (on balance) a more positive impact and the negative actions may have the opposite effect. This rule won’t always hold true, but let’s assume that good begets good more often than not.

How, therefore, might this play out in your work environment?

The first thing to mention is that your work environment is an enclosed world of its own. The consequences of your actions bounce around in a far smaller space than in the wider world, and they will affect people that you know far more often than not. It doesn’t matter if there are 100 or 1000 staff; the butterfly effect will be magnified more than you realise.

The second thing to consider is that the consequences of your actions are not always traceable back to you, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be responsible for them. Ignoring a colleague when they asked for help could bring down a project like a house of cards. Refusing to attend a meeting could cost your company dearly without your crucial piece of insight. Deleting a cold email approach without reading it could be the difference between surviving an economic downturn and going under.

As always, there is a question of judgement. You can’t do everything for everyone, but if everyone were just that little more mindful of the consequences of their actions for those around them, the corporate butterfly effect would work in their favour.

I suppose that you could also call it karma – remember what goes around comes around.