ABSTRACT
I once looked out of my window into the garden below and watched my cat and a dog who regularly visited go through a familiar script. The cat was running down the garden with the dog in pursuit. It was the normal story and, depending on whether you look at it from the cat’s point of view or the dog’s, you might describe it as either “the cat ran so the dog chased it” or “the dog ran so the cat fled”. At the bottom of the garden my cat suddenly stopped. A second or so later the dog also stopped, looking very bewildered. It was as if the dog were saying “come on now, this isn’t in the script — you run, I chase!” In a way, my cat had introduced a difference into the relationship and the dog’s reaction indicated that he had also taken it as receiving news of a difference (Bateson 1973). The relationship between my cat and the dog seemed to change after that, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether change had partly come about because of the difference introduced by the cat. For the most part, I would suggest that we do not change when we are on ‘auto-pilot’, we only change when difference is introduced in a way which makes us less certain of the position we hold. Most people do not change if they feel certain about something. This new handover system is a way of introducing a difference which may make a difference in the quality of work 16between colleagues and their clients.
