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Now that your change is done…

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iStock_000010493824_Medium“This is a great moment, when you see, however, distant, the goal of your wondering. The thing which has been living in your imagination suddenly becomes a part of the tangible world.” Freya Stark

Let’s assume for a minute that you have successfully completed that really big change. Perhaps it was personal, perhaps organizational. It may have taken months, years, or more. Let out a sigh. As I wrote about last week, celebrate! Really celebrate!

But what else is important at the end of the change journey? Here are a few things I have learned along the way. [Read more…]

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Change Doesn’t Play by the Rules.

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iStock_000005310903MediumWe know this… Yet it seems to be one of the lessons we have to learn over and over and over and over again.

When it comes to big change, there are a very clear set of principles that we can apply. Things like:

  • Whether the change is perceived as positive or negative, there will be resistance; during large-scale change resistance is critical to building commitment.
  • Commitment must be orchestrated over time.
  • It is essential that you focus both on putting the things needed for success in place, and on making the necessary shifts in thinking and behaviors.
  • Sponsorship is based on who people look to for communications and consequences related to a specific change; it cannot be assigned

There are dozens of others; if you flip through my blog posts you will see them spelled out and illustrated.

But it is important to remember…these are principles, not rules. Change doesn’t unfold neatly. It doesn’t proceed according to plan. Methodologies can be directionally correct, but don’t let that fool you into attempting to follow them blindly.

You will make mistakes; it is inevitable. Decisions have to be made in the absence of adequate information; some of them will be wrong. “Fess up,” and make the necessary adjustments, the sooner the better. (Ironically, you may have to acknowledge the mistake even though you have inadequate information to be sure you are on the wrong track.)

You will be distracted. There are a lot of “bright, shiny objects” that can easily catch your attention. And, there will be unanticipated crises that will do likewise. Be careful; it’s easy for the change to “go off the rails” when this happens.

When faced with distractions, acknowledge them and let them go.

When faced with crisis, evaluate it in the context of the change. Whatever your role in the change, you cannot delegate it. Do you need to slow the change down; to defer decisions and/or actions, to redeploy resources? You may need to decide these things and act on them quickly… But decide and act, don’t default.

You will be worn down. Change drains us emotionally, physically, mentally. Be ready! Ensure that the others who are taking the journey are ready as well!

In 2007 I completed a Himalayan pilgrimage with several others from my yoga studio. This was to be a major change from my life in metropolitan New York City in many ways. It was planned as a series of treks requiring camping, with nights in between spent in guest houses. Our first trek took us from Hanuman chatti to Dodital and on to Sangam chatti. On the second day of this trek I wrote, “Sometimes, the only thought can be, Where do I plant my trekking pole? Where do I take my next step? Where do I plant my pole for the support that I need, and so it doesn’t become wedged? Where do I plant my foot so there is a place to plant my next foot. Even these thoughts sometimes just skim the consciousness.”

I had prepared in the gym for months. But I also prepared on the yoga mat, on my prayer/meditation bench, through reading, and in reflection.

Our journey had a series of planned “plateaus,” those evenings spent in guest houses. When we completed this first trek of three days, four of the twelve announced that they were leaving. While the reasons they gave varied, the reality was that they were not prepared emotionally, physically, and mentally for the challenges of this change. They spent the remainder of their time in India at a spa, an experience that was far less challenging–and far less of a change–than the remainder of us experienced.

Prepare, prepare those around you, and plan for the plateaus. Know where you are going…not just in your head, but in your heart and in your gut. Big change journeys, just like a Himalayan pilgrimage, will test you and all who are traveling with you. The ability to call on your internalized experience of the destination will help sustain you along the way. Prepare. Then let go of your expectations, and be present to the reality that unfolds.

What do you do to prepare for your change journeys?

 

 

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“Change on a Dime”

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Dime_Reverse_13“In this environment, we have to be able to change on a dime.” If you haven’t said it yourself, you’ve probably heard others saying it.

Whether in our personal lives or our work lives, it is clear that the volume, speed, and complexity of change continues to accelerate. Having the ability to “change on a dime” would clearly put you ahead of the competition in the marketplace, and keep you out “in front of the Joneses” in the neighborhood.

But is “changing on a dime” what you really want to strive for?

In order to answer this question, it’s necessary to look at the constraints that keep us from having–or exercising–this ability now. First and foremost are those things that stabilize our lives day-to-day. At work, we might refer to the organizational culture or the operating paradigm. At home, it is the family routines, lifestyle, or traditions.

I’ve written about these things extensively in past posts, most notably in Anchors, Aweigh. Much of the time, these anchors–whatever form they may take–are operating in the background. They provide us with the stability we need in order to focus on other things. We know which decisions to make on our own, which ones require consultation with others, and which ones are to be made by someone else. We know what behaviors are acceptable, and what behaviors are not. We know how to do what is expected of us, whether as the accountant, the CEO, the spouse, or the parent.

Our anchors, whatever they are, wherever they are, keep us in relative stasis. They keep us, our families, our organizations, and our communities (even our society) generally heading in what has been determined to be “the right direction.” The stronger the connection to any specific anchor, the more tightly it holds us in place.

Changing on a dime–if the change is significant–means changing our relationship to one or more of those tightly bound anchors. It means letting go of who we have been, what we have been doing, how we have been thinking, and becoming a different person or organization “in an instant.”

From this perspective, the best way to “change on a dime” is to be adrift, without anchors. Much like a leaf floating downstream, we can “go with the flow,” bobbing quickly through the rapids, and swirling slowly in the eddies.

Once you put even one anchor down, your ability to change instantly is at risk. It is not as easy to move across the country if you have a family, or own a house (or factory). But, having no anchors leaves us–quite literally–adrift.

Given that we as individuals, as well as our institutions, tend to be strongly anchored, changing intentionally requires us to reflect on our anchors. Which ones do we let go of; which ones do we realign our relationship to; which ones do we sustain? This reflection will slow us down–both as individuals and as organizations–at the same time as it helps us change wisely. And, this reflection, when done well, doesn’t happen “on a dime.”

So if changing on a dime is not, in fact, something to aspire to, how do we better position ourselves to be able to change more rapidly?

I have recently experienced a book that has proven to be a great tool for me in this regard. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeon is a book that is intended to be experienced, not just read. While the author focuses his writing at the individual level, the lessons he shares can apply to our organizations as well.

Future blogs will, no doubt, contain references to McKeown’s work. For now, let me highlight a few elements that address how we and our institutions can become more quickly adaptable to change.

According to McKeown, the nonessentialist seeks to be all things to all people, engages in the undisciplined pursuit of more, and lives a life that does not satisfy. The essentialist thinks less is better, engages in the disciplined pursuit of less, and lives a life that really matters.

What really matters to you as an individual? What really matters to your organization? What can you not say “No” to without damaging the core of who you are and what you do? Once you know what that is, it is time to begin saying “No” to all those other things whose weight you are carrying. And, it’s time to begin saying “No” to the change opportunities that come your way, but do not move you forward on your essential path.

McKeown’s message is, in some ways, a familiar one. “You can’t be all things to all people” is the popular saying. Jim Collins addressed it with his hedgehog model in Good to Great. Writers, programmers, project managers, designers, and many others learn, “It’s not complete when you can’t put anything else in, it’s complete when you can’t take anything else out.”

Taking this essentialist approach will not enable you to “change on a dime.” But it will free you of many of the anchors that are slowing you down now. And, fewer of the changes that appear on your horizon will warrant a second thought. Those factors alone–knowing what is essential, letting go of unnecessary anchors, and letting nonessential changes pass by–will  significantly increase the speed by which you can change when the essential opportunities present themselves.

What are your thoughts?

 

 

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When Organizations “Just Leave”

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iStock_000009672442SmallLast week’s post addressed individuals “just leaving” before having a clear picture of where they were going. When I began to write it, I thought that I had to focus the post on individuals since organizations don’t just leave. But, in their own way, they actually do. After all, “just leaving” is in the eye of the beholder.

While it may be an oversimplification, organizations are collections of people working together to deliver products or services; many, though not all, do so within the context of a broader vision and mission. Their products and/or services are delivered to specific markets.

Through this lens, an organization may choose to leave its people, its markets, one or more of its product/service lines, or even its vision and mission.

In early October 2003 an American airstrike hit a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Dozens of people were killed and injured, including several medical personnel serving on behalf of Doctors Without Borders. Reluctantly, the organization withdrew from Kunduz, leaving the war torn region grossly underserved. Sometimes, organizations–like individuals–find themselves in untenable situations that require an immediate retreat.

However, sometimes organizations “just leave” for economic reasons, and they do so in ways that create significant hardship for their people and the communities they are leaving. Factories are shuttered; storefronts are boarded up; offices are vacated. Jobs are eliminated, or are moved elsewhere. All too often, the announcements and the actions come after considerable analysis and planning in headquarters, but with little or no forewarning for those who will be affected. Generally, the law is obeyed, union contracts–if they exist–are complied with, personnel policies are adhered to. But the leaving is experienced as a negative failure at the local level. “They just left.”

To me, there is another way to “just leave” in this situation; it is one that I have recommended to clients in the past. Engage those being left in defining how to make the leaving a success. “How do we successfully end our operations here…successfully for you as employees, successfully for your families, successfully for the community, and successfully for us as an organization?” By returning a sense of control to those being impacted by the change, you are not only reducing the level of disruption they are feeling. You are also positively affecting how your brand will be seen. You are no longer “just leaving.”

There are times when organizations leave their product/service offerings. As a sometime photographer I experienced this first-hand about a decade ago. I used to shoot Scala, a black and white slide film, with my Minolta pro camera. In one year, Agfa, which manufactured Scala, went out of business, and Minolta merged with Konica; they left the field of photography altogether to focus on office products. Their leaving was understandable. Quite simply, digital photography was replacing film at all levels of the market; the industry was being shaken up from all directions.

I cannot speak to the experience of the employees when these two corporate departures took place; I can speak to the consumer experience. Initially I saw this as a negative change. I preferred film to digital, which does not capture black and  white the same way. I had thousands of dollars of lenses suitable for Minolta–but not other–camera bodies. (For those unfamiliar with photography, different manufacturers use different lens mounts, making it difficult, and expensive, to switch brands.) Yet, while the transition was uncomfortable, it proved to be manageable.

Scala film required special processing; there were perhaps a half-dozen labs in the country that developed it at the time. One by one they closed down their Scala darkrooms as the demand faded; as late as this spring there was still one available for those still shooting with the film.

Minolta sold all of its patents to Sony, which began developing digital camera bodies that could use Minolta lenses. Today, Sony’s digital cameras are highly regarded in the world of pro photographers. I still shoot with the Minolta lenses, along with some newer lenses manufactured by Sony. My digital camera bodies are made by Sony.

If your organization is planning to leave product/service lines, pay attention to the customer experience. Communicate with them; if possible, offer them paths to successfully transition to other ways of accomplishing what your products/services were providing to them. Leave, but don’t abandon your customers in the process.

Leaving your mission or vision is particularly challenging; beyond the products and services, these are what tie the organization to its employees and its external stakeholders.

Sometimes, the leaving is due to the vision having been fulfilled. As one example, some nonprofits whose mission was to achieve marriage equality have now closed their doors. Others have reframed their vision and mission to a broader equality perspective. In the former case, acknowledge those who have supported your pursuit of the mission, and do everything that you can to assist your employees in transitioning to other employment.

Whether you are a nonprofit or for profit, when the vision and/or mission change, it is important to acknowledge those who have supported you from outside, whatever that relationship might have been. Some may stay, while others may leave; they all warrant recognition. The same will be true of employees. When the organization’s purpose for being shifts, not everyone inside of it will want to remain. Once again, how you respond as an organization will say a great deal to them, as well as to others. Don’t demonize those who elect to not take the change journey; honor them for what the have given in the past, and support them in making their own changes in employment.

Sometimes organizations leave because their current paradigm is no longer serving their customers, their shareholders, and/or their employees. The following paraphrases the announcement of a large commercial bank that was shifting its paradigm; this was how they told their rank-and-file employees.

They began by stating the case for change. They then want on to say this.

We are closing the old commercial bank; we are opening a new one. It will be very different, as described earlier. As an employee of the old bank, you are invited to apply for a position at the new bank. We know that no one is fully qualified for these positions. For that reason, we are providing you with position descriptions, skills requirements, and professional development worksheets. When you interview for your new position, please be prepared to discuss your worksheet with the interviewer. That will allow us to know what we need to do to help you be successful in your new position.

I love to tell this story because it says so much about what it means to “do it right” when your organization is leaving in any way. It acknowledges the significance of the change. The case for change provided clear answers to questions such as “Why?” and “Why now?” By “closing the bank,” individual employees regained control of their future; they could make the decision as to whether they would leave or stay (apply for a position in the new bank), rather than waiting to see if they would be retained or terminated. It does not try to make people comfortable about the change; that would be disingenuous. Instead, it shows a strong commitment to helping people succeed despite their discomfort.

Finally, there is the story of a large technology-based company that was being acquired by another giant in its industry. As is the norm with major mergers and acquisitions, there is a significant time lag between announcement and closing (or not) of the deal while it undergoes regulatory review. During this time it is not unusual for the company being acquired to experience significant drops in productivity and quality as employees across the organization wonder about their future. Those who are most capable of transitioning to new jobs elsewhere will often do so, leaving the organization weaker in its ability to transition into the acquiring company.

In this case, the company being acquired did something different. They made use of the time to strengthen their internal ability to address change, a capability that would serve them well whether or not the deal was eventually completed. They put more than 1,000 of their most senior managers through a one-day workshop on leading during times of uncertainty. As a result, the company was able to sustain its performance levels, despite the discomfort that employees were experiencing.

Organizations do leave. When the do, unless the circumstances are unexpectedly dire, they should leave successfully. To leave successfully calls for looking at the human impact, not just the bottom line, and carefully considering that impact across stakeholder groups, as well as the organizational brand. It warrants finding ways to engage those affected so that they are able to regain a sense of control over their own fates. And–when possible–it is worth investing in preparing people for the inevitable disruption that they will experience with the change.

Have you experienced an organization leaving? Share it below.

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Is Your Change At Risk of Falling Into a Black Hole?

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iStock_000015267992MediumDr. Who and the Jedi have encountered black holes. But black holes aren’t just fictional. In astrophysics, they are described as “a geometrically defined region of spacetime exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing can escape from inside,” (Wikipedia).

There are black holes in change too…places in your organization where the change enters…but never gets out. Or, if something gets out, it isn’t your change.

If you have been through a few changes, you have seen the effect of black holes.

  • Your boss tells you to keep on doing things like you always have. Don’t worry about the change; he’ll take care of it.
  • You hear, “If you have time to do this the new way, okay… But first and foremost we need to keep our numbers up.”
  • You go to–or watch–the town hall with your boss. When the big change is announced, you look at one another. She shrugs her shoulders; it’s the first she’s heard about it too.
  • Your boss tells you that your department is being moved across the country; you are being asked to make the move as well. But the only way that your family–those who are really going to influence your decision–hear about what all of this means is from you when you come home. your employer never engages with them directly.
  • The line supervisor announces the change; the shop steward says, “Don’t bother changing.”
  • “The play is on.” When someone is watching, you make like the change is real. When they turn away, it’s “same old, same old.”

The bottom line when there is a black hole…if there is change further down the organization, it is not going to be the change you want. After all, how far were you ever willing to deviate from how your boss says you should be doing things just because his boss’s, boss’s boss said the organization should be doing them differently?

There are a myriad of ways that black holes show up during change.

There is one way to avoid them.

Enlist your key influencers. They may be sponsors, the line supervisors who give people direction day-to-day; the ones that communicate and provide consequences, both positive and negative. Or, they may be the influencers; the ones that everyone turns to in order to get their reading before deciding what to do…or not to do.

The sponsors are generally easy to identify. But don’t be fooled. In a union shop, the line supervisor may be the sponsor when things are stable; the shop steward may well become the sponsor when you roll out the change. When the change will significantly disrupt life at work, it may be the immediate supervisor; when the change will significantly disrupt life at home, it may well be the spouse, partner, significant other, or the entire family. It may be Mabel, employee # 3, who is a billing clerk, but has been at the hub of the influence wheel ever since employee # 4 was hired.

You cannot communicate around black holes; you need to close them. You need to enlist the person, or persons, who are causing them. Or, if they are employees, you need to remove them. Otherwise, from the black hole down, the change will fail. Black holes are every bit as fatal to changes as they are to stars and planets in the universe, to Dr. Who and the Tardis, and to the Jedi.

What have your black holes looked like? What did you do to close them? What happened if you didn’t? Comment below.

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Ready? Your Next Big Change Is Coming!

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iStock_000007574711verySmallI almost titled this post Death, Taxes, and Change. When Ben Franklin wrote that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain but death and taxes,” change generally came at a more leisurely pace. There were respites in between. The changes were for the most part far less complex. Though it might not have seemed so for those who were experiencing the changes back then, those were “the good old days.”

For you and me, a year or two from now (or perhaps sooner), today will be “the good old days.” There is another big change heading your way. It may be of your making, or not. It may be on your radar, or not. It may be business-related, or personal, or driven at the societal level. It’s unlikely that it will be the last.

Who knows what it will be. Who knows when it will get here. Who knows how it will disrupt your world, your worldview, your experience of life, of work, of… Who knows what its impact will be.

Get ready.

But how do you get ready for what is coming your way when you don’t know what it is?

That is one of the things that I love about change. As unknown as the change might be, how you respond to it is predictable. How I respond to it is predictable. How those around us respond to it is predictable. As I have written before, it doesn’t matter what the change is; it doesn’t matter where the change is; there are underlying patterns in the human response to change. Some of those patterns lead to success; others lead to failure.

The first thing you do to get ready is to learn those patterns. The good news is that in over four decades of this work, and close to three decades of intentionally learning the patterns, I have never had to “unlearn” any of them. Our understanding gets deeper, and broader. New patterns continue to emerge as we continue to research and experience change. But, even a fundamental understanding of the patterns is better than approaching each change like it is unique. Whatever that next change is that is heading your way, having an understanding of the human response patterns will stand you in good stead.

Next, ensure that those around you know the patterns.Those with whom you work should know them. Those to whom you report should know them. Those who report to you should know them.

But don’t stop there. your family, friends, and others in your communities should have an understanding of them. I am personally beginning to think about how to advocate for “change education” in school curricula. Perhaps your child is her high school valedictorian. She heads off to the Ivy League and suddenly finds herself in the middle of the pack…and unprepared for the change in status she experiences. Or, she is a state All Star in her sport and heads to college on an athletic scholarship only to sustain an injury that ends her ability to compete. Wouldn’t it be great if she knew how to navigate this difficult change journey, instead of being surprised and caught off guard by it? Our children, our families, our friends…none are immune to the disruption of change. Shouldn’t we all lessen the disruption by knowing what that experience will be like, and learning how to successfully navigate it?

Consciously develop your change skills. Understanding is necessary, but not sufficient. You understand that resistance is inevitable, even when people perceive a change as positive…but how do you respond to it? You understand that there is a difference between installing the components of a change and realizing its promised benefits…but how do you deliver realization? You understand that there is a replicable process for building commitment…but are you prepared to adhere to it?

Know that you will not succeed without courage and discipline. If big change were easy, everyone would be making it happen. They aren’t. Whether professional or personal, most big changes just don’t deliver what they have promised. The reasons are both simple to state, and challenging to address. First, those responsible for success don’t understand the underlying patterns. Second, even if they do, they don’t approach the change with the courage and the discipline necessary to do what is necessary, without exception, every time.

Learning the patterns of change doesn’t make you immune to the disruption change will cause in your life. By definition, that is what change does. However, it does decrease the level of that disruption by helping you know what to expect in terms of your own response and the response of others. And, it increases the odds that you will move through the change successfully.

What are you doing to prepare yourself and those around you for the next big change? Comment below.

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