5 Things I Really Believe About Change Management

Organizations are in constant need of changing what they do and how they do it.  

There is a generally accepted formula for change managememt that includes steps such as:

• Setting a compelling vision
• Chartering teams: executive sponsors, project teams, issue teams
• Communicating to increase awareness
• Getting short term wins to maintain momentum
• measuring results
• Integrating changes into the way that business is done

Ok, we all agree on this, but what’s underneath successful transformations?  What do we really believe?  What levers do we push when the change stalls?

Well, I’ve asked myself these questions and I’ve reviewed my work over the last decade.  I found there are some things deep inside of me that I believe.  I consolidated these into five core beliefs.  Here they are in shorthand to increase readability.  

    1.    Change Is A Function Of Resources: 

Change does not happen through good will.  Change is directly related to the amount and intensity of resources applied to it.  The corollary is that an organization’s immune system cannot fight concentrated resources.

To disrupt organizational inertia you need to dedicate resources outside the normal rhythm of the business.  Don’t “repurpose” resources and don’t let subordinate managers control change budgets.

Transformation requires that leaders make different decisions.  This can't happen with the resource allocation rules that are designed to protect the ongoing business.

2. Don’t Fight The Organization's DNA:  

Companies are successful because they have a DNA, a culture.  You need to understand this DNA if you expect to change the organization.  You need to know what the organization can be; not what it wants to be.

IBM transformed by selling off what it was and buying what it wanted to be.   That’s a great strategy if you have the leadership, resources, perseverance, and commitment to pull it off.  Most organizations don't.  Doing the “adjacent possible” is more realistic than “making the impossible, possible.”

Work on the right changes, not those driven by ego.  

3. Poke Someone In The Eye:  

The worst words in the transformation business are: integration, collaboration, and cooperation.  These are words of passive resistance.  You’re about to be coopted.

I'm not advocating nastiness, but I am advocating “discomfort.”  If people are comfortable they’re not thinking; if they’re not thinking they are not changing.

Leading change is tough work.  You must be an irritant - even if that puts you at risk.

4. Managers Resist Change – Not Employees:  

Employees do their jobs until they are clear about the alternative.  Not so for managers.  Managers are vested in the status quo.  They enforce rules that ensure: efficiency, consistency, and low risk.  

Sometimes “change management” comes down to “change – management.”  In reality many transformations rely on cycling people out of the middle of the organization to allow those with untainted ideas to rise and participate.

Move quickly on resisters.  Removing a band-aid involves the same amount of pain whether you rip it off quickly or peel it off slowly.

5. Change Is Not A Journey:  

It fascinates me that we tell clients that change is accelerating exponentially.  In the next breath we tell them that transformation is a long journey and not to expect short term results.  You’ve got to be kidding?

We need to prove ourselves everyday by contributing to: new and incremental revenues, increased customer loyalty, and improvements in the cost structure.  

If you're not providing value everyday then you become part of the furniture.  You’ll be eliminated as executives become fatigued.

So, there you have it.  Those are the core beliefs that drive me when consulting on organization transformation.

However, as my mentor used to say: “that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”

What do you believe drives organization transformation?