The Tentacles of Our Ways – Why Change is So Hard

Someone asked me the question, "why is change so hard?" I thought I would share my response with you. Your thoughts?

We might like to think that change initiatives will go smoothly if we have and implement a good and detailed plan. The plan is critical, for sure, but is rarely the driver for success because change involves more than going from A to B. Change is hard because it requires hundreds of trigger flips and culture change.

There are many behavioral or belief trigger points of change adoption for each affected individual including initial acceptance of the idea, understanding of the plan, how our work will be affected, our feelings and beliefs about the change, and the specifics of each change as they are implemented. As these triggers are flipped, we move forward in the transition process. If due to resistance, lack of clarity, or operational challenges a trigger does not flip, then we may become stuck in the old way. As William Bridges wrote in Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, “to begin you must first end.” When a trigger fails to flip, transition slows or stops. Multiply this by many triggers and employees and it is a miracle that change ever occurs.

Change does happen, however, and is often accompanied by a supporting workplace culture change. As change leaders, it is useful to think of a change initiative as creating a new reality or shifting the organizational culture. Every large change – even something as seemingly straightforward as a new software system – involves changing what people do (tasks, roles, structures), how they do it (processes and habits), and why they do it (beliefs and values). These three categories correspond to the layers of organizational culture as defined by John Kotter and James Heskett in Corporate Culture and Performance. To change culture, we must affect and align all three layers. If all we do is change what we do, new practices will eventually be in conflict with the culture and we will begin reverting back to the old way (the obesity problem in America is a great example of this – the “what” is usually quite clear to people and they change habits for a time, but many do not realign their values and beliefs to sustain and support change).  Our efforts to implement change will be more successful if we reach all three layers and especially the inner layer of values and beliefs. As Simon Sinek wrote in his book, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, people follow because they believe what you believe. Change requires many willing followers (see his TED talk here).

Change occurs through emergent, not reductionist practices. Individual triggers of change adoption and cultural elements are linked and co-dependent like meshed and far-reaching tentacles. What’s the message for change leaders? Create an integrated plan, engage and enroll employees in the “why,” and attend to as many trigger points as you can. Think nonlinear. Think messy. Think terrier-like persistence required here. Think wonderfully human and the hardest work you will ever love.

Comments

[Steve t2]

Great post.

I think one thing people struggle with is the transition. If it's a change to a process or way of conducting a service, the old way of doing things still has to continue while the new way is adopted. It'd be easier to switch everything off and switch it back on again when you're ready, but depending on the industry/company, it may not be that simple.

I think another reason change is hard is because it's seen as an admission of defeat, particularly over here in the UK. If a company is making changes based on someone else's work, that someone else may become threatened or worried that they're being shown up as a failure. Unfortunately some people will carry on regardless - refusing to change - because they're worried about how it will look if the changes are indeed hugely beneficial to the company. Which is a shame, and foolish...

[lisa haneberg]

Steve - you are so right that change is made even harder because the breaks between old and new are rarely clean or complete. In addition, we all deal with multiple changes. It is amazing to me that we can get it done.

It is a shame that people see changes to THEIR previous practices as a threat or failure. We all need to be reinvented - either by ourselves or others. So perhaps the best thing to do is take the bull by the horns and be the one to reinvent our ways. Then we will have both failed and re-succeeded! Everything we do is today's version 3.0 in a word of infinite revisions.

[Anna Smith]

I liked this metaphor I read on Terri Griffith's blog: "Organizations are like giant container ships. They are governed by natural forces. I see managing around their mass as more effective than trying to change the laws of physics. [Abolishing incrementalism is the key to our success.]" - I don't want to take it out of context, so here is the link: terrigriffith.com/blog/dont-fire-all-managers

[Dwayne Melancon]

Another thing I've noticed is that leadership teams sometimes try to move too fast. In my experience, I've been part of teams that spend a lot of time thinking & planning to roll out changes to the rest of the organization, then get frustrated because the rest of the org "isn't engaged."

We forget that we've had a couple of months to get used to the changes, think through them, etc. but this is all new to everyone else.

I've had some success in engaging an "advisory" team made up of influencers in the rest of the company to get them on board prior to the rollout and they then help as coaches to get the rest of the org through the change.

That, and reminding ourselves to be more patient, has been a big help.

[Esther Ewing]

I think that this post gets it right -change is hard. One kind of change that is tricky is when a manager goes to take over an existing team. Managers will encounter this at several times through their careers. One of the most simple and yet overlooked ways to break the ice in this situation is to have the team ask the new manager some very basic questions, such as “what do you do for fun outside of work?” “where were you born?” Sounds simple but it works. Here’s a story of how one manager used this approach to great success: http://bit.ly/sueV2F

[SEO]

All you say is right. Furthermore, we often tend to underestimate how hard change will be when we are alone to make this change!

[David Bueford]

Trust is a key ingredient of change. Your more likely to take an unknown path with someone you trust rather than a well define path with someone you don't.

http://www.leanplanet.org/

[Gianluca Gaggioli]

"Change should be a friend. It should happen by plan, not by accident."
Phil Crosby