Change - Turning the Aircraft Carrier
• Change is pain. Organizational change is unexpectedly difficult because it provokes sensations of physiological discomfort.
• Behaviorism doesn’t work. Change efforts based on incentive and threat (the carrot and the stick) rarely succeed in the long run.
• Humanism is overrated. In practice, the conventional empathic approach of connection and persuasion doesn’t sufficiently engage people.
• Focus is power. The act of paying attention creates chemical and physical changes in the brain.
• Expectation shapes reality. People’s preconceptions have a significant impact on what they perceive.
• Attention density shapes identity. Repeated, purposeful, and focused attention can lead to long-lasting personal evolution.
from The Neuroscience of Leadership
Change is hard. Getting the entire organization - or even a part of it - to accept and adopt change is not easy. Not only is there all the complexity of the modern business and technology climate, but cultural change, process, and organizational maturity come to play as well.
Change is probably the most difficult aspect of moving forward. People are comfortable with the status quo, and often don’t know why they should change the things that they have always done that have worked in the past.
This is fine - if you are in an industry with no competition, have a product can never be improved, or a career that has no future.
If you are NOT one of the above, and you are still not experiencing change, you are ignoring the competition - if not the ones you know, then the ones you don’t. Your product is being obsoleted, and your skills are growing stale.
Understanding markets, products, strategy, and customers, are all essential parts of starting cultural change. It is not about product - it is ALL about people.
With all this against making change work, how have we been consistently effective? A compelling and consistent set of decision values, broadly supported, and uniformly applied, and in line with attaining corporate goals. Sounds easy? In some ways it is, but providing an approach to consistent applications of these values is the trick.
We can help with taking your organization through the cultural change required to move forward. Our unique proven approach provides a sustainable process for implementing repeatable change for the long term.
Making Change Happen
Friday, October 20, 2006
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