Change: Thrive On It Or Leave It In The Tip Jar - Part 1: Where I am Coming From

WHERE I AM COMING FROM:

I don't need to tell you that the world is changing at an ever increasing speed. And I certainly don't need to tell you that because of this people need to adopt different ways of handling change, ways of proactively embracing and it to thrive – not just at work but in life.

But what does that take?

It takes a special learned DNA, not to just accept that change is inevitable but to thrive on it. These DNA strands are learned behaviors – we can all do it. And, these strands can be activated to create a culture that thrives on change.

Wanting to lean into change not shy away from it requires evolving the emotions with which we approach change – from fear, trepidation and loathing to excitement, optimism and pure joy. Now that doesn’t mean blindly jumping , without processes and self-discipline. But it does mean changing our orientation.

Over the past 35+ years I have worked for a variety of global and local companies and through it all I have always considered myself to be what is fashionably referred to as a “change agent” -- a rather trendy piece of nomenclature lots of people like me want to self define themselves as. My Google search in May 2019 turned up 1.47 Billion results for change ! I have also considered myself a leader who champions the fresh thinking of others; “leading transformational change” as so many now refer to it in all the business publications. “Transformational change” turned up 26.9 million mentions in my recent Google search!

But these shouldn’t be trendy topics, thriving on change should be something we all do. Why? Because to paraphrase the old adage, change is inevitable the only question is whether you keep up with it or let it pass you by? “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves” Leo Tolstoy. This is crucial thriving on change. To embrace change and become a change agent you have to learn how to constantly change yourself.

Besides, change should be fun, exhilarating, stimulating and the stuff that keeps our heads and hearts pumping – after all don’t you feel that experiencing the same thing / doing the same thing over and over again day in and day out is boring and can be down right stifling. True in business and in personal relationships.

How many times have you heard people lament that their relationships have become stale, lacking excitement and newness. HMM, sounds just like an organizational culture that hasn’t embraced evolution and change, remaining in a state of stasis – just doing the same thing they have always done. Here’s where my own personal mantra comes in, “What got us here won’t get us there”. But I digress, back to the essence of creating a culture that thrives on change.

When I talk about being a change agent I don’t mean merely a provocateur that stirs the pot and leaves the chaos they created for others to tidy up. I don’t mean someone who is just good at creating disruption. That’s just creating noise in the ecosystem, not evolving the ecosystem.

When I refer to a change agent I am referring to someone who has clear “how to” ideas

•  Has clear ideas for how to evolve an organization to capitalize on changing conditions – specific initiatives;
• Has specific ideas for how to implement initiatives in their organizations that will achieve that change without creating chaos; and
• Has ideas about how to co opt enough people in the organization to pick up the charge that change actually gets implemented

I have always tried to demonstrate to bosses, colleagues, my teams and clients that even though my jobs were primarily billed as strategy jobs (e.g., Chief Strategist, Managing Director Strategic Services, etc.), developing strategies is the easy (ier) part. To achieve change you need to have clear ideas about how to implement it and enough believers to want to execute it - seeing what it takes to bring strategy to life in meaningful tangible initiatives, convincing others that these initiatives are worthy of pursuit and then inspiring these people to implement them is the hard part. To paraphrase another old adage, “It’s a lot harder to get people to walk the walk than just talk the talk.”

I remember being very disturbed when the Head of Citigroup’s Global Consumer Group said she was going to unveil our consumer strategy on “Investor Day when all of the investors and our competitors came to what we were up to in the coming year. Growing up in the ad business I was always taught never, ever your strategy with others. So, I could hardly contain myself when she showed me the presentation she was going to give and she knew it. At some point she turned to me and said, “Relax Tim, remember you always tell me the strategy is the easier part, the hard part is having the guts and the stamina to execute it” Of course, she was right.

A final comment here about creating a culture that thrives on change. You cannot do it successfully from the outside. Consultancies and agencies can help you see what could be but this is an inside . Cultures are created by the people within them, not by outsiders. So if you are hoping that your communications partner, your partner or your business consultants will do the heavy lifting, forget about it. Having spent many years working for a communications company (Grey Global) believing I/we could do that, I can tell you I was wrong, we couldn’t and you can’t. Your partners can help you see things you didn’t before, crystalize new ideas; create great workflows and processes, fabulous product designs and brilliant ad campaigns. But they cannot change your culture. You can only do that from within. And the truth is, because change requires you to do different things, it means more work which many people shy away from it. And, it is much easier to say no to dismiss the ideas of an outsider, an insider can keep coming back.

If you to read on, if you are looking for lots of complex charts, journey and the like, I am afraid you will be disappointed. I have stayed clear of these because I feel they can distract you from focusing on what it really takes to embrace change – the human part -- a belief , a set of values/personality traits and a set of actions that form the basis for creating and sustaining a culture that embraces change. Besides, there are already a bunch of books and papers that provide these things.

What I will with you here comes from my experiences as a practitioner in companies trying to affect change from within – both as a change and a leader championing change. I think some of what I have to say may sound similar and complementary to the work John Kotter* has published based on his work at Harvard and his Kotter Leadership Institute or what Darrell Rigby** and others from Bain have frequently written about. The difference is that most of my thoughts come from living change on the inside of an organization not coaching from the wings. While both are important they yield different perspectives because they are experiencing organizational change from different vantage points.

Pending your response to this piece I will publish the next few chapters re my thoughts on what it takes to be Leaders and Team Members who embrace change as well as how to quickly spot an organization that thrives on change.

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*In particular see Kotter, J., Leading Change, (2012) for good thinking and process charts

** Rigby, D. numerous articles and books published by Harvard