Make change stick using 4 levels of systems thinking

Instead of looking at your single change initiative can you look at change from the perspective of the entire system? You introduced a change in technology, policy, culture, and what implications it had for everything else that already existed in the organization. Typically, when clients call me, it's because they implemented a change and then noticed that people are not consistently either adopting or demonstrating the behaviors that were part of that change. When we look at those events, as a single event we almost end up reacting with a solution that acts as a Band-Aid as compared to a long-term solution because what we are fixing there are symptoms and not the root cause.

May I invite you to think about a layer deeper? Can you start identifying patterns of when these events were occurring? When you look at patterns over time, you can anticipate when the next occurrence will be. When you watch that anomalous behavior or you watch that people are creating their own ways to bypass the expectations that you have around the new policy or technology you start seeing patterns of when those events were occurring. That's when you design a solution that will have a lasting impact.

If you want true transformation such that you don't want to keep fixing this issue of poor adoption or inconsistent adoption of that change that's when you start looking at the system, the mindset level issues. Things around people's beliefs and values. What are those beliefs that are shaping the expectations that are translating into the behavior that may at the surface, seem like resistance or lack of memory because people forgot the process, but those are beliefs that are guiding their actual actions that create the inconsistencies regarding the adoption of change?

Let me give you an example of how that manifested. One of the organizations I've worked with created a new organizational strategy where one of the key strategic initiatives was going to make sure there was equitable access to the professional development for all employees in the organization. Before the organizational strategy was implemented, every department managed its own funds. No one outside of the department monitored or interfered with who was obtaining professional development, who was completing mandatory training, or who was accessing resources for conferences and so on, so forth.

The implementation strategy involved centralizing all the funds into corporate learning to ensure equitable access for all employees. This centralization led to a corporate learning department that became responsible for managing all of that process to ensure equity. The change was implemented with a solid communication plan, consideration of time needed by people to learn the new process, and patience to make sure that they were following the rules. Nevertheless, even after six months of going through the process there still existed inconsistencies of what appeared to be random people across different departments that were resistant to the proposed changes.

They said it was too difficult, it was too time-consuming, all the things that either was about, "I don't understand why this is important. I don't understand why this needs to be done." At first instance when you look at that it seems quite disjointed. Typically, we do expect people to resist change. We do expect that some people may take longer to adopt a change but when we started noticing that this was quite specific to individuals that in the past had disproportionate access of funds for ... they took the initiative to go to conferences that would advance their career. They were taking the initiative to go for professional development courses that extended beyond their mandatory requirements.

These people had a belief that because they were taking initiative, way more than their peers, that they deserved to be supported by their organization. It was not until we addressed this belief that we were able to make sure that they understood what it meant for the organization to equitably support every employee. This was the power of seeing the leverage that comes when you make sure that you know at which level you should intervene.

Sometimes a surface-level solution works but lasting change very often requires a change of mindset and mental models. These are things people have grown up with for a very long time.

I invite you that the next time you see anomaly to your change adoption consider this model and see at what point the problem may be occurring. I'm hopeful that once you start relooking at the patterns, not only will you be able to anticipate when these anomalies will occur, but you will be able to identify deeper issues that may be leading to these behaviors.

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Sandeep Aujla is a change strategist and speaker. She partners with leaders responsible for creating impactful changes in their organizations. She is passionate about finding “a better way” for doing everything. Sandeep teaches the Human Dynamics of Change Management ? program to build change leadership capabilities of those leading and managing change in organizations across organizational levels. She also delivers thought-provoking keynotes to inspire audiences to think differently.

Connect with Sandeep at https://www.multilevelleaders.com or email [email protected]