The Snack BOxD: January Digest - How to make big change stick

This is the?Snack BOxD, a highly digestible digest from me, Nenuca, CEO at?Better Organizations by Design (BOxD) . Every month I send a round-up of ideas and?insights on how to create healthy, high performing organizations. If you like this kind of thing or found me by accident, get your snack on and?subscribe here .?

On the menu this month:??How to make big change stick.

This is going to be a tough year for predictions. So I wanted to share a practice I've adopted. If it helps you too, that would make me genuinely happy.?

New Year resolutions are a lovely idea. Commitment to change, belief in one’s ability to reset and renew… this is something I can really get behind!?

But New Year’s resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep, because they focus on external behaviors, rather than the root of those behaviors.??

That’s why I'm focusing on words, or themes, to guide my choices throughout the year.?As my choices change, so too shall I.?

Mine for this year are:

1. Wisdom to make high impact, sound decisions this year.
2. Strength to follow through on those decisions, and to do things I may not want to do but I know are good for me.
3. Self-Compassion for when I inevitably mess up.

My family and I reflected on our themes for the year while we were together over the holidays. Here's some of us with our words:

Why did I pick words instead of goals??

Because the kinds of challenges I want to tackle are adaptive challenges, not technical problems. Technical problems lend themselves to SMART goals. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound).?

Adaptive challenges are a little trickier. Here’s a chart that compares these two categories:

Yes, you can take medication to lower your blood pressure. This is a technical solution. The adaptive challenge is to change your lifestyle by eating healthy, exercising more, and practicing mindfulness to lower stress levels.?

What are your technical problems for 2023? What are the adaptive challenges you need help with??

The kinds of problems we solve at BOxD are almost exclusively adaptive challenges. We help leaders do deep, systems-level work to reimagine the way work is done, and actually change it at scale.?

This year, don’t set yourself up for failure with an impossible New Year’s resolution. Pick a word or a theme to develop, and start thinking long term.?

And whatever words you pick, may they help you create the life you want for yourself– and the kind of organization you want to lead.

How to lead through big change without sacrificing results

As a leader (nay, simply as a person in the world), you know that change is inevitable. And hard.?

In an organizational context, change can manifest in a lot of different ways:?

• Layoffs or reduced headcount
• New “time saving” technologies
• A shift in strategy to deliver more value to customers
• Updated ways of collaborating with colleagues
• Transitions in leadership
• Mergers and acquisitions

You probably also intuitively know that you can?change by disaster?or?change by design. You can either be ready to move through changes like a surfer navigating waves, or in the face of the waves you can simply hold your breath and prepare for impact.??

Which version do you prefer?

How to have the best meeting ever

‘Tis the season for big meetings! Ditch the Top 40 tunes for your next offsite and unlock your team’s full creative potential with our curated playlist. Our playlist has been designed and curated by behavioral psychologists to maximize different kinds of creative output to meet your unique meeting goals.

What We're Reading

When Diet Culture Comes to Work?

Before you launch that 2023 workplace fitness challenge, please give this episode of Work Appropriate a listen. What can you do when your workplace cafeteria has calorie counts posted everywhere? How can you have a frank conversation about accommodations for work travel when you have a larger body? Stay curious and keep an open mind as you listen to Virginia Sole-Smith and Anne Helen Peterson in dialogue about this topic.?

LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise 2023: 25 U.S. roles that are growing in demand

LinkedIn just released a list of jobs on the rise, and here are the ones that caught my attention:?

#2 - HR Analytics Managers

#3 - D&I Manager

#5 - Employee Experience Manager

#15 - Chief People Officer

#19 - Sales Compensation Manager

#21 - Head of Total Rewards?

If you are hiring any of these roles at your company, please hear me out– you?must?ensure your organization is?appropriately designed?to get the most out of these roles’ impact. If you're having an employee experience problem, hiring a dedicated manager to address this is only ONE variable in the equation for success.

If you're having problems attracting and retaining diverse talent, please know that hiring a D&I manager without having your organization designed for inclusion is a disaster waiting to happen. Check out our?Org Design For Inclusion ?guide to learn more, and feel free to?contact me directly ?if you want to explore what I’m talking about in the context of your team or organization.

*Sources

*Heifetz & Laurie, 1997 - “The Work of Leadership” - Harvard Business Review

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