Why change?

Why change?

Why change? Caught in a constant cycle of change, the desire to stand still for a while to catch up is understandable but risky. Drivers for change come both from within the organisation and from the external environment, and they never cease. Innovation makes a product obsolete: abacus to slide rule to calculator to mobile app. Tastes change: no more brilliantine was bad for hair oil producers and antimacassar manufacturers alike.  The temptation to stay with the tried and tested is strong but complacency is dangerous. Failing to spot change and anticipate its consequences by diversifying or divesting early can decimate or destroy a company. Who now takes a separate camera on holiday? Who needs a physical roll of film to produce a physical photograph? What happened to their manufacturers?

Whether external or internal, changes  are within the organisation’s power to identify, tame and shape. Successful leaders create compelling reasons for change and implement it  effectively. Poorly articulated and ineptly managed  change can bring down ineffectual leaders.     

Assessing shifting environments starts the process of actively taking charge of change. Making sense of change for the organisation is a key leadership responsibility. Answering the questions about why we are doing this, what does this mean for the industry, for the company, for me, is a leadership task. That does not include pretending to exercise total control and possess complete knowledge. Colleagues will see through any pretence and game-playing, leading to cynicism and a loss of trust. Accepting uncertainty and learning to live with some ambiguity may be the first key lesson.        

Challenging assumptions is another key leadership skill. One assumption is that in a changing external environment, everyone is worse off. Your well-run, well-prepared, confident and adaptable  organisation is in fact far better placed not just to survive but to flourish.

Putting this into practise, how do you scan the horizon effectively? How do you win acceptance of change? 

Carve out thinking time. Being too involved in the daily detail dilutes leadership capability to watch for significant change as it unfolds.

Read beyond routine reports. Be prepared to be surprised and disconcerted.

Do something about your discoveries and your concerns. Ignoring uncomfortable information is unlikely to end well.

Accept that change fatigue is a genuine phenomenon and decide your organisation will be different. Acknowledge that each re-configuration is time-consuming and costly so explain, truthfully, why it is necessary. Allow time for one phase of change to settle before moving to the next. If that is genuinely impossible, explain the drivers for another round of upheaval. If you made a mistake, own up, apologise, say what you have learned and what will be different next time.  

Above all, keep communicating. Keep listening; assess which core messages are being understood and accepted. Repeat those to reinforce the message. Examine which messages are being rejected and why: too complicated? Wrong messenger? Untruthful? Re-write, re-cast, re-deliver. 

Some successful products, services, ways of working have genuinely outlived their usefulness. You made the best slide rules; their time is up. Your cameras and film once produced great photographs.     Acknowledge their excellence and celebrate their success as part of the change process. Skipping that step will lead to resentment and reduce receptivity to change.