Rethinking Change Management

I understand the need for structured change management support on large scale programs and projects, but we cannot approach the ongoing transformation and change of our organisations in a fast changing, uncertain environment in the same way.

We have to start with the premise that organisations are complex social enterprises made up of not-so-perfect human beings. This has huge implications in how we manage ongoing change. It means that things are messy and emerging – something very few of us are comfortable with. It means that we work with stories people tell and narratives that emerge over time that cannot be perfectly diagnosed and planned and controlled. Changing through power and logic simply does not work.

Here are my thoughts on how to approach this:

• Create a strong shared identity for people: “We are all in this together” and “we are the culture” rather than “they are changing”, “the culture needs to change”.
• We need to promote dialogue and change the conversations and narratives if we want the organisation to transform and change.
• We need to co-create, through multiple perspectives, an ideal future, purpose and common aspirations.
• Change up the communication approach. Strong visual images of the ideal future and the journey helps everyone understand the story better.
• Human centred design needs to be used as a practice to truly listen to all perspectives and prototype and test solutions with feedback loops to ensure optimal design. Use lean principles for your ongoing leadership of change – just in time solutions and emergent, continuous improvement by everyone.
• The Leadership Culture needs to change to that of a Collaborative-Transformative one where leaders are teachers/learners, integrators, focusers and story tellers. Leaders need to be self-authoring and not bound to socialised mindsets where they operate out of fear of not being liked, fear of failure, the need for control and the like. They need to be clear about their purpose, their values, their mindsets and their goals and they need to be open to their assumptions being challenged.
• Leaders that lead in this way also know how to regulate the heat between excessive stability and anarchy and they provide enough challenge and enough support for the change to happen, but they never let up on the urgency and momentum required. They know that not everyone will feel comfortable during a major change and they can move forward with empathy anyway. They are also brutal on stopping things that are not aligned to the future or takes resources and time away from new priorities. In fact, what we have found most successful is to roll out leadership development programs that use the change issues as real time learning events for leaders.

In the words of Michael Osbaldeston: “Leaders need to learn to dance on a shifting carpet. Stumble, or learn to dance! It is your choice.”