WHY CALLS FOR CHANGE DON’T WORK
- A challenge by @NeilDenny
Change in 2014?
First a look back at 2013
NEVER GOT
GOING/SIMPLYSTALLED
Never got going• Black hole debates that crush ideas• Deferential to existing authority or practices• Inbuilt structures ensure inertia• Committees/`Sign off’/Evidence based• Reactive devaluation• Change is not your responsibility• Overwhelm
Never got going• “Everything we need is right here.”• Ostracise innovators• Inexperience/Past failures/Non compliance• Defensiveness• Invalidate criticism – “Okay, so what is the
answer then?”• Stories and scars – institutionalised and
individual
The change simulacrum
[ ]sim-u-la-crum n Something that replaces reality with its representation
The change simulacrum
[ ]Con-fer-ence-s q.
Stalled• Ground down by the grind• The flight to health • Re-assimilation – “It’s not so different.”• The Ghettoed Innovation – “What? That? Oh,
that’s Neil’s thing.”• Premature resolution – “What it is, right…”
Stalled• Previously granted authority is withdrawn or
becomes ambiguous or illusory• We are trying to implement change at wrong
level – individual, team or organisation• Sabotage – intentional and unintentional• Obfuscation inc Recurrent objections• Failure to acknowledge interests and loss
Condemning criticism
Condemning criticism
We condone mediocrity and
make excuses for each other’s non-
compliance
While a majority of firms will vote to
proclaim standards, they will usually not
vote to enforce them
David Maister, Strategy and the Fat Smoker
Case study?
distress
t i m e
Adapted from Ronald Heifetz’ The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
distress
t i m e
X
Adapted from Ronald Heifetz’ The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
distress
t i m e
X
Adapted from Ronald Heifetz’ The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
distress
t i m e
X
Alleviate distress• Refer to authority• Quick fix – technical solution• Work avoidance including • scapegoating• minimising challenge• flight to health• proxy conflicts
Adapted from Ronald Heifetz’ The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
distress
t i m e
XMaintain productive levels of distress
Adapted from Ronald Heifetz’ The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
distress
t i m e
X
Adapted from Ronald Heifetz’ The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
distress
t i m e
X
Adapted from Ronald Heifetz’ The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
Change to survive Change to thrive
Technical Adaptive
Preserve status quo Ongoing disruption
Responsibility is deferred to others through granting of authority
Responsibility is handed back to the constituents themselves
Change as little as possible
“Move fast and break things” -Mark ZuckerbergRinse. Repeat.
Change competencies?Make difficult questions the habit
-to ask and to be asked!• Stretches tolerance for distress• Leads us into conflicted spaces• Disrupts aversion tactics• Redistributes responsibility back to
constituents
Change competencies?
• Encourage dissenting voices – “The canaries in the coalmine” (Ronald Heifetz)
• Put the freaks up front – learn to love your mavericks
• Shift from individualistic to systemic thinking• Reflective practice
3 ideas• Embrace `Not knowing’ as a fertile playground• Deliberately search out complexity and
resistance • Develop iterative change processes
OBSERVE
INTERPRETEXPERIMENT
www.theleagueofnotknowing.com
Neil doesn’t pretend to
have all the answers (or any of them necessarily)
He challenges me to be
more creative and take
greater risks with my own
vulnerabilities
t: 07815 727693e: [email protected]
Twitter @neildennywww.allLD.co.uk