Could there be a more succinct way of describing all of the living organisms individuals, business, customers, stakeholders and non-living components systems, policies, procedures, hardware to name but a few of the labels we attribute to running an organisation.
So often in change management one or more of these is overlooked as minor or unnecessary. And yet I believe all of them are interacting in their current state for a reason. Not necessarily a good, productive or healthy reason but a reason none the less. Broken systems will create, hire, adapt, work around or show symptoms of the inbalance impacting its ability to function as an efficient system.
When managing change this thinking may seem overwhelming. My approach however is rather to keep my eyes, ears, fingers and mind open during the changes. In this way you maintain a high degree of sensitivity to the subtle but related changes as they happen. Just as an ecosystem will work to rebalance itself over time, if us humans don't push it too far to begin with and keep out of the way.
Regular small changes interspersed with major shifts in direction are therefore my preferred implementation method. This thinking is somewhat similar to agile development which introduces a product in many small rapid iterations which are as independent as possible but contribute to the whole. Independence is key to keeping the whole system moving towards the desired end state while removing what any excuse for inaction. Too often people I observe people paralysed by not knowing where the right place to start is. Taking no action is worse than a small mistake. And if you make no mistakes you probably should just have thrown the original out and gone with your vision in one foul swoop!
Finally a note on planning. As an engineer we were always taught to know, analyse then act. Unfortunately the reality of change management is in my experience you are almost always acting without all the information, in a time poor environment which cannot wait for the analysis but demands action anyway. Recognising the decision paralysis that this leaves many intelligent people in is key, as is that pesky thing called gut instinct. For this reason analysis paralysis and incredible plans but a complete lack of action are all too common.
So my advice is take the information you can get, analyse what you can in the time and with the resources available and then act in small incremental steps with your senses on high alert for the shifts in the system you are tweaking. Then do it all again based on the change you see.
Some related thinking:
- Agile development
