rel="nofollow" href="#n10" type="note">10 that explains why so many change initiatives have failed. The first law is “How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them.” The writers point out that the organization's “default future,” which, we as individuals just know in our bones, will happen – will be made to happen. Thus, in an organization with a systemic problem, the organization's staff will be driven to make initiatives fail so that the default future prevails.
They went on to say that is why the more you change the more you stay the same. The key to change is to recreate, in the organization's staff minds, a new vision of the future – let's call it an invented future.
Zaffron and Logan signal the importance of language (the second law), without language we would not have a past or a future. It is the ability to use language that enables us to categorize thoughts as either the past or the future. Without language we would be like the cat on the mat, sunning itself for yet another afternoon, thinking about the next meal but without the ability to process complex thought.
They then say in order to make change, we need to use a future-based language (the third law). It is interesting; if you listen to the outstanding orators of the past such as Sir Winston Churchill, you will hear future-based language at work. These great speakers knew, intuitively, about the power of future-based language.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
HARRY MILLS
Harry Mills, a multiple business book author, has written extensively about persuasion.11 In his recent work, The Aha! Advantage,12 he talks about the significance of self-persuasion.
“Self-persuasion is fundamentally more powerful than direct persuasion essentially because of the way it reduces resistance.”
Mills talks about the four faces of the Aha! moment, as shown in Exhibit 2.1, the point when your audience gets the message and now persuades itself to adopt the message as if it was their own.
EXHIBIT 2.1 The four faces of the Aha! moment
Source: The Mills Group
Mills' work is very consistent with Zaffron and Logan. We need to get the staff in the organization to have for themselves that Aha! moment, that “Hell, no! We do not want the default future.” When the staff come to this point, change is inevitable.
This means we need to structure our workshops so there is more involvement, more chance for staff to have that Aha! moment, and less dogmatic rhetoric about the facts.
JOHN KOTTER
In 1996, John Kotter published Leading Change,13 which quickly became the seminal work in the field of change management. He pointed out that effecting change – real, transformative change – is hard. Kotter proposed an eight-stage process for creating major change, a clear map to follow when persuading an organization to move. I will discuss each Kotter stage while at the same time embedding Saffron & Logan and Harry Mills' thinking. If you follow these stages, you will increase the chances of change projects many fold.
Establish a sense of urgency– Here we need to appeal both to the intellectual and the emotional sides of the executive team. There are two stages. First, ambush the CEO with a compelling elevator pitch so you get to stage two. Second, deliver a masterful sales presentation of around 15 to 20 minutes, aimed at obtaining permission to run a focus group to assess, validate, and scope the proposed initiative.
Create a guiding coalition– In every organization you have oracles, those individuals everyone refers you to when you need something answered (e.g., “You need to talk to Pat”). These oracles exist right across the organization and might hold seemingly unimportant positions. Do not be fooled.
An investment at this stage is paramount. In one case study, an organization held three two-week workshops that were designed to progress their planning tool implementation. Yes, that is six weeks of workshops. The CEO was present for part of each of the workshops and the wisdom from the oracles was channeled by an expert facilitator into a successful blueprint for the project.
No project will ever succeed without a guiding coalition of oracles behind it. In The Three Laws of Performance, Zaffron and Logan point out that when you present the “burning platform” you are aiming for an overwhelming “Hell, no!” response upon asking the question, “Do you want the default future?” The oracles want the alternative future, which you have also articulated.
However, Mills has warned us to be patient, give time for the staff to discuss, think, and mull over the content. In most cases a two day workshop will be more beneficial in giving staff time to let self-persuasion work.
Develop a vision and strategy– In order for the journey to be seen and resources made available, we must master future-based language that is compelling and motivational. As mentioned, Zaffron and Logan have signified the importance of language (the second law) and that it is crucial that you talk using a future-based language (the third law).
Communicate the change vision– Kotter emphasized that it's not likely that you will under-communicate a little bit; you will probably under-communicate a lot, by a factor of 10 to 100 times. This will undermine your initiative, no matter how well planned. During a project, the project leader needs to obtain permission from the CEO to gate crash any gathering in the organization and have a 10-minute slot to outline the project and progress to date. One surefire way to failure is to believe that staff will read your project newsletters and emails.
Empower broad-based action– Early on the need for change and the right to change must be handed over to teams within the organization. Zaffron and Logan concur with this view. Once the invented future is set in the minds of the organization's staff, the staff will march toward this future. All the great writers have emphasized that some chaos is good, so let teams embrace the project in their own way.
Generate quick wins– Obvious to us all but frequently missed. Always remember that senior management is, on occasion, inflicted by attention deficit disorder. Progress in a methodical and introverted way at your peril. We need easy wins, celebrated extrovertly, and we need to ensure we set up the CEO to score the easy goals.
Consolidate gains and produce more change– This is the flywheel affect so well put by Jim Collins in his books, Built to Last14 and Good to Great.15 When the staff are working in unison the flywheel of change will turn quicker and quicker. This was very evident in the planning tool implementation case study featured in Chapter 4.
Anchor new approaches in the culture– Make heroes of the change agents, make sure their values are embedded in the corporate values, and now ensure you weed out those in management who have not embraced the change and who, over time, will be dowsing the fire at night when nobody is looking.
SELLING TO THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM
The process of getting the
Harry Mills,
Harry Mills,
Jim Collins, Jerry Porras,
Jim Collins,
