I’m constantly reminded that people don’t resist change as much as they resist uncertainty. When I first began to lead larger workshops, I quickly learned that I needed to give very clear directions for group activities. How did I know when they were unclear? Just when I expected the group to begin, they would all stay where they were…looking uncomfortable.
In my role of advisor to complex firms, I frequently see a close analogue of this play out among senior leaders. Many leaders who have ascended the leadership ladder have gotten to the upper rungs by driving hard connections to results and using critical thinking and optimization to make decisions. This serves the stakeholders and shareholders of the firm well, as it guides them towards forecastable, repeatable results.
This pattern of emphasis also moves the firm towards more and more specialized and customized approaches, resources and equipment to serve a very specific niche. This level of specialization becomes a liability, however, when there is an economic or demand shift on the firm.
This is when every leadership lesson ever earned will scream PAUSE – causing the leader to wait for a validated next step before moving on. And this is precisely why Clay Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma is absolutely valid and plays out in industry after industry.
Getting Clarity is the Job
I had a conversation with a C-level leader recently who could envision the clear benefits of a process change that she had researched significantly. She had done the end state work well – setting up a clear picture of where they wanted to be and what the operating model would look like “after.”
She has had similar conversations with me a number of times over the last few months, and I gently reminded her that these savings could be accumulating on their balance sheet if we had gone after them when they were first identified.
So then why is this still on the “to be done” list? This leader, like many in large complex firms, has built a deep “future state” point of view, that until you can see the precise path, you wait. It’s in the waiting where the vulnerability builds up.
The reason, is that because every day this process continues to run, it produces substandard results that become the benchmark for the people who create them. When these benchmarks go unchallenged, they become deep patterns of acceptance that are very hard to change. This powerful anchoring affects current employees as well as new staff that might be brought on.
The Path
Just as a firm takes a structured approach to developing new products and services, it needs to also take a very structured approach to enveloping the path. The STRIDE framework that I have developed is a very useful tool in helping firms collaboratively move through the uncertainty and get the anticipated results flowing. The framework provides space for powerful planning and testing of the new state, then lays out a three-step implementation path once the business case has been established.
A subtle but very important element of STRIDE is to complete it cooperatively, that is to develop the approach to installing the new process using the very people that need to utilize it.
This allows a triple win:
- The foundation is firm: There are no gaps in the management chain when it comes to doing the investigation of this new approach. This ensures that the “fact base” is complete and doesn’t have the fiction that can so easily creep in when the work is attempted in an abstract way by people who are not actually at runaway level with the work.
- The plan is complete: Developing the path for exactly how we get from today to the new way is richer and more detailed. We are able to have clear scenario tradeoff discussions and have valid and relevant approaches to many potential objections that would normally be invisible.
- There is a built-in head start: Instead of needing to equip a “change management team” when it comes time to execute, the key stakeholders have already bought in to the program – giving the roll out a head start.
This moves the uncertainty barrier from a blockade to a benefit by allowing the work of change identification and leadership to be done concurrently with the development of leaders and subject matter experts in the new technique. Once a cross-functional team has had a chance to work a project or two on this path, they take these skills into their day-to-day leadership with great benefit.
Time to Get Started?
If you have a strong candidate for a collaborative solution, it would be great to talk. I’m happy to share the nuts and bolts of how to go from uncertainty to a clear path and help you get connected to the results you’ve identified.
Feel free to reach out to me at (847) 651-1014, or use this link to set up a no-strings-attached 20-minute call. We’ll roll up our sleeves and get right to it.
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