Develop Urgency — a Key to Leading Transformational Change

In January 2019, I took the first step on a transformational personal journey. For three years, I had been suffering from back issues that at points were limiting my ability to sit for longer stretches, carry home groceries, or get on a plane. On top of that, I lacked energy, had gained several unnecessary kilos, and generally felt out of shape. I knew that my current state conflicted with the life I wanted to live for the sake of my family, friends, and the work I’m so passionate about.

Even with all of that understanding, I wasn’t able to get myself into a regular training routine. I didn’t think I had the time or commitment.

Then my wife gave me a perfect birthday gift. Ten weekly meetings with a personal trainer named Paul. Meetings that would come to change my life.

Urgency is not an automatic product of the need for change

The knowledge that our current state is less than healthy, whether in our personal lives or our organizations, doesn’t necessarily create the needed sense of urgency. A lung cancer diagnosis will not automatically cause the patient to stop smoking.

An organization that is experiencing a rapid decline doesn’t necessarily challenge the status quo. A team that is suffering an unhealthy dynamic can go on for years without ever questioning it.

For change to happen, we need a strong sense of urgency. However, a sense of urgency is not the automatic outcome of a real need to change. Too often, we instead find ourselves in a state of complacency.

Why urgency matters

Stepping into 2020, I know many of you, as leaders, face a real need for significant organizational change, whether that means championing a new vision initiative, innovating new methods, or changing a culture that has become unhealthy or stagnant.

To succeed, you have to develop a strong sense of urgency.

Leadership Professor John Kotter, the author of Leading Change, has spent a lot of time studying the reasons why change efforts fail. He concluded that the:

“single biggest error people make when they try to change” is that “they did not create a high enough sense of urgency among enough people to set the stage for making a challenging leap into some new direction.”

Urgency is, according to Kotter, both thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Thoughts — understanding that there are significant hazards and a great opportunity at the same time. Feelings— “a gut-level determination” that we’re going to do something to win, and we must do it now. Behavior — going to work every day with a determination to make it happen.

Clarify the hazard and the opportunity — building gut-level determination

In my first meeting with Paul, he put me through a meticulous health and fitness analysis. I now not only had a vague, nondescript feeling of deteriorating health but clear facts on paper. I had to admit to myself that the path I was on would not take me in the desired direction.

However, Paul didn’t stop there. He showed me that I could become fit and healthy and live a life unhindered by back issues. A vision that would have seemed impossible before crystallized — to be in the best shape of my life before I turn forty.

A client we’ve had the privilege to serve throughout 2019 contacted us with a growing sense that aspects of their culture needed to change for them to continue to be successful and be the best employer in the industry. As we met their senior leadership team and listened to their picture of culture strengths and challenges, we decided together to involve and listen to the employees.

Surveying hundreds of employees with open-ended questions, we built a deeper understanding of the needed change and a vast amount of stories that conveyed emotions. We presented the culture analysis at a meeting with all leaders in the company in attendance.

The room grew silent as we read responses from employees and the conclusions we had drawn based on their input.

As we asked the leaders to reflect on what they had heard, they responded with urgency and determination that this culture change was vital and meaningful. That it would take a lot of work to change, but that they believed it would be worth it all. As a result of an in-depth understanding of their current culture and opportunity for a different future, they were eager to get to work.

Institutionalizing urgency through behavior

If Paul would have stopped with the analysis and the vision, it still wouldn’t have led to any significant change. Instead, he created a system of weekly accountability and helped me institute behavior that was in line with the vision. I was now intentionally building my internal sense of urgency, week by week.

The leaders took the breakdown of the analysis to their departments., having candid conversations and learning from each other’s experiences. They also decided on a few critical behaviors they would focus their joint efforts on and continually follow up to develop their culture and bring change. The senior leadership kept making sure that the culture change process was on top of the agenda in every key meeting.

When we gathered the whole leadership again, almost six months after the first meeting, it was evident that their sense of urgency had only grown, and that they had now developed strong ownership for the needed change.

Experiencing results

Looking back at 2019, I have experienced a change in my health beyond my wildest dreams. I lost a lot of weight, but more than that, I’m now able to move and exercise in a way that

I would never have believed possible (even planning to take part in an obstacle course race for fun, before I turn forty next year).

Having recently become the dad of child number two — a very active baby boy — I’m incredibly grateful that my energy has increased.

Reviving urgency

However, I’ve learned both through my health journey and through professional experiences that you have to revive urgency continually, to avoid slipping into complacency.

One of our clients was going through a painful process of challenging unhealthy aspects of their culture a few years ago. I remember the exact moment when I sensed that they were in danger of becoming complacent and moving ahead without dealing with the inner heart issues they had uncovered. I challenged them to revive the urgency by remembering why the change was vital. They did. The client told me recently with confidence that if they had stopped there, they wouldn’t have survived as an organization today.

Conclusion

As we enter a new decade, let’s fight complacency and build urgency with intentionality. If the vision we see and the future we imagine is important enough, it will all be worth it!