Unraveling the rubber band ball of leading change
The first story. Late one evening, about six months into a company transformation effort, I approached a team member’s empty desk to drop off a document. In the middle of his precisely ordered desktop was a message clip holding a 3x5 index card. I picked up the card colored in red marker on both sides. These words embellished the front of the card: Something done. Also, on the back: Find closure wherever you can.
Before raising his hand to help change a culture and company, this leader had been successfully delivering multi-million-dollar interiors for Cessna Citation jet aircraft for over a decade. Days filled with tangible accomplishment were now spent in the vague universe of helping transform a 75-year old culture with process maps and marginally less skeptical employees the only evidence of his progress.
The second story, told by the late and great Dr. Michael Hammer, is a helpful one for change leaders. He noted that 20% of the people are on board from day one. These are the folks that raise their hand and ask how they can help. Another 20% are incorrigible skeptics unlikely to support the change. The middle 60% are making up their minds whether to join the first or second group. The primary responsibility of a change leader, Dr. Hammer noted, is to keep the middle 60 away from the bottom 20.
The common misconception that everyone needs to accept, commit, and engage in a change effort for it to be successful is not accurate. The reality is that some percentage of the team, made up of formal and informal thought leaders must commit and engage to drive the success. The vast majority of people, even in the lower 20%, will not actively resist. Most resistance is passive, arguably neither helping or hurting the cause. Most will learn the new processes and systems and competently perform their jobs. Some will choose a different path and voluntarily leave the business. A few will continue to resist and be asked to leave. These employees decide that the new way of working isn’t for them. This is normal.
Leading during a transformation is the hardest thing you will ever do at work. It is frustrating, painfully slow, exhausting, and filled with more ambiguity than most are comfortable living with over a period of weeks and months. This is normal.
Change leaders spend time commiserating long after others have left for the day. This is normal.
They ponder what to try next to reach a reluctant leader and how to say the right thing to an audience of peers that will connect them to the vision. They wonder how to support people who appear to be resisters, but who may only need more information to help them understand. They will frequently question why they signed up for this duty. In time, they often decide that doing the work is about making a difference, becoming a role model, creating a long-lasting organization, and building a culture that they are excited to call their own. This is normal.
The effort may not always succeed in changing the culture, but it will, 100% of the time, transform every change leader.
My advice is to embrace the importance of the work you are doing and connect with the motive of leading to make things better for the people and the company. Take regular breaks to clear your mind and get away from the fray (i.e., long weekends, long walks, long runs, Long John Silver’s), and take the work but not yourself too seriously.
Takeaway: It’s essential and necessary work, and it’s not going away. Leaders that step up to do what’s uncomfortable, unpopular, and critical to an organization to achieve its potential are role models of courageous leadership. I’ve yet to meet an organization that had too many of these.
And what else?
You can learn more about David Porter Advisors by visiting our website here. I’m ready to have the right conversation when you are. We’ll both walk away with something learned.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 329,974+ people.
Subscribe to receive our top stories here.
