‘But with the greatest respect, I found your feedback unsubtle to say the least’
‘Sorry, but I’ve done my best to derive something positive from your proposal.’
You’ll recognise the situation: the conversation is polite. You don’t raise your voice and he doesn’t start swearing. Nobody needs to dial 911. But you know your relationship has cooled off.
I have two guests. A white one and a flecked one.
They are residing in a small hutch. I can’t bear to see it. I go to the DIY store and buy a folding rabbit-run. I assemble it, attach it to the hutch and open the small hutch door.
Nothing happens.
Not so long ago I came across this sentence in a management book:
“People are generally opposing their own ideas far less frequently”
I let this sink in for a while. Now I realise what was disturbing me.
It’s an ambition you regularly encounter in organisations: being the best. Ranking highest on the list. Reaching the Champions League.
I grant any organisation the feeling of euphoria if they are recognised as being the best. But I wouldn’t easily advise people to choose this as the ambition to change. This is because of the following paradox: the more you aim to be it, the less you will succeed.
‘Never Judge a Man Until You’ve Walked a Mile In His Shoes, sang Elvis in 1968.
If this was true, I might as well close my business. Because I have made it my business to help top and middle managers but have never been one myself.
It seems a truism to me that a change can only succeed if it is supported by people. When they show commitment to the change.
However, I still see in practice that there are change leaders who settle for a situation where people do not support the change. When they show the ‘desired’ behaviour, but only because they feel there is no room for doing something else. When they show compliance to the change.
The desire to become a learning organisation takes a prominent position in many plans for change. However, I’ve noticed that this aim for change rarely leads to action. What’s more, it seems to have the effect of a self-denying prophecy. The aim for a learning organisation gets in the way of learning itself.
I wondered how this is possible. And it became clear to me that aiming for a learning organisation is surrounded by three burdens.
Many authors on change management have throught about what makes change successful. So have I. This has resulted in several models consisting of forces, drivers, habits, keys or sources. And naturally, all these models are related.
Organisational change has many aspects. It is varied, challenging, unpredictable and enervating. And it’s never ending.
But is it fun?