Change, change management and leadership

Most change methodologies perpetuate the idea that if sufficiently well-planned and well-communicated, certain actions will lead us to our desired outcomes. But many research expeditions to find this nirvana have yet to uncover evidence of its existence.

Yet, despite this, we continue to trudge our way toward the mirage.

[NB: This post was originally written in October 2013]

I am preparing a presentation for the October Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) conference: http://www.aipm2014.com.au/. This will be interesting as I am not a project manager, so I intend to talk about change management. The title of the presentation is: Sleepwalking through turbulence: Some thoughts on change, change management, and leadership.

What follows was prepared to introduce my presentation to the AIPM audience. It generated some interesting conversation.

The presentation is based on five (loose) propositions about change, change management, and leadership. Thoughts and observations on the following are welcome.

Change, adaptation, evolution, revolution, development, adjustment, shift, transition, innovation, modification, and variation are all aspects of our daily lives, the lives of our families, and our relationships with others. We manage the twists and turns of these interactions dynamically. We work with the flow of daily life. It is only when it comes to managing organisations that change becomes a process in which we feel compelled to actively plan and guide others through a staged and linear sequence.

The impression is one of change as something we do to an organisation. It positions us all as the ‘mechanics of change’. It suggests that we have managerial control over events and outcomes. The idea of managerial control over events does not seem to bear close scrutiny.

When faced with the vastness of the organisational change management undertaking, control is a mirage that gives us comfort and sanctuary. It suggests that the nirvana of purposeful, leader-led, and risk-minimised intervention is available to us all.

Most change methodologies perpetuate the idea that if sufficiently well-planned and well-communicated, certain actions will lead us to our desired outcomes. But many research expeditions to find this nirvana have yet to uncover evidence of its existence. Yet, despite this, we continue to trudge our way toward the mirage.

We are watchful but unseeing. We are sure of our direction but have yet to determine why we are going there. We know, but we are not questioning. We are sleepwalking.

So, what to do then?

We need a way to approach the issues of change, change management, and leadership in a way that works with people, work, and organisation as it is rather than how we would prefer it to be.

I do not make any claims to have new or unique insights. It is not my intention to present you with a new mirage. Instead, I offer five propositions that might help us to challenge the assumptions and norms of change management together. [To add to the unsatisfactory nature of my approach, I still need to explain what I mean by the propositions here. They are open to interpretation and reflection.]

Proposition One. Organisational stability is the norm, so ‘managing’ organisational change only makes sense when responding to turbulence.

Proposition Two. We put a substantial amount of effort into maintaining the architecture of our ‘culture’ without acknowledging that ‘culture’ inhabits the people rather than organisations.

Proposition Three. In managing change, despite our experience, we think about time as a clock (linear and even) and not as an experience (bendy and uneven).

Proposition Four. Resilience (organisational, team and individual) is central to adapting to change. We understand resilience through a sense of scale and an awareness of boundaries.

Proposition Five. People are the shock absorbers of change, so the primary role of leaders responding to change is not to control but rather to make meaning out of uncertainty for others.

These are not astonishing or new (maybe they are not propositions) but might be a helpful stimulus for reflecting on change, change management, and leadership.