Do you plan change?
Change is an unpredictable balance…
When I first announced an event on this topic, I got quite a bit of glee along the lines of “you stupid or what”. Well – I will of course maintain that I am not, in fact, stupid. And I will explain, same as I did then, why I am actually bringing up the question.
For one – have you ever been in a professional environment where there are change managers and change management projects complete with budgets, milestones and KPI monitoring? Yes, you heard about that? Well, it might suggest to the unsuspecting onlooker that change, in fact can be mapped out same as the next product launch. I mean, they do apply the same methods and metrics. So why not? Playing devil’s advocate here, please don’t quit quite yet 😉
Adding to that – how many of us have set out on a venture in our groups (be it family, chosen or otherwise, friends, sports, other peers) saying “I am going to change the way we do things here”, fully intending to have a different and predetermined outcome in the end? Sound familiar? Were we trying to plan change? Maybe *whistles innocently…
So here’s how I propose we look both at change and at planning change:
It’s totally feasible to look at a situation wanting to change the parameters – the way your peer group does certain things does not reflect who you personally and the group any more. Maybe you’re not all single and students anymore and the staying after training for a beer or more works less and less. Maybe you have an idea on how to keep the group together and make it work with the new circumstances. That’s what I would call planning the parameters of change. You have narrowed down what could be changed and you have a proposal.
Given the fact that we can only influence our own actions and not that of other people (unless we fancy ourselves dictators), there is a strong possibility that people will have opinions on your proposal. Some will like it, some will not for whatever reasons, some will accept it, some will not. The whole situation will most likely create a dynamic that you might have guessed at, but may still remain somewhat unpredictable. And with this uncertainty there’s a high probability that the result that is one you had not planned for. Of course, there’s also the off-chance that you get your desired outcome. Which is great, congratulations! Just maybe don’t take it for granted when you’re doing this again!
Let’s take a corporate environment as things are slightly different. While there is still no such thing as dictatorship, at least last I looked, there are ways called motivational factors to entice people into accepting a proposal. Absolutely true. Also true is the fact that people who don’t like your proposal have the opportunity to quit outright or internally.
In the former case, you will have to rehire and while you might have the desired outcome on paper, it is likely that it’s not entirely what you wanted, because you might have just lost expertise.
In the latter case, the internal quitting, be prepared to spend ages implementing your desired outcome – it will be slow going.
To sum it up so far, basically, the answer to planning change is an ambivalent yes and no:
YES – it is entirely possible to plan for and set the parameters of change.
NO – it is nearly impossible to lock in on ONE desired outcome.
Of course, there’s a lot that can be done to mitigate this. More on this in an upcoming blog post. Stay tuned!
Here’s more on Change…
I totally get how paying a compliment will make us feel better – us as the ones paying the compliment. And I also get how the assumption comes about that the recipient will feel better, too. After all, we are full of good intentions – and intend to “spread the love and positivity”.
How do we make sure that the recipient will indeed feel the love - and not resentment, anger or worse? Let's find out!