It is almost time to flip the calendar to a new year. It’s an opportune time to reflect on what goals have been achieved and what changes need to be made.
If you are like most small businesses, being nimble in a changing marketplace just goes with the territory. The old adage of “the only constant in life is change” is even more true today.
Therefore, it’s important to have a good understanding of how to manage change.
Where could you start?
I’d suggest looking at the book, “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World.” The book’s three authors, Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky, teach leadership at Harvard University and do consulting work around the world.
Here are three ideas in their book that caught my eye:
The change myth
For the authors, it isn’t that people don’t like change. They write, “people love change when they know it is a good thing. No one gives back a winning lottery ticket. What people resist is not change per se, but loss.”
That loss may have to do with status, identity, competence or wealth. Your job is diagnosing the extent of the loss, what your staff will accept and working with them through that change.
This diagnostic skillset is also important for your management team to develop. They’ll likely have a better understanding of the impact any change will have with front-line staff.
Technical problems vs. adaptive challenges
First, a couple of definitions.
The authors define technical problems as problems with “known solutions that can be implemented by current know-how.” For example, your company has a clear solution when you need to resolve a customer complaint.
Adaptive challenges will cause “changes in your employee’s beliefs, habits and loyalties.” In other words, people’s behavior or attitudes must shift in order to solve the challenge. One example might be implementing a new accounting system that significantly alters processes and staff’s role in supporting that work. You may need to work through how staff will feel about the value of their work with a more automated system.
Heifetz, Grashow and Linksky argue that the “most common cause of failure in leadership is produced by treating adaptive challenges as if they were technical problems.”
To drive this point home, they cite the case of someone who has had open heart surgery. The doctor can tell the patient they need to eat better, exercise, stop smoking, etc. The doctor explains a proven solution for living a healthier life, yet because those new habits are often a big change for people, the compliance rate for such patients is just 20 percent.
Leadership vs. authority
The authors believe leadership is very different from using authority. You can use your authority, yet never exercise leadership. Pulling the “do it because I’m the boss card” only goes so far and isn’t effective over the long run.
They suggest that leadership is really about challenging the status quo, raising taboo issues and pointing out contradictions — and instilling this philosophy throughout your organization.
This can be hard for small business owners, since it’s easy to feel there is no one that knows your business as well as you. But remember, there is great value in creating a culture where there is robust debate on the direction of your company and your ideas.
You’ll find that “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership” is really a workbook with useful exercises, tools and cases. Not of all their ideas will apply to your company since the book is written for a wide range of organizations, both big and small, but their work will make you think and consider new possibilities.
Change is a-coming. Will you be ready?
Pat Sisneros is the Vice President of College Services at Everett Community College and a former small business owner. Please send your comments to psisneros@everettcc.edu
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