Death, Taxes, and Change
The old adage is that there are two constants in this world, death and taxes. We need to update this adage with one more constant: change.
The funny thing about these constants (not in a “ha, ha” sense) is that humans have challenging relationships with each one. We routinely avoid conversations about death–opting instead to imagine that we’ll live forever–burying our heads in the sand regarding our fragility and limited time on our pale blue dot until it’s too late to do or say the truly important stuff. We don’t write down our wishes, avoid completing health care advance directives, and leave our loved ones with a huge mess because we didn’t develop a legally-binding will or trust.
To say we have a complicated relationship with taxes is an understatement. We love to hate the idea of taxation and work extraordinarily hard–to the point of contortion–to avoid or minimize our tax burden throughout our lives. We rail against governmental inefficiency, argue endlessly about the appropriate balance between “big” and “small” government, and put our thumbs on the scales of the programs that have meaning to us at the expense of programs that help groups we don’t care about or can’t relate to.
My $0.02 to help reframe the narrative around taxes is that they are the primary mechanism for community support and that constructive dialog around the use of limited resources is highly beneficial. Unfortunately, constructive dialog and consensus-building are in short supply these days, and we instead fall easily into the trap of partisan bickering and obstruction–neither of which is helpful to build community support mechanisms that work for society as a whole. After all, we’re all in this together, are global citizens of the same pale blue dot, and must work collaboratively to fairly and equitably allocate our precious, limited resources. To imagine that taxes should only work for you or the affinity groups that align with a specific way of thinking is folly at best.
Alas, I could go on talking about death and taxes, but we’re here to chat about the importance of developing a deeper understanding of the third constant, change.
Why is Change so Important?
Change is everywhere. Change is necessary. On balance, change is good. Change for the sake of change is bad and represents a significant form of waste. As a part of our continuous improvement practice, we should keep a vigilant eye out for unnecessary change.
Continuing with the theme of our complicated relationship with change, the important thing to note is that most humans abhor it. That’s right, we avoid change like the devil. Similar to death and taxes, we contort our lives and go to extraordinary lengths to keep things just the way they are. In the face of change we don’t understand, we rally around messages and leaders who falsely promise a return to simpler times. As time marches inexorably on, the only things that can send us backward are a nuclear winter, a massive solar flare, or some other scorched earth natural disaster–all things that most rational humans want to avoid.
Interestingly, death and change are connected to one another. How? In my book, Balancing Act: Teach, Coach, Mentor, Inspire, I introduce the concept of entropy. Put simply, entropy–which is technically based on the second law of thermodynamics–states that over time, and in the absence of intervention, everything falls apart. Hence, if we do nothing or the bare minimum to maintain the current state, our bodies break down, and eventually we die. Over the course of our lives, we apply many interventions that are designed to promote change and growth that will (hopefully) delay our ultimate demise. Note that the same concept applies to the shiny new car or the cool new phone you just bought. With no intervention, they will fall apart and cease being useful tools. Even with strong intervention, those tools will eventually succumb to the ravages of time.
What makes business different is that a business is a going concern. What this means is that a business should–theoretically–last forever. But just like a human or your automobile, entropy is out to get your business. Without significant maintenance and substantive change through time, your business will fall apart and return to the stardust from whence it came. Therefore, change is a necessary condition for the success and survival of any business. Operating a business without a plan for how to deal with change–or imagining that change is not important–is akin to having a death wish. Left unattended the opposing forces of change and entropy will rip the organization apart.
Leaders and Change
As you’ve heard in previous muses, early in my career as an executive leader, I took the “Andy said” approach to management. I did very little to empower independent or collaborative decision-making. Instead, nearly every decision about the organization came across my desk–even decisions on what kinds of holiday gifts we should buy for employees and vendors! I’m not going to rehash the challenges with the “Andy said” approach here. What’s important is its impact on how change is managed within the organization.
Directive managers with underdeveloped emotional quotients will tend to make a decision to “take the next competitive hill,” wave their arm, point in a forward direction, and call back to their people with a strong voice, “follow me!” Directive leaders then start running toward the execution of the plan, get ahead of the team, turn around and scratch their heads–bewildered that no one is behind them.
You see, the directive leader with a low EQ has already processed the upcoming change and is mentally prepared for myriad potential outcomes. In contrast, the rest of the team, having learned of the plan and upcoming change much later than the leader, are milling about, stuck wondering what the plan, and the change that accompanies it, means for them personally and their immediate team. I’ve found myself in this position many times–naked and standing alone out front–wondering why in the heck it’s taking everyone so long to get onboard. I would mutter under my breath, “What on earth is the matter with everyone?” It turned out that the problem was my lack of focus on change management.
To punch the point, let’s use a real-world example. During my career, I’ve analyzed scores of businesses for potential acquisition, written nearly as many acquisition memos, and have led the purchase of more companies than I can count on the digits that populate my hands. I won’t name names, but on one occasion, I drove an acquisition to completion but did not properly gauge the impact the acquisition would have on morale and team psyche. I checked all the boxes of organizational fit, profitability, consumer need, etc., but totally ignored the massive change impact that integration would have. This lack of focus on change ultimately led to the destruction of the value the acquisition promised.
In my head, the transaction was a great deal and was going to be a phenomenal addition to the portfolio. I had already fully rationalized the change in my mind and was ready and raring to go. Senior management was with me, our investors were with me, but the rest of the team was not. They were still stuck on questions like: “what about me,” “tell me again what this business does and why we’re buying it,” “why are we doing this now, we have a million other things going on,” and “how will this impact existing workflows and customers?”
A long story cut short is that when the deal was done and it was time for integration, the integration failed miserably because individuals and teams were working at cross-purposes. Some were actively working to ensure the integration failed. My lack of willingness or ability to properly gauge how the deal would be processed from a change management perspective destroyed value on a number of levels.
Modeling Change
It turns out that what ailed the team was that everyone–and that’s not an exaggeration–had a change curve that’s unique to them. Like fingerprints or the nooks and crannies of the outer ear, the human change curve is distinct and no two are the same. We make the fatal error to stereotype and assume that a certain classification of person processes change in a particular way. Sure, stereotypical groupings can help explain human behavior at a high level, but when you’re managing a team and dealing with change, it’s best to assume that everyone will approach change differently.
Therefore, understanding the concept of the human change curve can be very useful to help us frame how our people will respond to change. It helps us understand how, as organizational leaders, we can manage change to ensure we’re driving optimal results and not generating unnecessary emotional and physical waste within our business.
Change management modeling and consulting is a thriving cottage industry. From small/midsize companies like Prosci, Kotter, and Conner Partners to large consulting firms like BCG, Bain, and McKinsey, there is no shortage of third parties who are ready and willing to jump in and help manage change and transformation within your organization. In this muse, we’re not going to reinvent the wheel, but simply discuss the importance of organizational change and outline the components of a generic change management curve.
In Figure 1 below, we’ve drawn two change management curves that belong to two different people–individual one and individual two. Curve C2 shows that individual two processes change more efficiently, whereas curve C1 shows that individual one processes change less efficiently. Note that each person goes through roughly the same process of grappling with change.
If we look at curve C1, we can see that upon the announcement of Event A, morale and/or confidence grows. This period is short lived and is primarily attributed to a combination of unjustified initial excitement and shock. This initial excitement and shock quickly transitions to a state of denial, denoted by the initial peak of curve C1 at point D1. Frustration sets in with the decision, which is typically exacerbated by a lack of communication or clarity regarding the “why” behind the change that’s driven by Event A. Point D2 represents a period of depression, anger, or what some change experts refer to as the “valley of despair.” The individual represented by curve C1 then spends time wallowing in the valley of despair before beginning the process of experimentation with the change wrought by Event A. This experimentation ultimately leads to a decision to accept the change, integrate it into workflow, and ultimately reach a new steady state of morale, confidence, and competence represented by point B1.
Figure 1: Stylized Change Curves
Looking at the change journey for individual two (C2) shows a similarly shaped but much more efficient response to the change brought about by the announcement of the same Event A. The period of initial shock and excitement is much shorter and the valley of despair is not as deep or as long-lived as that of her colleague represented by curve C1. Also, the time necessary for experimentation, decision making, and acceptance is much shorter.
Note also that individual two is able to achieve a higher level of morale, confidence, and competence. This is a critical point that’s often lost in the shuffle of discussions on the topic of change management: that learning and growth are key components of the change process!
One final note on change models. Figure 1 above is a stylized version of the Kubler-Ross Change Curve® which was adapted from the Five Stages of Grief that were introduced in her book On Death and Dying (1969). I’ve listed websites for Kubler-Ross and other major purveyors of change management services in the end notes of this muse for reference.
Recommendations for Managing Change
Now that we’ve told some stories, talked about why understanding our relationship with change is so critical, and introduced the basics of change modeling, let’s get into some specific recommendations for managing change that apply to both leaders and individual contributors.
Hone Your Listening Skills: One of the most important things you can do to manage change is listen. Simply making the time and effort to listen carefully to what’s being said at the time of a major change announcement will result in fewer unforced errors in understanding the meaning of and any nuance behind a big change announcement. Earlier this year, I wrote about the importance of effective listening and direct you to that muse for more information and context.
Doubledown on Clarity and Consistency: Frequent communication through multiple channels and modalities is critical. Ensure the message surrounding a change event is clear and that the “why” is as simple and straightforward as possible. Clarity, frequency, and consistency are key. Messages that change or are incongruent will cause loopbacks that send everyone back to square one.
Be Calm and Patient: Jumping to conclusions leads to misunderstandings that can generate unnecessary emotional waste and lengthens the duration of any change cycle. Getting all worked up only generates excess frustration which has the nasty effect of shutting the brain off to new information that might be helpful in navigating through change.
Focus: During a change event, it can be really easy to get pulled in multiple directions by different narratives as others in your orbit, who are also affected by the change event, attempt to sway your opinion, protect turf, or build an opposition coalition. Instead, focus on you, your needs, and what you can control.
Get Educated: I can’t stress enough the importance of education to the process of change. Unfortunately, I’ve seen it far too often in my career where a change event happens and individuals dig in their heels, refuse to learn about the change, refuse to learn new skills that will help in navigating the change, and ultimately miss a huge opportunity for advancement and personal/professional growth. Fixed mindsets and change are like oil and water.
It’s a Journey: Although most change models are shown graphically as elegant curves with distinct peaks and troughs, real life does not behave that way. As investor and author Ray Dalio shows elegantly in his 30 minute video based on his 2019 book, Principles of Success, life is filled with disappointments, loopbacks, and obstacles that must be overcome. I’ve included a link to the video in the end notes. It’s worth making the time to watch.
Remember that Everyone is Different: Avoid stereotypes and continually remind yourself that even though on the surface it may appear that a group is handling change in the same way or that an individual in the group is “just fine,” under the surface the story may be very different. Avoid blanket assumptions and remember that change is hard for everyone. We are all unique. We all have feelings. No one is perfect. We all need time to process change.
Conclusion
I’ve seen the story play out time and again - leaders convince themselves that “everyone will get it” and, as a result, convince themselves that investment in understanding and managing change journeys is not necessary.
To put it bluntly, if you don’t manage for change, change will manage you. If your business does not have a solid approach to managing change, chaos will reign supreme and projects will fail for seemingly inexplicable reasons. You’ll end up scratching your head as I did and wonder “where did everyone go?” as you stand alone, exposed to the elements out in front.
Grace. Dignity. Compassion.
Andy
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End Notes:
Kubler-Ross Change Model:
https://www.ekrfoundation.org/5-stages-of-grief/change-curve/
Change Management Consultants:
https://www.kotterinc.com/8-step-process-for-leading-change/
https://www.bcg.com/en-us/capabilities/business-transformation/change-management
Ray Dalio’s Principles of Success Video:
