Put Out A Burning Platform Flame Bouquet By Intentionally Transforming Hair-On-Fire BAU With 2nd Order Change
Greetings *|FNAME|*,
Merry (early) Christmas to you and your family, or whatever end-of-year celebration is meaningful to you and those you love! At this moment, I am counting down the final days of recovery following my recent mastectomy and lymph node removal surgery in Houston. With Paul by my side, taking loving care of me, it's plainly clear how this 2022 cancer reality has enabled a deep transformation of our marriage for the better.
I've grown to appreciate that life is too short to prioritize efficiency over good feelings. We've felt the beauty and relief of others supporting us through this struggle with your prayers, positive vibes, meals and many other kind gifts. For years I knew I needed to shift into living more intentionally, but had made only minor progress. I was just not primed to transform my approach to life until my life actually depended upon it. Now I am:
- Present as I make my meals, savoring the food and lingering over it instead of rushing off to do work or something else.
- Observant of the wintery sky above, which reminds me of my happy childhood winter visits to visit grandparents in Ohio and gazing longer at our peppermint camellias in the back yard instead of just quickly glancing at them while I refill my coffee cup.
- Listening more closely to inner discomfort and irritation without dismissing them immediately, so that I can address their root cause to resolve stress more healthfully.
Living intentionally is frankly a lot of hard work for me, because I'm transforming old patterns into better ones. Fortunately, I've already started experiencing health benefits because of how I'm honoring the mind-body connection. I know there are many contributing factors to why I have/had cancer. But thoughts, beliefs, resulting feelings and behaviors can each positively or negatively impact a person's health. So as I recover from surgery, I am sussing out negative influences and driving out toxic stress, while 'smelling the roses' along the way. If I stay the course, I believe this new lifestyle will help reduce the likelihood my cancer will return in my ovaries, lungs, and or/brain.
But how does intention apply to a person with challenges outside of cancer, or even for a company struggling to improve? Change management research shows how 80% of individuals do not easily adopt new processes, behaviors, or attitudes without a carefully designed motivational strategy. Furthermore, they'll even obfuscate efforts to adopt organizational change. Therefore, most change management plans focus strongly on the 20% that are ready to take the leap and adopt a new way of doing things. They are seemingly 'lower-hanging fruit.' Unfortunately, bringing EVERYONE along requires more time and investment than some companies are willing to give. Which is a detriment to the 80% whose readiness to change can be nurtured by applying these approaches:
- Understanding the impact on self and others: Repeatedly communicate how the status quo will have a negative impact on themselves and those who matter to them, as well as organizational productivity and key performance indicators. Do that in a variety of methods, to the right segments of the workforce, and even to your friends outside the workplace. Focus on those valued colleagues who are insufficiently motivated to shift gears. Help them embrace the necessary changes in their attitudes and behaviors to bring about the desired new organizational approach.
- Settling the issue: Gain clarity on the value of fundamentally changing the organization by honestly comparing the pros and cons of change, versus continuing business as usual. The numbers won't lie, so make sure you aren't introducing interpretive biases as you plot a path forward. Transformation is simply not possible if the status quo appears to be more desirable than making lasting change. That's because most people feel an uncomfortable sense of instability when trying new things and prefer the familiar over the novel.
- Seeing how others have changed and emulating what they did: To change, people must understand and have buy-in to what is expected at every level - from the CEO down to the associate. It helps to be in close proximity to organizational standard bearers (i.e. the 20% early adopters). That way others can personally see what is the value of what they're being asked to do. And when they have been sufficiently motivated to change, they will begin to believe they can actually do what is expected of them because they can see the path to go forward.
Alright, then why is genuine transformation so elusive? I'm personally passionate about change. After all, my company is called Change by Design. Yet I needed a 'burning platform' in order to make the fundamental shift in beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and behaviors before I would live this intentionally. It wasn't possible before cancer. And the same principle holds true at the macro-scale for any business that is pursuing second order change.
True change is frequently initiated by a crisis, but it doesn't have to be. It really boils down to readiness, motivation and capacity.
Years ago, a friend recommended a book to me whose perspective complements my own professional scholarship on the ways true transformation is achieved. It describes and compares two kinds of change. First Order Change is not transformational change. It involves just taking skills, knowledge or attitudes that already exist, then rearranging them without addressing fundamental reality. It's akin to rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic as it went down, because the reality of the ship slipping under the waves was not impacted by an arrangement of chairs. Businesses engaged in first order change make periodic, well-meaning adjustments that are superficial in nature, all while continuing to fundamentally do things the same way again and again. They expect or hope that somehow they'll get a different result, but they don't. They just churn, stagnate, and eventually peter out.
Second Order Change is transformational change. It uses a carefully designed approach to motivate new, never-been-done behaviors and/or attitudes that an individual, group of individuals, or even a company were UNABLE to demonstrate prior. Several types of motivation must work together to achieve second order change. And it's not easy to do, because of the required focus, intention and investment. But ultimately, this strategic approach delivers lasting results... whether applied at the company level, or even at the individual and personal level.
As we finish up the winter holiday season and turn the page on 2022, let's all make 2023 the year of intention. Don't worry if you want second order change but feel you lack a burning platform like cancer to help motivate transformation. Just be present, be observant, and listen longer. Don't rush it. With practice you will become better attuned to what's most critical and what is simply distraction. Now, back to some warm apple cider!
Cheerfully Yours,
Sue
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