Strong Companies Learn to Embrace Change, Plunge Into Uncharterd Territory
VANCOUVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
June, 2000

Essential Management Concepts
JONNIE MARTIN


There is nothing so constant as change, and futurist John Naisbitt says that change will continue to occur at an ever-increasing rate. Those companies that survive will be those that can “embrace” change. Not simply tolerate change, but whole-heartedly embrace the opportunities represented in a changing business environment.

Organizations are often resistant to change because the humans that own and run them are fearful of the process. Change takes people into unchartered territory. It is unpredictable and unfamiliar and uncomfortable. But those companies who shrink from this challenge are likely to go the way of the railroads.

Time was in our history that the railroad magnates were the wealthiest of men. They believed that their businesses would thrive and their dynasties continue forever. They ignored the changes evolving about them and over time their companies disappeared and their wealth dissipated. Railroad, steel and timber barons all took their place beside the dinosaur as creatures unwilling to respond to the winds of change.

Several years ago, business guru Robert Kriegel challenged organizations to learn to think in unconventional ways with his now famous book, If it ain’t broke…BREAK IT. He encouraged us to create change-ready organizations and change-ready people that are able to think and act in novel ways. He encouraged open-season on sacred cows — those systems, strategies, policies and procedures that are outmoded and no longer serve the organization.

Certainly all of us have seen companies that are trapped within their archaic thoughts and systems, automatically carrying out tasks based on history. “This is the way we have always done it.” “It was good enough for my father, who owned this business for 40 years.” “These are our traditions.”

The horse and buggy was once a tradition, also, but we no longer use that mode of transportation. All of us must move our businesses forward, updating our thinking and actions where appropriate. This starts with the creation of a change-ready culture. In his more recent book, Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers, Kriegel takes us through the steps for creating this new culture:

  1. Owners and senior managers must embrace the notion of a change-ready organization — one that encourages open and frank discussions and inventive thinking.
  2. Resources must be allocated to teach the dynamics of change and the skills for creative brainstorming. Time is set aside at retreats and brown-bag lunches to practice these skills.
  3. Educate everyone to business realities. Using their new creative thinking tools, people can help address specific business issues, searching for innovative solutions.
  4. Share the mission and vision of the organization with everyone, and demonstrate how an openness to change enhances the company’s future, moving it toward the dream.
  5. Understand that people are frightened by change because it propels them out of their own comfort zones. Give people time to adjust to the new way of doing things.
  6. People particularly resist change that is foisted upon them. Involve them in the analysis and decision process and you will have greater buy-in.
  7. Create a safe environment so that people can talk openly about their fears. Teach people the importance of pushing through their fear and embracing change.
  8. Reward people for fresh ideas. Have games, contests and other activities that invite creativity. Have a round-up of sacred cows and give rewards for destroying staid beliefs.

It is not easy to dislodge your organization from old and fearful ways, and move it into a brave new world of openness and innovation. To be truly effective, it needs to begin at the very top of an organization, within its ownership. You may find that takes some focused work and serious soul-searching.

Scott Kaul, one of the partners with the large Bratrud-Middleton insurance agency, shared his experience within an organization undergoing its own change. With its combination of old-line partners and young upstarts, this company committed to learning a new way of thinking and hired a consultant to guide them through the process. Their text was a simple little book entitled Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson, a co-author of Ken Blanchard’s One Minute Manager.

The book is written as a parable — with the truths presented in the simplest of terms. In their weekend retreat, these business owners were able to see their own resistance to change by identifying with the book’s characters, and to take steps towards accepting the book’s lessons: that change happens and that we must learn to anticipate and adapt.

Retreats are an excellent way to flag our minds that we are going to learn something different. It can be done in shorter formats, also. When I managed the research and marketing department of a brokerage firm some years ago, we held monthly marketing meetings after work. At 4 pm we took off our suits, put on our sweats, and retired to the boardroom for pizza and brainstorming. It was a signal to our analytical minds to power down and allow for new ideas.

I think that a series of brown-bag lunches designed around the reading of Kriegel’s Sacred Cows is an excellent way to introduce the elements necessary to a change-ready environment. The book also provides a fun exercise for participants, to test their strength in the seven traits of change-readiness: passion, resourcefulness, optimism, adventurousness, adaptability, confidence, and tolerance for ambiguity.

Whatever the convention used, it is important to begin to take action that signals to owners and workers alike: we embrace change as part of our reality and we commit time, creativity and gusto to the process.