Ambiguity, bad showers, and organizational restructuring II

This is (finally) the follow-on from this article. In the that article we were discussing when it is that the decision is made to engage in some form of organisational change process. Now bearing in mind what I wrote previously about the regression fallacy and in particular the issue that things only come to our notice once they have crossed some threshold (usually a very personal and somewhat arbitrary threshold) and put it together with what I wrote about our perchance for action bias.

There are some considerations here:

1. The first is that when we actually notice a problem we don't notice the problem, rather we notice the symptoms.
   
2. Secondly, by the time that we have noticed the symptoms there has almost always been a time-lag between the problem occurring and us noticing it (usually as it passes a threshold).
3. When the symptoms cross our threshold we almost always jump into action mode or solutionizing as it is known - as happened in this situation and evidenced here.

So what happens is like trying to use a shower I have at home:

The shower in question is the type that sits over the bath and is connected, via a long flexible pipe, to the bath taps, just like the picture above.
Have you ever tried to use one of these contraptions to have a stand up shower with??

You tend to find that you were are constantly juggling the taps as the water osculates between ice and steam with about three seconds in between where the water is the temperature you want. If you have such a shower you will undoubtedly know what I mean.

The key here is the water pressure and length and bore of the pipe. If the water pressure is low, the length of the pipe is long and the bore is narrow (like my shower), the lag between what you do with the taps and what the temperature the water is when it finally comes out of the shower head is quite considerable.

The effect of this long lag between what I am feeling and any actions I take with the taps means it is incredibly hard to get the right temperature. You either have to make the changes really slowly and incrementally and wait to see what effect it has had (got the link with organisational change?), or if you are in a hurry (because things are bad and we need action NOW) you find that you end up over compensating and a couple of minutes later end up with scalding water. Which when you try to compensate for this, a couple of minutes later you are back to freezing water with a 3 second period of just right showering.

All organisational change has a long lag between what we do and their effects.

Just to make matters worse there is a lag at the beginning from the problem occurring, us noticing the symptoms and then any action we decide then to take. This is followed by a delay before we notice finally what effect our actions have had, which may be months or more likely years down the line. By which time we have got impatient and turned the taps again!

Organizational Change - Leaders leading and managers managing

I am frequently asked why we concentrate on leadership and management, especially in organisational change situations. The answer is simple. We make far too many assumptions about the capabilities and beliefs of these key people. When you analyse why change programmes fail outright or fail to excel in delivering real advantage the top three reasons are:

1. Poor Strategy
   
2. Poor Leadership
3. Poor Management
   

As any organisational development / change process is going to depend on Leaders and Managers doing their job and making a positive impact it is essential that any assumption that they are going to do so are true.

It is quite a large assumption that because someone has the title ‘leader’ or ‘manager’ that they will lead and manage, especially in the difficult, uncertain and shifting conditions of change. This assumption is based on the further assumptions that they know what to do, how to do it and have the mindset and willingness to do what is needed, especially in a situation of change when emotions are often running high. These are difficult situations to manage and lead through, and such situations are an entirely different prospect than say leading and managing in normal operational conditions. There are some questions about the leadership and management which need to be answered:

• Do people know how to lead and manage in such conditions? Different thinking is required in such situations.

• Do they have the skills for such situations? Skills don’t transfer very easily from normal conditions especially when the leader’s and manager’s own emotions are likely to be involved.Do they have the required emotional resilience and intelligence? Can they deal with other people’s and their own emotions in a way which creates a positive working environment where change is constructive, rather than just amplifying fears and heightening emotions?
• Do they have the belief in the change and the vision of the future? People’s attitudes are apparent from the behaviour they display. Our attitudes stem from our beliefs. If people really believe in something they will think and act accordingly. Just asking people if they believe is not enough!
• Do they have a ‘can do’ – positive attitude in difficult situations? All change programmes will have difficult times. People who give up when the going gets tough are going nowhere. Leaders and managers who give up or keep their heads down when the going gets tough are of little use in organisational change situations.
• And finally are they willing to grasp the nettle and actually lead and manage in a way which leaves the organisation and their people stronger and more resilient? Leaders and managers who know what to do and when to do it but who don’t actually do anything will at best have no impact and at worst will have a detrimental influence.

Good leaders and managers can make all the difference between change that delivers massive benefits and catastrophic change that weakens the organisation and the bottom line. This means a bit more than just running a few workshops and briefings.

Leaders Leading and Managers Managing

I managed to talk to the leader who sent out the email yesterday. Her responses to my questions were enlightening:
"I know about all the work being done but it was taking far too long"(Urgency and action bias)
"I hadn't heard anything for ages about what was happening in OD, they had just dropped off the planet as far as I was concerned" (Stakeholder management and different perceptions of time)
"Someone had to move things quickly. The company is in a bad state. I saw the last quarters figures. We don't have time to parp about." (Action bias, possibly regression fallacy, certainly lack of emotional resilience - panic)
"The effect? To motivate people I hope and get things moving" (Assumptions of cause and effect)
"Well we do need to shed a load of people. This way we will see who gives up and who floats to the top." (Concept of motivation)
"Nothing really, it's like all leadership decisions - you make it up as you go along. You do whatever you think is right at the time. I am sorry but we don't have time for all that fluffy stuff. We need to move and now." (To the question about how she developed as a leader and learnt to make decisions).
"Yes I suppose I could have done it differently or even better, but if we don't do something now it will be too late. I can see that it was a bit harsh and maybe a bit of a reaction to the figures but someone has to grip this."
"Well they are just going to have to get on with it aren't they? That's what we pay them all for."


Interestingly this has happened at a moment when we are just getting some initial results from some research into management and leadership development which makes for interesting reading coming next and then we will get back to the showers...

Communicating Change

Just a quickie. Sometimes you are left wondering why some companies bother to bring in expertise or even bother with their own OD departments, managers and leaders.

We have been working with a large organization who are about to go through a serious change process. A lot of research and preparatory work is being done at the moment, especially in the area of developing resilience, dealing with ambiguity and opportunity finding prior to any change. An internal taskforce is (was until this morning that is) working on new structures, strategic alignments and organisational/talent development.

This morning everyone in the organisation received an email from one of the board members with a powerpoint attachment. The email was titled 'Organizational Change - new structure'. The powerpoint with the same title comprised of 5 slides with a series of organisational charts. The email said that this was the new organisational structure. There are no explanatory notes to accompany the slides.

The entire organisation has as you can well imagine, now stopped working and are engaged in a process of trying to work out if the new structure includes them or not as no names are supplied just a load of newly named departments and reporting structures.

Many of the managers have managed to work out during the day that the new structure only accounts for about 1/4 of them.

How to stop an entire organisation in it's tracks in 2 minutes flat. Amazing.