In one of the conversations I was
having with a colleague he/ she asked "Why
are these things changing so frequently, every now and then". Cant' we have a permanent change once for
all".... Paradoxical it seemed at first but in hind
sight it goes to remind us that change is permanent. It is here to stay
and will always be... it was slower but will be faster.... it is something
permanent.
Not Only is change permanent, the effects of that can also be permanent.... like going out of business for ever, or taking a hit on your performance and leading to a downward seemingly never ending downward trajectory. OR alternatively.... you can manage change to ensure you don't get the wrong side of where you wanted to end up.
In an earlier blog I spoke about the capabilities required to manage change that every organization should look for. Read Here
What is interesting is that there are some conditions when change cannot be successfully navigated (I like this term as it draws from turbulent conditions akin to a mid ocean storm or air turbulence which skillful commanders are used to handling every day). One kind of sure condition for failure is when the organization faces disruptive forces (Externally) and at the same time faces internal resistance then you can read it as a signal 4 hurricane sure to leave the scars for long on the landscape of your organization.
Here is an example: Imagine a new product is launched in your industry that magnifies some service capability or product feature or deliverable by a factor of X. This can be anything ranging from "new low cost airlines with a completely untested model entering a fragment airline industry" leading to mass adoption by flyers, a robotic automation tool by a competitor that can make a fully functional document format meeting your customer spec in a time which is a fraction of the manual effort, or a completely different retail format where economy of scale can deliver volumes at huge discounts.
Now if you are in one of these
contexts and you have internal dynamics where people resist your ability and
efforts to counter that then your organization is heading for failure.
Imagine a situation where your employees are focusing on bargaining wage hikes,
working hours reduction etc when the industry is facing the threat of
disruptive force. Or if your employees resist automation and
are completely uncooperative when a new bank brings in unheard of service
quality with great amount of automation and technology adoption then you have
little chance of surviving long or you can survive as long as you decide to do
something to address the disruptive forces.
When faced with this diabolic
choice then the only way out is "sense making" driven by the
organization's change leaders. The reluctant participants should
understand the choice between fighting for more of what they want versus not
existing (as an organization) to fight any more. The more effort put in
by the organization to communicate this aspect the better the chances to
overcome this resistance and tide through the crisis of sorts that might
prevail.
A combination of disruptive forces combined with internal resistance is something that can be a sure shot recipe for failed change efforts.
Read More on Change Management
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