The Idea Monopoly? Why change fails.

The Idea Monopoly? Keith De La Rue http://www.flickr.com/photos/http2007/

Or… Orgsourcing? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/

Why does change fail?
“ Nearly 60 percent of projects aimed at achieving business change do not fully meet their objectives”
2008 IBM study of more than 1,500 change management executives from 15 countries
http://www.flickr.com/photos/misserion/ http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/25492.wss

A brief history of change
Change by command…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lyng883/

Change management…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cote/

Change communication…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewfeinberg/

Employee engagement…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ideai/

But aren’t we forgetting something? http://www.flickr.com/photos/pookhy/

Organisations today are complex http://www.flickr.com/photos/odreiuqzide/

Because they depend on people http://www.flickr.com/photos/beglen/

Complexity theory?
We need to understand how organisations work, before we can effectively change them
People are:
Complex, unpredictable, dynamic
Resistant to engineering
Change is only made possible by people
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevindooley/

The Cynefin Framework
A way to look at the nature of organisations
Tools to work with the environment
Developed by David Snowden, Cognitive Edge
Welsh: “habitat, place”
Conveys the sense that we all have multiple pasts of which we are only partly aware: cultural, religious, geographic, tribal, etc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clspeace/

Complex
Cause and effect coherent in retrospect, repeat accidentally – unpredictable
Complicated
Cause and effect separated over time & space, but repeat – analysable
Knowable
Simple
Cause & effect relations repeatable & predictable
Known
Chaos
No cause and effect relationships generally perceivable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joestump/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/clspeace/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/g_kovacs/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/111 emergency/

Complex
Multiple small and diverse interventions to create options
Probe-sense-respond
Complicated
Analytical techniques to determine facts and option range
Sense-analyse-respond
Simple
Standard processes with review cycles and clear measures
Sense-categorise-respond
Chaos
Single or multi actions to stabilise situations
Act-sense-respond

Complex
Informal
Emergence
Social Media
Complicated
Domain of experts
Good practice
20 th Century
Simple
“ Business as usual”
Best practice
19 th Century
Chaos
Novel
Crisis
Catastrophic change
Ordered
Unordered Disorder

Organisations are complex
Dynamic, with rich interactions
Different people operating at different levels
Feedback
Non-linear, unpredictable
Emergent characteristics
Whole different to sum of parts
Small changes can have large impacts
History can make a difference
http://www.flickr.com/photos/randysonofrobert/

Emergence
Fly to the centre
Match speed
Avoid collision
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moriza/

Simple wisdom doesn’t apply
“ The definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result”
In a complex environment, doing the same thing twice will give a different result
“ You can't fix what you can't measure”
You can intervene in a complex environment, even though you can’t measure it reliably
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmettanderson/

In modern, complex, people-centric organisations, it is people and what they know that provide the only real competitive advantage
http://www.flickr.com/photos/isayx3/

People create value
I came to see in my time at IBM that culture isn't just one aspect of the game - it is the game! In the end, an organisation is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.
- Lou Gerstner, IBM

There is no monopoly on ideas!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/

People need to be creative
I believe that a focus on creativity is absolutely essential for current business success… I maintain that creativity is possible and desirable in all forms of work, no matter what people are doing. In particular, knowledge workers require creativity .
Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business School

How to encourage creativity
Support people emotionally
Monitor work in a positive way
Recognise good performance, in public
Consult with people on the team
Collaborate –spend time with team on tasks

Cognitive rewards
Monetary rewards don't work where more cognitive work required:
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
Self-directed = better engagement
eg Atlassian
Dan Pink, Drive

The myth of control
Peter Drucker constantly advised businesses to give employees direct control over their own work and environment , with teams of “knowledge workers” responsible for work toward goals stated as broad business objectives rather than prescriptive plans.
Drucker stated that management could only achieve sustainable profits by treating people as an enterprise’s most valued resources , not as costs .
- Greg Lloyd
http://traction.tractionsoftware.com/traction/permalink/Blog1163

Everyone can contribute
When leaders learn to creatively engage their subordinates in everyday decision making , they can make change happen .
- John Smythe, Engage for change

McKinsey Research
2008 report
59 organisations researched globally
Single, most influential cause of more engaged employees:
The appetite and ability of leaders at every level to engage their subordinates in everyday decision making and bigger-ticket change
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cell105/

All of us are smarter than any of us
The Wisdom of Crowds - James Surowiecki
Under certain conditions
Works for cognition problems
Diversity
Independence
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanridgway/

Tools for complexity
Anecdote circles
Safe-fail probes
Social Network Stimulation
The Future, Backwards
Sensemaking
Knowledge cafés
Change Cards
Organizational Zoo

Build trust through social media

What is the result?
Leaders who engage the right groups in everyday decisions and in designing and executing change will benefit both in terms of the quality of decisions and the speed of execution that derives from people who feel ownership of the outcome .
- John Smythe, Engage for change

What is your experience?
Can we make this work?
What can we do?
Let’s go and create our future…
@kdelarue 0418 51 7676 [email_address] http://acknowledgeconsulting.com/

The Idea Monopoly? Why change fails.

by Keith De La Rue on Oct 23, 2009

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