Hamish Duff - Make or Break - ALGIM Nov 2015
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Exponential change brings a complex set of problems to our organisations - when we barely survive normal, linear change programmes. How will increasing rates of change affect you, and what strategies can you use to address this challenge?
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Hamish Duff - Make or Break - ALGIM Nov 2015
- 1. Make or Break The Challenge of Change in Exponential Times Hamish Duff – BSc, Msc, MBA Principle Consultant
- 2. What am I covering today? • Exponential change • Five Challenges • Comprehension • Culture • Complexity • Disruption • Relevance • Creating a culture of change • Incremental change • Principle based management • Building change resilience
- 14. Change is a constant? • All very exciting! • Lots to be enthusiastic about – potential limitless • Positive feedback increases rate of change even further • Same change every hour as in first 90 years alone • However: • The near future is increasingly hard to predict • Our organisations are geared towards constant change We must build change capacity and capability
- 15. Five Challenges Human Comprehension Organisational Culture Disruption Complexity Maintaining Relevance
- 16. Challenge - Comprehension • Humans think in constant rates of change, straight lines, predictable • Human timescales – 50 years is a long time • We can’t comprehend the impact of simple changes • Let alone exponential change • What is the main reason for IT Project failure? • Within our organisations critical problem • What happens when we deal with many changes at once?
- 18. Challenge - Culture The patterns of shared values, behaviours, habits and beliefs • Threats to these patterns are actively resisted • Typical change management frameworks approach this with a linear process • However we are humans – we are not linear
- 19. Challenge - Disruption • Not so much WOW, cool technology But WOW – what happened to our industry • No industry is immune • Often disruptive changes as a result of a intersecting technologies • Almost always fundamentally focussed on • The customer as the centre of the business • Reinvention of the “way things have always been done”
- 20. Challenge - Complexity • IT staff love complexity • We love to geek out • We love to be specialists, valued, irreplaceable • We love to make IT work! • Business staff want results • The “wish list” of features • Long term ad-hoc process development A millstone of complex legacy systems • Unable to move quickly Complexity often means planning to change is too complex
- 21. Challenge - Relevance • IT as the Department of “NO” • We don’t have the capacity • We are seen as a cost centre • Stop trying to keep up with expectations • You are NOT Google • We can’t possibly keep up • How does an internal IT team stay relevant?
- 22. So how can we prepare our organisations? (and ourselves) • Build change capacity and capability • Increase flexibility and adaptability • Establish valued foundations for change “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, but rather that which is most adaptable to change”
- 23. Ruthlessly cull complexity/bureaucracy • Bureaucracy reduces service quality • Re-engineer your business, trim your dead wood • If your customers are not satisfied, they WILL go elsewhere • Hierarchical management moves too slowly • Management by committee gives mediocre results • Customer must be the focus of re-engineered processes
- 24. Enable and engage - Principle Based Management Top down thinking bottom up action • Establish clear goals and objectives • Define value to your customers • Ensure priorities are clear • Establish guiding principles for decision making • Encourage incremental innovation at all levels
- 25. Reinvent yourself • Policies constrain innovation • “Policies are organisational scar tissue… they are collective punishment for the misdeeds of an individual” (Fried) • Manage exceptions and individuals instead • Frameworks reduce initiative and trust • Create an illusion of control • Apply pragmatically, in the context of the organisation • Challenge the status quo • “The way things have always been done”
- 26. Tip the balance towards flexibility • Specialisation comes at a cost to flexibility; generalisation comes at a cost to efficiency.
- 27. Diversity brings strength • Distribute and delegate leadership • Multi-skill team - cross pollinate with the business • Multi-disciplinary approach leads to better solutions • Encourage diverse thinking
- 28. Establish good roots Get your priorities right
- 29. Foundations for successful change • Fundamental Services • Authentication / Integration / Information / Automation • Focus on value to your customers • Focus on value to your business staff • Focus on meeting specific needs in the context of your organisation
- 30. Where do you start? Incremental Change • The 1 % rule
- 31. Incremental Change • Easy to adapt and adopt • Builds momentum • Demonstrates flexibility and responsiveness • Allows engagement and innovation • Demonstrates progress – a great motivator Incremental change changes culture
- 32. Establish Cycles • Biological systems all exist in cycles • Equilibrium based on feedback • Incremental change provides positive and negative feedback quickly • Failure is useful as long as we learn • Establish a learning organisation • Don’t repeat your mistakes • Encourage feedback and adjust accordingly
- 33. Understanding • Understand your specific context • Identify your constraints • Know your complexities • Share experience across organisations • Engage external perspectives for objectivity • No stake in the status quo • No axe to grind • No politics
- 34. Are you capable of making the changes you need to? It's a question of survival Hamish Duff
Editor's Notes
- This is how exponential change is often presented to us – Moors law This is one of the reasons why we have confusion Each mark on the y axis represents 100x That doesn’t look like an exponential curve, right? More change very hour now, than in the first 90 years of this chart
- More realistic view of an exponential curve Number of planets discovered each year Represents the positive feedback loops we see with technology change Benefits of technology to science, and our understanding of the universe
- We are hard-wired by billions of years of evolution The unknown or unfamiliar should be feared This is used against us in all avenues of life Media, politics, religion
- The patterns of behaviours, beliefs, habits, values Kotter misinterpreted as much as Kubler Ross We’re not linear – we’re humans
- We cant rest on our laurels And continue to work the way we have in the past
- Disruption is so dangerous to our organisations because of complexity We’ve been helpful for too long We’ve said yes too often And we keep digging that hole Millstone of complexity
- Despite our flexibility and our intention to please, we simply don’t have the capacity So as a result, we’re still known as the department of NO Position yourselves not to compete Why cant we have the same toys/tools I use at home?
- Misattributed to Darwin How do you become adaptable? 9 strategies to follow
- Bureaucracy – slows down our processes, makes them overly complex Directly impacts on service quality and satisfaction Trying to keep everyone happy will result in you keeping no-one happy
- Not about IT/business alignment – PLEASE That simply perpetuates the idea that we are separated.
- Balance good vs bad ideas Constructive debates Robust discussion Challenge status quo Policies are organisational scar tissue Jason Fried – 37 signals - Basecamp • Optimizing existing processes for incremental productivity improvements resulted in 10% to 15% general and accounting savings • Reconstructing core processes for changes in productivity and efficiency resulted in 2% to 3% operating margin improvements • Inventing new processes and organizational capabilities for growth typically resulted in a ten-fold return on invested capital (ROIC)
- Specialists invent reasons to exist Protect roles, jargon, policy, risk awareness changing conditions favour species known as generalists that can adapt to different food, habitat or other factors.
- A tree is only as strong as its root system Important that you have the right foundations in place to support innovation
- British road cycling team - example
- Not a special snowflake Difficult to see the wood for the trees – seek independent advice
- Lot of open questions, big challenges for you to manage Biggest questions – are you capable of addressing these challenges and taking the action you need to? Your organisation is unlikely to survive if you are not.