A few months ago I posted a little fictitious story about the courage to change in business. It’s been viewed by so many that I thought I should add a more serious post on the topic.
Having the courage to change requires us to live in fear, and continually face down that fear as we move in our new directions. For most businesses evidence of whether our new direction will succeed can take months if not years. Many of us will stumble along the way and want to turn back to what’s safe.
Yet the thing we need to remember is that there’s not much safety and security in “business as usual.” The world changes so quickly and so must we — or soon we will soon be irrelevant.
One question to ask your organization every year: Why does the world need our company/organization/cause more now than ever before?
If you can respond firmly and confidently, you’ve probably been evolving. If the answer is vague or difficult to answer, you know you need to press the “accelerate change” button.
The larger the organization, the more difficult it is to change. My first job interview coming out of college was with Bell Labs and Western Electric, part of AT&T. “I heard that the Bell System might be breaking up,” I said to my soon-to-be-boss. “Honey,” he replied, “Not in your lifetime.” Well we all know what became of the Bell system. Kaput. (Don’t get me started about the sexism women had to deal with.)
But here’s the secret to courage and change. When the change means something to people, they get moving and buying in to new ways. Employees and customers alike. But if the direction or purpose is vague or irrelevant, it’s like pushing boulder up a mountain.
“When ideas mean something to us, the distance between thinking and acting dissovles. People don’t hesitate to get started. They don’t sit around figuring out the risk or waiting until someone else develops an implementation strategy. They just start doing.” Dr. Margaret Wheatley, author and organizational consultant
So have courage, yes. But make the change meaningful. And communicate that meaning is compelling images and a language of possibility. To your employees. To your customers. And to yourself.