Most people in executive positions struggle deeply with organizational change because they do not know the normal stages of the journey and what to expect along the way.
In the beginning, most people try to make organizational change a linear and logical line of progress. They envision the journey as a series of steps starting with the letter “A” and then clearly moving to “B”, “C” and so forth. While this may make sense on paper, people and organizations are more dynamic. In reality, organizational change is continuous, repetitive, and strenuous with people being in several different stages at the same time depending on the issues and problems at hand.
Rather than thinking of it as a line, I point out that the journey of organizational change is more like a sigmoid curve. The vertical axis of this journey recognizes that the goal of organizational change is to move from one level of performance to a new and better level of performance. The horizontal axis focuses on time. The standard organizational change cycle takes approximately eighteen months to go from one level of performance to a new level of performance. The sum of strategic change takes, on average, five to seven years to implement and when done successfully, it is the combination of multiple sigmoid curves.
When a team, department or organization moves along the sigmoid curve, they pass through four stages. The first is the Pathfinding Stage which is about three months in length. This is the time period in organizational change when executives in leadership positions get very excited. They have a new commitment to improving performance and often a sense of urgency to create a new level of alignment. Regularly, they explore, define, and develop a new picture or vision for the future. They also generate a level of intensity and passion for this picture through in-depth sharing and engagement with senior executives and upper level management.
Meanwhile, most employees are just working away at fulfilling the “old” picture of success, not the new one that upper management has just created. They are focused on making sure current systems are integrated, working, and generating consistent outcomes, be that in product or service delivery. Routinely, they are measuring performance and paying attention to key metrics.
After this three month period of finding a new path, senior management typically introduces to the whole of the organization a new way of working, plus a new set of priorities. Initially, employees may be excited and ride the wave of pathfinding, but quickly the whole organization dives into the Trough of Chaos Stage. This six to nine month time period is difficult for executives and employees because the old way of working has to be dismantled and a new way has to be built.
As I have noted in this blog before, there are natural laws of leadership and change which must be observed. One of them is called The Law of Chaos, which states, “The world does not change through balance, order, and security, only through chaos.” As is evident in so many areas of our personal and professional lives, and as it has been proven through scientific experimentation and observation, the world does not change through balance, order and security -- only through chaos. Therefore, the Trough of Chaos Stage, while highly difficult, uncomfortable and deeply challenging, is a normal step in the journey.
Once the organization comes out of the Trough of Chaos Stage, executives and employees enter into a time period of unified focus and commitment. This three to six month period is called The Learning Curve. Here, all involved focus on defining and refining customer service behaviors, core delivery systems, and a further clarification of midlevel management’s roles, goals, expectations and priorities. This stage includes teaching, role modeling and significant praise, reward and recognition.
As momentum builds, we enter into the final stage of the journey which is the Systems Integration Stage. At this point, there is an increased credibility and validity for the change journey as systems, structure, and policy are integrated into a new culture and a new model of product and service delivery. Executives and employees can articulate and advocate for the results that are being generated by the new model. Despite the pull of the traditional “old” way of working, last seen back at the beginning of the journey, executives and employees value now the consistency of successful results.
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