We've been hearing people say that the only
constant is change” for at least the last 15 years.
But there's another constant, and that is, that change doesn't
just happen because we tell it to happen. It doesn't even
happen if we tell people there's money in it for them at the
end of the year. And it doesn't even happen if we pay for
a nice corporate retreat somewhere and give them free booze.
How do we know this? Well, check this out…Corporate
training is a 100 billion dollar a year industry that had
a horrific ROI—only 10% of what is learned/discussed gets
actually applied to onsite behavior change.
And even if that didn't surprise you, how
about this: Change doesn't even happen if we tell people that
if they don't change, they're going to die. There was an interesting
cover story in Fast Company magazine last May, in which they
reported that the dean of the medical school at Johns Hopkins
had crunched some numbers. Here's what he discovered. Every
year, there are 600,000 people in the U.S. who have coronary
bypass surgery. They are all told in the recovery room: “Go
home and stop smoking. Start walking. Eat less. Eat right.
And cut out the alcohol.”
How many of those 600,000 are unable to sustain
the lifestyle changes necessary to avoid another heart attack?
An amazing 90%.
90% of coronary bypass patients can't do
what needs to be done, literally, to save their lives.
All of which means writers and speakers
have some nerve to suggest that they have the answer. We need
to recognize that there are huge blocks not only to what we
do to make small and large change but also to how we think
fundamentally about change. If we do, then at least we can
appreciate that maybe it's going to take a somewhat different
perspective to get it done. And in that spirit, let me share
with you Dr. Fleming's Five Principles for Jumpstarting Change.
Principle #1 -- Play the 80/20 game
80/20 -- does that ring any bells?
Well, thanks to Vilfredo Pareto, an obscure Italian economist,
we all enjoy an insight that gives light to the dynamics of
the workplace, health, and heck the whole of human nature
in many ways! Pareto reported that 80% of the property in
Italy was owned by just 20% of the populace.
I'm sure you all have been made aware of
this principle in one way or another. For example:
- 20% of the people do 80% of the work
- 80% of the charitable donations are made by 20% of the
donors
I'm even sure that you've experienced it yourself. Do you
agree that this sounds like you?
- 80% of your time is spent doing 20% of the items on
your to-do list?
What are we to do with this, if we were to actually do something
significant with this knowledge? Well, I'd say ask yourself
these questions:
- What is the 20% of your skill set that has the greatest
promise for moving the needle -- and what are some novel
ways of applying those skills to greatest effect?
- How do you recruit the 20% of the people who make 80%
of the things happen at your company and bring them together
to make change happen?
- How do you identify -- and initiate -- the 20% of the
change projects that will produce 80% of the change benefits?
For I'd argue that working 100% on everything is passive
and dumb—why? For it has no inner logic to sustainable
impact. A baseball sitting in the grass doing nothing
has more potency than all the overachievers in the ballpark
combined.
Are you curious? So what do I mean? Check this out:
A recent op ed article in the NY TIMES a couple weeks ago
had a wonderful article on the 100th anniversary of Einstein's
E=MC2 equation that notably changed the way we think about
the energy of the world. Because of Einstein, we now know
that that baseball sitting on the field in the grass, even
without hitting it, has the energy potential of powering a
car to go 65 mph for 5000 years! Wow, how do we all intelligently
harness that same power in our lives when we are standing
still? That is the question…not what are we going to
do to seemingly look like we are changing? Like Einstein's
equation, there are simply “laws” of “what
is” to the real art and science of change. And that
is where change starts—knowing this!
And so, ask these questions without craving any cheap answer
and you'll be a long way toward making serious change happen.
Principle #2 -- Change Perspective,
Not Behavior
There's a fellow named Alan Kay, who has brought more good
things to life than anyone this side of GE. He's responsible
for the concept of the personal computer, the graphical user
interface, and a host of other technology innovations. He's
a bright guy, Alan Kay, and he once said, “Perspective
is worth 80 points of IQ.”
You want to work smarter and more productively? Think differently
about how you approach the way you work. For instance, as
any parent of young children can tell you, it is easier to
change behavior by changing the environment than it is to
simply tell people to change when they're staying in the very
same environment that hosted all the behaviors you want to
get rid of.
How do you change perspective? Try finding a new metaphor
or framing device that stimulates reality to look a different
way. The prevalence of Successories motivational posters in
the modern office is testament to the power of metaphor. However,
I've seen that 8-person rowing shell tell me about teamwork
one time too many! It's time corporations looked beyond
the goal of “feeling good” and went to the transforming
place of “being real”
Principle #3 -- Get active
This may sound like I'm stating the obvious, but you have
to make this kind of change happen. You can't just suggest
it. You can't merely write a white paper on it. You can't
commission a feasibility study. And you can't just leave it
to the boys and girls in the corner offices.
It's like the VW slogan: “On the road of life, there
are drivers and there are passengers. Drivers wanted.”
Once you identify those 20% of the people who have the greatest
impact, you've got the drivers you need: people who will grab
the bull by the horns and won't let go. And the same goes
with each of us, that part of our heart, brain, wherever that
holds the 20% of gold that unlocks all of life's potential
for maximum effectiveness, typically, forgiveness, truth,
wisdom, etc., hang out here
Now, there are many people or companies that are sailing along
at a pretty good clip doing things the way they've always
done them. It's hard work making change happen on purpose.
And it costs money. So they figure they can get by. They ask,
“What's the that can happen?” but they only ask
it rhetorically. And don't we ask those types of questions
rhetorically ourselves?
But there's damn good reason you have to be active about making
change -- if you don't, change is going to happen to you.
And then you're playing a reactive, defensive game. I believe
the good people of New Orleans can testify to the ill effects
of depending on a reactive response rather than active readiness.
You can say that New Orleans was a special case. You can think
that there isn't a business corollary to being 10 feet below
sea level. And you might be right. But in light of Katrina,
let me ask you this: do you want to wait to find out if you're
wrong?
Principle #4 -- Make massive change
Now, I bet all of you immediately thought massive in terms
of BEHAVIOR? You know like change your job, trade your
wife, and move out of town, all at once. Well, it could mean
that but what I am talking about is the massive overhaul mentally
that is required to really live with impact. That is, whatever
you call your 20% that will give you the 80% result, don't
hold back
You're thinking if I start small, I can control it. I can
run a pilot study. I can establish benchmarks and performance
metrics to roll out to the rest of the company. But in reality,
what you'll experience is all the psychic pain of attempting
behavioral and cultural change without a whole lot to show
for it. And even if you do get a department or a division
to change the way it works, the change might not be broad-based
enough to show much of an ROI for your effort. You know, more
of a Return on Illusion, then a Return on Investment
What's more, if you have one, highly visible initiative that
the target audience can focus on, it's easier for the diehards
to set up walls of resistance. It's sort of like the British
armies in the Revolutionary War -- they wore bright red uniforms;
they marched in formal ranks in the open so they were an easy
target for the rebels skulking about in the trees. And don't
we all have those rebels in the trees within us that shoot
our heart's voice and true intentions?
Bite-size change isn't as effective neither in the short term
-- nor as sustainable in the long-term -- as change that involves
multiple factors. And there's even evidence now from the field
of genetics to support this notion. In this year's July issue
of Trends in Genetics scientists from the University of Chicago
reported on a study that involved 6000 genes being bombarded,
in varying degrees, by mutations.
The U-C scientists discovered that it wasn't the classic Darwinian
theory of selective benefit that determined which mutations
stuck, it was quantity -- the more mutations that reached
the genetic material all at once, the more that would manage
to sneak through the genes' defenses and leave an imprint.
So, if you're going to do it, you want to do it big. Change
everything -- especially all the inner workings within and
how they relate to all the departments, systems, relationships
around us. And when you make new hires, hire people that --
from a corporate culture standpoint -- are already where you
want to go. They will act as additional change agents for
your initiative. You'll have fewer people to drag along to
the new corporate “you” and more people to do
the heavy lifting.
Principle #5 -- Sustain a healthy disrespect
for the norm
Almost by definition, a norm tends to be static rather than
dynamic -- and where's the promise in same-old/same-old? A
healthy disrespect for the norm is like the burr under a rodeo
bronco's saddle -- it keeps you from getting comfortable with
the status quo. Where's the problem? The status quo is always
helping you become comfortable and even more comfortable.
Human life and its response to next-level living is like sand
in a fishbowl filled with water. When sand is dropped in,
it will fall and settle. This is where most of life naturally
goes. Personal and executive coaching is like a stick plopped
in there to stir the sand around. For brief moments, we, like
the sand, rise to coachable levels where reality is stirred
up and we think differently. But soon enough, without that
force, we will settle to that lower level again and, unfortunately,
like it.
We need that stirring stick or burrs in every
department, on every project team, in every boardroom. Actually,
we need at least two of them, so that the one non-normist
in the room doesn't just get written off as a crank and gets
ignored.
The potential value of a healthy disrespect
for the norm is dramatic:
