More than almost any other trait, the propensity to desire and drive change differentiates a leader from one who is not.
Change happens. The axiom tells us that change is inevitable . . in fact, it is said that change may be the one of the only things in life that is certain. This kind of circumstantial or existential change, however, is not what I am refering to in the paragraph above.
The change that leaders affect is generally an intentional, purposeful alteration of existing products, processes or organization designed to acheive a particular outcome.
Given the almost universal nature of the leader to be a "change agent", surprisngly few of the change events that are initiated in any given period of time ever reach sustained success.
There are many reasons that change too seldom comes to fruition. However, for the purpose of this blog, we will focus on the one that I will submit most often and most significantly undermines and sabotages intended change.
In short, and simply put, the problem is a failure to assess the energy necessary to affect and sustain change. A closely related problem is failing to properly caluculate the "mass" of the thing with inertia that ones hopes to change. Hang with me here . .
Early in our lives we learned the law of inertia -- that bodies in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Remember, too, that inertia is a function of mass. The smaller the mass, the smaller the inertia. The greater the mass, the greater the inertia.
Inertia impacts all areas of our lives. Behavior, attitude, performance, etc. are all affected by inertia. It is the power behind habits (good and bad). It exists in our organizations . . in our processes, in our people and in our culture.
Things do not simply wait for change. Because of inertia, they resist change. The bigger the intended "object of change", the more it resists change.
Failure to recognize the inertia of the "object of change" renders the effort impotent from the outset. Similarly, improperly identifing the "mass" of the "object of change" leads to underestimating the energy nessecary to effectuate and sustain the desired change and dooms the effort to failure.
In large measure, this reality explains why a frequent refrain in workplaces around the country is, "we've tried that before and it didn't work" or "things will never change around here".
If this is the problem, what is the solution?
Let me submit E3 as a solution for your consideration. What is E3?
E3 = ep + ee + es
It is short for ep (energy for preparation), ee (energy for execution) and es (energy for sustaining).
How does it work?
To understand "how" it works, one must first understand that organizations and people have "real" and "felt" capacity". As a general rule, the number of things a person has to do will fill up available "felt" capacity. Thus the old addage that, "work will expand or contract to fill the time available to complete it."
Therefore, to effect lasting change, one must recognize the inertia and mass of the "object of change" as well as the reality of the "felt" capacity of those involved with the process.
This is part of the "energy for Preparation" that must happen along with careful and effective planning of the need, nature and steps of the change. If ep is short changed or short cut, the project is undermined.
The second phase of E3 is ee -- "energy for Execution". If a clear case and plan for change has been prepared, the next step is to create "felt" capacity for change. Because capacity in this sense is individual and organizational energy, freeing up capacity is freeing up the energy for Execution. Failure to do this has an obvious impact on the likelihood of success.
KEY REMINDER - the greater the inertia or mass of the "object of change", the greater the eP and eE will be needed to bring about the change.
The third part of e3 is "energy for Sustaining". This would seem obvious, yet is seldom recognized as a need in the change model and even less often provisioned.
Why is this important? Because if you remember learning about "mass", you will also remember learning about "gravity". Gravity will pull "new orbits" back into "old orbits" -- in other words it will cause new processes to revert to old processes over time.
This is why diets seldom work. Too many people put the effort into preparation (ep) and execution (ee) for their diet, yet fail to plan for how they will sustain (es) the new orbit (weight) and before long they are back to the old orbit (weight) -- or worse.
I think you can see the application of this in your situtation. If not, and you want some assistance seeing this more clearly in your context,feel free to contact me at brian@forelarity.com.
True, change is inevitable. The change we want, however, must be intentional. If that change is to last, we must incorporate E3.
Heres to intentional and sustained change!