Engine For Change

When driving change it pays to have friends who can carry most of the load for you some times.

I offer big thanks to my dear friend Rogue Polymath for posting a quick, concise description of Parkinson’s Law.

Ever wonder to yourself that if only you had more time, more space, or more money, etc – you’d be better off?  That’s not likely, according to Parkinson’s Law.

First stated by Cyril Parkinson in 1955 as, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion,”  it describes the human nature to procrastinate, goof off, and be otherwise unproductive in the face of little to no consequences.  It can be generalized however as:

The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource.

This could apply to the amount of data in a storage media, the amount of clothes in your closet, or even the amount of time you spent on Facebook.

So how can you minimize the effects of Parkinson’s Law?  Acknowledging the problem is always the first step.  You could use Critical Chain Project Management.  Or you could just start slowly with using a timer to keep yourself in check.

Got other examples of Parkinson’s Law in action or ways to fight it?

My favorite example of Parkinson’s Law is the curse of mandatory overtime.  When you work overtime regularly you begin to build the overtime into your week.  Your work expands to fill the new time allowed and your boss starts to wonder why your productivity per hour worked is dropping.

Please, if you’re suffering under the curse of mandatory overtime, refer your boss to Parkinson’s Law.

Every boss should understand, once they have knowledge of Parkinson’s Law, that there is a difference between asking someone to work ten hours of overtime this week and asking that same person to produce more of what they produce (be that widgets or reports).

Asking for overtime guarantees the boss the hours of charging and he or she may get an increase in products produced (though usually Parkinson’s Law in action sucks up any gains).

Asking for higher production may not get the boss all the added production he or she wants, but it will likely get the boss a higher return of products produces per hour of overtime invested.

Plus, the super bonus to a boss who understands the curse of Parkinson’s Law: changing their request from hours of overtime to a request for an increase in productivity usually costs a whopping total of zero dollars (and likely will save the company money through reduced overtime and sustained employee morale).

Keep driving change and driving out Parkinson’s Law.

There’s too much to do in this world to allow your current work to fill up all your time.

You’re better than that!

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine…” – Marianne Williamson

Typically you see the quote attributed, incorrectly, to Nelson Mandela.  Whomever said it first, it’s a beautiful quote to ponder, especially so if you hope to drive change.

Here’s the full quote:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

…that’s what Seth Godin said to do today at his blog and I enjoy following his advice.

Well, here it goes:  A few weeks ago I wrote a post about not fearing success.  In that post I mentioned an abstract I’d submitted for the Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization conference in Las Vegas in June.  Today I got word my presentation was declined by the selection committee.

Dear Submitter,

The TOCICO would like to thank you for your submission for the 2010 International Conference in Las Vegas.  The response to the call for presentation was unprecedented in quality and quantity.  I regret to inform you that your presentation was not selected by the committee this year.

I wasn’t shocked by the e-mail, as a friend who’d also submitted an abstract received his congratulations e-mail on Thursday.

Funny how this event makes me think of a selection process I supported last year.  We made sure to tell those that weren’t selected at the very same instant, if not just before, those that were selected.  Now, I won’t claim that everything went great with that selection (I think I still have the bruises from the fights that broke out afterward), but I didn’t get any complaints about the timing of the announcements (and considering how many complaints I got about other parts of the process, I would think the topic would have come up).  Okay, I’ve spun off on a bird walk…where was I?

Oh, yes.

Don’t fear success and don’t fear making a ruckus while failing.

[p.s. To all of you out there who inquired about the status and about how I was doing waiting to hear: Thank you for all your support and well wishes.  When you're driving change, it pays to have loyal, supportive friends around you! ]

In my own, fully experimental, non-research supported method, I’ve found two ways to judge someone’s capacity for speed (of change).

1.  Listen for their verbal clues.  What do they say when presented with something much better, faster, cheaper than they thought possible?

Do they verbally lean into the speed of the change and say:

• Thank you!
• How did you do that?  How can I do that?
• Can you do that again?
• Wow!

Or do they instead:

• Complain about the speed with which you made the change  (usually without a reason for why the speed is bad).
• Encourage you not to share your success with others (and provide an elaborate reason why).
• Complain about the age, experience, fill-in-the blank of you or the person achieving the change (ignoring the change itself).
• Ask you who told you to do that (this is the worst when it’s your boss asking you the question).
• Ignore the outcome entirely (as though you passed so fast before their eyes they didn’t even see you as a blur).

2.  Watch for the behavioral clues.  What do they do when presented with something much better, faster, cheaper than they thought possible?

Do they physically lean into the speed of change and:

• Pull the person close and ask for more.
• Create opportunities for their people to achieve the same success.
• Gather others together to see the success for themselves.
• Defend you from others who are trying to crush you or your success.

Or do they instead:

• Turn away when you talk about the success.
• Lean in to the discussions of the negatives or downfalls of going faster.
• Nod when others undermine the success.
• Act to isolate you or the success.
• Say (while walking away), “Yes, but you didn’t fix this, that and the other thing too.”

Most people don’t always lean into change or always pull back , but you don’t want to know what they always do.  You want to know what they’re doing today.

When you’re driving change you need to know at your point in time and relative to the change you’re driving:

How fast can Suzie or Julie, Danny or Jay go?  Is she, or is he, leaning into or pulling back from this change (or from all change)?

Sometimes knowing the answer to “How fast can you go?” of those around you is enough to keep you moving, if only because the knowledge points you in the opposite direction of the change-killers.

Keep driving.  You’re doing a great job!

This article went out in the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) news wire today:

MAR25-06:  Leadership Icon Visits Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & IMF

From Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility Public Affairs

BREMERTON, Wash.- Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), a Naval Sea Systems Command field activity, was recognized, March 19, by a prominent leadership scholar as one of only one percent of the world’s organizations working to embrace change and finding success.

The change is a result of PSNS & IMF’s “Guiding Coalition,” a strategic planning model that focuses on developing leaders and sustaining results, supporting the command’s mission as a full-service naval shipyard and maintenance facility for the Navy’s ships.

“This is all about listening, seeking to improve the alignment between words and actions, and always striving for excellence,” said Capt. Mark Whitney, PSNS & IMF commander.
“Our efforts are focused on allowing our folks to continuously develop themselves, to connect with and be ready for the future work force, and improve the daily work environment around them. And we are!”

“Only 15 percent of all organizations are really trying to understand how to live with and respond to the rate of change.  Of the organizations, 15 percent are trying to move in a direction that they know works, 14 of the 15 percent are struggling because of the culture or environment that drives them.  Only 1 percent of the organizations in the world are making progress; they are doing what you all are doing,” said John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and creator of the Guiding Coalition concept, during a recent visit to the shipyard.

According to Kotter, his model shows that “a strong Guiding Coalition [committee] is always needed-one with the right composition, level of trust and shared objective.  Building such a team is always an essential part of the early stages of any effort to restructure.”

PSNS & IMF is continuously looking for ways to streamline its processes and how its most valuable asset, its people, is utilized.

In the last four years, the command’s Guiding Coalition committee has formed a Command University through expanded investments in training; created a Diversity Council; and improved cafeterias, facilities, communications and more.  These initiatives use established methods to develop systems and processes to conduct training, education, optimizing personnel and equipment resources.  This enables PSNS & IMF to attract new employees and maintain the excellence of their current work force.

“For someone who roams around the world and has hundreds of companies, universities and the government, there are some things going on [at PSNS & IMF] that are on the leading edge,” Kotter said. “If you don’t know about them, you’ve got to figure it out; find it. And, if you have been involved, you can pat yourself on the back.”

News flash: Driving change isn’t always wonderful.

I hope I didn’t shock you too much with that revelation.

But, if you want to excel at driving change you must train yourself (and you can train yourself) to see an opportunity in every frustration.

My example frustration today was a struggle with people wanting a measure for something that doesn’t currently (not that it couldn’t in the future) have a fixed measure.  Now by fixed measure, what’s implied is a unstated assumption that if I can’t measure it today–numerically label it is probably a better way to say it—then it can’t have value, even if it is a real, positive change.

UGH!!! There it is…the frustration leaking out of me.  What am I to do?

When truly frustrated (and while training for a half marathon), I turn to running to pound the frustrations from my body and free my mind to wonder, “how can I make this frustration into an opportunity?”

It was at the moment that I let the question float into my mind that I looked down at my GPS-enabled super sport running watch (okay it isn’t mine, it’s my husband’s, but he wasn’t using it tonight. I was.)

I remember years ago running for the sake of running, for fitness, for wellness, or just because.  I didn’t have the super watch then.  I couldn’t look down at any moment and know my time, my mileage, and my recent pace.

Back then, I had to just run, and feel how tired I felt or how many blocks I knew my current location was from my college apartment (my typical destination).  I had building as way points to tell me roughly how I was doing and I had the view of the pavement disappearing under my feet to show me I was making progress.  And that was enough to get me moving.

When you’re driving change, sometimes you’re working in areas with known measures and quickly you can see the dial turn or the needle move.  Having the needle or dial (if they’re measuring something meaningful) is helpful.

But other times you’re pace can’t be measured in minutes, or seconds, or twitches in the signal between a transmitter and a satellite in orbit.  Sometimes you need to watch to see if there is your version of pavement disappearing under your feet and whether or not your destination (or desired way point) is coming into focus closer in front of you.

You can’t measure everything, but when you can’t you can still see/feel/experience positive change.  Sometimes that has to be enough, for now at least.  Because, without those first attempts to run, to try, to do well before you know how to measure the right things, you’ll never get to the point where someone designs a watch to help you optimize your measures.

Stop standing still.  Start running the change you want.

There.  I feel better now.  Do you?

If you don’t know what the term Stockdale Paradox means, you must.

When you can “maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be,” you are embracing what Jim Collins calls the Stockdale Paradox. [source: Good to Great by Jim Collins]

Collins writes about a conversation he had with Admiral Stockdale, as Stockdale remembered back to his time as a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton.  Stockdale told Collins,

I never lost faith in the end of the story.  I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

When Collins asked, “Who didn’t make it out?” Stockdale replied:

Oh, that’s easy.  The optimists. ..Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go.  And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again.  And they died of a broken heart. .. .That is a very important lesson.  You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end–which you can never afford to lose–with the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

How does this apply to you, someone trying to drive change?

Simple. Ask yourself: Have I  ever given up on a change I wanted or needed because I played the optimist and allowed myself to break my heart, my will to drive change?

Sadly, I’ve had people quit driving change because of the simplest of defeats:

• They were let down when a top manager, who has never delivered on a promise of support, fails again to support them.  (And they thought this time would be different. Nope.)
• They thought the change would be complete well before the summer was over and now it’s late into the fall.
• They tried and failed to change something in the past and refuse to try again.
• They think driving change should be more happiness and less frustration (often it isn’t), or
• They think others (name the group) should help more and complain less. (They rarely will.)

You have not been defeated by some outside enemy when you quit, when you allow yourself to break, or when  you refuse to face the Stockdale Paradox, accept it and persevere;  you have defeated yourself.

Know the Stockdale Paradox.

Seek out and face the brutal facts.

But, keep the faith that someday you will achieve the change you are driving.

You will never prevail unless you believe you will.

Why not believe?

Powerful organizations adore the status quo, so expect no help from them if your idea challenges the very thing they adore.” Seth Godin

from Random Rules for Ideas Worth Spreading

“Would you rather…?” is a popular board game. In the game, you get questions that ask you something silly like, “Would you rather wear a bucket on your hand for a year or a bucket on your foot for a year?” What would you say?

People are drawn to the game because people like to pick from multiple choices. Don’t believe me?

Answer this question: Would you feel more comfortable walking into a restaurant that had a menu or one that didn’t?

“What would you like to have tonight?” is a whole different question when there’s no menu to pick from.

Every day, you’re expected to make lots of decisions, but rarely are the options as neatly laid out as the choices on a menu.

Are you doing the same thing over and over again because you don’t know what your other options are?

Or are you waiting for someone to make up the menu before you’ll try anything new?

You know what I’m going to say to that: Stop waiting.  Start driving the change you want.

Leadership Icon Visits Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & IMF
By PSNS & IMF Public Affairs

When speaking with PSNS & IMF's Guiding Coalition Committee and honored guest John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor, Captain Whitney, Commander, PSNS & IMF, stated, "We are catching the edge where words and actions are aligned. That's making a difference, to me."

BREMERTON, WA—Why would an internationally recognized expert on leadership and change ask to visit the U. S. Navy’s shipyard in Bremerton, Wash.?

John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and best-selling author of Leading Change, visited the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility March 19, 2010, to see for himself the success the Command has had with his eight-step Leading Change model.

Kotter’s eight-step model describes how organizations can gain the ability to change their culture for continued success. It is a roadmap that has helped people talk about transformation and change.

According to Kotter, his model shows that

“a strong Guiding Coalition [committee] is always needed—one with the right composition, level of trust and shared objective. Building such a team is always an essential part of the early stages of any effort to restructure.”

In the last four years, PSNS & IMF’s Guiding Coalition Committee has formed a Command University through expanded investments in training; created a Diversity Council; and improved the Command’s cafeterias, facilities, communications and more. These successes have reverberated throughout PSNS & IMF.

“You guys are really making some headway; don’t let up,” Kotter said. “It’s easy to see some wins and say, ‘Hooray, we did that,’ and then let up. If anything, you need to put your foot down a little more on the accelerator.”

Dennis Goin, a national facilitator of guiding coalitions who has worked with Kotter, believes that PSNS & IMF is an example of how the Leading Change model should work.

“If you’ve ever wanted your strategic planning book put together with your strategic plan in place, then this is the model to use,” Goin said. “The book stays open; the initiatives are constantly being worked; you are constantly touching them.”

Taking the Leading Change eight-steps developed by Kotter—and blending a mixture of positional power, expertise, credibility and leadership—the PSNS & IMF Guiding Coalition has become more than a committee; it is an engine for change.

“For someone who roams around the world and has seen hundreds of companies, universities and the government, there are some things going on [at PSNS & IMF] that are on the leading edge,” Kotter said.  “If you don’t know about them, you’ve got to figure it out; find it. And if you have been involved, you can pat yourself on the back.”

John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor, visited PSNS & IMF on March 19 for a series of discussions. Kotter shared during his visit, "You've got a lot of terrific talent out there."