Engine For Change

I bet you’ve met someone like Bill before.

Bill works hard every day, is above average in his work output and is a pleasure to work with.  Bill is waiting patiently for his boss to offer him a big promotion.  Bill hasn’t applied for any new jobs, hasn’t mentioned his interest in the promotion to his boss, and is not known to many people outside his immediate work group.  Bill is known as a patient guy.  He knows the promotion will come someday if he just waits patiently.

Ugh! Poor Bill.  Someone has misled him all these years.  I’d be surprised if he ever gets that promotion with the way he’s going about getting it.

Bill’s story leads me to our quote of the week:

Patience is the art of waiting.  It is not necessarily the art of waiting patiently.” – Peter Kreeft

I find joy in this quote, joy because it lends shades of color to the blog tag line, “Stop waiting.  Start driving the change you want.”  And, it helps Bill understand what he must do to get his promotion.

When I wrote, “Stop waiting,” I had in my head the picture of you hearing, “Stop waiting!” then awakening, leaping to your feet, and putting your shoulder to the boulders in front of you, the boulders that stand between you and the change you want.

Yet, I expected you would know that I meant for you to keep at the boulders, day after day, even if (and especially if) they seem immovable.  I expected you to know I was encouraging you to be patient for your outcome and at the same time impatient in your actions today.

But, how could you know that was what I expected?  I didn’t clearly say.  Let’s try to make the situation clear by returning to our friend, Bill.

Do this: Be patient for your destination.  You will arrive in time and it’ll be worth the wait.

Bill may have all the knowledge, skills and abilities to deserve that promotion and excel in the new role. Bill should set his sights on that promotion and know that someday it will be his.

While also doing this: Act impatiently along your journey.  Those who wait patiently rarely ever reach their destination.

Bill must act impatiently today.  By the end of the day, he could tell his boss he is interested in the next promotion.  By the end of the week, Bill could ask what training, experiences or results he’d need to be considered for the promotion.  By the end of the month, Bill could network with other colleagues, to increase his name recognition with the promotions board members.  Bill could do a lot of things and Bill should do something, today, this week and this month to get noticed and draw others to his side in his journey for a promotion.  If Bill does nothing but wait patiently, then he’s likely to get nothing in the end.

Don’t be Bill.

Be patient for the destination and wildly impatient along the journey.

Stop waiting. Start driving the change you want.

Why not start today?

Driving change is about choosing a change for yourself and clearing the obstacles for others to internally choose the change too.

In a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, Jon Katzenbach and Zia Khan introduce us to the concept of a fast zebra: someone who, “can quickly absorb information, adapt to new challenges, and get people aligned in the right direction… They are the people who can skirt around or blast through the kind of gridlock found not only in the political spectrum, but in organizations of every stripe.”

Fast zebras drive change.

I know because I drive change and I’m a fast zebra, having scored 6 of 6 on the fast zebra test.  (Yes, I’m competitive even with online tests.)

Read the fast zebra post.

Take the fast zebra test.

Are you a fast zebra too?

[Thanks to Rogue Polymath for finding the article and Julie for posting it at PSNS & IMF on the Waterfront.

…only what?

Stop saying, “They’re only…”

Start saying, “They could be…”

Don’t expect less of people.  Expect more.

Stop keeping Mike pigeonholed as the guy who peed his pants in first grade or Suzie labeled as the perpetual teacher’s pet.

Quit dwelling on that time Danny missed his deadline or all those times last year when Wanda couldn’t decide in time to seize huge opportunities.

There’s a Goethe quote that goes something like,

Treat people as they are and they’ll stay that way.  Treat them as the could be and they’ll become greater.”

I’m not saying to pretend people are something they’re not.  I’m asking you to acknowledge the skills, knowledge or abilities they have today and then aim them toward something higher.  Aim them toward their “could be.”

For the high school football team who’s never been state champions; teach them a drill they can run to perfection, improving their game and their confidence.  Maybe they’ll win.

For the work group that’s never met a deadline; implement a work flow process that frees the group from bad behaviors and helps them ship on time.  Maybe they’ll meet their deadlines.

For the managers that never seem to decide in time; create a meeting dedicated to making the decision and make clear the potential consequences of not deciding: loss of future business, or credibility, or something else that matters to them.  Maybe they’ll decide.

They won’t win every time, ship every time or decide every time, but you didn’t say, “They will be…”

You said, “They could be…”

That’s a lot more than “they’re only…”

Why not try?

Should you follow the advice at this blog–at any blog–or in any Harvard Business Review article or from any management coach? How can you tell which advice to act on and which to toss aside?

When you’re giving advice, are you giving people something they can use or are you seemingly just talking to hear yourself talk?

In Flawed Advice and the Management Trap, Chris Argyris describes how a manger–or anyone really–can test advice prior to acting.

I’ve used Argyris’ tests  to filter the advice I’ve received and to improve the advice I give others.  I’ve saved time by using Argyris’ tests.

Up at my desk I’ve posted a short cheat sheet of Argyris’ tests.  The posted questions keep the tests fresh in my mind.  I couldn’t read Argyris once and immediately implement his advice to perfection.  I had to practice (and I still am).  Practice applying these tests and you’ll only get better at driving change.

Argyris’ Tests of Good Advice

1. Is the advice valid?

• If implemented correctly it leads to the consequences that it predicts will occur.
• Its effectiveness persists so long as no unforeseen conditions interfere.
• It can be implemented and tested in the world of everyday practice.

2. Is the advice actionable?

• It specifies the detailed, concrete behaviors required to achieve the intended consdequences.
• It must be crafted in the form of designs that contain causal statements.
• People must have, or be able to be taught, the concepts and skills required to implement the causal statements.
• The context in which it is to be implemented does not prevent its implementation.

3. Is the advice helpful?

• It specifies intended outcomes or objectives to be produced.
• It specifies the sequence of actions required to produce them.
• It specifies the actions required to monitor and test for any errors or mismatches.
• It specifies the actions required to correct such errors or mismatches.

“The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.” – Robert M. Pirsig, from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I lived this quote tonight.

There I was vacuuming my house and sensing something was wrong, again, with my vacuum.  I should mention that I loathe my vacuum.

For a while I continued to vacuum, frustrated at how little dirt the vacuum seemed to be getting out of the carpet.  I started shouting over the vacuum noise, at the vacuum.  Not surprisingly, it didn’t respond to my pleas for it to improve its performance.

Then, I remembered this week’s quote, and a few of the other things I learned reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I stopped vacuuming, turned the vacuum off, unplugged it and flipped it over.  There in the suction intake, just behind the brushes, was one of my son’s toys.  It was wedged across the intake blocking, I’d guess, 80% or more of the opening.  I dislodged the toy, flipped the vacuum back over, plugged it in and continued to vacuum, to much better results.

When you’re struggling with someone or something that just won’t do what you want, don’t shout.

Figure out what you can change about you first.

Drive change.

It doesn’t matter if you’re right.

It doesn’t matter if the change you’re proposing is the exact thing your organization needs to do to thrive or even survive.

If you can’t get anyone to listen to you or anyone to implement the change, no one will ever know you were right.

Driving change is about linking up the right change with the ability to bring about the change.

Driving change is perceived to take longer than driving people to change, but I don’t think it takes longer.

Why?

Because driving people to change seems shorter (order them to do it today and they do it today) but never works (for long) while driving change takes as long as it takes, but it’s successful nearly every time.

I’ll take success at the pace it comes over being right and failing to implement.

As Seth Godin says, it isn’t about what you make, it’s about what you ship.

And, in changing organizations, shipping is implementing.

So when you’re thinking about driving people to change to get to your right answer faster, remember:

So what if you’re right?

Then drive change.

Why not try?

Once you’re great at driving change, I bet people watching you will say you’re:

• setting an example,
• being a good listener, but not compromising on your values,
• continually teaching other people, and
• helping people pull away from their current practice and beliefs and move into the new philosophy without a feeling of guilt about the past.

W. Edwards Deming defined someone with these characteristics as a person transformed; a person who had achieved a place in a system of profound knowledge.

Captain Ralph Soule wrote up an excellent excerpt of Deming’s system description, cutting together vital definitions to make the abstract concepts hang together in one post.

If you don’t know Deming, read Soule’s post before continuing or the rest of this post likely won’t make as much sense as it could. (more…)

If you want to succeed a driving change, practice drawing pictures.  Specifically, practice drawing pictures of either what the future looks like or what the journey to the future looks like.

Why?

Because people think in pictures.  If you can draw a picture in their minds that they can put themselves in, look around and feel at home, then you gotten them to a place where they can comfortably take action to join you in that vision.

Without the picture they are like a person in a dark, unfamiliar room, tripping over everything as they fumble for the lights.  Give them the light; give them the pictures.  Whether in words or drawings, they must have the picture.

Today I spent the day trying to figure out how to show the strategic vision of complex system in easy to understand words and drawings (notice I didn’t say simple–simple often has a bad connotation).  By the end of the day I got to a picture that while imperfect will stand in for a blank piece of paper and will get others talking about how the picture doesn’t match what they see in their heads.  That’s the conversation I want to happen.  Their comments will change the picture from mine to ours and in the end it must be our picture for the change to succeed.

Over the years, three things have helped me draw better and better pictures quicker and quicker, allowing me to drive change faster and faster.  These three things may not work perfectly for you, but they certainly won’t hurt you:

1. Start with the ultimate one-day experience: Edward Tufte’s one-day Presenting Data and Information course.

Tufte will teach you the essentials.   You won’t be the same when you leave at the end of the day, because you’ll have rules to measure what excellent visual displays of information look like and you’ll have a challenge–in the form of Tufte’s motivation and the books he sends home with you–to seek excellence because you can, not because you must.  [Key: Tufte is driving change in his students and I love him for that.]  If you can’t get to his one day course, check out his site, edwardtufte.com, or his books at your local library.

2.  Read Dan Roam’s Back of the Napkin, a challenge to and method for drawing pictures to gain understanding quickly.

The pixel count of your drawing doesn’t matter if you don’t get your thought across.   But how do you guarantee you can regularly, quickly get your thoughts across?  Well, wherever you are, you’ll rarely be at a loss for the back of a napkin to store your thoughts on.  So, by Roam keeping your tools simple–yet powerful–he gives you needed agility.  Agility is key when you must win someone to your change far away from your computer and polished publicity materials.

3.  Practice.  Practice. Practice.  The more you draw pictures–in meetings, in conversations, with words, with actual drawings–the better you’ll get.  When someone says, “I think I understand what you’re showing me,” and can take action based on your picture–and it’s action toward the outcomes you want–then you’ll know you’re succeeding.

Drive change, in vivid pictures.  All it takes is practice.  Why not try?

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” – Albert Einstein

As an implementer, an engineer, someone who turns ideas into practical applications, I enjoy this quote.

I enjoy the quote because within it I hear a challenge to do more than absorb information.

I hear a challenge to apply my knowledge, to seek the learning that comes with trying–and yes, sometimes failing–at something new.  [For a lesson in failure: See my post about my first attempt at a Guiding Coalition.]

There is no formal education in driving change.  This blog is a map to help you on your journey.

Don’t confuse this blog with your destination.

It’s time to move past the education.

It’s time to use the map.

It’s time to learn, try, fail and succeed.

It’s time to drive change.

Are you ready?

…not that it should matter to anyone that I agree with him, but I do.

So why should you care that Deming was right?

Because just as other authors have discovered the mechanisms at work in creating empowered cultures (Gallup’s strengths work) and transformational change (Kotter’s Leading Change), so W. Edwards Deming cataloged beautifully the flaws in modern organizations and proposed solutions to the flaws, a system to replace the old and restore dignity to work and unleash the potential of every man or woman.

Deming advocated for leaders to seek out a system of profound knowledge, where the leader could see the broad system, and act on the system to achieve true transformation.

Building on Deming’s work, Marcia Daszko has published an article, What it Takes to be a Profound Leader.

Frequent readers of this blog will see tie between driving change and profound leadership, notably in these thoughts:

2. Create an environment where people are self-motivated.  They realize the power is not in motivating people, but rather that the power is in creating a place where people are self-motivated to contribute.  Then, get out of their way and the organization will go places you probably did not imagine.

4. Remove barriers so people can do Quality work together. Ask what is getting int he way of the people accomplishing their work and then respond to serve them.

7. Create new leaders.  Develop the natural leadership in everyone.  Help people reach their fullest potential. Coach and counsel people. Learn what is important to people, to different generations, groups and teams, and cultures.

Self-motivated people? Check.  When you’re driving change, you’re asking the people in your organization who would like to help, you’ve removed the policies that punish the helpful, and you’ve waited for the people to step forward.  And they’ve stepped forward.  You didn’t have to wait long.

Remove barriers? Check.  When you’re driving change, you’re the leader who is blowing apart barriers, using what positional authority you have to clear the way to drive your organization into the future.  It’s awesome to watch!

Create new leaders? Check. When you’re driving change, you can’t help but create new leaders because you’ve stepped back from making every decision and you’ve allowed others to lead.  You give them the opportunity and more than a few have seized it and truly impressed you.  It’s a phenomenal sight!

Though you may have no time or interest, consider adding Deming into your to-read list and, at minimum, look over Ms. Daszko’s article.

If you don’t know how you would actually implement any one of her 16 steps to profound leadership, just post a comment and ask.  I’m sure together we can come up with something to make you even more successful at driving change.  After all, that’s why I’m here!