From Observations to Principles For Change

 In the beginning of this blog series I posed the question - why are we collectively so bad at delivering change?   I believe a big part of the answer to this question is we collectively act on a series of beliefs that are inconsistent with observable evidence.   Consequently the next series of blogs has set out to identify specific instances of these inconsistencies through a series of observations.  By way of summary these observations are¹:

1. Our traditional delivery methods assume a stable environment but the world is changing faster than ever.
2. We act as if innovation occurs through a genius having a big idea but in reality innovation occurs over time through iterations and interactions
3. We suck at delivering large complex projects but we are actually quite good at delivering small and simple changes
4. We predominantly focus on solution and scope (time cost and quality) and pay scant regard to benefits once approval has been given
5. We tend to manage change through fear and short term expedience with limited regard for the impact on individuals or collective culture and then wonder why employees resist change. 
6. Context is King and senior leaders are responsible for setting the context (aka organisation culture) however most senior teams do not actively manage their impact on organisation culture.

The second question I asked in that initial blog was - what do we need to do differently to actually make a difference and improve our ability to deliver change? 

In my worldview the core answer to this question is pretty simple.  We need to begin to deliver change in a way that is consistent with observable evidence.  I have made a start to articulating this in the table below:

Observations / Traditional View	What we need / The New Change Paradigm
Our traditional delivery methods assume a stable environment but the world is changing faster than ever.	Recognise that today change is rapid and continuous and explicitly allow for the need to ongoingly adapt in our approach to change and implementation of strategy.
We act as if innovation occurs through a genius having a big idea but in reality innovation occurs over time through iterations and interactions	Ensure change delivery is iterative and deliberately build interactions into delivery methods (interaction includes feedback, lessons learned and water cooler conversations among other things)
We suck at delivering large complex projects but we are actually quite good at delivering small and simple changes	Break large risky projects down so that they are small and easily delivered (through iterative delivery processes).
We predominantly focus on solution and scope (time cost and quality) and pay scant regard to benefits (once approval has been given)	We need to reorient around value / ROI as our dominant focus.  Value needs to drive all decisions. (R = return or benefits. I = investment)
We tend to manage change through fear and short term expedience with limited regard for impact on individuals or collective culture and then wonder why employees resist change.  While fear may work in the short term it struggles to create loyalty, commitment and discretionary effort.	In times of constant change we need to lead and manage change through purpose and vision.  Purpose cannot be disrupted, how we deliver purpose can be disrupted, but purpose cannot.  If you focus on purpose change can be seen as an enabler rather than a disruptor. It can inspire rather than create fear.
Context is king and senior leaders are responsible for setting context (aka organisation culture) however most senior teams do not explicitly manage their impact on organisation culture.	Leaders need to actively manage a culture that makes change easy (or at least possible).

So what do you think, I'd love to get your thoughts and feedback.    Do these new principles of change make sense?  Are they complete? What would you add, delete or change? or what requires more explanation of consideration?

If we can agree on a set of principles based on real world observation our next step is to define an approach to change that is consistent with these principles.    I will make a start on this on our next blog.

¹ In articulating these observations in a list I realise that the blogs published to date don't separate and articulate these clearly and separately.  In particular observation 4 and 5 above are embedded into the blog for observation 3.  In time I will go back and reformulate this to make it easier to follow