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Zach Aldwin: Milkshake in the Boardroom

It was recommended by someone who I highly esteem so I jumped onto Amazon and downloaded it the same day. I read the first chapter and then my internal resistance started to kick up a fuss. It took me an entire month to get onto Chapter 2.I found every excuse not to read it; there was not enough time, I was too busy, I was too tired, there was a good movie that needed watching. The real reason for all the push back was that this book demanded change of me.

In it I could see a number of my own personal faults neatly dissected. It was like walking into biology class all over again and seeing a rat splayed out across the table with little labels neatly pinned to its innards with the same vomit inducing effect.

This was not a simple change either; it is change that is going to take time, effort and a lot of practice. Change is the sort of concept that dredges up an entire spectrum of emotion in people, from the energetic reds of excitement to the mysterious grumbling radio waves of discontent that settle in the pit of your stomach. Some people get a kick out of it; others (70 percent of the population) find it something they would rather not do.

There is so much that can change as well-jobs, systems, where you park, what you eat, how you style your hair, company policy. Just the sheer thought of changing so much can paralyse people into indecision. Here is the irony, even if you do nothing change still happens subtly over time. You age, things wear out and need replacing, and people will come and go in your life.

Relationships are never static-even if you think they are. There are always new opinions being formed. The weather changes daily. Like it or not change is here to stay. So, how do we manage change? How can it be moved from this big scary monster in the room to something that can be embraced by everyone?

Do not change just for the sake of change. New CEO’s sometimes make this mistake to shake it up and stamp their authority over everything. Others change because “everyone is doing it”. Change can happen for a variety of reasons. Change in a crisis may be different to the planned redundancy of a product line. Be aware that it will impact people differently depending on each situation.

You will need to tweak your communication and management to each situation. If you find that you are shifting gears from one crisis to another continually then perhaps a hard look at yourself in is order. Do not mistake change for growth. Not all change is beneficial. Be careful what you change; process altering, system tweaking and restructuring departments may not be the real issue.

It may be behaviour that needs to shift in order to improve production and that takes a different set of skills to alter. A long hard look at both the content and condition of your organisation may be in order-especially if you have already changed recently and it did nothing.

Internal change of things within your control is far more effective than trying to change external forces. You cannot change the weather. You can, however, change communication between staff, shift company culture, and encourage a healthy work accountability.

Find a mutual purpose between the you, the instigator of change, and those that are being affected by the change. This can require time and effort to prevent push back. Find a common goal that appeals to those who are possibly bearing the brunt of any shift and dialogue with them on it. Spend time before and during the shift coming up with a common ground that you can both build off. This can provide a metric for measuring how effective your change will be.

If your common ground is “improved production methods allowing for ease of production and less time wasted getting the job done” then that is what you need to measure to show that the change was worth their while.

Set up small goals to achieve that reinforce the change and desired effect. Change and growth can be painful and annoying — ask any teenage boy. The clearer you are about what needs to change, why it should change and the desired outcome before you embark on the journey the better the results will be.

If you are not clear what you want then you will be unable to communicate that to others, there will be no buy in and you will fail horribly. Not only that the next time you try change something everyone will remember how you performed last time and you have the extra negative expectations to overcome.

Well managed, well executed change for the right reasons is well worth it and sets you up for the next shift. Where possible spend the time getting it right.