Change vs. evolution

I have a confession to make. I really don’t believe in ‘change management’, but let me qualify that. I don’t believe in ‘large-scale, turn the organisation around 180 degrees in the next six months change management’.

I often get asked how you change the culture of an organisation – my answer is both tongue-in-cheek and totally serious at the same time. Fire everyone who isn’t doing things the way you want them to.

Here’s the thing, we are always changing. It goes with the turf of living, every day we change in small, sometimes almost invisible ways. Something out there in the environment shifts and we have to respond. It’s in our DNA. Darwin called it evolution (aka incremental change in response to external stimuli to ensure survival).

Now that’s change I can get behind, no management needed. But you don’t see many ‘evolution’ consultants out there. Why not? Because when change is dealt with in this way it becomes organic, hardwired into the organisation. It becomes lasting and sustainable… no splashy change program needed.

BP Executive Fiona McLeod sees it as a dangerous addiction:
“The corporate world is “addicted” to serial change management programs that consume massive resources but ultimately fail to solve the problems they aim to address.”

Her article in Knowledge@Wharton goes on to advise:
“The economy needs businesses that are clear on why they exist, clear on what their business model is, and have measures in place to know when they need to make adjustments. We need organisations that can manage continuous improvement in a predictable way.”

Read the rest of the article here.

I agree with much of what she says, and yet, even in her article, the primary example is of a huge ‘change management’ program that used massive resources. The fact that they seem to have achieved their goals in the short-term will need time to prove if it succeeds in the sustainable long-term.

I am not for one second suggesting that if you have things in your organisation that you feel need to change that you shouldn’t address them. What I am suggesting is that you before you embark on any kind of change management program, look at your business goals, your existing culture and the environment around you and decide if the returns will be worth the cost.

Is there a more incremental evolutionary way you could achieve your goals, that won’t involve the cost and turmoil that nearly always seems to follow big program change management?

See you next week.

Michel is a Brand Advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations recognize who they are and align that with what they do and say, to build more authentic and sustainable brands. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment.