I recently engaged in an organizational transformation that went awry. Following the typical “organizational change management strategies” and my own failings in facilitating the change, everything came to a complete stop. Thinking through the organization’s capacities, I read hundreds of books, quotes, websites, blogs, trying to understand. I’ve always been comfortable with change. We moved a lot when I was a child and I was shipped to grandparents, aunts/uncles providing me with multiple perspectives. I believe those experiences gave me the tools to CHANGE. I’ve learned that my skill is facilitating change. But I failed.
So What to do with failure?
I read…engage.
Google…20 quotes on change….
- “Change before you have to” (Jack Welch)
- “Slowness to change usually means fear of the new.”(Philip Crosby)
- “The key to change …is to let go of fear.” (Rosanne Cash)
- “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!” (Peter Senge)
- “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”– Woodrow Wilson
- “Our only security is our ability to change.”– John Lilly
- “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”– Maya Angelo
- “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”– Charles Kettering
- “Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed – the culture reflects the realities of people working together everyday.”– Frances Hesselbein
- “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic.”– Peter Drucker
- “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”– Niccolo Machiavelli
- “The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades.”– John P. Kotter
- “Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”– John F. Kennedy
- “Change has a bad reputation in our society. But it isn’t all bad – not by any means. In fact, change is necessary in life – to keep us moving, to keep us growing, to keep us interested. Imagine life without change. It will be static, boring, dull.”– Dr. Dennis O’Grady
- “Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”
– Niccolo Machiavelli - “Your success in life isn’t based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business.”– Mark Sanborn
- “Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.”
– James Belasco and Ralph Stayer - “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”– Norman Vincent Peale
- “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”– Lao Tzo
- “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”– Anonymous
I love and agree with these statements.
So, what is the message?
For the organization, find your voice and next steps. Think outside the realm, but engage your team.
To me, listen, engage, ask, and slow down.