http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/55132/if-you-wait-to-change-it-will-be-too-late/ Wed, 15 May 2013 18:45:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/55132/if-you-wait-to-change-it-will-be-too-late/comment-page-1/#comment-44469 Rick Maurer Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:33:40 +0000 http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/?p=55132#comment-44469 Larry - Destructive Enrichment, huh? I like it. And I liked reading quotes from so many others who advocate "healthy" paranoia. I focus on resistance to change in organizations. (Beyond the Wall of Resistance 2010) and I found that the comfort of complacency is perhaps the biggest challenge regarding change. The methods for actually making a change are a piece of cake in comparison. But it is extremely difficult for individuals and organizations to see that a change is needed. Harley Davidson’s business took a big hit back in the 70s when the quality of their bikes plummeted. Eventually they turned things around. An executive who had been there during that dreary period said, that "the writing was on the wall, but we thought it was a forgery." I am curious about why we can’t see the writing on our walls. While there may be many answers to that question, I find the notion of Immunity to Change compelling. In their book of the same name, Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey argue that it is as if we have separate immune systems that keep the status quo in place. We say we want to do something. We even know how to do it. And yet, year after year, we keep making the same New Year’s Resolutions. They suggest that the immunity comes from some big assumptions that work diligently to keep things just as they are. I think it may be even worse than that. I think that these big assumptions may even keep us from ever even noticing what we might need or like to do. I believe that organizations develop their own immune systems over time that transcend the current group of people walking the halls, and these beliefs sometimes keep us from seeing the writing on the wall. In spite of these immunities, organizations still love to do things. They love action, so I urge my clients to slow down. Quit moving to action so quickly. Take a deep breath and look seriously at the beliefs (both spoken and unspoken) that are likely to subvert any efforts to change. That’s hard to do, and not everyone has the courage to do it. But if people want to embody destructive enrichment, it sometimes is the only game in town. - Rick Larry – Destructive Enrichment, huh? I like it. And I liked reading quotes from so many others who advocate “healthy” paranoia.
I focus on resistance to change in organizations. (Beyond the Wall of Resistance 2010) and I found that the comfort of complacency is perhaps the biggest challenge regarding change. The methods for actually making a change are a piece of cake in comparison. But it is extremely difficult for individuals and organizations to see that a change is needed.
Harley Davidson’s business took a big hit back in the 70s when the quality of their bikes plummeted. Eventually they turned things around. An executive who had been there during that dreary period said, that “the writing was on the wall, but we thought it was a forgery.”
I am curious about why we can’t see the writing on our walls. While there may be many answers to that question, I find the notion of Immunity to Change compelling. In their book of the same name, Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey argue that it is as if we have separate immune systems that keep the status quo in place. We say we want to do something. We even know how to do it. And yet, year after year, we keep making the same New Year’s Resolutions. They suggest that the immunity comes from some big assumptions that work diligently to keep things just as they are. I think it may be even worse than that. I think that these big assumptions may even keep us from ever even noticing what we might need or like to do.
I believe that organizations develop their own immune systems over time that transcend the current group of people walking the halls, and these beliefs sometimes keep us from seeing the writing on the wall.
In spite of these immunities, organizations still love to do things. They love action, so I urge my clients to slow down. Quit moving to action so quickly. Take a deep breath and look seriously at the beliefs (both spoken and unspoken) that are likely to subvert any efforts to change. That’s hard to do, and not everyone has the courage to do it. But if people want to embody destructive enrichment, it sometimes is the only game in town.
- Rick

]]>