5 ways to manage change

If you and your organisation are facing large-scale change, you have a number of choices: run away and pretend it isn’t happening, get someone else to fix it, institute some diversionary activity, or cling to what you have in the hope that it will comfort you through the times ahead. Or, you can learn to manage change in the following 5 ways.

1. See the glass as already broken.

Change is a natural and inevitable part of life. Just as change is essential for the formation of a business in the first place, so it is essential for the continuation of the business in its later stages. The Buddhists teach that, to understand and accept the inevitability of change, we need to see “the glass as already broken”. In other words, we need to accept that, in time, everything that is made will be unmade and everything that works now will stop working. In time, a simple product like a glass will disintegrate and fall to dust. Nothing stays the same and we must accept it.

2. Open up your thinking.

Being able to see the way ahead is one of the hardest things to detect and get right. Napoleon Bonaparte was reputed to have dismissed the invention of steam ships with the words, “What, sir! Would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense.” Gary Hamel says that those who run enterprises must guard against such closed thinking by listening to three types of employee: newcomers because they’re not yet into the corporate way of thinking; young people because they have more creativity; and those on the periphery because they’re closer to change.

3. Ride the horse in the direction it’s going.

Even though seeing the way of the future can be tricky, it’s not difficult…if you look closely and without attachment to the way you want it to be. Charles Handy tells the story of how former American President Dwight D.Eisenhower, when President of Columbia University, received a deputation of students asking for a pathway across the grass.

“Why do they walk there?” he asked.
“It’s the easiest way to the hall,” came the reply.
“Well, if that’s the way they’re going to go, then cut a pathway there,” he said.

4. Let go of your attachments.

Seeing change and the need for change is sometimes much easier than we make it. It’s the blocks that get in the way. The main blocks to change are the attachments we hold on to from the past. The three main ones are:

• attachments which make us feel secure, such as status, possessions, routine, old skills and old know-how
• attachments which give us power, such as titles, connections with important others, and a position that is able to reward and punish
• attachments which make us feel good, such as having others need us, look up to us, and be dependent on us.

Hanging on to these attachments when the signs say “Let go” is like the mountaineer who falls down a cliff in the dark and holds on when the ground is just a few inches below his feet.

5. Share your bread. One of the solutions to managing successful change lies in learning new ways. It also means learning together. Peter Senge reminds us that the word “company” came from the word “companion” whose original meaning was “com” meaning “with” and “panis” meaning “bread”. In other words a companion was someone you shared bread with. Senge says that one of the best ways of managing change is to share ideas with others in the organization. This is what car makers Ford did when faced with massive change. Instead of hiring outside consultants to tell them what to do, Ford undertook a one-year teaching programme that involved every one of their salaried employees. And they taught and listened to one another. 200 Ford leaders taught and listened to 1200 section leaders who taught and listened to 50,000 others. As Ford CEO, Jacques Nasser, said, “There is simply no better, faster way to distribute knowledge around a company than through teaching. And the company has to do this teaching with their own people.”

The general consensus is that change is hard. The management gurus tell us so. But there is nothing inherently difficult about change. It’s part of life and at the heart of what happens throughout our lives. Follow the simple steps above and you can put it at the heart of your enterprise.