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Change for the sake of change doesn’t work – Mary T. O’Sullivan
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL, contributing writer on business leadership
“The basis of …change [for people] …is to “change the environmental context” in which they operate and to create a disequilibrium in the status quo”. Kurt Lewin
Back in 2008, a new Vice President was appointed as leader of my former business unit. He knew the place had suffered several key business losses recently and that there was a pervasive sense of ennui among the employees. The business had a reputation of operating with a sense of entitlement, and this new VP, set his priority as turning around the attitudes of the people. He wanted to catch people’s attention, and let everyone know, there was a new sheriff in town. He made many personnel changes, tried to fire a few people, and thought he needed to take additional bold steps to underline his desire for “change”.
I happened to be one of the casualties of the personnel rearrangements, and was no longer invited to the leadership meetings; however, I can just envision the discussions with the “change” consultant that was hired to “facilitate” these meetings. I imagine that after a day and a half of roving “easel board and marker” teams, and conference room walls papered with scrawls and diagrams of their brilliance, the VP charged his leaders with finding new ways to “change the environmental context”; in other words, to rid the place of the sense of entitlement and give employees a jolting wake up call; all in order to transform the attitude of privilege and shift emphasis to another greater good.
The answer came one morning as I pulled into the parking lot and noticed almost twice the number of HOV-Hybrid parking spaces, and the disappearance of the 40-year employee spots. Although the new VP had reached his goal of creating disequilibrium, he had created shock, disbelief, and anger as well. No one felt comfortable about taking the spots of the 40-year employees. One 40-year employee defied the HOV-Hybrid only sign, and took her usual spot as it was, prior to the shake up. And no one complained or tattled. Many people could not see the sense of this action, and all agreed that it had little or no impact on the attitude of employees. If anything, it forced employees into hard lines of “us” against “them”.
We all began to learn to live with this questionable decision until our company President paid a visit to the site about six weeks later. The President had once been the VP of the business as well as its site manager, and this Rhode Island location was near and dear to his heart. At the “all hands” meeting he conducted that day; he made a big announcement. He seemed quite annoyed as he bellowed from the podium with a scowl and pointed finger, “I don’t give a rat’s ass about green, HOV, Hybrid or any other thing that takes a parking space away from a 40-year employee. A person, who has spent 40 years of his or her life in this place and on whose back this place was built, is entitled to their own special space. I want those 40-year spots put back immediately!”
There was a charmed titter throughout the crowd, and a sense of relief all the way around. Within a week, the 40-year spots were all back, and equilibrium was back in the “kingdom.” It seemed that this attempt to stimulate change was an utter and complete failure. As far as ridding employees of the perceived sense of entitlement, the leadership team was ordered back to the drawing board. However, no bold moves like abandoning special parking spots have been heard since. But after that visit by the company President, other, more employee centric changes were made: a more decorative atrium in the entrance lobby and better food in the dining centers.
That consultant must have made a fortune initiating “change” at the Rhode Island site!
“We do not want to force change unless the culture requires it but changing for the sake of change will often not provide the impetus you are hoping for.” – Michael Fisher
Connect with Mary:
www.encoreexecutivecoaching.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marytosullivan/
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Read all Mary’s columns here: https://rinewstoday.com/mary-t-osullivan-msol-pcc-shrm-scp/
Mary T. O’Sullivan, Master of Science, Organizational Leadership, International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach, Society of Human Resource Management, “Senior Certified Professional. Graduate Certificate in Executive and Professional Career Coaching, University of Texas at Dallas. Member, Beta Gamma Sigma, the International Honor Society. Advanced Studies in Education from Montclair University, SUNY Oswego and Syracuse University. Mary is also a certified Six Sigma Specialist, Contract Specialist, IPT Leader and holds a Certificate in Essentials of Human Resource Management from SHRM.