Smashing Status Quo: Creating Pauses in the Change Process

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. (Lao Tzu)

Human beings are primed for patterns.  We love consistency and predictability. It gives us a sense of security and control.  It allows us to create our own comfortable sphere in which we can rule and relax.

It is a knee-jerk reaction for most of us to resist any new proposal, whether we're in our personal life sphere or our professional life one.

Can Brandon spend the night? No... I'm too tired...  

Can we adjust the agenda to include a benefits discussion?  Sorry, no time...

Should we implement that new marketing automation software? That will change our lead process... oh, dear...

Our "no" response has slipped through our lips before we've given most proposals even two full seconds of consideration.  

But when you are the leader of an initiative to alter the status quo, how do you manage the tsunami of resistance that is inevitably crashing against your sandy shores of change? 

You have to create pauses. That pause is a momentary reflection - for you. For your team. It gives you space to breathe and think about what is really about to happen and put it in perspective.

First pause: let's recognize the status quo. Openly acknowledge and understand that this is where we are today, and this is what it means. Take your team through an "impact analysis" (current-state, future-state, gap analysis) exercise.  It's a common exercise, but it's one we often forget to do in the context of helping our teams through the change process. Going through this exercise reveals several important points to - and about - your team:

• it provides an agreed-upon understanding what today looks like
• it ensures a shared vision for where you're going
• it involves everyone in identifying the "gaps"
• it will show you the different levels of self-awareness among your team members
• it will show you who's bought in, who's not, and how far you have to go

Progress is a nice word. But change is a motivator. And change has its enemies. (Robert Kennedy)

The impact analysis exercise will help you identify who on your team can be helpful change agents, and who is going to require some nurturing to get them to the desired end state. While you want to employ your champions to help drive necessary actions, you also want to coach them along helping their more reluctant team members to open up to change. If your champions merely push forward with implementing change, they will be seen as puppets of the regime, enforcing an agenda... not a team player working to improve the business.

One way to help shake up the status quo way of thinking, and empower your team to embrace new and original approaches, is to stop talking and give them something to do.  Second pause: exercises that test their mettle when faced with non-traditional dilemmas.  Do you recall the exercise Mel Gibson went through in "What Women Want"?  He put on pantyhose, wore lipstick, tried to figure out how it felt to be a woman.  Way outside his comfort zone. Maybe you don't have to go that far, but looking at problem from a different point of view - from a different constituent, from a different industry - can be enlightening.  Or think about it from the "Apollo 13" angle: you have a limited number of supplies and you have to solve a life-saving problem - how can you use those tools, not at all designed for your problem, to save lives? 

Less dramatic but no less illuminating is an example I read about in an article last week: hand your team a candle, a book of matches and a box of thumbtacks.  Their mission is to somehow attach the candle to the wall, light it and ensure no wax drips on the floor or wall.  What do you do?  You empty the box of thumbtacks, tack the box to the wall and put the candle in it.  Who in your group, however, will literally think "outside the box"?  But once they see the light (pun intended)... you've shaken up the status quo.

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked, "If this were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" 

And if the answer is "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.  (Steve Jobs)

Sometimes going beyond simple acknowledgement can help your team let go of an entrenched pattern. Years ago when we were integrating a new team from a company we had recently acquired, I was battling the newcomers over the fact that we were changing the product name to be more in line with our corporate standards. While logically the team understood why we were making the change, there was still resentment and concern over the process.  Third pause: a mentor of mine made a suggestion that I thought was bizarre... and yet... at that stage I had nothing to lose and after pausing long enough to consider what affect it could have, we did it. We hosted a funeral.  The old product name was dead, but the spirit of the product lives on... in a different name, of course.  But the act of hosting a funeral - well, truthfully, more like an Irish wake with many rounds of Guinness and some great story-telling - allowed the acquired team to both laugh at the absurdity and mark the end of an era.  

We can't always promise that change is for the better. We can't ensure that every team member will embrace it and go forth. But we can be sensitive to the fact that our patterns are ingrained in us, for better and for worse, and if we work with them instead of pushing so hard against them, we can move forward a lot farther and a lot faster.  So pause. Breathe. Reflect. And then find a new way to smash through that status quo that brings everyone along with you, and not just staring at shattered pieces.

Is Debate Derailing Your Decisions? Four Keys to Stay On-Track

Deja vu.  I am leading a team meeting that starts off as an energetic brainstorming session. It evolves into a practical discussion around strategy. Then it devolves into a debate over execution. How can I keep the debate from derailing what has been, so far, a productive team session?

As a leader, it's my job to solve a problem.  I've called my best and brightest to help.  Now, how do I manage a passionate conversation to a practical outcome?  I've ridden this train before and I can still smell the fumes from the wreckage. So now a little wiser and with some help from my friends, here are four keys that keep me, and my team, on track.

Key #1: Maintain focus. Often times we get side-railed once a debate begins.  Whether it's bubbling up from a personality clash, burgeoning egos or a philosophical difference in tackling the issue, the bottom line is that there is an impersonal but very real business problem you are trying to solve.  Keep the focus of your team on the best possible outcome for the business - and acknowledge that there may be more than one path to getting there.  If you can keep a difference of opinion from escalating into more personal or emotional zones, you increase your chance of coming to a mutually agreed upon resolution.

Key #2: Establish evaluation criteria. Agreeing upon which elements are important when selecting a course of action is critical for the team to be able to come to consensus.  Your criteria might include the basics of budget, location, revenue generation, new market opportunity... it might also be "never been done before".

Key #3: Drive decision-making, not approval.  The difference here is driven by Keys #1 and #2. By maintaining focus on the desired business outcomes, you can keep everyone focused on making decisions that achieve those goals. The mission of the team isn't to nod their approval for every good idea. If you have a smart, motivated team, you're going to have a plethora of smart, executable ideas.  The goal is to drive to a smart decision that achieves your desired outcomes, aligned to your established criteria.

Key #4: Be willing to call a time-out. Just because we are all big boys and girls doesn't mean we don't occasionally require a time-out.  If a team member loses her temper, storms out of a meeting, or starts injecting outside issues into the conversation, it may just be time for a break. Acknowledge you're at this point and walk away.  But schedule a session to regroup within the next few days and before you re-start, review the focus and criteria for your meeting. Bring everyone back to the real purpose.

Differences of opinion are often great fodder for getting beyond our comfort zones.  A very smart person recently said to me, "There are probably 26 ways to solve every problem."  When we can acknowledge that as a leader, we are then more open to the depth our team brings to every situation and can encourage smarter, more original problem-solving approaches.  It enriches our experience, our leadership capabilities and our teams.