Organizational Change Management: The Power of Story
Change. It’s where we are. It’s a very emotional and confusing place. How do we move through it creatively, with sanity? How do we master the stories we’re living in our organizations, our communities, our families, and our hearts?
Well, the way we usually do it isn’t working. Let me review that problem first….
Some organizations fight it, trying to get back to past ways of working, living and thinking. That’s normal, although the war is a losing one from the get go. The biggest problem with this way of resisting change is that this strategy has sparked a culture war, and the past we hope to return to never actually existed. Like a lovely dream, it’s an idealized story we’ve created to make sense of experiences and interpretations. These stories are also shaped by political movements based in organized resistance to change, stories that vary depending on the agenda of the organizations.
“In every age ‘the good old days’ were a myth. No one ever thought they were good at the time. For every age has consisted of crises that seemed intolerable to the people who lived through them.”
– Brooks Atkinson
Some organizations embrace it in the name of the future, trying to move as quickly as possible towards transformation. They motivate themselves by focusing on a specific vision for this ideal outcome, driving towards that future with passionate intensity. These futures are stories, too, creating equally zealous advocates. Political propoganda supports these narratives as well, often fueled by an equal and opposite story from factions resisting change.
“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”
-- Alan Turing
For both perspectives, the war is absolute, cultural as well as economic and social. Idealism can be a strong motivator, and it certainly sells in the short run, strengthening brands and convictions. Winning small battles is never enough, because in order to truly win, these opposing stories must be embraced by all organizations, and achieved in an idealized (and unsustainable) present. This combination of universal conformity and practical results is impossible. Change with even greater chaos is inevitable.
Avoiding oppositional stories is the first step towards managing change.
The stories we live can make us or break us. The key is to co-create stories based on real and present situations. In the process, we get to be fully present, rather than projecting our stories unconsciously onto others, reinforcing oppositions that comfort us and cause problems for all.
In organizations, opposing stories create a dangerous deadlock, and trigger systemic backlash. This gets ugly. We lose our best staff and reduce our collaborations to conflicting initiatives. Systems tend to default to old habits and solutions that don’t respond to current conditions, expand into visionary strategies we can’t sustain, or respond with an awkward combination of both.
Because we take these absolute stories personally, and have embedded them deeply in our identities, habits, and expectations, we get trapped in interlocking individual and organizational conflicts.
Everyone loses.
Here’s the foundation of managing change without casualties, and maybe even without waging a war!
Make sure your organizational mission and goals clearly relate to real-world, contemporary reality. This requires current research, honest conversations, clear chains of communication, and conscious collaboration. HBR calls this “idealistic realism,” and links it to great business leadership in times of change.
Accept that adaptation will require trial and error, and make sure everyone in your community knows that you expect them to be honest and flexible. Reward those who help in the grounding process; offer support and training for those who are facing challenges as they learn. Practice Peter Senge’s principles for being a learning organization.
Evaluate initiatives from development through implementation, then again at regular completed steps. Make corrections, and continue moving forward, assessing and adapting as you work together. Effective change management and ongoing evaluation go hand in hand in education as well as business settings.
Read Part II of the series: Creative Individual Strategies to Manage Change in Challenging Times.