When choosing between organizational change approaches, it helps to recognize this less threatening, less overwhelming choice for your organization.
The Big Bang Organizational Change Approach
A lot of times organizations look at using a “big bang” approach to implementing big changes in their organization. This approach makes the big change event seem more dynamic and exciting while making comprehensive changes across the company all in one fell swoop. Executive leadership uses this approach as a rallying cry to become an innovative, industry-leading company. Leaders even hope this big bang of changes might wake up long-time employees that might need a little jolt to feel more engaged.
In reality, though, the big bang approach can make company changes difficult. This approach also presents unrealistic expectations while severely inhibiting adoption and sustainment.
The Journey Organizational Change Approach
The longer “journey” approach seems to be more effective on average. Leadership has to pull employees along on this journey, and not push it on them. They have to bring all levels of the company along with them or true change will not happen and employee morale will go down. An incremental, sequenced approach to change is more digestible for the employees, easier to implement, and has a better chance of creating a self-managed and sustained way of working. It also gives employees the time to buy-in and take ownership of changes, increasing the likelihood of adoption and sustainment for the long term.
Back in school, teachers didn’t typically throw the whole class book at you, and tell you to “learn this immediately, follow it, or else.” Rather, they gave students the scope of what they would learn by the end of the year. Teachers started with base concepts (information for initial changes), had you study, learn, and practice that information. After applying and testing it, they then moved you on to the next level, instructing you to learn, practice, do, and review along the way.
This is essentially the way Agile program management works! Smaller increments of work with retrospectives along the way to review and course-correct.
Choosing From These Organizational Change Approaches
People respond to receiving information this way because they can assimilate easier. Of these organizational change approaches, the journey approach reduces the shock while allowing people to learn and practice with a lot less stress. That’s why you hear organizations portraying major organizational changes as “journeys.” It’s less threatening, less overwhelming, and makes it sound less intimidating than portraying change as a big bang event.
This approach allows teams to focus on small wins and celebrate them along the way. People best process information and adjust to changes in smaller increments. This also allows for a little healthy competition among team members.
In the real corporate world, however, the organization can sometimes feel they have to make changes very quickly. This can be caused by immediate pressures such as suddenly fallen stocks, market competition, and/or decreased customer satisfaction. I’ve been involved with organizations that were on their umpteenth attempt to make real change successful after they moved too fast in the beginning. Often, these organizations didn’t realize how complicated it can be and how hard it is to get buy-in and true adoption by the employees this way. An organization that takes a calmer, more measured approach actually succeeds at implementing change quicker than an organization that tried, in the beginning, to push change instead of pulling change.
Don’t worry that it will take too long to use the journey change approach, or that the company may suffer in the meantime. You can still operate with a sense of urgency with the journey approach. While this approach may seem like it will take longer, you will save time and money when the change is successful and sustainable after you only attempting it once!