Change is more than an “Oh, I see”

The misbelief of managers and consultants that change is nothing else than a button, which is simply switched and the change is already accomplished, leads to wrong expectations. In their own life, they obviously could not yet learn that all extensive transformations take time. They believe being able to cause a desired behavior. Changing not only individual employees, but the whole staff, through clear, quick measures, although changes take more time than an “Oh, I see”.

Change begins long before the crucial point can be seen. The following steps describe the time before (recognizing), the moment of enlightenment (understanding), and the definition of the new (designing) and the pain of the conversion (rethinking).

  • Recognizing – Oops
    Even practitioners of the head-in-the-sand practice cannot avoid the feeling of the uncertainty. Something is not OK and develops pressure over time that cannot be located easily. Eventually it becomes so unpleasant that the psychological strain forces you to face the problem and to have a closer look at it. It can take years without regular mutual exchange of opinions and feelings, until the participants get to this point. This step ends with a formulated problem that should be solved.
  • Understanding – “Oh, I see”
    The changes are preceded by a convinced “Oh, I see”. The recognized problem and the need of change are understood by the involved people. It is, as if a knot dissolves, as if the knotting would have never been there. The Greeks called it “Eureka”. In Japan the German „Ach so” is even part of the everyday language, outdone only by the Japanese なるほど (naruhodo). This internal conviction is the prerequisite for real change. For changing the whole enterprise, each individual must have gone through the lock of a personal “Oh, I see”.
  • Designing – That’s the way it goes
    With the conviction that something should be changed, it still remains unclear, what and how. An undesired condition has immeasurably many, different solutions. These new ways lead everyone in another direction and need therefore a joint adjustment to each other. The new behavior can be designed with this desired future state. It goes from new business models, operational sequences and IT-programs, to new rules, up to new values that affect the happening. The designing of the future ensures the proof that the new reality is better at all than the old and the current situation will not only be disimproved. Thereafter the actual change begins.
  • Rethinking – Ouch
    The disconnecting from old behavior requires that it will be discussed, judged, rejected and eventually forgotten. This procedure is painful, since all create unpleasant and pleasant feelings in different places. Only, if the old instinctive reflexes are replaced by new, you are in the new pattern of behavior. Thus you are at the end of the change and at the beginning of the development of new routines. It continues until the whole restarts from the beginning.

A study examined the time for changing meal behaviors. The participants needed on average 66 days (from 16 to 254 days), in order to change their behavior. The changes in an enterprise are more comprehensive and concern many differently deeply anchored behavior. This means that change takes time, depending on, where you begin to measure. In extreme cases it takes years. However, after the step “Oh, I see”, it should not last longer than six months, since otherwise you might never leave the uncertain change mode. If the changes are too comprehensive, the measures should be portioned into smaller initiatives that can be mastered within six months.

Bottom line: Change takes time. This begins long before the problems are recognized. A personal “Oh, I see” is crucial for the convinced change. With the designing of the new, it is guaranteed that you will get to the desired condition. The actual change should be finalized within half a year.