Archiv der Kategorie: Change management

Here you find all about change management.

Change is always – and different

When experts examine systematically, facts dissolve into incredibly subtle components, whereby our view of the whole gets lost. Thus, we see the most filigree extracts and their variability but cannot see the consequences and cope with the tasks. By looking at the details, the connections and dependencies are lost on all upper levels. In the past, additionally applied measures under the heading Change Management offered a way out. Cost and time pressure, as well as the lack of decisiveness, lead decision-makers to shy away from such supporting activities. For these reasons, it is time to reframe change. It is always – and different.

For those who think this is exaggerated, it is worth looking at the following change degrees.

  • Insight
    Change begins in the mind of the observer. Everything that attracts attention has somehow changed. A sensory stimulus in the context that does not match the unconscious expectations activates consciousness – an irregularity in the field of vision, an unexpected sound, a surprising gut feeling, an inappropriate smell. Mindful people respond early to stimuli of all kinds. The resulting aha-experience fuel readiness to take the initiative in teams, departments, divisions, parts of a company, and an enterprise.
  • Balance
    Every action, no matter how small, variegates the conditions. When the current state is threatened, employees respond with fine-tuning to avoid difficulties. For this purpose, individuals have a baseline in mind to smoothen the deviations. Just like a vehicle’s cruise control maintains the desired speed, this ensures the interaction of the units. A prerequisite for stabilization is the establishing of the boundaries at which the individual units orient themselves. The deviations occur at every involved workplace. The sum of all readjustments results in a background noise that happens continuously and can surprisingly build up to a first-order change at any time and any place.
  • Improvement and Cutback
    First-order changes are the small deviations that we prepare for or react to in the context of the traditional Continuous Improvement. Here, we are not talking about stabilization but about persistent, small changes that accumulate over a long time into extensive transformation. They can lead at best to an increase in performance and at worst to a decrease in performance. The countermeasures take care of avoiding or correcting weaknesses without questioning and changing the basic conditions and assumptions. This constant learning process, which continually improves the existing business, should also take place everywhere and always to be fit for the disruptions, the second-order changes.
  • Alteration and discontinuation
    The second-order changes occur in the wake of societal and technological advances – when entering the machine, mobility, and information ages. The radical upheavals that have occurred question actions, services, and organizations and generate at the same time new paradigms and business models. In the meantime, hardware, software, and global networking achieve under the flag of digitalization the tasks that were predicted years ago. The impact lets disappear manual tasks in favor of intelligent robots. Even simple decisions can be automated, which results in winding-up administrative and managerial bodies. These revolutions compel at least the replacement, if not elimination, of entire units. It requires active change management, as we know it, to mitigate the staff resistance against the initiatives and thereby ensure the company’s task fulfillment.
  • No change
    With panta rei (πάντα ῥεῖ) Heraclitus already understood 2,500 years ago that everything flows. To what extent it is the fear of change or merely the inability of those responsible that keeps them from caring about change makes no difference. The crucial factor is the tendency of decision-makers to ignore dangers. This means that inevitably arising difficulties are not prevented by taking appropriate measures and adequately preparing the employees. The enterprise’s viability needs to understand that there is no such thing as No change – take care of it.

Bottom line: The fact that we are continually changing seems to be unpleasant because the responsible people like to look away. Yet, with our activities, we initiate many changes ourselves – e.g., raw materials become products, skills become services, tasks become processes. Many deviations are not home-made, but external influences – of the customers, suppliers, competitors, the market, politics, the economic situation, the society, technology, and nature. The question is not whether a change is significant enough to deal with (see above), but only how to deal with it – no matter how big it is. This requires leadership that has rarely been taught before. Employees at all levels need to be mindful, curious, imaginative, and pro-active in mastering transformation. New Work needs this reorientation because change is always – and different.

 

After is before

Distance is a term that feels more like the distance between Earth and Sagittarius A (26,5000 light years) than the distance between Beijing and Duisburg. Via communication networks we are connected to every point on earth in almost real time. Since 1970, the number of passengers on global flights has increased more than tenfold to over 4 million per year. Today, people commute an hour to work on short-haul flights or by ICE or local transport. In other words, we are far-reaching connected across borders that once felt as inaccessible as the moon today. In such a world, political borders seem anachronistic. Viruses spread around the globe in a short period of time across frontiers. Neither vigorous slogans nor border closures prevent the common fate. And when one wave is over, another one comes. Because after is before.

A look at possible risks should blow the horn of dystopia and make us feel insecure, but rather remind us that in the future we will have to deal with such effects differently, as we can no longer afford further shutdowns.

  • Natural risks
    Global risks are rarely expected in nature and are considered to be locally manageable – in principle. The current virus crisis shows us that these critical situations do not respect borders or are limited to certain cultures. The present responses from experts and politicians are focused on short-term goals. Decisions are not based on possible collateral damage, nor do they consider their long-term effects – above all not the human lives that will be harmed additionally due to the measures.
    And what happens if next one of the mega volcanoes erupts and the global climate topples in a very short time? Or if a tsunami floods one of the world’s economic centers and the economy collapses in the aftermath? And anyone, who believes that we can protect ourselves against all eventualities should first of all be aware of the required efforts.
  • Political risks
    One of the effects of natural disasters will be political dangers. The societal systems will become unstable due to the dissatisfaction of the population. When panic already breaks out due to toilet paper the question arises, what we do, when things get really serious, when there is nothing left to eat and drink because the logistics channels that have been put in place no longer work and local suppliers can no longer compete with other countries. In an economy of scarcity, the black market emerges first and foremost, in which only the wealthy can afford the prices. In an effort to maintain control, the state will also use the current technical possibilities that we already know from China. And the political forces that want the revolution will feel strengthened by the shift to a surveillance state, which will lead to more and more terrorist attacks from left and right. However, the same applies as always: Be aware what you wish for. Over the past ten years, politicians and the electorate have prepared the ground for what is coming.
  • Technological risks
    A very sharp sword of Damocles is our information and communication infrastructure. No one has yet found the one switch to stop the worldwide web. However, there is an increasing number of malwares that attack all levels of IT. In addition, natural disasters could have corresponding effects – e.g. a solar storm or meteorite impact. The consequences of a collapse are unimaginable. Emergency generators do not help in these cases. There is nothing today that does not depend on the Internet: Waterworks, energy grids, hospitals, mobility, logistics of any kind, production of goods and food, communications, or the public authorities. A collapse of the Internet will take us back to Middle Ages. Without this nervous system, all cars, trains, pumps, elevators and so on will come to a standstill within a very short period of time. There is no way to communicate anymore – except for the runners, who walk from one place to another.
  • Economic risks
    In contrast to the above risks, the economic are easier to cope with – except for those who benefit from a flourishing economy – bankers, economic officials, investors. In the regions that have nothing to gain from the current economy not much will change the precarious existence in Africa, South America and large parts of Asia. Their supply is even more secure than in the world’s agglomerations, which can no longer be supplied. In the remaining regions, the price increases will lead to a change in consumer behavior. Currency fluctuations can be compensated by national or regional consumption. The cutbacks will regulate driving behavior and energy consumption. There are many examples from the past for dealing with shopping lines and empty shelves. Work, working hours, management styles and anybody else who wants to get rid of the bureaucratic ballast today will become naturally agile. In the end, the economy is part of the problem rather than its systemic solution – austerity measures in all areas of life, outsourcing to places with the cheapest labor and, in the absence of short-term profits, the de-economization of entire regions.

Bottom line: A virus is currently rampant, which threatens the elderly in particular. In the interest of their lives, the economy is being stopped by politicians. Everyone is looking at the stock indices and is now looking forward to rising share prices again, as if this were of benefit for employees and the self-employed. Nobody reports the damages, even to human lives, that are created by the shutdowns. The functioning part of the health care system is not the result of foresighted policy, but only possible through personal commitment and some difficult decisions of many, truly systemically important service providers in the hospitals and in everyday supply. The aftershock prepared by this control madness is unimaginable. And what has not yet been addressed at all is the question of what comes next. What do we learn from the current crisis management?

  • Solving a single problem without considering unwanted side effects threatens all. A holistic assessment of the situation is mandatory.
  • Federalist societies have reacted clumsily. Closing the borders of Germany or Europe oversees the fact that certain crises cannot be stopped by this. Not to mention European cohesion, which I hope will not be destroyed with this nationalism.
  • Politicians refer to experts in order to decide. Shouldn’t a task force of experts temporarily be given overall control?
  • The population obviously needs a strong hand to rule with prohibitions and closures, otherwise the individuals will continue unteachable as before. It remains to be seen how these extended powers will be brought back to normality.
  • In any case, a crisis leads to bad consequences and needs an evaluation and prioritization of all damages. The media and politicians should put their business model back for the moment and not creating even more insecurity in the population.

Not every country can afford the luxury of closing the shop. And we won’t be able to afford it again any time soon either. Hence: after is before.