Turn And Face The Strange

"Ch-ch-ch Changes" - Bowie.

"A change is gonna come" - Cooke.

"A change will do you good" - Crowe.

"Come on let me change your ticket home" - One Direction.

Seminal musicians such as these (the last one is a wry attempt at a joke, but I'll leave it out there), have communicated their wisdom in the face of change.

A plethora of songs profess to know everything on the subject. If music and songwriting reflect society and our future thinking, then we're all experts at change.

And that’s right. Every one of us is highly adaptable. We adapt to changes - every second of every day. We assess situations and evaluate risk, decide on a course of action and then move on.

Under Pressure

The current multitude of Change Management theories and approaches, would have you believe that a certain model or process will guide you along a successful path with change (and it's buzzword cousins, #innovation and #digitaltransformation). But the success rate is astoundingly poor .

In this rapidly accelerating world, where: AI can achieve 20 years progress in just two and a half years; technology orchestrating in the 'multi-cloud' and making operating systems irrelevant; self-writing software; fold-able phones and highly intelligent home assistant robots. They’re all just another rung on the ladder. They will all be surpassed within 10 years.

The 'information age' as we like to call it, is something I've grown up in. And I can't keep up. I'm under pressure. Everyone is under pressure.

The challenge we are all facing is that visualising the future has a problem. It's clouded by the present moment. And the information that's flying at us.

Space Oddity

The image I posted in the headline is a static representation of what I conceptualised for this article. When I completed the picture, it had some 'digital transformation' graphics in it.

I continued thinking about change related songs and ended up re-writing this entire article from scratch. I caused a complete failure in my own initiative. And the reason... because I wasn't sure that the references would be understood. That wasn't the plan initially. I changed my mind.

When asked to visualise something, we often think with a two-dimensional present-moment tilt. We find it hard to conceptualise any kind of longer-term flowing dynamism in our thoughts (I'm putting that out there, but maybe that's just me!?).

Do Anything You Say

The start of the conceptual change management systems in the 70's saw the progress of Soft Systems Methodologies and various Project Management theories. We began to develop models that helped us to understand and conceptualise change.

Systems like PROMPT, 'process life-cycle Waterfall' models and Rapid Application Development, become the forerunners to PRINCE II process management, PMP certifications and Agile software development. Constant change... to help us deal with change.

We developed effective tools for communication, iterative models of system life-cycle management, engagement programmes for the stakeholders in our initiative. We created simplification from an array of complexity by abstracting the problem and understanding the variables that might impact success.

Awesome stuff and it got us to where we are quicker and more effectively than without... with a modicum of success and lots of failure along the way.

Where Are We Now?

In the workplace, adapting to change is not a modern phenomenon. And resisting change an also familiar site. But in today's workplace... disruption, 'agile' ways of working, AI, cloud and software robots are changing, augmenting (or even taking) our jobs.

We also have a constant expectation to succeed with our race to the bottom: more value, less cost, faster. And inevitably us 'wee humans' struggle to deliver in line with our own unreasonable expectations. And quite simply, nothing fits neatly into those conceptual models.

I've seen Legal Technology, Operations and eDiscovery initiatives fail miserably (both internal with employers - and external with clients I've worked for ), because they simply can't keep up with the pace of change. Or rather they can't keep up with the perception and multiple viewpoints on a 'change'. One person's positive change could be another person's negative.

Life On Mars

So what's my pearl of wisdom with this latest brain-dump? How do we get to the idyllic and futuristic "Life on Mars". My proposal is simple.

We respond to change with reference to our own world view, our 'Frame of Reference'. Our Weltanschauung. (I've asked Wikipedia to let me know who clicks on that link).

Technology develops exponentially. People's socio/politco/economic outlooks change and ergo so does their view of your proposed or developing 'change'. Information and insights are available everywhere you turn. Take a look around. Complexity from a macro/human level increases, while at a micro level it simplifies.

The issues we face are no longer with the slick-running cloud based AI systems or the process of Agile development. Those things work. The issues we face are now are just about US.

The failure of your innovation is a failure to understand the change that PEOPLE experience - before, during and after the introduction of your 'innovation'.

You should keep using the excellent Agile methodologies and the PRINCEII and ITIL documentation. These are useful tools for the present moment. They enable us to communicate more effectively and fluidly. They enable others to see a unified vision and manage iterations of a process toward a goal. They mitigate risk and allow successful and value-driven delivery. But a common understanding of our fellow human is where we need to focus.

Let's think about considering each other's Frame of Reference. Our belief systems, our way of thinking, our time with the family the night before. Let's remember that everyone has a different background and remember that we are not really fortune tellers.

For every important Stakeholder in your initiative: What are their fears, insecurities, goals and drivers. What would make them happy? What is their Weltanschauung? Ask stakeholders those questions as frequently as possible. Daily even.

And then remember the NoStakeholder. The displaced and disenfranchised employees, the department who's process you're about to disrupt. The society you're about to (hopefully) have some seminal impact upon. What is their frame of reference? They don't hold the keys to the kingdom, but they could make or break your change/innovation/project as it progresses.

For the unimportant 'NoStakeholder' outside of your initiative: What are their fears, insecurities, goals and drivers? What would make them happy? What is their Weltanschauung? Ask someone those questions as frequently as possible. Daily even.

If we can make process and technology less of a daily focus and instead concentrate on understanding each other's ever changing Weltanschauung, we have an outside chance at keeping up and we might just feel a little better while doing it.

HTH,

Martin.

Disclaimer: this is all my own opinion and isn't necessarily reflective of the views of my current or previous employers.

About Martin: Over the past 16 years I've worked with Chief Legal Officers, General Counsel, Compliance Professionals and ‘Big Law’ firms globally, to provide, create and implement systems and processes that reduce the likelihood of failure during a crisis.

About the songs: I didn't write them. And Bowie is a legend.