Leadership Wisdom of the Week #12

“Careful diagnosis avoids basing change initiatives on a poorly understood problem.”

– Stouten, J. et al., 2018

Many change initiatives fail long before they begin. Continuous renewal and change are absolutely essential in today’s world; if you do not change, you are not keeping up with others. However, this need for renewal may sometimes lead us to change just for the sake of change, not because something truly needs to be changed.

This week’s quote comes from a 2018 meta-study by Stouten et al., in which they compare well-known change management and leadership models with research-based evidence on what is important for successfully leading change. One of the aspects they emphasise is conducting a proper diagnosis before initiating change. We all know that it is often impossible to predict the exact results of a change, and yet we still need the courage to move forward. However, this should not be confused with the need to understand the starting point as thoroughly as possible before beginning to change things.

Based on research, a proper analysis of the need for change offers at least two types of benefits. Firstly, by involving a wider group of people in analysing what is working and what is not, what should be changed and what should be continued, the focus of most change initiatives becomes much more precise than if, for example, only top management decides what should be changed and how. Broader involvement ensures a wider perspective on which changes will have a real impact in the future.

In addition to being wise from a change planning perspective, broad involvement of people from across the organisation early in the planning phase also supports implementation. Changes that people have been involved in planning are more likely to be accepted and owned than changes that are pushed down through the organisation.

By investing time at the beginning of a change initiative, you will save time later and ensure a higher-quality focus on actions that are implementable in everyday life — in other words, you will truly make the change happen. Sometimes it really pays off to stop and plan before you start running. In your organisation, how much time is spent on diagnosing the problem compared to implementing the solution?

With this, Leadership Wisdom of the Week will take a spring break and return in mid-April.

(Stouten, J., Rousseau, D. M., & De Cremer, D. (2018). Successful organizational change: Integrating the management practice and scholarly literatures. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 752-788.)