Gradually or Violently, the Choice is Yours. But Change is Coming

I love the Harvard Business Review. I got hooked on their articles during my time as a grad student at George Mason University. It started the same way so many other good relationships do – with me being forced, kicking and screaming into it.

Thankfully, someone there knew better than me. And for that, and so much more from my time there, I am eternally grateful. Because eight years after graduating with my MBA, I’m still a daily reader.

Today a particularly interesting headline caught my eye – 4 Ways Busy People Sabotage Themselves. I am nothing if not busy, so I just had to know, how am I sabotaging myself?

Now, this article was geared towards your typical corporate executive. Digging into the ways they go ahead with their jobs. But what struck me as particularly interesting was that all 4 points could be applied at a macro level to the business itself.

Want me to prove it? Watch this. Executives and Managers are sabotaging themselves because:

[they] keep ploughing away without stepping back and prioritizing.
[they] completely overlook easy solutions for getting things done.
[they] “kick the can down the road” instead of creating better systems for solving recurring problems.
[they] use avoid or escape methods for coping with anxiety.

Now, watch this magic trick. Who has, or currently is, working at an organization where:

[it] kept ploughing away without stepping back and prioritizing.
[it] completely overlook easy solutions for getting things done.
[it] would “kick the can down the road” instead of creating better systems for solving recurring problems.
[it] used avoid or escape methods for coping with anxiety.

See what I did there? I changed one word and only one word. But honestly, how many of those hit a little too close to home? The good news is, all of these are rectifiable with a little work.

The thing is, change comes for us all. It comes for people. Some changes, we take on willingly. We get wiser. We advance our careers. We buy nicer things.

And some changes are forced upon us. We get older. We are forced to indulge less on a Friday night out. We are forced into buying pants to cover up our bulging waistlines or, in my case, to buy hats to cover our balding heads.

Change also comes for organizations. You have an option of embracing the change or having it forced upon you. And if you aren’t aggressive enough in embracing the change, the signs are just as clear as a receding hairline.

Jobs that use to take 5 minutes take 10, because more people need to approve it or it requires technology that constantly breaks down. Employee turnover continues to grow year after year as people burn out or flock to competitors. Those two factors lead to bigger and bigger productivity gaps between you and your “one-time rivals.” And finally profits begin to decline to where they, at first, barely miss projections. But then the projected profits themselves trend downward.

Now, let’s step back and reexamine those 4 sabotaging methods we looked at above from an organizational perspective. First, we will look at why they do it, and then how they can resolve it. To make this exercise all the more fun, I’ve asked a couple of friends to join me.

The first is Dan Catan. Dan is a Vice President with Central BOS, a cloud-based Business Management Solution provider. I’ve come to rely on Dan and his team for insights into market trends and customer experiences.

The second is Stefanie Krievins, a business coach who is dedicated to helping companies follow through on their good intentions. She has a far greater understanding of the psychy of people, and can help explain the “why” far better then I ever could.

Why Keep Ploughing Away

Just like people, organizations assume that the more they do the better off they are. And, like people, there is some truth in that statement. And also, like people, every new task your organization takes on divides its attention. And that can only continue for so long before your organization develops the equivalent of A.D.D. for business.

Stefanie talks to this phenomenon in terms of “white space.” She talks to the impact white space has on your professional life; including “white space on our calendars, white space in our thoughts, white space between projects.” But she warns that “busyness doesn’t equal productivity…busyness just equals busyness. Busyness [also] keeps us away from being in touch with our emotions [which we need to manage] to be our most productive.”

Instead of Continuing to Plow Away…

Build in time to step away. Call it a Corporate Retreat. Corporate Retreats, when used properly, allow leadership to step away and review the direction the company and their market is going.

They can do things like review the results from the previous quarter or year, build or update Strategic and/or Tactical Plans, and plot their world domination.

In our framework, that strategy session is called an Innovation Pulse. And it is where companies step back to take a full strategic view of their Innovation Portfolio and make sure it is aligning with their plans for world domination. In fact, we feel that the Innovation Pulse is so important, that we built it into our InnoSpecting Framework.

Stefanie also has 3 great tips for controlling that “white space.” First, she says to”to focus on one task at a time: one report, one email, one client analysis, etc. You’ll finish it 75% faster than if you try to multi-task.” Her second tip is “to take 4 very deep breaths each time you switch tasks. This clears your mind and body between tasks so you can focus.” And finally, her third tip, and the one I’m most guilty of, is “make email one task you focus on. Don’t leave it open throughout the day; instead check it at regular intervals, like 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.”

For more on tips from Stefanie, check out her video on productivity.

Why Overlook Easy Solutions

Simply put, because easy solutions are rarely perfect. And often “good” or “better” become the enemy of “perfect.”

Companies tend to want to hold off until the solution is perfect. Pouring more resources, time and money into a solution until it is eventually over-engineered and bloated.

In his book The Lean Startup, Eric Ries talks about releasing a Minimal Viable Product as soon as it provides value. He talks about it as a form of getting direct feedback from real-world users, and using that drive future iterations. He calls this the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop.

Mr. Ries readily acknowledges that that first iteration of the product won’t be perfect. But I’m willing to take it a step further and say that no version of your product will ever be perfect. So, your choices are, release an imperfect product sooner or release an imperfect product later. The choice is yours…

Instead of Overlooking Easy Solutions

Instead of thinking about all of the problems you can solve with your next release, focus on one. Focus on making someone’s life, either a customer, non-customer, employee or internal stakeholder, just a little bit better. But focus on making their life better soonest.

Dan was telling me about the number of small, young companies out there that can help organizations build solutions on the cheap. He noted how CBOS and a number of their peers have “developed very economical solutions that are quick to implement and easy to use.”

The goal isn’t to solve world hunger. The goal is to build good will, one step at a time. Prove that you care. Prove that you want to help. Prove that you want to be part of the solution.

And then go back and read Mr. Ries’ book — because it really is fantastic.

Why “Kick the Can”

The reason behind kicking the can down the road is easy – humans are resistant to change. That’s why there are professions and professionals dedicated to change management. They help document and communicate proposed change. They help research and highlight all the positives that will come out of the change. And yet still, people resist.

In an article written and released on Forbes.com, Lisa Quast outlined the 5 main reasons people resist change. She highlighted:

Fear of the unknown/surprise
Mistrust in management or the organization
Loss of job security or control
Bad timing
An individuals predisposition to change

Any one, or more, of those can be enough to derail change. But successful business owners find a way to get their message across and make their employees realize how important it is to grow with the times. Because otherwise, they can get themselves stuck. Want an example?

Did you know, that one of the hot “new” jobs in technology is being a COBOL Developer. Why is new in quotation marks? Well because COBOL was first introduced in 1959. Yet this language, with roots that trace back 60 years – in an industry that is in constant churn – is still in demand.

The Wall Street Journal recently did a piece on it here. And while that is great for the people that know that language, it is terrible for the companies who have little to no choice but to bend to their demands.

Instead of Kicking the Can

Instead of kicking the can, look to enact small changes. And then get people comfortable with those minor changes before making further upgrades. In the case of the financial institutions that are now at the mercy of COBOL developers, they could look to rebuild modules as they break using newer technologies.

Again, Dan was able to provide some great insight here. He noted that “in today’s highly rapid-paced competitive market, SaaS solutions and Anytime/Anywhere capability of highly secure access related to critical data will make the difference over your competitors.” When you have rival executives able to get real-time status updates and run their businesses from their cell phone, you see his point.

The other thing you’ll want to consider is to use this as an opportunity to set up future revenue streams. As new products and methods are embraced, look for opportunities to give yourself as many future options as possible. Try to not back your organization into any “all in” bets.

Why Use Avoid or Escape Methods

Using either avoidance or escape methods can often be seen as a temporary stop gap. You aren’t denying the problem, but its a convenient way out without having to take action immediately. And while an individual may start their diet tomorrow or avoid telling their friend a secret because the timing wasn’t right, businesses have much more sophisticated ways of doing this. Some even can be seen as beneficial.

Take for instance the “stock buy back.” This was a popular tactic in 2017 when Tax Reform was passed in the United States. However, there are many scholars who feel this is the equivalent of a business admitting it has no idea what else to invest in.

Instead of Avoiding or Escaping

Keep a running backlog of ideas to invest in. Phase I of our framework is titled Capture, where we accept new ideas from many sources. But those ideas are ranked early in Phase II because organizations need to focus their limited resources on the ideas that make the most sense. Well, if you have more money, then you can focus on more ideas.

Or invest in ideas that will payoff further out. We also talk about ideas falling into one of three buckets:

Incremental – or ideas that add minor new functionality to existing products, platforms or services.
Disruptive – ideas that are 3-5 years out and will help separate you from your competition. Or
Breakthrough – ideas that are over 5 years out, but if they hit, they’ll drive your profit margins for the next decade plus.

We discuss with our clients the need to spread your money across these buckets. The rationale being that the latter are more risky, but carry more reward. If you have additional funding, put it towards those two. Especially if the alternative is “investing” it in something with limited benefit.

Wrap Up

So the choice is yours. Embrace it, or put it off as long as you can, but eventually change will come for you. Periods of calm and prosperity are always followed by unrest and hardship.

However, by looking out at the horizon, organizations are better able to manage change. And better yet, use it to propel your organization ahead of your competition.

Again, a big thank you for Dan and Stefanie for lending their expertise. I highly recommend taking a minute to check out what they do and reach out to them if you want to know more.

Dan Catan, Vice President of Central BOS, You can email him at dan.catan@cbos.com.

Stefanie Krievins, owner of Stefanie Krievins & Co. You can email her at stefanie@stefaniekrievins.com