Videos are available for Members

Webinar with Dr. John Scherer Innovation & Change, Making a Real Difference

Explore the transformative power of innovation and change in both corporate and personal settings. Learn how to navigate the complexities of change management, from understanding the scale of innovation to addressing emotional resistance. Discover strategies for facilitating second-order change and engaging stakeholders in the process, ensuring that innovation is not just managed but embraced for lasting impact.

Transcript

Innovation and change. I like to think of this as moving from the past to the possible. Many of you have seen some of these slides and concepts before, but I want you to look for something fresh this time. These same principles can apply not only to large corporations but also to you as an individual or in a relationship. Any system, even a small system of two people, might benefit. As we go through, these slides will be about how to change teams and organizations. Think about how this might apply to you and your primary relationships, whether with your partner, family, or otherwise. How do I help move myself and the people around me from the past to the possible? Here we go.

This is a key thing: Innovation. Most organizations and many leaders, people in leadership, are a little bit nervous about change. They’re ambivalent about change but very excited about innovation. Anytime I’m moving forward now, I wish I had discovered this 50 years ago. Instead of being a change facilitator, I would help people facilitate innovation. So if you want to ease people into it, talk about innovation instead of change. But I want to tell you, you and I both know it’s change, okay?

This change, this innovation, happens at the micro level, like in your office where you want to use new tools, or at the team level where you want to make changes in the team. Then there’s the meta level, which is the community or the organization. So when you think about innovation, what’s the scale? What’s the level of innovation and change that you’re aiming for?

Here’s something to think about: What is something you wish were different right now at home or at work? Start there. Turn up the heat by considering what I call an impossible possibility. It’s something that’s really badly needed but currently appears impossible, although theoretically possible. If that impossible possibility actually happened, we would be in a whole new territory. This is a powerful question. If you want to be a facilitator of change, you need to stand for that and develop your courage and skill in pulling it off.

Another thing that will help is to be as specific as you can. If this change is successful, what will people be thinking that they’re not thinking now? What thoughts will they have? What feelings will they have now that they don’t have? What will they be saying? What kind of conversations will they be in, and what will they be doing? If we took a video now of people in our system doing stuff and then a video after the process was along the way, what specific changes would be noticed in what people are thinking, feeling, saying, and doing?

It’s really cool to get a small group of people together, especially at the leadership level. If you’re an executive, have the leadership team think about that. I love the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Another way to think of it is that what we actually need will be the real creator, not the theory, not what all the slides are saying, but ultimately what this system really needs. So what does this system that you’re thinking about really need? Forget about theory and all that stuff. When you look at the people in the system, what do they need and what does the system need? What does your relationship need? What does your team need? What does your organization need? What does your country need? That need will be the driver. You can’t motivate people to do something that isn’t real for them, so you have to tap into what’s real.

Is it a crisis? From the Greek word crisis, which simply means to choose or decide. It’s a choice point. Think about what will happen if we don’t innovate. Where is this thing headed? If we look ahead a year, six months, two years, ten years down the road, what’s going to be happening, and can we live with that? That’s sometimes a motivator, especially in a relationship, team, or company if you are in a crisis. The Chinese have two characters for the concept of crisis: the first character is danger or threat. You don’t get to vote on that, like COVID, market trends, or wars. These are circumstances that represent a threat of some kind, either to the relationship, to you personally, to your team, your company, or your country. That’s a given, something you have to deal with. The question is, how are you going to respond? Because it’s a moment of choice.

A crisis is an opportunity only if you see it as a moment of choice and make the kind of choices in response to that threat that develop newness and fresh ways of doing things. How are we going to respond to this thing that we have no control over? Like innovation and change, transformation cannot be managed. I get frustrated with my consulting colleagues who have huge slide plans. Everybody talks about change management. I understand it’s easier to sell change management to a corporate client than a process of discovery, which is what you really need to do. Do we approach them with what we can sell, or do we approach it with a process that we think will actually work? I don’t think change can be managed; it has to be facilitated or led. You can lead change, but you can’t manage it. Any change that you can manage will be incremental change, first-order change, like going faster in the same gear.

Let me give you an example. One of my first organization development change projects was with the phone company GTE in America. They were switching from manual, old tech to computer stuff. The heroes in the company were mostly middle-aged women who were high performers. Then teenagers who knew how to use keyboards replaced them. It seems like a simple change but has consequences. That’s a change you just do. But then there’s second-order change, which is changing everything, like getting in a different vehicle or setting a new destination. It’s not more of the same; it’s changing the game.

I worked with a company that invented a credit card for medical operations that had all your health records on the magnetic strip. They were very successful in selling it, and the help desk was swamped. The CEO brought me in to help them catch up and make the changes needed to meet demand. One major issue was the swamped help desk. We had several breakthrough teams working, and my team decided I should take that one. I put a speakerphone in the middle and invited the CEO to come in. I called the help desk, and a panicky voice said, “Can you hold?” 17 minutes later, the voice came back. The CEO had steam coming out of his ears. The average wait time was 15 minutes. The boss went nuts and told the team to fix it.

I asked the team what the perfect number of calls coming into the help desk would be. They calculated and finally said, “Zero.” To make that happen, sales force and installation teams would have to change. They had a list of about ten things contributing to the load. Are you going to increase incrementally or go to the source of the problem? You have a choice: incremental change or second-order change transformation, altering the paradigm itself.

You need to work your way upstream. Whether in your relationship, team, company, or country, don’t work at the brown end of the pipe. In America, Robert’s Rules of Order structure Congress. It starts with someone recommending a solution rather than identifying the problem. For example, gun control is working at the brown end of the pipe. Why do people need AR-15s? Let’s address the root cause.

Innovation happens when the old way of doing things decreases while the new thing increases. At the beginning, some people are already doing the new thing, and some are still doing the old thing. Ron Lippitt taught me that in any change initiative, you have a third ready to go, a third resistant, and a third in the middle. Focus on the middle third, keep inviting everyone, and be surprised by who comes on board.

Change is a grief situation. Something is dying, and something new needs to come into existence. Above the waterline is change management; below is the emotional world. Help people move across the grief process: shock, denial, uncertainty, resistance, grudging acceptance, and full commitment. Give people time and engage them in the process.

Don’t sell change with false optimism. Tell the truth and learn from resistance. Invite resisters into the process. Invest energy in those ready to move. Understand who will be affected, who has expertise, and who could block it. Help people take one step to the right. Address the harder stuff, the emotional and human aspects, along with the hard stuff.

Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Who’s ready for the advanced class?

Thank you for that. I’m going to stop the presentation here and come back to the group.

Description

This insightful video delves into essential survival skills for navigating today’s workplace challenges. Covering skills seven to ten, it emphasizes the importance of developing courage to face challenges (symbolized by “tigers”), mastering cross-functional teamwork, adapting to rapid change, and finding purpose beyond routine tasks. The author encourages readers to view their work as contributing to a larger purpose, urging them to quit a mundane job and discover work that aligns with personal passions and makes a meaningful impact. With a focus on personal development, organizational growth, and effective teamwork, the video provides practical advice for thriving in the dynamic modern workplace.

We use cookies to improve your experience, read about them in our Privacy Policy.