Nontrivial Exercises

Legacy Thinkers

I was talking with my friend and associate Steve a few days ago about opportunities we have in our company to make some significant culture changes. We, in our company, are in the midst of a turnaround of sorts, as we reinvent ourselves following the burst of the telecom bubble and our recovery from some leadership failures. A core group of our new leadership team is working hard to not only improve our business model, but truly change the way our people interact with each other and trust each other. Naturally, they are meeting some resistance, but Steve and I admire, agree with and support their efforts. In fact, I’m very excited about the future prospects for our company if we can truly change.

Some of the issues that we have to deal with in our cultural transformation include:

• Passive-aggressive communication, e.g. saying “yes” just to end the discussion when we really mean “no”
• Entitlement culture – expecting work and results to come to you, rather than seeking them out with initiative and drive
• Lack of realization about the changing business needs and changing roles – expecting current jobs and roles to exist in the future as they are today

Of course all of the above issues are not ubiquitous to all parts of the company, but there are definitely pockets of these behaviors and attitudes. As Steve and I talked about some specific areas of change in our organizations, Steve came up with the term for those that we thought “didn’t get it”: the Legacy Thinkers.

When I boil it down, what we really face in our company is not primarily an issue with the above three specific attitudes; primarily it’s an issue of change itself. We need to to reinvent and rejuvenate ourselves as a company, and that requires a lot of change. Naturally, many people will be resistant to change and will desire to continue to work and live in the ways that are comfortable, ways that they have for some period of time before today. Many will dwell on the past – their legacy – rather than adapt for the future. These are the Legacy Thinkers.

Another natural reaction in this situation is for the change agents – those leading the change efforts – to quickly become frustrated with the Legacy Thinkers and to move to ultimatums – change with us or get out. Indeed, it’s difficult to be patient with those who seemingly just will not get with the program and adopt new ways of thinking and doing things. I find myself often thinking that we simply need to move out some of the leaders in our company that seemingly “don’t get it”.

Then, I read a fascinating article in the May issue of Fast Company (it’s not yet posted on their website, I’ll update this post with the direct link when it’s available) by Alan Deutschman about the psychology, neurology and social aspects of making significant changes. He cites research that shows that even when faced with life-or-death choices, most people will not be able to fundamentally change. Heart attack survivors, for example, are rarely able to truly change their lifestyle to live even a marginally more healthy life.

He goes on to describe five myths most of us believe about the ways people make changes:

• Myth 1: Crisis is a powerful impetus for change. Reality: most people faced with a crises don’t truly change.
• Myth 2: Change is motivated by fear. Reality: Most people simply go in denial when faced with a motivation of fear. Rather, positive visions of the future are more likely to help people change.
• Myth 3: The facts will set us free. Reality: Our minds tend to be more influenced by stories rather than by isolated facts. Change seems to come easier as a response to emotional stimuli rather than only intellectual input.
• Myth 4: Small, gradual changes are always easier to make and sustain. Reality: Big, broad changes often are easier because they show more immediate results.
• Myth 5: We can’t change because our brains become “hardwired” early in life. Reality: Our brains can continue to learn and develop throughout our lives.

Deutschman asserts that the ability to change is analogous to a muscle – to be effective it requires exercise and attention. In other words, the more we practice and are open to change, the better we can actually adapt to new situations when we need to.

One of the most fascinating part of Deutschman’s writing for my situation with the cultural revolution underway in my company, is the way that greatly increases the odds for a successful change within individuals. It turns out that when people have a support system in place to help them through the changes, they are actually highly successful in making dramatic changes. Deutschman describes a study that Dr. Dean Ornish, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, completed with participants who faced life-threatening reasons to make changes in their lives. Overall, 90% of heart patients do not make the healthy lifestyle changes required to improve their condition. However, 77% of Dr. Ornish’s patients were able to make successful changes.

The difference? Dr. Ornish provided not only the information the patients needed to make changes, but a comprehensive support system of dieticians, psychologists, nurses, meditation instructors and weekly support groups. The point is that if you support people through a change with other people to help meet some of the practical needs of the change, then these people are highly likely to make a successful transition.

There is more excellent research and significant learnings in Deutschman’s article, and I highly recommend checking it out.

So, what should we do with the Legacy Thinkers around us to hinder our collective progress? Maybe one thing we should do is identify the practical needs that they have in order to make the desired change, and then put resources and people in place to help meet those needs. This requires great leadership, but isn’t that what change is all about?