Obstacle to change
I am reading the American Management Associations most recent study, The Keys to Strategy Execution. You have to register to get a copy off of their website. As I read it I’ll post things that strike me as interesting, but you can get a copy off of their site by going to http://www.amanet.org/research/ and registering.
The study describes factors influencing execution of strategy, barriers to strategy execution, and improving strategy execution. One of the source surveys for the study found that
"the biggest impediment to successfully executing a business strategy was not change but simply doing things they way they’ve always been done."
I have studied and applied change management techniques to overcome resistance in many projects. But "simply doing things the way they’ve always been done" isn’t active resistance, it is simply the power of the past and habits. Habits form over a long period of time. They are burned into the brains of the people in the organization. Simply communicating the benefits of a strategy to someone won’t suddenly change the wiring of their brain.
This is like fielding a ground ball. You can point out to someone who has a bad habit fielding a ground ball the right way to do it. You can explain to them why it is a better way. But without a lot of practice and feedback, they may not change their habit.
One researcher at MIT found that habits exist in the basal ganglia of the brain. Habits take a long time to create, and are not easily changed. Many of the techniques that are used for breaking habits aren’t very effective. For example, negative feedback that is disconnected over time from the event is very ineffective. While positive feedback, immediately after the event is very powerful. This explains why it is so hard to stop smoking or over eating.
Hal talks a lot about how habits affect project management over at Reforming Project Management.
"Habits die hard. To think that we can provide a shot in the arm misses the nature of being human. We are social beings. We are biological beings. The routines of social interaction are etched into our biology. The biologist Humberto Maturana describes this as structural coupling. Through repeated interactions with others we develop ingrained patterns or habits of response and engagement. These habits allow us to be effective with those around us."
Breaking habits, or forming new ones, requires three specific actions. First, you have to pay attention to the habit. Second, you have to establish some way to gather feedback on your ability to perform the new behavior. Finally, you have to practice the new habit over time.
What does this mean to changing how people dealing with other people inside of an organization to perform work? You can’t just describe the results of a new strategy to people and explain why its important. You have to define the new habits required and have mechanisms in place to ensure people pay attention to the new behavior. You have to provide feedback, hopefully immediately and positively, when the new behavior is performed. And, you have to deliberately practice the behavior over time.
If "simply doing things the way they’ve always been done" is the top impediment to executing strategy, what steps are you taking to change the habits in your organization?