Immunity to Change: Post #10--Leadership Development

Growing Your Own: A final word about leadership development.
a. In an ever-and-faster changing world, adaptive change becomes more crucial for both success and sustainability. Taking a development stance or a leadership development frame of mind can make this happen. The authors provide seven (7) attributes of this development stance:
i. Adulthood is a time for growth. We evolve throughout our lives.
ii. There’s a big distinction between technical and adaptive changes.
iii. Individuals have intrinsic motivation to grow.
iv. Such mindset changes take time.
v. Mindsets shape feelings, so change needs to involve head and heart (Jefferson would like this one).
vi. Change in mindset and change in behavior are co-dependent in this system.
vii. A development stance provides a safe place for people to experiment and take risks.
b. Leaders who move teams and organizations through this process are adaptive leaders, who themselves take the risk of creating a development frame of mind. But the alternative—treating problems as cosmetic and technical—leads to a very unsatisfied place.

Immunity to Change: Post #9--Teams and Change

Collective Immunity to Change (for Teams)
a. Just as individuals have immunity to change, so do teams, groups, and entire organizations have a “collective immunity to change.”
b. When it makes sense to “x-ray” the Group/Team:
i. Groups are stuck, no follow through, don’t hold each other accountable, protect their turf.
ii. Groups are functional—safe places to test, not hostile battlegrounds.
iii. Groups are 12 or less with no strong subgroups.
iv. Groups of more than 12 people with no definable subgroups, break down into groups of 8 and compare outcomes.
v. Construct individual member immunity maps before doing a collective team map. Practice the individual process before applying to a more complex team environment.

c. Team Column #1: Identify the team collective improvement goal
i. Avoid generalities (too broad a scope), like overcoming the achievement gap or being more open-minded.
ii. Use a four-column collective immunity map.
1. Our improvement goal (collective commitment)
2. Our collective fearless inventory (doing/not doing instead of supporting Column 1)
3. Collective competing commitments (that support Column 2 activities that work against our improvement goal)
4. Collective big assumptions (our underlying thinking that supports Column 3—competing commitments).
iii. Brainstorm possible collective improvement goals.
1. Have people independently list them.
2. Next, brainstorm and then vote on most significant.
3. Get agreement and strong alignment on key collective improvement goal before proceeding.

d. Team Column #2: Take a fearless inventory of team behaviors contrary to the team’s collective improvement goal.
i. Consider this key question: What do WE collectively do or fail to do that works against our improvement goal in Column 1?
ii. Criteria for Column #2 entries:
1. Be concrete (focus on observable behaviors)
2. The more entries and more honest the better
3. Ensure that each one works against Column #1
4. Don’t worry about the “why” at this stage
5. Should be behaviors ALL (the group) are doing
iii. Teams get tempted to merely solve Column 2 behaviors. This is a “technical” short-term win but a long-term loss approach. Rather, continue with the map to see the long-term winning, adaptive approach.

e. Team Column 3: Competing Team Commitments
i. These commitments are often INVISIBLE but begin to help explain behaviors in Column 2.
ii. Don’t forget the team’s “Worry Box.” What would the group be worried about if they did the opposite of behaviors listed in Column 2?
iii. Convert each “worry” into a commitment of collective team protection.
iv. Warning: Simply NOT doing Column 2 activities does not solve the problem because those behaviors serve a useful purpose—supporting our competing commitments!
v. Thus, hidden (invisible) commitments in Column 3 create obstructive Column 2 behaviors.
vi. Testing the effectiveness of Column 3 commitments
1. Must evoke: Wow! We’re really being honest here! Or,
2. Our fears evoke our strongest anxieties, are very worrisome, pose real threats, etc.

f. Team Column 4: Uncovering the Team’s Collective BIG Assumption
i. Look at Column #3 and ask: What assumptions must we hold as firmly true that make us believe so strongly in our commitments in Column #3?
ii. Taken as a whole, our assumptions in Column #4 make our commitments inevitable—carved in stone!
iii. Examining such big assumptions as a group pushes you into a “danger zone.”
iv. Don’t take time to “settle” these assumptions but just get them out into the open.
v. These assumptions will motivate you to solve them. Next, conduct experiments.

g. Final Step: Conduct Experiments.
i. Experiment should be S-M-A-R-T (discussed previously)
ii. Safe—failure in the experiment will not destroy anyone or any group.
iii. Modest—take experiments one step at a time. No giant steps.
iv. Actionable—keep the momentum going. Take action.
v. Research—use a rigorous system to collect accurate data.
vi. Test—the research should test your assumptions.

Immunity to Change: Post #7--Overcoming Immunity to Change

Overcoming Immunity to Change
a. Build a structure to bridge the gap between our intent and behavior by overcoming competing self-protective motivations. Do this by testing our big assumptions that get in the way of change (one foot on the gas and one on the brake prevents us from ever getting to the goal).
b. The change process takes time, roughly 3 months if you work on it. You can do it alone (tougher), with a friend, or with a coach.
c. The process
i. Hone the map: Review and edit the immunity map.
ii. Survey: Get outside agreement and input on Column 1.
iii. Envision: What’s the ideal look like if you achieve Column 1?
iv. Observe: Look at when big assumptions work and when they don’t. When, how, where did it start; what’s the current status?
v. Test: Poke at your assumptions by acting counter to them—record results. The authors call this experimenting. I like “poking” better because it’s not so daunting.
vi. Follow-up: Ask for input from others. How am I doing? What’s my effect on others?
vii. Identify: Note any hooks (hang-ups) or releases (freedom from assumptions) that emerge.
viii. Project: Once released from faulty assumptions, lean into unmet goals.

Immunity to Change: Post #2--Getting Started

1. Getting Started
a. To help evaluations be more meaningful, especially for professional growth, ask: What’s the “one big thing” or one single goal that if you improved would help you add value to your company or team? This should not be anything technical, like learning a new skill. Rather it should be more adaptive—a change you make in yourself that leads to real change and growth.
b. Before a management retreat or evaluation, get feedback from three levels
i. Your boss: Here’s the one important goal/behavior that will make the big difference in his/her evaluation of you for the year.
ii. Your Peers: Here’s the one goal/behavior that will make you a better team member.
iii. Your direct report(s): Here’s the one goal/behavior that would enable you to serve them better as their boss.
c. Members of the team confront each other about how their “one big thing” would be best for the team and the company.
d. Each talks with family and friends. Important to vet this one big thing if you’re going to make it your quest for the next year.

Immunity to Change: Post #1--Overview

Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey (Harvard Business Press, 2009) reviewed by Steve Gladis, PhD, January 2012.
Overview: “Adapt or Become Irrelevant” should be the title of this book, although I do like the actual title: Immunity to Change by Harvard professors Kegan and Lashey. All of us have something that we wish we could change about ourselves or our teams at work. As individuals, maybe we want to be less thoughtless, lose weight, or change a habit that’s nagged us for years, like procrastinating or interrupting people. Groups or teams also get stuck in patterns of “anxiety management behavior” (immunity to change) that don’t work, such as not changing a process, a product or service when we know the world has moved on. So, we adopt a philosophy of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” even when we know “it” is no longer relevant. Building on the work of two other Harvard professors, Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky’s theory of adaptive change, Kegan and Lahey have given us a great diagnostic tool to help us “x-ray” our own situation and test our assumptions that often lead to the exact opposite of what we say we really want to change. Their diagnostic tool is simple but elegant and composed of four steps captured in the form of four columns. Column #1: Our improvement goal (What do we want to do?); Column #2: Our fearless inventory (What are we doing or not doing instead of Column #1?); Column #3: Our hidden competing commitments (What are we secretly committed to that makes us do the stuff in Column #2, which competes directly with Column #1 desire(s)?; and, Column #4: Our assumptions (What big assumption(s) are we making that support our Column #3 hidden commitments?). To make real change happen, the authors instruct us to attack our assumptions. They suggest we conduct small, incremental experiments, collect data that runs contrary to our big assumptions, deconstruct them, and eventually clearly evaluate their accuracy and relevance. In short, we must test our assumptions for their validity. People and teams who can resist the easy temptation to just do the opposite of things in Column #2 (merely make technical, surface changes) and instead take on the adaptive changes (more comprehensive and difficult experimental changes) will find a better world to live in. This is the kind of a book that an entire company should read and practice over a year. This is a very important book—BIG stuff between these covers.

Best Business Books #4--The Change Masters

The Change Masters by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (Simon and Schuster, 1983). Considered one of the most important books on corporate change, this book focuses on the importance of empowering and managing people. In fact, one vital finding of Kanter’s research is that companies committed to human resource management were more profitable and financially fit than those who lacked such commitment. Kanter finds that innovation is critical to future growth. Such innovation requires three skills: persuasion, problem solving, and understanding the nature of change.

Getting Change Right: Element #3

Understanding the territory of change. In the Marine Corps, we were always taught to “recon the forward slope.” The author calls it scouting, reconnaissance and the avant-guard. Essentially he warns organizational change seekers to look forward to see possible risks, get feedback, uncover taboos or traps, identify high-value wins and so own. One technique he raises is “storylistening” which serious communications students could label as “active listening.” The key point he makes about actively listening to others’ stories, is that you get two important results: information and trust. And both are critical to your success. Kahan suggest writing up your interviews into a reconnaissance report—acting like a reporter, he even suggests tape recording with permission and genuine interest that you want to gather the facts. I particularly like his 5 gems to gather in storylistening: red lights (showstoppers), yellow lights (cautions), themes (convergence), educational deficits (gaps), and high-value nuggets (major wins). Don’t forget to read about the role of the interviewer before you set out to start your interviews.

How Executives Can Successfully Transition

This is the 3rd of several posts of the coming week based on my book review of The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leader at All Levels by Michael Watkins (Harvard Press). See previous posts.

Executives coming into a company fail at the rate of 40-50% at a cost of $2.7 million to the company.

4. Secure early wins: Grab the low hanging fruit of success to set the tone of a successful tenure with virtuous relationships and not vicious ones (John Kotter—a Harvard Professor and change icon talks about this a lot in hit books on change, including Leading Change).

5. Negotiate success: Your new boss is your critical connection to the organization. Understanding and meeting his or her needs and expectations, style and energy is important if only for survival purposes! Get consensus on your 90 day plan and life will be a better place.

6. Achieve alignment: As a high flyer in an organization, you need to assure alignment with your approach and the corporate strategy (Covey chats about this a lot in his later books).

7. Build your team: Most new executives inherit teams. The key is to keep the right ones and jettison the wrong ones (remember Good to Great—Jim Collins research taught us to get the right people on the bus and the wrong ones off it).