business builder management
Simple test can tell who’s ready for inevitable change
by Brian McDermott
Ready for change? It’s inevitable, but you have a choice about how you respond.
Just about every facet of life I can think of — the war, the economy, the political landscape, the environment, the competition, the social evolution of families and communities — is contributing to a universal pressure to constantly change the way the world does business.
Are you ready for change?
Here’s a simple test to help determine if you are. Imagine you’re seated eight people to a round table in a hotel meeting room. You’re with many of your company’s leaders and top performers; 15 tables in all. The facilitator decides to randomly mix up the groups and determines four people at each table must move to new places. No two people leaving the same table can sit together at a new table. Upon arriving at a new table nobody can sit in an empty chair. Take everything you’ve got with you; you’re not coming back.
Are you imagining a fair amount of chaotic movement and noise? Are you seeing a few people jokingly sitting on each other’s laps or on tabletops until they figure out that “not sitting in an empty chair” means asking someone already seated to move to a new spot at the same table? Do you hear some people laughing? Some people grousing? After about three minutes do you see everyone relocated, mostly resettled, but still fidgeting a bit? Some are smiling? Some looking as if they sat on something messy? Perfect.
Now, do a gut check. How do you feel? Are you annoyed because you carefully picked the spot and the tablemates you wanted and didn’t want to have to move? Are you relieved because this activity has given you a chance to meet a few new people? Are you regretting your decision to show up for this @#&!!*$% meeting? Hold that thought.
This test derives from an exercise I use when working with groups on targeted problem-solving and organizational improvement projects. I always acknowledge that on the surface the exercise seems silly, but emphasize that it has a valid and telling purpose.
In addition to the advantage of mixing up the group, this exercise is a perfect metaphor for real life. Change of this kind happens in the business world every day. It hits without reason or explanation and often falls outside of our ability to control it. What we can control, however, is how we ultimately act in response, and that initial gut-level reaction is a good indicator of how ready, willing and able we are to cope with the unexpected and with the constant demand for change.
Test that failed
I used this activity with a large software company, in a setting much like what you imagined for this test. When everyone was resettled, I asked for some reactions. A woman seated near me was practically in tears and said, “I’m about ready to leave.” She had gone to two different tables and been turned away. Her colleagues seated there were unwilling to make the requested change, to play the silly game.
The irony is that this group had come together for three days to totally overhaul its worldwide service operations. They had been functioning as separate service bureaus in their countries of operation. The new strategy was to realign as one worldwide virtual team.
The three days together were to be a major investment in beginning to implement the new structure. The question of the moment and the biggest challenge for those three days, of course, was, “If you are unwilling to change your seats in a meeting room, how likely are you to make the dramatic kinds of changes the company is requiring in this reorganization?”
Gut check
A gut reaction to an imposed change is instinctive. In the end, it doesn’t really matter much whether your first response to being asked to change your seat in a conference room or to reorganize into a worldwide virtual team is positive or negative. What matters is how quickly you can move yourself on track to deal with the matter at hand.
Don’t deny the anger or the joy change creates. We’re all wired differently. Some people dread any kind of interactive activities in meetings. Some people thrive in jobs that constantly change. There are many experts who counsel about the need to acknowledge the losses, gains and ensuing emotions any change can trigger.
But if you’ve got a flat tire on your car, no amount of cursing or kicking will make you mobile again. If you want to drive, at some point you’ve simply got to get out the jack or call a tow truck, get on with changing what needs to be changed, then move on.
Change is inevitable. Choosing to grow in response is optional.
[contact] Brian McDermott is a senior partner and chief storyteller with GrowthWorks Inc., a Minneapolis company that helps organizations and individuals make effective change: 800.832.5385; bmcdermott@growthworksinc.com; www.growthworksinc.com.
