Summary: This week on CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I am discussing Change or Die lessons that we can learn from experiences in leading change. The corporate information technology profession is facing increasing pressure to change and as leaders we struggle to get the organization to move toward what is in its best interest. In today's episode I am going to discuss the causes of resistance to change. This resistance is so prevalent in human nature that understanding its source will give us, as leaders, the knowledge we need to deploy the appropriate tools to bring about change in our organizations. This week's episode is heavily footnoted and at the end of this post I identify the journals, research, and books that influenced my thinking. I have summarized the high-level points from the show. Listen to the audio to get the full picture of what is outlined below: Change or Die "Science has shown that in only one time out of nine, when faced with preventable conditions like heart attacks, are people able to change. The lesson translates across all realms of human activity. Confronted with radical changes from outside their walls businesses find themselves unable to adapt."(1) Change Now More Than Ever Before New technologies are emerging New applications are born New capabilities are required New business opportunities arise Costs increase while prices decrease Competitors enter your market Premium items and services move to commodity items and services Information Technology Must Also Change "There is a belief among the business leadership that businesses can't move quickly because of their technology."(3) Information technology is increasingly becoming commoditized Yet, businesses continue to value information technology in its ability to assist in accomplishing their goals. New opportunities continue to expand for the unique and mundane uses of information technology The IT leadership team should pursue cost minimization in the commodity IT functions; freeing up people, funds, and resources to focus on business value and new opportunities. "To often leaders who face the daunting challenge of transforming companies don't move far enough, fast enough, or broadly enough to truly reposition their businesses." Says Stan Pace of Bain & Co. "Instead they implement a series of half cures that can be worse than the disease: round after round of restructurings, strategic redirection, or layoffs, none of them sufficient to heal the wounds. In trying to minimize the pain of change, managers actually create more of it."(6) A Turnaround is Like an Ice Bucket(6) A successful turnaround is the managerial equivalent of throwing a cold bucket of water over someone's head: rapid and dramatic. If your change is wrong, you will find out much sooner and the cost will be less than prolonged indecision If you are right, you are likely to speed up the return on investment and the business benefit "What if a well-informed, trusted authority figure said you had to make difficult and enduring changes in the way you think and act? If you didn't your time would end soon--a lot sooner than it had to. Could you change when change really mattered? the scientific studied odds: nine to one that you won't make the needed change"(2) What Are We Facing as Agents of Change? Dr. Edward Miller said, "If you look at people after coronary-artery bypass grafting two years later, 90% of them have not changed their lifestyle and that's been studied over and over and over again...Even though they know they have a very bad disease and they know they should change their lifestyle, for whatever reason, they can't" Conventional wisdom says that a crisis is a powerful motivator for change. Yet, studies show that even the most serious of personal crises, heart disease, aren't enough to motivate real change. A forceful presentation of facts designed to instill fear,
