Why Is Organisational Change So Hard?

Jenny McDonald

We are constantly reminded that organisations are expected to change in ways that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago – and to do so quickly and with minimum disruption. Indeed, many researchers agree that change agility will be a key differentiator between successful and unsuccessful organisations in the future (if not now).

So why haven’t we all embraced change? Our clients tell us that it still takes time and effort to encourage new ways of operating. One reason is that organisations are made up of people and people are neurologically hard wired to consider unplanned or externally imposed change as a threat.

The human brain consumes some 20percent of the body’s energy every single day, just going about our daily business. When something unforeseen happens, the demands on our cognitive processes increase, thus using more neural energy.

Our good friend, neuroscientist Dr Evian Gordon tells us that the brain’s organising principle is safety 1st and only once our physical and psychological safety needs are met does the brain seek reward. We have 5 x more safety circuitry in our brains than reward circuitry. That’s why we are here – our ancestors were able to detect and avoid danger long enough to pass their genes down the line to us.

"As we grow and experience more things, our personal comfort zone or “what we know” expands".

In order for that expansion to continue, we have to experience more things. The Catch-22 in that statement is that while our brains are trying to keep us safe and in familiar processing patterns, we are less inclined to try new things.

The introduction of unexpected change sets up a fast threat response in the limbic region of the brain. There are 3 possible responses to this threat: fight, flight or freeze. In organisations fight is often labelled as change resistance. Flight usually involves looking for a new role and freeze leads to a syndrome called “stay and quit” i.e. the person still shows up at work but becomes ineffective as they worry or ruminate about the changes.

Neuroscience provides us with some tips on how to make change more acceptable.

This threat response is minimised at a personal level through:

1. Verbalise and make sense of the change

2. Use our social connections

3. Seek multiple perspectives

4. Once you have identified the benefits, tap into the brains reward system

Then the day will come when the old “change” become “the way we do things round here”.

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Part 3: Accelerate Performance With Strategic Alignment - Develop The Appropriate Culture

By Norman Chorn • March 27, 2023

In my previous article "Accelerate Performance with Strategic Alignment - Define the logic of your strategy", we demonstrated the alignment between the market and business strategy by matching the logic of the market with the logic of the strategy. The Explore logic emphasises a market where customers seek new solutions for emerging requirements. The strategy responds by exploring new opportunities and driving for growth. The Exploit logic occurs in a more stable market where customers seek lower costs and reliability of supply. The appropriate strategy focuses on operational efficiency and building close customer relationships. Culture is key to shaping the capabilities of the business to successfully implement strategy . It drives the way that people behave, decisions are made and actions are taken. It determines, therefore, the strategy that is actually realised in the market, as opposed to that which is merely intended. We make a key distinction between the desired culture and the appropriate culture. The desired culture is what people may choose because it sounds attractive and in vogue. However, the appropriate culture is the culture that is required to successfully implement the chosen strategy. Often, these can be different. For example, people might seek to develop a culture that is ‘innovative’, ‘flexible’ and ‘empowering’, but this may not be the appropriate culture needed to successfully implement the business strategy. DEVELOP THE APPROPRIATE CULTURE FOR YOUR STRATEGY Developing the appropriate culture requires a deliberate emphasis on certain cultural attributes and making trade-offs on others. As we will see, the attributes that are traded off are usually the opposites of those that are emphasised.

Part 2: Accelerate Performance with Strategic Alignment - Define the Logic of your Strategy

By Norman Chorn • March 27, 2023

In Part 1 "How to Accelerate Performance with Strategic Alignment - Understand the Logic of the Market" we outlined different market conditions and defined them in terms of two overarching logics — Exploring and Exploiting . To briefly recap, an Exploring logic is one where customers are seeking new solutions for emerging needs. It’s all about change and action. An Exploiting logic occurs in a more stable market in which the issues are about lowering costs and working collaboratively with customers. It’s a market that focuses on stability and cohesion. FORCES THAT SHAPE YOUR STRATEGY Clearly, it is one of these two logics — or a combination of both — that will shape your strategy as you operate in these markets. See figure 1 below that describes how these logics will form your business strategy: