Donna FitzgeraldOne of the topics I had planned to spend more time discussing in 2010 is change management. I found this quote today that I think offers a nice perspective on one element of change management
”It’s called the culture buffer because you have to put effort in to get past it and break through. It’s a buffer because it is highly resistant, not because the old is bad and the new is good or that the old is good and the new is bad, but because it’s what we have got used to. Good or bad doesn’t come in to it.”
The ChangeFactor
I think we often under estimate what Martin Fenwick calls the “culture buffer” and what I call the “unfamiliarity factor”. It’s actually quite simple — difference requires attention and attention requires energy. As a normal over committed and over stressed human being I will always want to minimize anything that I consider low value that requires my attention and hence consumes energy. In New Zealand it’s resistance to a new formulation of crème eggs for Easter, for me it’s been diet drinks with the splenda rather than aspartame. When I grab a diet drink I want it to taste like I expect it to taste so there’s no thought involved (the focus is on quenching my thirst). If my first sip says “this tastes different” then I have to decide if I like that taste or not and if I don’t whether or not I’m going to continue to consume the product. If my answer is no, then I need to go in search of something else to quench my thirst and the whole thing has turned into a production.
Software Projects that make small but annoying changes to user interfaces are an area we need to focus on more consciously when we’re making decisions about what’s included in our projects. Some organizations respond by changing the new user interface back to the old to make users happy, BUT that might be a very costly and unnecessary fix. The right answer is simply to be conscious about it and actually make a decision as to the cost/value of the change.
By the way the best discussion on “value” in this context that I’ve read recently is Stand Back and Deliver.
Category: PMO Program Management Tags: Change Management
5 responses so far ↓
1 Martin Fenwick February 16, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Thanks for mentioning my blog. In over 20 years of supporting business leaders in implementing change I have found that most underestimate the difficulty of overcoming the culture buffer because they believe what they believe & therefore see the world through their own lenses. Understanding that others will see the world differently is necessary for all Leaders of change. IT systems in particular come up against this aspect of the culture buffer all the time as I’m sue you’ve found.
2 uberVU - social comments February 16, 2010 at 7:18 pm
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by nimblepm: Just posted a blog about the unfamiliarity factor as a significant component of change management. http://tinyurl.com/ylz2yqw...
3 Donna Fitzgerald February 16, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Martin,
Thank you. I really liked your focus on the fact the value of the change doesn’t decrease the difference and that it is the difference that creates the resistence. From a project perspective the piece that many companies under invest in the socialization process of the change. If I know 6 months ahead of time what change is coming and why it’s coming and see example of what a new user interface is going to look like I still have to cross the barrier you mentioned BUT the resistence factor or impedance (as a measure of organizational resistence to the current of change) should be less.
Donna
4 Change Management - Managing Culture Change Effectively March 2, 2010 at 10:04 am
[...] Or to receive updates via RSS, just click here. Thanks for visiting!Has there ever been a time when change management was more important? I won’t belabor the basics here since I feel confident you are well familiar [...]
5 Donna Fitzgerald March 14, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Interesting view on change discussed in the column linked above but it doesn’t get down to specific. Yes, change is coming and yes the only way to deal with change is empowered people. So the question is why aren’t companies doing it. Why are they still treating people like unimportant widgets who can be inserted into some well architected business process (where their only task is to press the buttom a la George Jettson)?
I’ve been looking for facts (or even factual indications) that would back up my theory that somehow in the last 20 years we’ve become less confident in our labor force and have been madly trying to dehumanize it so labor problems won’t be a factor in the competitive equation. I have a feeling that whatever this trend actually is based on, is further evidenced by a current over emphasis in the triangle of labor, raw materials, and capital.
I’m guessing that the current trend we’ve been on hasn’t run it’s course and that we might have another 5 to 15 years until we see the pendulum swing back the other way. In the mean time the globalization of skilled labor is going to play havoc with local economies (can anymore say long term depression in consumer spending???)
Fascinating topic. I know I still have more questions than answers but there’s something here and the sooner we get a handle on it the more successful our organizations can be in navigating whatever changes are on the horizons.