Note from Kevin: I wrote this some years ago. As is true with most of my rants, this one was motivated by a meeting I had with a client. Truthfully, I can't remember which one, but I was obviously torqued-off about something to do with change. I stumbled across it the other day and thought it was worth airing out again. I’m less enamored with Kotter than I was then, (see The Four Journeys), but the points still ring true.
Can’t Change Nobody
There’s an old story about the scorpion and the frog. It’s probably been done at least once too many times, but it sets up a good point. Here’s how I remember it.
A frog and scorpion are standing next to a river. The scorpion wants a ride across the big water.
The frog says, "No dice. We’ll get halfway across, you’ll sting me, and I’ll die."
Brother scorpion debates the point. "If I do, and you do, we both drown. Bad move on my part."
Sister frog concedes the logic and agrees to provide transportation.
Halfway across and the scorpion just can’t resist. Scorpion zaps frog.
"But, but, but," says the now dying and sinking frog.
"Couldn’t help it," says the now also sinking scorpion. "I’m a scorpion; it’s what I do."
A charming tale, particularly if you’re not the frog. But what does it mean?
One obvious conclusion is: don’t carry lethal creatures around on your back. Thinking a bit bigger, the story also points us towards the difficulty of getting someone to change. From the frog’s managerial vantage-point, it was another example of a change initiative gone awry. From the scorpion’s proletariat point of view, the need to change wasn’t nearly as compelling as the need to zap the frog.
Want to take it a step further? When it came down to making a choice, internal motivation (oh boy, lunch) trumped the external carrot (get to the other side; go see grandma) and stick (don’t drown). It happened in the frog’s little world and it happens in just about every other organization you can name as well.
The Only Constant Is Pithy Quotes About Change
What’s not to like about change? You change, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, and everything will be fine. This is a point of view with a nearly universal application. Everyone in your organization can adopt it with the fervor of the true believer based on the rock-solid certainty that they’re not the problem.
If management would just get out of the way (change), I could actually do my job.
You need to work smarter, or harder, or faster, or something (change) so our team can meet its goals.
We need to become our client’s most trusted business partners (change) so we can deliver the increase in shareholder value we promised the analysts.
Here’s the good news. In most cases, management has come to understand that simply telling folks that something needs to change isn’t nearly enough to get it done.
At the most basic level, the Neanderthal method of change backs up managerial pronouncements with massive sticks and carrots designed to terrify or bribe the populace into submission. While this may create short-term compliance with the new vision and practices, it surely under-delivers on the large-scale buy-in and ownership that is so dear to the hearts of management savants and behavioral gurus. It also tends to exact a steep cost from the poor folks who until yesterday were doing their best to comply with the vision of the previous regime.
More enlightened changeologists take a systems approach to dealing with change. Following this line of thinking, if you change the systems, the hearts and minds will follow. Failure to change the systems and the disconnects between current state and future state will kill the frogs and the scorpions alike. A list of these subsystems might look like this:
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Executive Practices
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Managerial Practices
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Climate
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Organizational and Job Structure
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Information Flow
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Work Processes
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Performance Goals and Feedback
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Training and Education
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Rewards and Recognition
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Individual & Team Development
Fans of Peter Senge will want to weigh in here with system dynamics, delay mechanisms, balancing loops, and all the rest. The undeniable appeal with both the O’Brien and Senge models is the fundamental belief that the system has a dynamic of its own. It’s not people that are to blame; it’s the system. People don’t need to change except to embrace learning.
Other change mavens subscribe to a more dynamic, leadership infused model that finds easy company with winning athletic and military analogies. For example, John Kotter (Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, 1996) proclaims for eight keys to driving change:
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Establish a sense of urgency.
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Build a guiding coalition.
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Develop a vision and strategy.
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Communicate the new vision (over and over).
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Empower broad-based action (get rid of obstacles and disconnects).
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Generate short-term wins and create recognition.
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Consolidate gains and produce more change.
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Anchor the new approach in culture.
In all cases the name of the game is change – employees, systems, and/or leaders – all in the name of creating a more perfect organization that will better serve the interests of the various stakeholders.
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Copyright © 2002
Kevin Hoffberg
Last modified:
05/03/06