The faster we go, the tighter we cling

I don't know about you, but I've practically given up riding the lastest roller coasters.  Some of the new "amusement" rides at major theme parks seem more like astronaut training vehicles rather than my concept of "fun".  It seems the faster the rides go, and the more twists, turns and g-forces that are placed on my spine, the more tightly I cling to the safety bars.

I was thinking about this analogy and how well it aligns to modern management.  Every management theorist will tell you the pace of change is accelerating.  I had the opportunity to hear Gary Hamel speak recently, and he is always enlightening and entertaining.  He focuses much of his talks on the rate of change in our businesses, and how poorly suited the existing hierarchical management structure of most businesses are to rapid change.  I believe it's not only the organizational structures that resist change, it is also the individuals within the structure.  As the speed increases and the risks and uncertainties grow, I suspect we cling very tightly to the things we think we can control and assume are givens.  In fact, we probably overly emphasize structures and processes because so much else is changing.

Think about it - if your market, your customers and your competitors are changing - and changing quickly - then you really don't have much control over those factors of your business.  As humans we are comfortable when we have "control" over the situation and are uncomfortable when we don't.  Therefore, we often will work to control the things we think we can control, which leads to my "cling" theory.  Right now many businesses are clinging to things they think they can control, while many of the most important aspects of their business are changing rapidly.  All focus is placed on internal, process oriented programs that don't add value to the customer and his/her experience or value, while all opportunities to make changes that do benefit the customer are shunned because we can't or won't attempt to control them.

There's an element of safety, of comfort, of security in clinging and focusing on the things we know best.  We often joke about "arranging the deck chairs on the Titantic" but if that's all you could control in that situation, perhaps you'd be out there with the deck chairs as well.  We tend to turn away or ignore rapid change hoping that it will fail or pass us by unscathed.  Often, by the time we understand the implications of the change, it's too late to respond.  Perhaps we need to untether ourselves from our safety harnesses and rev up our organizations and our cultures to not merely meet the speed of change, but accelerate beyond the speed of change - to the point where everything else seems to move in slow motion. Or, we can cling tightly to our treasured norms and processes and hope that the change doesn't affect us.  Here's hoping!

Comments

[twitter.com/derek_mahlitz]

The $64,000 question is 'how' to untether ourselves without falling to earth in a big clump. For some organization this is a huge leap of faith that they just can't imagine, maybe in the end the economy will eat these businesses for breakfast and only the strong will survive.