The Five Myths of Organizational Change—Myth #1 – Change is about finding new answers and embracing them
Now this seems like a pretty easy one, right? Of course, change is about identifying the new and improved “whatever” and getting onboard with it.
That “whatever” might be a system or process, it might be a new configuration of the organization, it might be new ways of working and relating to each other to be more flexible, agile, or innovative. But whatever the “whatever” is, it seems obvious that we just need to know what it is—learn the new answer—and then embrace it. But does that really work? Has it? I don’t think so.
To explore that, let’s start with the idea of answers themselves. First of all, answers do nothing. At least nothing for true change. When the brain hears an answer, even the right one(s) nothing happens. What do I mean by that? What I mean is that research has shown that when someone is given an answer to a problem or situation there is almost no learning brain activity that follows. Sure, they hear it, but nothing changes in their brain. But when the brain makes a connection in response to a question, new neural pathways are formed, and learning accompanies realization. The “a ha!” is where change happens! When neuroscientists have mapped the brain, they can see this activity, this change, happen.
Therefore, change is about the right questions, not the right answers. To quote Clay Christensen, “Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go. It hits your mind and bounces right off. You have to ask the question—you have to want to know—in order to open up the space for the answer to fit.”
If we want to drive change in an organization, we have to pose the questions that help people actually learn and change their minds. We can’t tell them what to believe or embrace, they have to come to believe or embrace it by learning it is true, or useful, when that realization comes from great questions. My advice to you is to focus on engaging your organization in the very questions that led the forerunners of change in your organization to see the world through a different lens and change their mind about what they believed to be true…until they didn’t believe it to be true any longer.
You can reach me at michael@silverbackpartners.net, or reply directly to this email. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Michael
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