why you want change to be disruptive

Positive Disruptive Change

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“Change is an opportunity for positive disruption. The benefits of a given change are in proportion to the disruption.”

Chris Reich, TeachU.com, BizPhyZ.com



“If you are working harder than the person that asked for the change, you are compounding the problem.”

Michael Cardus, Create-Learning.com




Questions to Address

Isn’t disruption always a bad thing?Shouldn’t disruption be minimized during change?What is positively disruptive change?

Let’s look at these questions



Isn’t disruption always a bad thing?

No.

We think of disruption in negative terms but shouldn’t. True, some disruption is negative.

An earthquake is disruptive. (Bad)

A holiday is disruptive. (Good)



Shouldn’t disruption be minimized during change?

No.

Negative disruption should be minimized. Injuries, production loss, error (Minimize these)

Positive disruption should never be minimized.Innovation, adaptation, cooperation, consultation (Keep these)Don’t be so afraid to shake things up!



What is positive disruptive change?

Positive disruptive change is an opportunity to exercise adaptation. Teams that are flexible, adaptable are stronger and better able to work through change and business cycles.

Allowing teams to deal with disruption, rather than sheltering them from it, makes them better thinkers and better team players.



What is positive disruptive change?

I met a CEO who required everyone to change office every year.

This very disruptive act became a morale and business builder. People learned to accept change and adapt to new environments.

The corner office didn’t belong to the CEO. If you were now located next to the sales manager, next year you might be next to the CFO. It changes perspective.

The move refreshed outlook.



What is positively disruptive change?

What happened when Apple introduced the I-Phone?

That was disruptive change on a grand scale.

It completely disrupted both the cell phone market and the camera market.

It certainly didn’t hurt Apple.



Apple People Are Used to Disruption

Steve Jobs was never happy.

Whatever was the superstar product of the day,he wanted better. Way better.

Apple people are very used to disruption.

That builds flexibility, morale, team cooperation.



The “How To”

Let’s say you’re putting a new sales management system in place. You can get it perfect, then roll it out to the sales team. Tell them “this is it”. Conduct training. Go “live”.

Or

You can open the new system and invite the sales team to break it. Put in orders, test it. Provide feedback. Invite them to tell you what to change. Listen. Modify it. Then roll it out.



The “How To”

You want to improve a product so you instruct engineering to make design improvements. They improve your widget. You then provide the sales team with the widget and new pricing.

Or

You can put engineering, sales and marketing in a room and instruct them to come up with some new ideas, not just improvements. Give them the tools and let them create. They will.



Final Example

Asked to bring change to a company, in this case a sales increase, I started with a meeting. I got everyone together and gave them the exciting news that management was investing in marketing.These are actual comments:

– It won’t happen.– Now what?– What do I have to do?– Fine, but I’m too busy. Don’t ask me for help.– I’m not making cold calls.– Good luck with that.

There is a lot of resistance to overcome when teams aren’t used to change.



Summary

When teams are buffered from disruption, they become more easily knocked off track by change. They learn to resist change. Protecting people from change produces whiners.

Allowing teams to deal with positive disruption produces highly innovative, creative winners.

Do you want whiners or winners?



Thank You

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www.TeachU.com for help with bringing change to your business or organization.

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why you want change to be disruptive

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