What is it about change that seems so difficult? Even if we are considered a flexible, creative or adventurous person, a first reaction is often to push back at change imperatives forced upon us by others. Part of this is probably a sign of the times. Self-determination is something that most of us feel is a fundamental part of our character.
Certainly, this sense of the individual is a key concept that the budding "millennial" generation feel is a key part of their rights as professionals and as adults. Yet, to work as part of a larger organization, which has its own principles and governing structures (not to mention politics), we all need to sacrifice what we deem to be “ours” for the greater good. In other words, just because you've always done things your way doesn't necessarily mean it is the best way.
To be a truly analytics-driven organization means to be willing to interpret data collected as part of ongoing business processes with a degree of objectivity. Sometimes the data or the trends reveal unpleasant truths about business practices and productivity. Accepting analytic truths often means that employees need to rethink some of the built-up comfort levels that have been developed (and refined) over time. This also leads to changes in the organization to respond to new findings.
Creating Sustainable Change
Most of us are successful in our jobs because we have developed repeatable ways of handling the challenges and stresses of the daily chores that we encounter in our lives. If these routines are disrupted, there may be justifiable pushback to try to maintain the status quo.
Sustainable change requires a certain degree of disruption in parts of an organization’s culture. While certain individuals may not be enthusiastic about change, it needs to be embraced and promoted by the organization’s legitimate leaders.
In the data world, the reaction to new information is sometimes one of the biggest sources of anxiety around change. However, with sustainable change, leadership creates a culture where data is used as a tool. Data becomes the change agent. Leadership must foster and promote a culture that is open to analyzing and acting upon data that doesn't always reveal good news. With this culture, as analytics results show missed target or inefficiencies, the reaction shouldn't be to “hide the bad news.” Instead, leaders should encourage employees to find or anticipate nasty little surprises because they are catalysts for true organizational change.
In one of my past lives, I promoted the use of software in a healthcare organization to encourage reporting of medical mistakes and near-misses among clinical staff at hospitals across the country. While most staff members felt that the reporting system was well-intentioned, there was serious doubt as to whether staff would report on themselves or others – and whether the aggregate results from monitoring trends or outliers would actually change behavior. There needed to be protection for admitting mistakes, and there should be rewards for making moves that would prevent these types of mistakes in the future. This culture change could only be created by hospital leadership to actually reward the discovery of risk as revealed in the data.
To create a culture for sustainable change, it is truly the responsibility of leadership to set the expectations for transparency and also to reward the disrupters. Data that is analyzed and shared may cause discomfort and retrenchment. But, these examples serve as case studies to encourage more individuals to participate in redesigning broken business practices.
To follow more corporate culture, check out some related posts at SAS Voices.
