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Leading Exponential Change

Page 25

by Erich R Bühler


  Recognizes unproven assumptions, beliefs, and values, and challenges them when necessary.

  Over the past thirty years of my career, I have NEVER seen anyone who meets all ten characteristics. And if this individual does exist, the person is probably not from this world. Do you remember the six principles to start changing your world from Chapter 2?

  It is always a good time to make a change. (Another person’s delay is not an excuse to wait!)

  You might ask how you can transform an idea into a tangible reality without having the necessary conditions in place. As will be explained, Enterprise Social Systems can help you achieve a great transformation using either of its two powerful change frameworks.

  ELSA (Event, Language, Structures, Agency)

  ELSA is a change framework that allows leaders of an initiative to amplify their message, helping the transformation become exponential. It allows people who are about to change to take ownership of new ideas to accelerate change and thereby support the transformation in becoming exponential. ELSA requires a sponsor and it also requires the leaders of the organization to support the initiative.

  DeLTA (Double Loop for Transforming & Accelerating)

  DeLTA is a change framework that allows anyone in the company to implement a change initiative that can become contagious. It’s designed for situations in which the leaders of the company are not yet committed to the new plan or for situations when there is no sponsor.

  As you’ll see, each framework offers different possibilities. ELSA uses shortcuts in the brain to accelerate the speed of transformation, while DeLTA supports change and makes it contagious by using habits that already exist in traditional companies.

  Although DeLTA does not accelerate the adoption of change as much as ELSA, it is a useful tool when key individuals are not yet involved in the initiative.

  The ELSA Change Framework

  Imagine your organization has decided to embark on a business transformation. The leaders are willing to do whatever is necessary, and the sponsor is eager to begin. The company is poised to make the biggest economic investment in its history. Both the leaders and the sponsor are aware that this is a big first step and that in a few months changing will be part of the day-to-day operation of the organization.

  What are the first steps?

  In a company that implements a change using traditional techniques, executive team members will often give a presentation informing their employees about the new plan, followed by training the employees and implementing the changes in their processes. But if you are starting an Agile transformation, you will probably start by teaching new values and principles, and then you will implement a framework that improves how everyone works and makes decisions.

  Agile transformations don’t always turn out as expected. In these cases, companies often want to restart the initiative after learning from past mistakes.

  In your company, though, this is the first time that something like this has been attempted. Executives will want to increase the economic benefits and position of the company in the market in the medium term. They will also want to increase and improve the shared knowledge and well-being of employees. To achieve these goals, you will use the ELSA change framework.

  You won’t start by modifying processes or teaching new mindsets. ELSA believes that ways of conveying a message can alter employees’ brain activation, which means that they could use different forms of reasoning and produce different outcomes. This, in turn, will also help evolve processes and interactions for the better.

  There are a few questions to consider here:

  Is there a connection between language and the way we think or behave? More specifically, is there a connection between language and the company’s objectives?

  Does the way you use language affect economic decisions?

  Keith Chen, an associate professor of economics at UCLA, used a vast array of data and meticulous analysis to show that the grammatical structures of languages stimulate the brain differently, resulting in behaviors that support different economic decisions.

  Languages that conjugate in the future tense, such as English and Spanish, distinguish between past, present, and future. But those that do not, such as Mandarin Chinese, use similar phrases to describe the events of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

  According to Chen, people who use languages without a future tense are 30% more likely to save money than those who use the future tense. This would obviously mean more money for retirement, less stress, and increased opportunities for undertaking new personal projects. When a future tense is used, ideas feel more distant and the motivation to save is diminished. Our brain focuses more on the short-term reward and less on the long term.

  The way you use a language also has an impact on the skills you develop. The Pormpuraaw aboriginal community in Australia do not use the words left or right to refer to the position of an object. Instead, they use absolute directions such as north, south, or southeast to express location in their Kuuk Thaayorre language.

  According to a study conducted by Lera Boroditsky, a cognitive scientist at Stanford University, and Caitlin M. Fausey, a professor of cognitive development at the University of Oregon, the Pormpuraaw community is remarkably good at staying focused and knowing where they are. On a research trip to Australia, Boroditsky and Fausey discovered that members of this community seem to instinctively know their spatial location and the direction they’re facing. They can organize images of their trip, in chronological order, from east to west.

  Boroditsky and Fausey also realized that there are differences in how guilt is felt in different languages. According to their research, if a person who speaks Spanish accidentally breaks something, the person will tend to say, “Se me cayó .” This translates roughly to a passive expression such as, “To me, it happened that fell.”

  But in English; the person who commits an action is generally named first: “I dropped .” According to the researchers, this grammatical usage points out why English speakers might more easily remember the person who commits an error (or who is to blame) than those who speak more “passive” languages, such as Spanish or Japanese.

  You can read about Caitlin M. Fausey and Lera Boroditsky’s research at the following address: en.innova1st.com/80A

  I’m not saying you should start making all important announcements using the present tense, or that you should refer to left and right as north or south, or use Chinese during meetings. We should simply understand that small changes in how we communicate can alter the way people reason and learn.

  Remember how I suggested that you should change the term “product requirement” to “product hypothesis”? Since we are talking about how language can change the way we reason, it would be helpful to delve into the science behind this idea. Look at the following example:

  Requirement: The sales cars screen in the SALESAPP should use a font 0.25 points larger so it is easier to read.

  Hypothesis: If the sales cars screen in the SALESAPP used by the sales department uses a font 0.25 points larger, the fifteen members of that department should be able to read the data correctly.

  In this example, the first sentence, the requirement, ensures that a specific action will solve the problem, while the second sentence forces us to get more information and to presume a result.

  This second approach increases learning, because people will know if the problem has been solved only after it is verified: that by increasing the font size, fifteen people can read the screen correctly.

  Here a hypothesis means that you have a problem to be solved, and this will generally involve many people. In a perfect world, we would all understand each other at a glance and nothing could create confusion among us. But in the real world, we have to come up with ways to communicate our ideas so we are not misunderstood.

  You can use many approaches and different notations
to write better hypotheses and to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Although this topic is beyond the scope of this book, you’ll be able to find many articles on it by searching for “Acceptance Criteria,” “ATDD,” or “BDD.”

  If you want to influence people’s habits, you can convey a message in a way that makes this happen. I’ll explain with a game a friend showed me in Europe.

  Grab a pen and paper and write a number from 1 through 9, and then multiply it by 9. If your answer is a single digit, keep that number, but if your result is a two-digit number (for example, 24), add the two digits together (2 + 4) to get a single-digit number (6).

  Next, subtract 5 from the number ( - 5) and write down the result. Find the letter of the alphabet that corresponds to that number (for example, for 1 it would be A, for 3 it would be C).

  Next, think of the name of a country that starts with that letter and write it down. Then choose the next letter of the alphabet (if you chose A before, you would now choose B) and think of an animal that begins with that letter. Write this down as well. Now go to the very end of the chapter (last review question) and see if I have guessed your answers.

  How is this possible? I’m no fortune teller. I’m just using a phenomenon that in psychology is known as priming. Although there are more countries with the letter you chose, the fact that I mentioned Europe earlier made your brain choose what was most at hand, or what was more easily accessible in your memory.

  Regarding the animal, you chose it because at school they taught it to you next to that letter, or because it’s a very large animal that attracts a lot of attention. Clearly, this animal is foremost in your mind.

  Do you remember how in previous chapters I mentioned that we use many thought processes we learned when we were children? Now you know it’s true.

  One way to activate the effects of priming is with language. Our brains react to priming even when we are unaware that someone is using it on us. If I ask you to think about the color yellow and then about a fruit, most likely a lemon or a banana will come to mind. Do you see how connections can help us get a particular outcome? Later I’ll show you how to use this technique in your company.

  Another curiosity is the so-called Florida effect, named after John A. Bargh’s 1996 experiment. During a session, groups were shown random words and asked to form sentences with these words. One team was shown words related to old age: wrinkles, baldness, etc.

  When the experiment was over, the pace at which participants walked was measured. To the researchers’ surprise, participants primed with words related to the elderly were walking more slowly. This was true even though no word related to speed had been included.

  The effects of priming can be long lasting, and they are reaffirmed when stimuli of the same sensory modality are used at the same time. That means that visual primacy works better with visual cues, and verbal primacy works better with verbal cues.

  At one company, I suggested that a wall by the software development teams change color using a directed light that would vary based on how close they were to the end of their two-week work cycle. The first week, the wall was lit green. For part of the second week, it was yellow, and the last two days of that week it was red.

  Like magic, the colors helped team members remember the tasks that had to be completed or had to be started immediately. If the wall was red, they’d automatically check if the product documentation was finished and they’d start the logistics for the Sprint Review meeting—all without realizing they were being primed.

  But priming can also occur between different sensory modalities. In 2008, Yale University conducted an experiment in which subjects shared a room with a stranger. The participants were asked to hold their cup of hot or iced coffee and later read the profile of the stranger to assess their characteristics.

  Even though every participant read an identical profile, those who held a cup of hot coffee defined the stranger as warm and open, while those who held the cup of iced coffee stated the person was cold, selfish, and competitive.

  You can read more about the Yale University research here: en.innova1st.com/81B

  As you can see, how a message is given and the environment in which it is given condition what is perceived by others as reality. We need to be aware of this as we prepare to use the ELSA change framework.

  ELSA and the Perfect Event

  Imagine a perfect day in your workplace, a day when that change you have in mind is already underway. People have fallen in love with your idea and they are inspired by what’s happening.

  What behaviors do you see in that vision? What’s happening? What are people saying? What makes them happy? What inspires them? Now close your eyes and use your five senses to envision that scene again.

  FIGURE 8.1: The four steps of the ELSA change framework

  The ELSA change framework focuses on picturing that perfect day (event) before making any change in the organization. This crucial element distinguishes it from other change frameworks.

  Many companies solve one problem after another until they gradually reach the ideal situation. But doing so prevents them from experiencing the entire future event in the present, because they are unable to visualize the change in its totality. This limits the solutions and the actions taken. Everyone’s energy is focused on solving the next problem, impeding them from fully using their senses during the implementation of the plan.

  Visualizing and feeling an event as an ideal day allows you to connect that experience with powerful and inspiring phrases, associate words with good memories (priming), and discover new emotions.

  Many find it difficult to let their imagination fly to visualize that ideal day. Pixar Animation Studios, the creators of movies such as Toy Story and Cars, believes that we are all capable of using our imagination to find more creative solutions. It just takes a little practice.

  As a sponsor or leader of the initiative, you and the others will be the main characters of the movie featuring that perfect day. You must be able to picture the future event as a series of short stories that connect emotions with what matters to those who should change.

  Perhaps you feel that the first story that comes to mind isn’t powerful enough to motivate those around you. It’s true that imagining really good stories requires preparation and practice.

  Pixar, for example, uses an iterative approach to its films. Stories and characters are reinvented several times before they reach the screen. This iterative approach not only supports creativity and imagination, but it also helps people improve how they transmit a message.

  You should also imagine that perfect day in different ways, and you should use different perspectives. Movie creators at Pixar ask an initial question that might also help you imagine that perfect day. They simply ask, What if?

  This question supports creativity and imagination, and it strengthens the desire to experience different types of stories and emotions.

  Here are some examples:

  What if on that ideal day every team were multifunctional and everyone enjoyed their daily tasks?

  What if on that ideal day a change was seen as a learning opportunity?

  What if on that ideal day the customers enjoyed visiting and interacting with the new products or services?

  This practice not only helps to create the initial story, but it also allows us to start looking for the right approach to connect people with the perfect day.

  Once you can visualize and feel the event, you are ready to take the second step: to start creating the right language to support what you have envisioned.

  It doesn’t matter where you are—we are surrounded by things that inspire and make us dream: words, stories, and emotions that are impactful and that the people you want to change will enjoy hearing. Remember that powerful stories are conveyed with specific, relevant information (numbers, analogies, etc.) that inspire people and connect them
with a shared positive purpose.

  You can prime people by sharing stories about something pleasant that has happened in the company. You can also use near-present time and words that begin to shape that ideal situation. Now think about how you communicate your messages. What changes should you make for your message to be more powerful?

  Visit the following address to learn more about how to tell powerful stories with Pixar’s online course “The Art of Storytelling” at en.Innova1st.com/82C

  Once comfortable, you can start sharing your message through informal channels so that it’s received quickly.

  Support yourself with people who are fully trusted by the recipients of the change or who are respected within the company. To do this, you’ll have to ensure you have the right conditions (structures) so that communication flows informally among people.

  It may be necessary to create a more informal workplace so that people can meet face-to-face about the upcoming change. At some companies, it might be a matter of setting up an area for people to talk. At another, it could entail reducing the workload and giving workers some downtime.

  You must identify the structures and small changes that are necessary in your company so that people want to talk informally and spread the new language and powerful stories. Every place is different, and you will need to reflect with others on what’s most needed.

 

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