What’s the first domino?
The Change Question: What’s the first domino?
It is often exhausting to lead a change program.
People talk about being efficient.
But I like to be more blunt. I encourage laziness.
Not lie-around-and-do-nothing laziness–which I’m confident isn’t your style, anyway.
But strategic, don’t-just-be-busy, laziness.
The first domino, a metaphor I heard from Tim Ferriss who was quoting Greg McEwen, is about identifying the thing that, if done, removes or solves or reduces many other downstream efforts.
If I get Person A on board, I don’t have to work to get Persons B through L on board, because they go where Person A goes.
If I have people learn Skill X, they won’t need further training on Topic Y and Z, and I can halve the amount of time spent training Skill C.
If we let this crisis burn out on its own accord, we’ll save resources for other priorities and it will remove one of the barriers to change.
If we transform this business unit, we’ll be able to prototype an approach to change, and we’ll recruit champions for the change, so it will be easier to persuade other business units to opt in.
Do you have a good “first domino”? Hit reply and let me know, and I’ll share some in future newsletters.
And if you’re into actual dominos, you’ll love this.
Pod Wisdom: Stop Lying to Your Employees About Change (It's Making Things Worse)
Margaret Heffernan, from the Change Signal episode "Why Leaders Keep Making Change Harder":
“If you treat people like grownups, they are very, very much more likely to respond as grownups.
And if you treat them like children who can't understand the truth, then they're going to start responding like children.
So you're better off to just call it as it is and move on from there.
If cost reduction is part of it, fess up, say so. Be honest about what the upsides are for whom.”
Listen to my full conversation with Margaret now
Margaret Heffernan is the author of many books, including Unchartered: How to Navigate the Future. She has led organizations through change, and now coaches senior executives on the same.
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The Last Word: George Bernard Shaw
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
~ George Bernard Shaw (talking about humans and not just men)
