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The Three Attitudes to Change

What do Mary Poppins, Katniss Everdeen and Lara Croft have in common?



"That's not how we do it." It may sound cliché, but I have had these very words uttered to me after I suggested we do something in a different way.


I'll admit to having been a bit frustrated at the time, but in retrospect I should have been more curious about why that was "how we do it." Because while change initiatives can often become brute force exercises that involve management taking an "either with with us or against us" approach, it pays to have an appreciation of the different attitudes toward change, uncertainty and the future.


Here's a framework* to help you get your head around the other heads at work.


First, there is the person who is massively invested in the way things are done now. And why wouldn't they be? If the company is trying to be efficient, then it has incentivized optimizing the current systems. If you've spent months, or even years, perfecting systems that work, and work well, you're unlikely to be in a hurry to jack it all in. These people tend to be quite conservative, and wedded to old-school structure. Let's call this person Mary Poppins.


 

  

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Second, there are people who want to turn the apple cart over and start again. In their view, the future has so much potential, yet it will take a radically different approach to realize it. Tweaking current systems won't do it. This person is wildly imaginative and uninterested in fixing the current system. Let's call this person Katniss Everdeen, from The Hunger Games fame.


Third, there are those who are fine with change, yet it needs to be tangible and have practical outcomes. You don't have to tear the building down in order to make things better, yet the status quo also needs to justify itself. This person is OK working with the current system, but pushing it to the limits to see what's possible. Let's call this person Lara Croft.


These three types tend not to trust each other. Mary Poppins sees Lara Croft as a liability, and Katniss as a fantasist. Katniss sees Mary as a dinosaur and Lara as a sell-out. Lara sees Mary as stuck in her ways, and Katniss as impractical. 


When Mary, Katniss and Lara get round the table, expect fireworks.


UNLESS they've accepted a truth about change and the future: All perspectives are valuable. 

That's right. Because however frustrating it might be to deal with people who don't agree with you, they usually have a point.


Let's take Mary. She might seem old-school, but she also represents a sense of heritage and tradition. As humans, we need a sense of connection with the past. We don't wake up each morning hoping to develop a completely new personality, set of values and worldview. We like to think we are, basically, the same person who went to bed last night. Not many companies would rather say they were established this morning than 100 years ago. Mary can help us stay grounded so that we don't completely lose our way.


Katniss may seem radical, but she can also give us hope for the future. And as humans, we need that. We want to believe that in the future we'll be, at least a little bit, better than today. Katniss can give us this sense of progress.


And Lara may seem like she's sitting on the fence, but she also gives us a tangible route forward. By seeking meaningful, impactful development, she can help us explore new futures without necessarily abandoning the past.


If the three of them can appreciate the qualities the others bring to the conversation, then they will be better positioned to create robust, sustainable plans for change.


All Katniss and No Mary 


I work a lot with entrepreneurs, who tend to be quite Katniss. The problem is that they tend to roll with other Katnisses – it feels good to bounce ideas around with other people who want to start a revolution. But this means they often don't get very far, because their ideas are missing context. It's all very well wanting to colonize Mars, but Mary Poppins has got to get home and cook dinner for the kids. They could benefit from the opinions of Mary, as well as Lara.

I also work a lot with accountants. As you can imagine, they tend to be more Mary. When the going's good, Mary does just fine, because she thrives in stability. But when the going gets choppy, she's also the sort of person who'll let a more agile competitor eat your lunch. "Visionary" and "accountant" aren't words you'd normally see together, yet there are Katniss accountants and their voice is likely to become more important.


But say you're ahead of the game and already recognize the wonderful diversity of views you have in front of you. Don't we risk making decisions by committee?


One of the biggest decision-making mistakes I see is trying to incorporate everyone's views. It's counterproductive and, most importantly, unnecessary. People can accept decisions they don't agree with as long as they feel heard.


I was once managing a team where we needed to change the working schedule. One of the team members didn't like it and repeatedly tried to poke holes in it. So I sat down with them to try to understand why they felt the way they did. At first, they struggled to explain themselves, but eventually I managed to play their opinions back to them, amd explained how the new schedule was necessary. They thanked me for listening and went back to work.


We don't need everyone to like a particular change. But change works much better when we listen to everyone's opinions. We make more robust and sustainable plans as a result.

 

*Based on The Three Horizons by Bill Sharpe.


 

 

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