```table-of-contents ``` --- ![[complexity-outside-linear-office-cartoon-750px.png]] # tl;dr I've worked in organisational change for more than 25 years, and one of the challenges I frequently encounter is people's differing perceptions of change. When I explore this with leaders, their teams, and their stakeholders, we quickly realise that we're all talking about change in subtly different ways. In this note, I aim to illustrate the various flavours of change so that we can communicate more effectively about it. Let me know in the comments if I have achieved this. # All Change We must create a shared understanding of what's happening so that when our ideas and plans meet the real world (outside of the planning room), we can respond in a coordinated way. I'll discuss the ideas of alignment and planning for uncertainty in other posts, but for now, I will concentrate on getting up close and personal with the concept of change itself. If we have a high-resolution map of the change space, we can be more precise about navigating it. For example, savvy travellers in London know the differences between the low-resolution tube map and the higher-resolution A-Z street map. This is different from the people getting on at Embankment to take the Northern Line to Charing Cross, who do not realise that the stations are about 150m apart, and it would take them 5-6 times longer to get there than if they'd walked between them. # Introducing HD change for better maps to navigate by Anyone who knows me and my work will also become familiar with the Spiral Dynamics framework (Beck & Cowan, 2005). I've found this book an invaluable resource, and I frequently recommend it for its insights into psychology and organisations. I will drill into a helpful framework they provide for considering change, helped by a cunning idea from the father of general semantics, [Alfred Korzybski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Korzybski). In his book Science and Sanity (Korzybski, 1994), the author argues that language, as symbolic categories, distorts our worlds like prisms. A concept that I explored in my note on [[Perception]]. To overcome this, Korzybski suggested the use of indexing: putting a small number at the bottom of the word to create **change variations** (CV$_1$_-$_8$). ## Change variation one, CV$_1$ **Involves**: ***Fine-tuning***. **Example**: Think of an aeroplane pilot adjusting the flaps or a slight trim of the wings. We don't need a massive change strategy or hire a change manager. What we need to do is fine-tune the system itself. **Change deliverable**: ***adjustment*** or ***update***. ## Change variation two, CV$_2$ **Involves**: ***Reshuffling the deck***. **Example**: Think of a team; we have ten employees in the same jobs, and we rotate them. We've changed the players, but the system stays the same. The work practices remain unchanged, yet we've ***refreshed things*** but not redesigned them. We've moved beyond fine-tuning to a deeper level of change. **Change deliverable**: ***swap-out*** or ***increment***. ## Change variation three, CV$_3$ **Involves**: ***The new and improved***. **Example**: Like a new version of an app or operating system. We're staying within the same operations but with new and improved technology or ways to get things done without a massive reorganisation. It's a modified version of change. **Change deliverable**: ***release*** or ***iteration***. ## Change variation four, CV$_4$ **Involves**: ***Hunker-down***. **Example**: Often indicative of a crisis, this message is it's time to watch the costs and not invest because we must conserve what we have. The organisation may ask people to return to basics and focus on the core business. In their lifestyles, people will have begun to spend less money and pay more attention to the quality of what they have. They will fix the house rather than try to buy a new one because they sense their environment is uncertain and requires a lean mindset. **Change deliverable**: ***simplification*** or ***optimisation***. ## Change variation five, CV$_5$ **Involves**: ***Stretch up***. **Example**: In contrast to the ***hunker-down***, we ask people to begin to behave in more complex ways - in new ways - which are not yet part of their standard operating system. Often referred to as thinking outside the box, we need to be mindful that elements in the box must be preserved. I've often found a natural ebb and flow between change variations four (**CV**$_4$) and five (**CV**$_5$), as the organisation naturally oscillates between periods of investment for expansion followed by consolidation and integration. **Change deliverable**: ***expansion*** or ***optionality***. ## Change variation six, CV$_6$ **Involves**: ***Revolutionary attack on barriers***. **Example**: Sometimes, this means the leadership has to fire or replace an entire operating unit. It's like a coach has to replace some players because the team's chemistry is sour, as there is a clear need for fresh blood. Sometimes, this is an action that must be taken, so let's not call it radical because it isn't; it's pretty standard because of the nature of the systems and their integrity. **Change deliverable**: ***managed revolution*** or ***restructure***. ## Change variation seven, CV$_7$ **Involves**: ***Level up***. **Example**: Here, we find most **transformation** work where we change the form from one system to the next. Many people who live a life of materialism suddenly find that the world is no longer satisfying, asking themselves, 'is that all there is to life?' We will notice a quest for internal peace or purpose as illustrated in "[The Graduate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graduate)" with Dustin Hoffman. In this, we saw a young man struggling with encouragement from his elders to go into plastics but realises there's something interior to him, some urge or something not being addressed. Many people experience a religious conversion, whilst others suddenly are released from dogma and the judgements of shoulds and oughts as the autonomous person begins to flower like a butterfly. Others may join a retreat centre, meditate, or practice yoga searching for spiritual truths, even to the point of walking away from a lifestyle and family because of the urge to transform into something different. Tread carefully here as CV$_7$ is so powerful in the heart and soul. It is the realm of purpose and integrity. **Change deliverable**: ***managed evolution*** or ***transformation***. ## Change variation eight, CV$_8$ **Involves**: ***Epic change***. **Example**: Typically reserved for times when significant shifts across multiple domains produce epic changes like the industrial age, the information age, and now the age of molecular biology and artificial intelligence. These are daunting and very threatening to people because so much is happening quickly in many areas. It often induces fear and uncertainty, creating stress in the system because we still need the capacity to provide clarity and precision to inform people to change **from what to what**. In these situations, we're much better off if we can involve people in designing, without certainty or guarantees, the transition **from what to what and how**. **Change deliverable**: ***managed disruption*** # In summary - changes in the first and second order According to research (Levy, 1986), a system can change in one of two ways: - **First order change** (CV$_1$_-$_5$) - “It consists of those minor improvements and adjustments that do not change the system’s core and that occur as the system naturally grows and develops”. - **Second order change** (CV$_6$_-$_8$) - This creates a new way of seeing things entirely and requires new learning involving a nonlinear progression as the system transforms from one state to another. The aim would be to enable the individual and collective to behave, think, or feel differently. So, we see that when considering organisational change, it is essential to understand the type of change we're undertaking to know how to support the system. I'll write more on this when we consider **how** to change and the industry's best practices for change. --- # Credits - A big thanks to Virpi - [BusinessIllustrator](https://www.businessillustrator.com) # Resources - Beck, P. D. E., & Cowan, C. C. (2005). _Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change_ (1st edition). Wiley-Blackwell. - Korzybski, A. (1994). _Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics Fifth Edition_. Institute of General Semantics (27 Oct. 2023). [https://amzn.eu/d/duQwprU](https://amzn.eu/d/duQwprU) - Levy, A. (1986). Second-order planned change: Definition and conceptualization. _Organizational Dynamics_, _15_(1), 5–23. [https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(86)90022-7](https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(86)90022-7) %% Secret Stuff Goes Here - this won't be seen in my published wiki site. - [SDi Audible transcript on Otter - Ch 5](https://otter.ai/u/BeIB2F1DTDIiN8YQ5q_XG94GdOg?utm_source=copy_url) %% # Published - 2024-08-29 - [Change Variations - by Andrew Kidd - Daring Diaries](https://daringfutures.substack.com/p/change-variations) - [Tweet](https://x.com/coachkidd/status/1829238095570432269) - Facebook - [Personal](https://www.facebook.com/andrew.kidd.coach/) - [Daring Futures](https://www.facebook.com/daringfutures/) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7235002014286434304/) - [Pinterest](https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/588704982573980296)