How to Survive Change... You Didn't Ask For by M. J. Ryan

Author:M. J. Ryan [Ryan, M. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781609258375
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Seek Information Outside Your Box

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

—Abraham Maslow

I was working with a number of executives in a company that was going public and growing by acquisitions. Both are dramatic changes, and the company was doing them simultaneously. The whole organization was under tremendous strain, and so were the folks I was talking to.

One day, I said to one, “Other companies have gone through similar changes. Who do you know that you could talk to about this who could give you some advice?” She said she didn't know anyone to ask. I asked my other clients the same question. Not one of them knew anyone they could speak to. When I commented on this to one of them, she replied, “Yes, it's part of our company culture not to create outside networks but to rely on ourselves.” Interestingly, shortly thereafter, the CEO of this company was fired by the board precisely because of his unwillingness to seek outside advice.

Rightly so, I'd say. For they made one of the crucial mistakes you can during change—to assume that what you already know and are doing are the right things to do under new circumstances. It's a natural assumption, particularly when you've met with success in the past. In a certain way, this CEO and his executives were victims of their own success. They didn't think they needed to learn something new to cope with the situation they were in.

It made me think of a fish experiment. Baby fish were put in a little tank inside a larger fish tank. They grew up and swam around in the small tank and eventually the scientists took away the walls of the smaller tank. Guess what? The fish continued to swim in the same small configuration, despite being in the larger tank. Like those fish, we put limits around our thinking because we're used to swimming around in a certain way that's worked for us so far. Marshall Goldsmith talks about this danger in his book whose title says it all: What Got You Here Won't Get You There. I'd modify that message slightly to “what got you here doesn't always get you there and the trick is to know when it won't.”

One way to avoid that pitfall is to be sure to seek information outside your own box when change is upon you. Find mentors who've done what you're about to. They've been through it and can offer valuable information regarding the journey you're about to embark on. Also seek out what some are calling reverse mentors, meaning young people who, because they haven't worked for decades inside organizations, have totally fresh ways of approaching life and work. Remember, it was the oldest people who got into trouble during Hurricane Katrina because they allowed their past experience to guide them. When you're in the unknown, sometimes experience gets in the way. If you get both perspectives, you're getting the best of both worlds.

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