Change Is Hard

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Rita Mae Brown

The business environment is intensely competitive—a revelatory statement, I know. But it’s easy to forget, to become complacent, and to continue doing the same thing you’ve always done. Rita said it best. 

…and it’s the job of the person sitting in the driver’s seat (uh, mine) to avoid complacency, to watch out for blind spots. You need to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to the competitive environment. 

Yet, executing cultural change in an organization is probably one of the hardest things a leader can do. 

But change is uncomfortable.

Who can blame us? The idea of any change can make us feel that what we do and how we do it is wrong and that we should do it differently. Who likes being told they’re wrong? And if we’ve been successful, how can what we’re doing be wrong? 

Some people are open and receptive to change. They see the problems and issues clearly, and yearn for them to be made better. Then, some avoid change simply because they like the way things are. Or, there are those who absolutely don’t want to change because it’s hard. 

Change is inevitable…

So, when people can’t change, for whatever reason, it can lead to an organizational shift. It can force a realigning of priorities, letting people go, and hiring new people. This is where we are, and it hasn’t been easy. For any of us. 

Our Pulse scores are down—not waaay down, but definitely down, which isn’t surprising considering our circumstances and our need to let people go last year as part of our push for change (more on that process in a later article).

Our Pulse scores were at similar levels at the start of last year. But, they slowly recovered throughout the year. At one point, our pulse scores were at the top of benchmarks for SF private tech companies. To me, that’s a sign of a great culture and that we can, and will be there again. Believe it or not, there’s a philosophy that high pulse scores indicate that people aren’t being pushed hard enough and that the organization needs to be pushed harder. I’d never thought of it that way. And I’m not sure I agree…it’s like saying the beatings will continue until morale improves. 

Some people aren’t happy. But why? Is it a misalignment with the mission? Or is it the challenge of change? Either way, the feelings are valid. And they aren’t bad; rather, they are your own personal indicator telling you your expectations aren’t being met. If that’s true for you, life’s too short to be miserable, and you deserve to find somewhere you’ll be happy.

But it’s unrealistic to think that things will never change. We need to be able to adapt and overcome challenges, and we can’t do that by doing the same thing over and over.

There needs to be a happy medium: an organization powered by dedicated, hard-working professionals aligned with the company mission and happy doing it. You build a great team… go out and do good work. 

Change is directly connected to and an outcome of a healthy and growing company. That brings results, and nothing makes people happier than results.