Creating Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo

I co-lead a course on leading change at Georgetown’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership. I decided to rebuild the content for next month's class, starting with fundamental thoughts on how change happens in organizations. 

One of the first headlines I wrote was “Cause Pain.” Beneath that, I wrote, “It’s hard to make change unless you are willing to make it uncomfortable for others to defy your will.” 

I thought, “Yikes, I've got to figure out a way to say that more eloquently.”

That’s when I crossed out “Cause Pain” and replaced it with “Create Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo.”

Those revisions made me think about just how much we sanitize leadership. We mainly discuss it positively, omitting the parts that are hard to talk about in polite company—organizational politics, exercising power, and coercion. 

For instance, Harvard professor John Kotter has a famous eight-step process for change, all of which could be revised in a less flattering light. His first step, “Establishing a sense of urgency,” could just as soon be written as “Scare everyone into thinking bad things will happen if they don’t act.” 

Step two, “Creating the guiding coalition,” could be “Build enough power to force the solution you want.” 

Step three, “Developing a vision and strategy,” could be “Tell people what to do and adopt a formal statement of what activities are unacceptable.”

Of course, there’s a happy path toward creating change in organizations, and it usually starts with making a compelling positive argument and inviting others to join you. However, no one asks how to do that in the Georgetown class. These leaders have already tried the happy path and are looking for insights about what to do when it fails. 

“What if they don’t admit there’s a problem?”

“What do you do when other people say No?”

“How do you get past people’s resistance?”

In coaching meetings, clients often describe a problem with someone on their team who does not want to follow the leader’s preferred path. When they get to the end of the story, I typically respond, “Well, it sounds like you want the change because you have a problem with how things are today. And it sounds like the other person has no problem with the status quo. What are you willing to do to make your problem their problem?”

That fires people up. It’s also a bit scary. People usually need clarification on what it means to make their problem someone else’s. 

Are you willing to announce that any project that doesn’t fit your stated strategy will have its budget cut?

Are you willing to create public forums where people must state how they’re implementing the strategy, making it uncomfortable if they drag their heels or do something outside of it?

And, ultimately, are you willing to fire someone who doesn’t go along?

Those strategies aren’t necessarily the right ones for every situation. However, to drive change, it’s essential to find the artful balance between a positive vision and the harder edges of leadership.