"How much change is too much?"

I recently had the opportunity to join Lucia Annunzio for a fireside chat with participants in her High-Performance Leadership session at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

I really enjoyed investing time with leaders from around the world and one of their questions, in particular, inspired this newsletter.

Simply put, the question was: "How do you know when, as a leader, you're trying to implement too much change?"

Great question.

Look, as progressive leaders, we stand for intentional change.

Not for the sake of changing, but for the sake of progress. Progress toward creating a relevant and sustainable organization for years to come.

I mean, that's the job. Remember: Executing strategy means running the business and transforming it at the same time.

At Baker Tilly, we implemented incredible organizational transformations that empowered us to grow from $475m to $1.5B in a few years.

Here's one thing I can guarantee will happen when you try to implement transformation in your organization: People will say it's "too much."

Many of you reading this newsletter right now likely know exactly what I'm talking about...

So, how much is "too much change"? As leaders, how do we gauge our people's capacity to transform?

Today, I'll share my thoughts on why the question is flawed, the things you must get right as a leader who stands for progress, and my formula to enable rapid transformation without overwhelming people.

Rotating the Lens of "Change"

Before we even talk about what to do when people say it's "too much change", we have to look at how change is talked about and viewed in our organizations.

As a talented colleague of mine, Jacqueline Wiggins, once said:

"We need to stop saying 'change management' and need to start saying 'progress management'."

Brilliant.

As leaders, our language and communication matter. The things we say and sometimes even more importantly, how we say them, make a meaningful difference.

"Change management" depicts things happening TO us.

It’s focused on LEAVING something—which is often hard for people and comes with disappointment around having to find a new way.

"Progress management" depicts things happening WITH us.

It’s forward-thinking and indicates we’re heading toward achieving something. It’s about excitement and trying new things.

You don’t run a successful company by looking behind you. You look forward.

So, the first thing to do if you want people to embrace "change" in your organization is to stop referring to the change and start referring to progress.

"change management" -> "progress management"

Now, let's talk about what proper progress management looks like.

Don't underestimate people...

I've observed over my career that many leaders remarkably underestimate the human capacity for progress. You'd be surprised at how capable of adapting your people are.

Now, if you are making alterations to your ERP solution, sales process, and billing process all at once, sure, that could be too much transformation happening at once (unless you do it a certain way—more on that later).

There's a limit. I'm not suggesting we can alter everything all at once, all the time.

I am, however, saying that we underestimate people's ability to embrace and adapt to progress. If you're finding yourself thinking you're asking people to "change too much", I bet you aren't.

Instead, I suggest we flip the lens from looking at the people taking on the transformation to looking at ourselves—the leadership team in charge of the progress initiative.

More important than the transformation itself (and whether people can handle it) is to look at WHY and HOW we are going about implementing the transformation.

The Role of the Leader

As leaders, we've got to look in the mirror and take ownership of the role we play in the equation.

We can make or break a progress initiative.

How?

1) By altering too many things at once.

The classic quality vs quantity applies to transformation initiatives too.

I believe we underestimate the depth (quality) to which people can embrace progress; however, I also believe trying to transform too many things at one time (quantity) leads to breakdowns—especially when initiatives overlap.

Allow people to focus on one initiative at a time.

2) By not communicating effectively.

Just as important as the transformation itself is our ability to communicate it.

There are two keys we need to communicate when bringing about transformational change:

1. WHY the transformation is happening. How does this help us execute strategy?

2. It's ok for people not to like it. They can dislike it and respect it at the same time.

Getting these things right can have a massive impact on your ability to transform and make meaningful progress toward your goals.

3) By not bringing people into the transformation process.

There's a difference between transparency and inclusion.

Transparency suggests people know about what's happening and what went into the decision-making process.

Inclusion suggests people are actually involved in the decision-making process (which means you are being transparent).

You'll be surprised at people's willingness to transform when they feel they are part of deciding WHERE we're going.

The way you, as a leader, bring about and communicate a transformation initiative is critical to its success (or failure).

My Secret to More Rapid Transformation

At Baker Tilly, I developed a process to implement and test multiple progress initiatives at the same time. It led to our ability to transform more rapidly and achieve a greater impact throughout the organization.

I like to call it Progress Diversification.

Just like you diversify your portfolio, markets, or service offerings, we can use diversification to transform our organizations to a greater degree, at the same time.

It's about using the scale of our organizations to our advantage. Introduce unique initiatives into pockets of the organization at a time. Don't expose it to everyone.

At times at Baker Tilly, we could have as many as four transformation pilots happening at one time—in four different parts of the organization.

See, if those pilots don't overlap, then people don't become inundated with "too much change". Four different parts of the organization only had to focus on one initiative at a time.

That's doable.

Through this pilot model, we could test different initiatives at the same time and evaluate their effectiveness BEFORE we implement them organization-wide.

This way, we aren't asking people to transform in multiple ways at once and we are de-risking the impact of the progress itself.

Ultimately, it's a way to speed up the transformation in our organizations.

And if we can do that, we can speed up our growth and our ability to scale.

Conclusion

If people are saying a change is "too much", that likely means you are on the right track because you are trying to transform.

From my experience, people always say that. Human nature is to complain when we are leaving something we're used to.

Now, I'm not saying to discredit people's opinions, but just because people say it's too much change doesn't mean that's the case.

Instead, use data to evaluate if there's "too much change".

If you're seeing an erosion in your productivity, client approval ratings, or profitability, then sure, those are good indicators that you might need to make some adjustments.

Otherwise, give people the opportunity to prove to themselves just how capable of progress they are.

So, if you are feeling like there's "too much change" or you are hearing that from your team members, remember the following:

1. You can influence the environment. Shift your language from "change management" to "progress management" and see what happens.

2. People are more capable of transformation than you think. Don't underestimate them.

3. You, as the leader, play a critical role in people's ability and willingness to embrace progress.

4. Use progress diversification to unlock the ability to transform more rapidly.

5. Evaluate "too much change" by what the data indicates, not solely based on what people are saying.

Organizations that BREAK THE MOLD™ and achieve differentiated success start with leaders who can run the business and transform it at the same time.

Use these mindset shifts to enable transformation in your organization.

Thank you for reading and I hope you've found this week's article helpful. Reply and let me know what you think—your replies go directly to my personal inbox.

If you're finding yourself stuck somewhere in this process, I'd be happy to explore how I might be a resource to help you and your organization transform in a meaningful way.

​​Learn more about how we might work together​ or ​book a call on my calendar​.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman