Of Leaves and Roots

The dynamics of change is curious. I think most people are content with status quo. Change takes effort and for most people life is pretty much o.k. without change.

This is why there will always be Get Rich Quick and Fix It Fast scams - the promise and allure of a quick fix is so enticing. Real change takes effort. Real change costs you something. Real World 101.

Individuals that can engage in real effective change rise to leadership. They are the exception.

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An organization began to question why their numbers were dropping. Their product was good but fewer were buying. To grow they knew they had to increase their revenue. The decision was made to formulate a survey and see if they could learn what they were missing.

The survey results seemed to identify some key areas requiring attention; things like packaging and value to the end-user and availability. Surveys can mislead and so can the interpretation of the data collected. The axiom about listening (we have two ears and one mouth) never goes away. Even after we get the survey results.

The key players met to discuss the findings and what should be done about them. Without engaging their clients and potential clients in further discussion (one mouth, one ear with a weak battery in the hearing aid), they began to make decisions.

• Decisions about packaging. Change the font. Instead of square, let's do rectangle. Can't the container be clear? If we package it this way it will look like the customer is getting more. (If we can't change the real value, then we can change the perceived value.)
• Decisions about value. They chose to define value in monetary terms (cost per unit) instead of in terms of benefit to the customer. 
• Decisions about availability. We will put our product in these new venues.

None of the decisions they made were necessarily wrong. All of the decisions increased work load. None of the decisions increased revenue that validated the changes. In other words, they could have done nothing at all and their bottom line would remain basically the same.

It appeared that they were trying to change their harvest by playing with the leaves and ignoring the roots. Leaves are easier to access. You can trim them, rake them into a pile and jump in them, sit back and admire them. But roots are beneath the surface and not so easy to see. They are not as easy to change.

Turns out the company's product itself just did not taste as good as their competition. Changing packaging, pricing or availability did not address the real problem.

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Change - effective change - is the arena of Leaders. For effective change to occur Leaders focus their concern on the roots. That's where the real action is.

• Active listening (like radars that never turn off) helps the Leader to hear "through" the answers to its questions.
• Vision casting helps the Leader to take his people from where they are at to where they need to be.
• Priority management helps the Leader stay out of the galley and in the cockpit.
• Reality checks help a Leader to stay fresh and relevant.
• Smart goals and accountability help a Leader to keep moving forward.
• Identifying the root issues and addressing them decisively causes beneficial change.

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Put the rake away. Pick up the shovel.