Jarlath Duffy - Change from Within

When to Change

Given the pressures and the types of changes possible to institute, when is the decision made to pull the lever, "Let's change now"? Basically, an organisation can institute change when things are going well, when results are mixed, or when a full-fledged crisis is upon it.

An organisation can anticipate pressures down the road. Considering making changes proactively can be partly a matter of foresight and preparation; but it also can entail the belief that, if the organisation is not routinely changing itself, it risks complacency and stagnation.

Or, an organisation can encounter a problem, not necessarily life-threatening but one deserving attention, and, thus, feel the need to introduce change. It might, for example, consider creating a quality program after receiving disturbing results about its own service quality.

Given these general "times" for introducing change, one might assume that the process is easier when the organisation is in crisis: the situation is clear to all, survival is on the line; everyone recognizes that the way things have been done won't work anymore. But the very fact of the crisis suggests that at best there has been inattentiveness to its origins; there may be deep organisational problems that deter introducing changes to confront the situation. Thus, one might say, changes really should be made in anticipation of difficulties. But, paradoxically, making changes before "the event" is equally difficult - how can an organisation be energized to make changes when the need for them is not universally perceived? How far down the road is down the road?

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