The Smallest Fix with the Biggest Impact

The number one mistake we see organizations make is reaching for an expensive fix to solve their problem: upgraded technology, a new process, a new employee, another reorg, or a second location. It doesn't matter how large. When something isn't working, the instinct is to throw money at the problem, and the more money you throw at it, the better the solution will be, right?

When you start to understand leverage points, you realize that most of the time, the smallest changes have the greatest impact.

Systems scientist Donella Meadows spent years studying where to intervene in a system to create lasting change. Her findings surprised many people. The areas organizations usually focus on, like budgets, headcount and organizational structure, tend to have the least leverage, or the least impact on the problem itself. The greatest leverage lies in the mindsets and beliefs that shape how an organization actually works. In other words, its culture.

That's why, when we work with organizations, we first look at the values, beliefs and behaviors the organization is running in the background. These likely aren't the values hanging on your wall or written in your employee handbook.

When we start talking about changing mindsets, beliefs and values, these changes aren't glamorous. They're difficult. Interestingly, they aren't expensive, but they do take significant time and effort. Most organizations don't realize how much these patterns are shaping them.

A few questions to help you start seeing what's really going on:

• What's rewarded here in practice, regardless of what we say we value?

• What does everybody “just know” not to bring up?

• When something goes wrong, what's the first response: to fix it, to hide it, to find somebody to blame, or to surface the issue and understand what's really going on?

The answers will tell you a lot more about your culture than any mission statement or the values you say you have.

When you begin to shift these values, beliefs and behaviors, the change ripples through everything else.

You can start this work on your own, and these questions are a good place to begin. The challenge is that these patterns are the hardest to see from the inside. If you'd like a second set of eyes on what you find, reply and tell me about the challenge you're trying to solve.

Stay Well, Karen