Why Isn't Anything Changing?
If we want a bigger result, we need a bigger effort.
If the problem is serious, the solution must be substantial.
If nothing moved, we did not push hard enough.
These three assumptions are so common in workplaces that they are rarely second-guessed. They are also the reason a great deal of organizational effort produces very little change.
Complex organizations do not follow normal cause-and-effect. This quarter's problem often started months ago in a decision no one connects to it now. The thing that looks like the cause is usually just another symptom.
But human instinct pressures the team to fix what it can see, spend more on it, and wait. Nothing moves, so the next attempt has to be bigger. That is how organizations end up with expensive initiatives that have very little impact.
This is where the concept of leverage comes in.
A leverage point is a place in a system where a small change produces a large impact. Donella Meadows, a systems scientist, identified twelve of them and ranked them from weakest to strongest. (Link to Donella Meadows work on Leverage Points, Thinking In Systems Book)
The least effective leverage points on that list are numbers: budgets, targets, and standards. Ironically, those are the contents of nearly every agenda you have ever sat through. Meadows estimated that 99% of our attention goes to numbers.
Just above numbers are physical structures. New locations, new facilities, new equipment. She described this as the slowest and most expensive category of change available. It is another area where we spend a considerable amount of time, because of the "shiny object" theory. The bigger and more visible the change, the more likely it is to succeed, right? Wrong.
Stronger leverage points are not things you can buy. Who sees what information. What the rules are. What the organization is actually trying to do. And at the very top, the beliefs the whole system was built on. These are hard to see and rarely touched. Why? Because these changes require very little money, which feels counterintuitive, but a great deal of insight and oversight to change.
A locked door does not open because someone pushes on it harder. Leverage, in this framing, is positional rather than proportional. It is not a question of how much force is applied; it is a question of WHERE it is applied.
An Example in Action
A nonprofit we recently modeled runs donation-based retail stores. After a hard decade, they closed 16 of their 19 stores to return to solvency. It worked. Revenue is stable, and after two years of steady financials, they are now evaluating two new storefronts.
Despite the board's pressure to add the stores, which seemed the most likely path to generating more revenue, the model showed this was not the strongest move. To their surprise, raising the pay of existing staff was.
Why? Higher pay reduced turnover. Employees who stayed knew the regulars, the merchandise, and how to price and place a donation. Service improved because experience accumulates. Visits and donations rose, and revenue grew without adding a single location.
Look at where those decisions sit. A new location is a physical structure, a lower-impact leverage point. A raise is a values issue. Does the organization value its employees enough to raise wages? That speaks directly to the organization's belief system. Yes, raising wages costs the organization money, but far less than an entirely new store.
Now, a caveat. This is not the correct solution for EVERY business, but it is a perfect example of how the counterintuitive decision often carries the greatest leverage in a system.
Your Next Move
Think about a major problem you are facing right now. Is your solution actually hitting the highest leverage point? Or is it shiny object syndrome?
Look at where your solution sits on the list. If it involves spending money, adding people, or building something, you are at the bottom.
So ask the harder question: are you throwing money at a problem that could be fixed by changing your values or beliefs about it?
That is the uncomfortable part. Writing a check is uncomfortable for a quarter. Changing what you believe about the problem is uncomfortable for much longer.
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