Change: No Closure Means Extra Exposure

This article is the twenty-fourth in a series about Change from Steve Roesler

"The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning"
. . . Ivy Baker Priest, former Secretary of the Treasury, U.S.A.

"We've Come Full Circle" Is Good Business

Words evoke images and feelings. "Closure" is one of those for me.

When it first became popular, I found it useful to describe "completion." Over the years, it has been so bantied about by faux pop-psych peddlers and reality show whiners that I now cringe when I hear it.

There. Now I feel better. (Ooh--that means I have closure).

OK, so I have to deal with my terminology issue. The fact is, closure is a must when it comes to change.

Why?

Because if it isn't permitted or encouraged at the right time, it will come back to haunt organizations at the wrong time. Unfinished business demands completion. People require completion. So make your choice: Do it the healthy way or the disruptive way. Either way, it will happen.

Straight Line Mentality or Circle of Life?

Here's what I mean:

(Click on each image for full size window)

We've been working with the model on the left. It's linear, neat, and shows what appears to be a beginning and an end. Nice and neat. And it does do a good job of helping us intellectually grasp the emotional elements of change.

Yet the truth is, our lives and business lives are filled with ongoing changes. The end of one thing breeds the beginning of another. And each major change brings with it a sense of loss of what represented stability.

In business, we readily talk about sales cycles, business cycles, "going full circle", and "closing the loop". None of these is linear.

So here's a diagnostic question: Do we practice what we preach?

Most large-scale change models talk about "cementing" or "institutionalizing" the desired change. To do that, there needs to be an event or ceremony that acknowledges or even celebrates the past in order to let it go. Without such an acknowledgment, the cement is nothing more than silly putty. The past and its related issues will bounce back when we least expect it.

I'm not suggesting a global event of mass proportions for every change. I am encouraging organizations and the change agents within them to recognize the need of the human condition to reach legitimate closure in some way before moving on.

And after all, "People Are Our Most Important Asset."  That's what your Annual Report says.

Finally, With Thanks. . .

First, to  David Zinger  for featuring me as the December Leadership feature for the month. (David refused my Burt Reynolds Playgirl look-alike photo out of sheer good taste).

Secondly, to Slacker Manager for mentioning All Things Workplace as one of their favorite management blogs. I'm smiling.

 

Comments

[Wally Bock]

Steve, I think there are two kinds of change with differing needs for closure.

Most of the change in the corporate world (or at least the corporate world I know and love) is relatively short term. Those changes often have a pretty clear end point. Closure is a good thing.

But longer term corporate change is generational in its pace. You look up one day and suddenly realize that things are different, but you're not sure when that happened. I think the closure in that sort of situation is in the quiet acceptance.

[Steve Roesler]

Wally,

Hadn't thought about it in those terms before. Sounds right to me.

I'm thinking about projects with which I've been involved over the years that required a firm delineation of "Now we're doing this because...followed by "What we did before was well-done but no longer effective." In this case, it helps a lot to have an acknowledgement of the importance of what went before, additional stories highlighting special achievements or moments along the way, and then move on.

Nothing maudlin'. But a genuine line of demarcation between the past and future.

So, maybe there are at least three types...

Anyone have any more?

[Jim Stroup]

Steve,

Best line: So make your choice: Do it the healthy way or the disruptive way. Either way, it will happen.

There is no avoiding it, and if you let it happen, particularly if you monitor and facilitate it, the organization will make the most productive use of it and, just as importantly, be more ready for the next iteration.

There's a saying in jazz that fits in here: If you want to ad-lib, you have to know the tune. You need to let people learn the new tune, get used to it, and internalize it, before you can expect them to make their own music with it in combination with everyone else, or to be ready to write more.

[Jim Stroup]

Steve,

Best line: So make your choice: Do it the healthy way or the disruptive way. Either way, it will happen.

There is no avoiding it, and if you let it happen, particularly if you monitor and facilitate it, the organization will make the most productive use of it and, just as importantly, be more ready for the next iteration.

There's a saying in jazz that fits in here: If you want to ad-lib, you have to know the tune. You need to let people learn the new tune, get used to it, and internalize it, before you can expect them to make their own music with it in combination with everyone else, or to be ready to write more.

[Steve Roesler]

Ok, Jim, you know I'm a sucker for a music metaphor :-)

And it fits perfectly as an example. You want people to ad-lib in the same key!

Now I've got to charge up the iPod...

[Tom Haskins]

Steve:
I'm finally back and available to comment. I'm awed by the progression in this series of posts. The upswing following the down curve is great balance -- that avoids provoking a shadow opposed to change. Now this closure and full circle model goes beyond balance to totality. Yes to letting go, continual changing and little changes inside big structures. All you're writing looks perfect to me.
tom

[Steve Roesler]

Welcome back, Tom

Gee. With a comment like that, maybe I better stop and declare victory! :-)

Given your work and writing, it is encouraging to hear recognition of the totality of the process. Hopefully, we can make a dent in helping people view the cycle more accurately.

[Tom Haskins]

Steve:
By all means stop and declare victory if your belly and heart agree with your head. All linear progressions have a beginning and an ending. Our thinking handles those well. As you've called this a "series on change", you've been picturing it as something other than endless. By all means please continue, if this is a cycle with no beginning and ending. If that poses a dilemma in your mind, (stop/go, change/don't change) your heart knows better than your head how to resolve what gets thinking to oscillate irreconcilably. Feelings are as irrational as dilemmas and can respond appropriately by first descending, then uplifting.
tom

[Steve Roesler]

Well, Tom, I sure get that.

However: :-) I was out of town yesterday and am sitting here narrowing down the possibilities of the next few posts.

Good grief, Charlie Brown, change never ends...