When considering change in your department or facility, think "burning platform."

A "burning platform" decision is when an organization is facing a major disruptive change in which the cost or the pain for the status quo is prohibitively high.1 It may sound counterintuitive, but burning platforms are more than good ideas or best practices-they are business imperatives.

Here's an example:
There is an oilrig stationed far out in the ocean. It employs over 100 people who also live on the rig for 14 days. A second crew lives on the rig for the next 14 days. One cold, winter day, there is a small fire, which starts in the electrical system. The crew radios for help. It does not take long for the fire to spread to one section of the rig and then to more sections. The entire rig bursts into flames, the crew panics. Unfortunately, everyone except one person suffocates from the fumes. The one employee stands on a small platform extending slightly from the rig. What should he do? If he stays on the rig, he will burn to death. But if he jumps, the icy water could kill him in 10 minutes. In fact, the jump alone may kill him because it is over three stories high. He decides that he will certainly die in the flames if he stays on the rig. So he takes the risk and jumps.

Unlike this story, most organizational changes are not personally life threatening, but they could make or break the future success of the company.

One example is IBM. During the 1970s and 1980s company executives were adamant about selling mainframe computers. Their stock plummeted and they were not growing. Other competitors were taking the market share with personal computers. Finally, their burning platform decision was to change their product and marketing strategy to make and sell personal computers. Their stock price rose dramatically and the company began to grow again.

The Changes Process
Trite but true: Change is constant. The variable, however, is the speed of the change. Managers play a crucial role in ensuring that change takes place successfully in an organization. It is helpful to understand the four key roles in the change process:¹

1. The Change Sponsor is the person or group that authorizes and holds people accountable for the change: the company owner or CEO.
2. The Change Agent is the person or group responsible for implementing the change: the managers.
3. The Change Target is the person or group that must actually change: the employees.
4. The Change Advocate is the person or group who wants to achieve a change but does not have the power to do so: the customers or the patients.

So the role of the manager is to implement the change through the efforts of the employees.

Employee Acceptance or Resistance
A difficult challenge for managers, they must decide how much change employees can absorb and still be productive.

To find the balancing point for employees absorbing and feeling that change is positive, a manager needs to equally weigh capability with challenge. If an employee's skills and knowledge exceed the challenge, he or she will view the change positively. If the employee's skills and knowledge do not exceed the challenge, then he or she will view the change negatively. Managers must ensure their employees have the skills and knowledge to implement the change, otherwise employees will not have the confidence and be fearful of the change.

An example is installing a new computer system for patient records. The first step is to get a group of employees, who will actually use the system everyday, involved in the system design and implementation. Managers must make the benefits of the new installation clear, and they'll need to train all employees on the system before it goes live. There will be some grumbling from less positive employees, but these concerns will disappear shortly if the employees feel they had some ownership in the change and they have been trained adequately.

Managers must observe when the speed and volume of the change create dysfunctionality in the behavior of the employees. These behaviors present as blaming others, defensiveness, reduced trust, chronic tardiness or absenteeism, apathy, or even actively promoting a negative attitude in others. If employees who usually do not display these behaviors start to demonstrate dysfunction during a major change, then managers need to intervene. They must slow down the speed and decrease the volume of the change.

During the merger of two large banks in Colorado, several major changes occurred. United Bank was consolidating all of its back-room operations in each bank into a central downtown location. Employees were in the process of absorbing this change. Then Norwest Banks bought United Bank. Employees had to learn new products and services, and managers discussed installing a new computer system at the same time. Employees were becoming angry, making errors and not caring for customers. After much discussion, management put the new computer system on hold until the bankers understood the new products and services fully. They held extensive training to ensure the employees felt comfortable with the new services.

After the consolidation and the name change occurred, the bank implemented the new products. If the company had implemented the new products immediately and installed the new system during consolidation, there would have been chaos. The employees could not have absorbed that kind of volume and speed of change.

The Solution: Resilience
Is there any hope for organizations that must continue to implement changes in order to survive? What can managers do to help their employees be productive during the change process? It is no longer effective to merely adapt to new demands, cope with the stress of uncertainty or adjust to disruptions in the workplace.

What managers should impart is resilience, the force that allows people to go beyond survival and actually prosper in environments that are constantly changing. 1 Think of a rubber band: It can stretch and then spring back quickly to its original shape. If the rubber band is stretched too far, it will break.

People who are resilient can:

• Regain their equilibrium faster
• Maintain a higher level of productivity
• Continue to be physically and emotionally healthy
• Achieve more
• Rebound from the demands of change as a stronger person.

The basic characteristics of highly resilient people in organizations are:

• Positive attitude
• Proactive
• Flexible
• Focused on the big picture
• Desire to constantly learn more
• Sense of humor
• Practice stress management techniques.

To implement changes effectively, managers need employees with these innate skills. The following steps will leverage your resilient team:

• Tell employees with these attributes that you value them and they are key to the organization.
• Unfortunately, talent leaves first, not the deadwood. Re-recruit your key employees.
• During any major change, employees are most concerned about how the change will affect their individual jobs. Communicate positively, honestly and frequently to your top, resilient performers. This is called "taking care of the 'me' issues."
• Involve your resilient employees in the change process. Facilitate meetings with your employees to list any obstacles for implementing the change. Then brainstorm action plans to overcome the obstacles.
• Reward employees with these qualities using salary and recognition programs.
• Create training programs to ensure that your valued employees are capable of handling the new tasks or responsibilities.
• Watch carefully for burnout or dysfunctional behavior of your resilient employees. If you see this, reduce the volume and speed of the change.
• If you have open positions, interview applicants for resiliency qualities.

What about non-resilient employees? The first step is to determine if they are part of the change solution or part of the problem. The organization does not need any "Monday morning quarterbacks," it needs team players. If an employee is an obstacle for the change to occur, follow your company policies and remove the obstacle.

There is an excellent, best-selling book entitled Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson. It is a simple parable about four mice, Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw. The reader sees how these four creatures go through a maze to achieve a goal in life. Along the way they experience unexpected change, which each character handles differently. And it becomes clear which attitude will be successful. The book is a quick read and a great resource for you and your employees during a changing environment.

Take-Home Insights What is your burning platform? What is your professional maze? Who are your resilient team players? As managers become change agents in organizations, these insights may be helpful to achieve business imperatives.

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