Get The Team On Board – Address Dissatisfaction, and Take The Right Steps
First of all, the Change Equation identifies the factors that affect whether a business or organisational change is likely to succeed and enables leaders and managers to address them.
What is the Change Equation?
The Change Equation expresses the variables that impact a proposed change as a mathematical formula. Basically, it helps assess the likelihood of resistance being overcome and the change succeeding.
Management consultant David Gleicher described his ‘Formula for Change’ in the 1960s, and Kathie Dannemuller refined it in the 1980s version: C = D x V > R.
To explain these letters, C is Change: D is Dissatisfaction with the current situation: V is the vision of what’s possible: F is the first steps towards it: And R is resistance.
Richard Beckhard and Reuben T. Harris promoted Gleicher’s formula in their 1987 book, ‘Organisational Transformations: Managing Complex Change.’ The book’s lasting influence means sometimes the formula, either Gleicher’s or Dannemiller’s version, gets attributed to them.
In this article, we look at the different versions of the Change Equation, and how businesses, teams and individuals can use it to plan for change and achieve it successfully.
What Are the Other Names for the Change Equation?
There are various alternative names for the Change Equation, such as the ‘formula for change,’ or the ‘change model,’ but they all refer to the same simple yet powerful tool.
Why is the Change Equation Important?
Well, the Change Equation is important for several reasons. Firstly, roughly 70% of business change efforts fail, as Ken Blanchard revealed in his 2012 report, Mastering the Art of Change. Moreover, businesses need to be able to predict a change’s likely impact before proceeding. If the change doesn’t produce the desired results, it can be costly, even ruinous. So, it’s essential to know your plan’s chances of success before implementing it to reduce uncertainty and give everyone confidence.
What is the Simplest Form of the Change Equation?
This first version of the Change Equation we will look at focuses on the quality of the proposed solution, the level of buy-in and the resulting degree of success the solution will achieve. We’ll see in a moment how this fits in with dissatisfaction and resistance.
Change Equation #1: Quality and Buy-in equals Success: Q x B = S
- Q is the quality of the solution,
- B is the buy-in from those who implement it and the stakeholders who support it,
- And S is the success of the change effort.
Change equations work like a maths formula. Here, if the product of the factors on the left of the equation – ie, the quality of the solution and the degree of buy-in is greater than the factor on the right, the change will be successful. If one factor on the left is absent, the change won’t happen, because the factors are multiplied, and zero times a number is zero.
The proposed change might be high in quality (Q), and brilliantly innovative. But if the people you need to implement and support it don’t believe in it, buy-in (B) will be low. And so will the chances of success.
Conversely, if people love the idea – ie, there’s high buy-in, but the solution proves unworkable, ie the quality turns out to be low, again, the chances of success will be low.
Change Equation #2: David Gleicher’s “Formula for Change”: C = A x B x D > X
In this, the original version of the Change Equation as we know it:
- C is the change,
- A is dissatisfaction with the status quo,
- B is a desired clear state,
- D is practical steps to the desired state,
- And X is the cost of the change.
Gleicher’s formula assesses the proposed change in terms of dissatisfaction with the current situation, the desired end state, the steps to achieve it, and the cost involved. If you can persuade people that the resulting benefits will be greater than the cost, they will buy in. All in all, this equation achieves the same result as Change Equation #1, though it says it differently.
Here’s How the Change Equation Has Evolved From Gleicher’s Formula
Change Equation #3: Dannemiller’s Refined Version: C = D x V x F > R
Kathie Dannemiller refined and popularised Gleicher’s formula in the 1980s. She simplified it and changed the language, making it easier for businesses to use to motivate people to commit to change. Putting this in context, Dannemiller was a highly respected consultant, contributing to the theory and practice of organisational development. In Dannemiller’s version of the equation:
- C is the change,
- D is the dissatisfaction with the current situation,
- V is the vision of what’s possible,
- F is the first step towards it,
- R is resistance.
According to the equation, successful change happens when the product of dissatisfaction with the current situation x vision of the desired state x the first steps towards the vision is greater than the resistance to the change.
What’s Different About Dannemiller’s Version of the Change Equation?
Business leaders, managers and HR people increasingly like to talk about their vision and mission and engage people through internal communication. Dannemiller’s version appeals to this mindset.
Rather than a ‘desired clear state,’ as in Gleicher’s original formal, Dannemiller’s version talks about the vision. Likewise, instead of the practical steps to the desired state, it’s concerned with the first steps towards the vision. Sharing the vision for a change is all about getting people involved, and bringing them with you. Crucially, rather than focusing on the costs of the change like in Gleicher’s formula, Dannemiller’s version concentrates on the resistance to it.
Importantly, this Change Equation works the same way whether you want an individual, a team or a whole company to change. It helps you and the others think through the effect the change will have on them, engage their emotions, and accept their role in making it happen. So, planning and implementing the change becomes a process of Co-Creation, Steve R. Covey’s Habit #6 of Highly Effective People. We’ll come back to this important point at the end.
Beckhard and Harris, and the Change Equation
As we mentioned earlier, Richard Beckhard and Reuben T. Harris promoted Gleicher’s formula in 1987 in their highly impactful book, “Organisational Transitions: Managing Complex Change.” The book’s lasting influence means that sometimes the Change Equation, either Gleicher’s or Dannemiller’s version, gets wrongly attributed to them.
Richard Beckhard died in 1999. Paraphrasing Wikipedia, he helped define organisational development as a planned and business-wide effort. Management science is a complex subject. But by playing his part, along with Reuben Harris, in popularising the Change Equation and prompting people to use it, Beckhard did much to make this aspect of it accessible to everyone.
Change Equation #4: Cady Version: C = D x V x F x S > R
In 2014, Steven Cady, Robert Jacobs, Ron Koller and John Spalding added a fourth factor to Dannemiller’s version of the Change equation. ‘S’ in the above equation stands for clear support to achieve follow-through. Search for ‘Cady Change Equation’ to find their highly readable article, ‘The Change Formula: Myth, Legend or Lore?’
The Change Equation has both Advantages and Disadvantages. Here’s What You Need to Know
What Are the Advantages of the Change Equation?
- The Change Equation helps you get the best out of your people, and work together to bring about change. Knowing people’s attitudes and feelings enables you to engage them.
That Sounds Great. What Other Advantages Does It Have?
- Provides a simplified way of analysing the likely success or failure of a change initiative, by effectively describing the situation which is required for the initiative to succeed.
- Enables businesses to carry out a gap analysis to determine the difference between where they are now, and where they want to be.
- Helps analyse the level of dissatisfaction: This needs to be high enough for employees to acknowledge the need to change. After all, we often see a situation as inconvenient, or needing improvement, but changing it can seem even more painful or likely to take more effort than putting up with it. Also, sometimes we’re blissfully unaware that change has become unavoidable, or even essential. So it’s important to start by making people aware of the need for change and giving them time to come around to accepting it.
- It involves people in the vision: You need to explain the first steps and minimise people’s anxiety. Often, the momentum for change comes from the top, but for it to work, first the people must accept the need for the change. Part of this involves reassuring them about the part they will play in the change and their role once it’s happened. After all, they will want to know, if they will still have a job and if they will be better off. Like with any project, effective internal communication, backed up by person-to-person communication is essential.
What Are the Limitations of the Change Equation?
The Change Equation is only intended to serve as a rough model to help create an effective, and importantly, motivational change initiative. To make it work fully, you need full information about the different elements.
Here’s a quick reminder of the Change Equation:
C = D x V x F > R
- C is the change,
- D is the dissatisfaction with the current situation,
- V is the vision of what’s possible,
- F is the first step towards it,
- R is resistance.
Points to Note:
- We’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating! The Change Equation works as a multiplication. So, if any single factor on the left side out of dissatisfaction, vision and first steps, scores zero, ie. it isn’t working, then the entire left side of the equation will be zero, and it will be impossible to implement the change. All three factors on the left must have some weight, to drive the change process onwards.
- Each factor is subjective, so you need to evaluate it for your situation. You can ‘score’ the factors more accurately with quantitative research, using surveys and questioning methods. Or, you can carry out qualitative research into individuals’ opinions and feelings. This will help especially with understanding current dissatisfaction and likely resistance to change.
- The vision and first steps both come under the control of leadership and management, as the ones wanting most of all to implement the change. So, the feedback from the research will enable them to adjust the plan, based on their better understanding of the situation.
Resistance to Change Isn’t Necessarily All Bad! But Watch Out for Complacency
Here’s the thing. Resistance to change is healthy. You want your people to react, and be emotionally involved, not zombies. But if you try to change something and get no resistance, maybe that’s telling you to go further. At the same time, you may need to get people to realise that the cost of not changing is too high for you not to go ahead.
People talked a lot about resilience in the pandemic. It’s essential for any business to constantly scan the environment, and itself, for threats, weaknesses, and possible sources of dissatisfaction, internally or externally. Leaders need to be able to ‘face the pain’ and create a desire for change in their teams. Putting it more confrontationally. It’s necessary for leadership to create a sense of disenchantment with the status quo if they feel the business is getting complacent. From there, the vision for change must be shared, and people need to buy in.
So, Is It Time For You to Use the Change Equation?
Now here are some useful checklists:
Possible Reasons to Make a Change:
- Loss of customers
- Too many good people leaving
- A rapidly changing business situation
- A changing market
- New technology
- Innovative competitors
- Changing external regulations
What You Need in Place to Make Change Happen
Luckily these 5 Pillars of Sustainable Organisational Change apply to any size business:
- Leadership commitment
- Clear vision and strategy
- Employee engagement
- Process improvement
- Data-driven decision making
The Key Challenges in Making Change Happen
- Resistance to change
- Sustaining momentum
- Costs
- Complexity
- Reporting
AND FINALLY: Overcoming Resistance to Change is All About Co-Creation
Different leadership and management styles will impact what happens when they try to implement a change. Authoritative bosses will insist people under them do what they’re told, with no questions. Democratic leaders and managers are more likely to be consultative, which could slow decision-making and implementation when you need to move fast. If laissez-faire leaders leave it to the team to sort out, nothing might happen at all. So, the best solution is working together, transcending your natural leadership style with participative leadership.
Co-creation, Steven R. Covey’s Habit #6 of Highly Effective People, is at the heart of successful change. It means building on Habit #3, which is making the change process a win-win, and working together and involving people in shaping the plan and implementing it. After all, in small businesses, people can talk to the boss and have a say. However, as businesses grow, team members become less involved in formulating change and deciding the steps to achieve it. Hence, employee engagement is essential.
Use the Change Equation, but Make It Easy on Yourself!
- Make quick decisions: use the data, but go with your gut.
- Start the change soon: don’t hang around, agonising.
- Be prepared to deal with people’s emotions, and listen to your own feelings. You have to get through this, too.
- Make small steps that give results you can build on.
- Pick low-hanging fruit – go for the easy wins.
- And generate loads of small successes and celebrate them.
All in all, you need to make the Change Equation your mantra, but see it ‘in the round.’ Each of the different versions we’ve covered here has something to offer. So, use them to help you visualise where you want to go with your change, and how best to get there. Bring the people around you on board and share your thinking, and you’ll maximise your chances of success.
