Evolutionary over revolutionary change

Description

Large revolutionary change to organisational systems has a high risk of failure, therefore it is recommended to inact change in an evolutionary approach.

Rationale

Organisations are complex adaptive systems by nature, and changing them is an unpredictable business, often resulting in unforeseen side effects. Revolutionary change, where a significant change is made in a transactional fashion, has a far higher risk of failure than multiple small incremental changes. Smaller changes are also more practical to corelate change and outcome, leading to clearer understanding of impact. An evolutionary approach to change introduction is recommended, with the following considerations:

• Ensure those impacted by a change are part of the change process as opposed to having the changes done to them.
• Understand and start from the current context of your organisation and system of work.
• Use the Scaling Principles as a "Lens" to assess and understand potential opportunities for improvement.
• Create change hypotheses for the high-priority opportunities.
• Introduce and support a small number of experiments that can be run and evaluated independently.
• Use volunteers in the experiments where possible.
• Apply learnings back into the experiments.
• Broaden adoption when proven and where applicable.

Related Principles

• Start small and scale success
• Create the environment for people to thrive
• Foster a high trust environment
• Maximise engagement
• Catalyst for change
• Involve those affected by change
• Create a Learning Organisation
• Own your own approach