Are you a bold instigator of change?

Broadly speaking, there are two theories of change.

Incremental and Ideal.

Incremental change suggests that you want to make small changes and corrections to find the right answer over time. It's typically associated with not wanting to "rock the boat" too much.

This is great when something is roughly working well, and you want to improve it carefully, consistently (but minimally) over time.

Ideal change suggests that you want to figure out a new medium-term ideal structure and work backward to create an efficient and pragmatic roadmap from here to there.

This is great when things are new, novel, or just not working as they are. It accelerates everything to a new normal.

Most people are too afraid to adopt the latter "ideal" approach when it's necessary. They typically prefer to deal with or instigate incremental change.

However, when important and fundamental things need changing, this is an ineffective, nightmarish process.

It leaves everyone stumbling around in the dark, slows the pace of essential change, minimizes the chances that each incremental adjustment will ladder up to the appropriate outcome, and is ultimately even more painful than just ripping off the bandaid.

One of the reasons for this is that - when it comes to incremental change - not only is the intended structure changing regularly, but so is the role that each part plays within that structure. Nothing is stable.

For example, if you're trying to re-org your company to a fundamentally new model, if you do it slowly, the org structure is changing, AND the roles and expectations of each of the people within that structure are changing. It's like quicksand. Everything is moving!

Instead, if you completely change the structure in one move, the only thing that keeps moving (improving) is people's understanding of their new role, their competency in that role, and the quality of overall execution within the new structure. Only one aspect of the org continues to evolve.

Be bold. Make important changes quickly and encourage everyone to catch up quickly.