A635.3.3.RB - 50 Reasons Not to Change/The Tribes We Lead

In today’s turbulent business climate it seems as though there is really only one constant: change.  Change is all around us. Over the last one-hundred and fifty years there have been more changes in the way we live our lives than there were in the previous five thousand.  We have changed the way and the speed at which we communicate. Communication used to be at the speed of a horse. The invention of the telephone in 1876 made it possible to communicate with far away people at the speed of light (Borth, n.d.)!  We can now communicate with people nearly anywhere in the world with the cell phones we carry in our pockets. First the fax machine, and now email and the internet have made it possible to send documents, pictures, video, or nearly any other information instantly.  The availability, speed, and safety of air travel seems to have made the globe smaller, making far away lands accessible within a few hours. When Christopher Columbus first crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 it took 70 days (Flint, 2018). Today a transatlantic flight from Spain to New York takes only about seven hours.  Not only is change evident, but the speed at which things change is increasing (Obolensky, 2016).

However, despite the fact that we seem to be aware that change is ever present, we often struggle to accept change and prefer to adhere to the status quo.  Brown (2011) indicated that “Changing an organization involves modifying its existing systems, structures, and culture to some different standard or level of performance.”  Change to many people is perceived as a threat. Uncertainty about the future causes us to experience anxiety and concern about how the change will impact us individually. We often find more reasons to maintain an unsatisfactory status quo than we find reasons to change.  

At Era Helicopters changes in the way the company operates are just as common as in any other organization.  Recently a new daily flight log was introduced. Pilots use this form to record pertinent details about their flights; takeoff and landing times, passengers on board, weight and balance information, and so forth.  When changes such as the daily flight log are introduced there is generally a lot of complaining among the pilot staff. There are complaints about everything from the layout of the new form to the thickness of the new paper.  When I hear others complaining about the changes I often try to help them understand that there are reasons for each item that was changed. “Greater understanding may lessen the perceived threat of the change” (Brown, 2011). If we can take the time to understand the rationale behind change it makes it much easier to accept.  I have attempted to make that my personal policy; if I catch myself complaining I recognize that it generally is due to lack of understanding. I try to become more informed about the reasons behind the change.

I believe that good critical thinking skills are the best tools to help prevent negative responses to change.  The ability to think critically can help a person to understand when he or she is rejecting an idea without truly considering the consequences, or because of a personal bias.  Critical thinking can help a person realize that a proposed change may lead to a situation that is better than the status quo.

However, despite the abundance of change in our day we should not fall into the trap of blindly thinking that all change is good.  At the same time the new daily flight log was introduced a new policy was released without explanation that required all communication with the Operations Control Center to use the phonetic alphabet.  For example, instead of saying that the destination for a flight is Lake Charles Airport, pilots are expected to use the phonetic identifier; kilo-lima-charlie-hotel. This change to policy has caused increased congestion and confusion on company frequencies.  Numerous pilots have expressed their concerns to management that this change has lead to reduced situational awareness, and ultimately has the potential to affect flight safety.

During a TED Talk, Seth Godin suggested that change is driven by what he termed “tribes” (Godin, 2009).  According to Godin’s use of the word, a tribe consists of an individual who is seeking to change the status quo, and his or her supporters.  “What we do for a living is find something worth changing and then assemble tribes that spread the idea” (Godin, 2009). I think Godin’s concept, that change is driven by tribes, is only one piece of the change puzzle.  Change begins with an innovative, creative idea regarding how to do something better. Oftentimes it takes persuasion and convincing to get people (the tribe) to support the new idea. Columbus thought he could discover a better way to travel to the Far East.  He spent eight years persuading different leaders to support him (join his tribe). It was not until he proved the reality and the utility of his idea that it was generally accepted (Flint, 2018).

Perhaps at times that we struggle to accept the prospect of change we should ponder whether Columbus would have endeavored to cross the Atlantic Ocean if he had been satisfied with the status quo.  Would Alexander Graham Bell have invented the telephone if he had made excuses to justify inaction?  Would the Wright brothers have achieved flight if they had limited their creativity by saying “others have tried, and it won’t work?”  Perhaps we should not be so quick to reject new ideas, but instead learn and use critical thinking skills so we can better analyze proposed changes.

References

Borth, D. E. (n.d.). Telephone. In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/technology/telephone

Brown, D. (2011). An experiential approach to organizational development (8th ed). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Flint, V. ( 2018, May 17). Christopher Columbus. In Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus

Godin, S. (2009). The tribes we lead [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead

Obolensky, N. (2016). Complex adaptive leadership: Embracing paradox and uncertainty (2nd ed.) New York, NY: Taylor & Francis