I have a pretty high risk tolerance. For me, change is interesting and (dare I say it) fun. But in my years as a change agent and a skilled change management practitioner, I have come to appreciate each organization has a unique tolerance level that’s tied to its culture, its leadership and its history. Any wise business leader considering a major effort should examine their organization carefully and factor this reality into their planning process, particularly if they wish their efforts to be successful.

I thought about tolerance levels a lot this week. I am advising a non-profit considering a major organization re-design. And what started as full transformation has gradually re-shaped into an incremental staff development effort that is much more appropriate given the culture of this group. While this may seem like a bit less ambitious, in this case, even this incremental adjustment is monumental given the organization’s history. It also positions the organization for further meaningful changes in the future if the leadership chooses to continue.

Change has such ripple effects. Some of these ripples are quite small, but some may turn out to be unexpected show stoppers. Change a process, which changes someone’s job, which requires training, which requires a new tool, which needs new data, which comes from different sources and so on and so on. It’s quite exhausting and generally makes people pretty grumpy. And all you wanted to do was update a simple process to save money and make things easier for everyone. Sometimes it hardly seems worth the trouble and heartache.

Ultimately; however, nothing is forever – change is inevitable. Sometimes it’s forced, sometimes it’s not, but it’s always harder than you anticipate. If you need to make a change in your organization, do your business and your employees a favor – step back and think it through before you jump in headlong. Objectivity is a key component in good planning. And if you are too close to be objective, bring in a good change expert to help. Sometimes you may find that what you think you need may cost you more in time, morale and decreased productivity than you are willing to pay.

Photo by Chris Lawton