Don’t blame the pilot
Instead, focus on root causes of challenges to change.
by: Christopher Stevenson
This week at CUES’ inaugural Strategic Innovation Institute, hosted at MIT Sloan School of Management, Roberto Fernandez, Ph.D., relayed a story about a colleague who received a call from the Pentagon asking her to travel to Washington, D.C., on an urgent matter.
The military had developed a new night-vision scope for helicopter pilots, but there was a problem, explained Fernandez, professor of organization studies. While the improved scope enhanced visibility exceptionally well, pilots using it kept crashing. When Fernandez’s colleague arrived in D.C., she immediately identified the problem: The scope was monocular. Visibility was enhanced, but the pilot’s depth perception was sacrificed.
Fernandez posed the question, “Do you fix the scope or the pilot?”
The answer seems obvious: Fix the scope. It’s an equipment problem, not a talent problem.
All too often though, when organizations are in the midst of challenging change projects, we blame the talent. Instead of focusing on root causes of resistance to change–such as poor communication, ineffective processes, and the like–we assume the problem lies with the staff members who aren’t on board.
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