The Myth of Evidence-Driven Transformation

the results speak for themselves

There is something seductive for leaders and managers about having evidence of the need for change. 

The belief is that if you have enough compelling evidence, you can sit back as everyone in your sphere starts having lightbulb moments and the transformational change then unfolds before your eyes.

Like never!

Still, we keep doing it. Investing more resources to analyse problems and issues in ever more depth and from different angles. More talkfests, more models, more experts, more reports. 

Regardless, all you hear on the change front is the sound of crickets. 

No hustle and bustle as people get moving. 

The consulting industry thrives on this stuff. Consultants rarely have a nuanced understanding of your system. Besides, the business models for most consultants require for them not to solve problems, but to secure the next contract from their client.

Client yearning for more information and evidence as the means to fix a pressing challenge does create a consultant’s picnic.

You see the simple become complex and the complex become overwhelming.

Let’s not just blame consultants here. We rarely read an academic research report that doesn’t conclude more research is needed. 

And it seems like thinktanks are breeding and pushing more and more reports into the market, nudging decision-makers to embrace the change they advocate.

Still, you keep hearing those crickets.

My experience is that genuine effort to understand the real problem is the starting point. You need to be confident of ‘what’ problem you are solving before launching into ‘how’.

It has been a learning insight for me to find that clients often don’t know the real problem to be solved. 

I have been asked to advise on strategy only to uncover that the business model was outdated, or the relationship between the CEO and Chair needed a reset, or autocratic leadership was stifling innovation and teamwork etc.

Sure, you must invest effort into defining the problem. However, it is a myth that analysis and evidence is what drives transformative change.

The ‘analysis, think, change’ myth has been debunked for decades. Global change expert and Harvard professor John Kotter says that approach rarely works. 

What he says almost always works is ‘see, feel, change’. 

I have found that it is the sophisticated application of soft skills that triggers and accelerates transformational change. 

It takes skilled leadership, strategic management of relationships and sharing of tailored information and messages. 

Do invest in defining the problem. 

Do invest in the ‘soft’ assets and strategies to lead and implement. 

Don’t keep tipping precious resources into technical cases that will change nothing.

And if you know someone who might benefit from this newsletter, please do share it with them.

Until next week.