Take Your Temperature: Measuring Your Capacity for Disruption

This post is part of our change lifecycle series covering six steps: finding your leaders, power mapping, the Cookie Monster moment, moving your needle, your capacity for disruption, and determining your risk. Read the previous series post on moving your needle here.

Picture this: You’re working for a 50-person organization at the start of 2020. The company was recently acquired the year prior, and the dust has finally begun to settle when an essential member of the leadership team announces their resignation. Oh, and there’s a looming global pandemic that’s threatening to decimate revenue streams and most chances for success.

If each of these events happened one at a time, it would reasonably create added stress in an organization’s work environment. Now envision all of it happening at once. 

While certain elements of change are predictable, so many more are out of our control. And while leaders can’t accurately predict one hundred percent of what’s to come, they can measure their organizations’ capacity for disruption and prepare their teams to navigate change the best that they can.

Before digging into a new change initiative that will ultimately impact your team, consider which — if any — of the following factors are at play:

Internal Elements

Turnover, especially at the top

It’s never easy when someone turns in their two weeks, but employee departures can have a bigger impact on the team than you’d expect. Team dynamics shift, and responsibilities often grow as remaining team members pick up slack until roles are either filled or eliminated.

Leadership changes

Turnover isn’t the only managerial adjustment to consider. Things like mergers and acquisitions affect leadership teams as they adjust to a new normal — or in some scenarios, are replaced. Even exciting internal promotions can mean shifting reporting structures and increased resistance to additional change.

Ongoing Initiatives

Is IT rolling out a new software? Is the company restructuring roles? Are you finally switching to Slack from Microsoft Teams? No matter how big or small, positive or negative, these changes add up. Things that may not impact leadership could significantly affect other team members who may have little sightline into the value of the changes impacting their day-to-day. Before embarking on a change initiative, take stock of everything else employees are dealing with and prioritize accordingly.

External Elements

Market Disruptors

Your company doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Competitive pressure from outside organizations, big shifts in market expectations, or performing better than expected are just a few examples of compounding forces that can impact your team.

Cultural Moments and Personal Events

Just like your business isn’t in a market vacuum, it’s not isolated from the world around it either. Holidays, weddings, babies, relocating, local community events, natural disasters, and important moments like social justice movements all have direct impacts on your employees’ workloads, mental health, and capacity for change.

Global Pandemics

As we’ve witnessed, getting sick is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impacts of a global pandemic. Shifting between virtual and in-person work models, or childcare that’s constantly in flux — without proper planning, new change initiatives could be what pushes employees beyond what they’re able to reasonably handle.

When it comes to change management, there’s one key question at the end of the day: How much change has your organization already undertaken, and how much more can it reasonably withstand? The past few years have had increased forces at play, but that doesn’t mean progress is in peril. When assessing your next change initiative, be honest with yourself and make sure your team is too. Take a beat to prioritize and assess your timeline —we’re here to help when you’re ready.