2 min read
We’ve all been through the "Big Announcement." The town hall meeting, the polished slide deck, the new software roll-out, or the "strategic pivot."
Then, six months later, you look around and realize nothing has actually changed. The same decision-making bottlenecks are slowing everything to a crawl. Departments that should be collaborating are instead protecting their turf, and the "new way of doing things" has just become more noise in an already crowded day.
You can’t fix a culture problem with a system solution. If your team sees a major change as an obstacle to their own work rather than a way to help the whole succeed, your strategy will stall every single time.
The Friction of the Inward Mindset
Most organizations approach change as a series of behaviors to be modified. They think, "If we just change the process, the results will follow."
But in complex, multi-layered organizations, the real problem is the inward mindset. When a major change hits, the pressure increases, and people naturally turn inward for self-protection. They start seeing their colleagues as obstacles to their new KPIs or vehicles to get their own tasks done.
The result? The "Strategy-Execution Gap." You have the vision, but it gets lost in the friction of people working at cross-purposes. You aren't just fighting the market; you're fighting the internal resistance of people who feel like objects in a grand plan they didn’t help build.
The Outward Mindset Pattern (SAM)
The teams that actually thrive during change—the ones that move faster and hit their targets—do one thing differently. They don't just change what they do; they change how they see their impact on others.
If you’re facing a major organizational shift, don’t start with a new project management tool. Start by applying the Outward Mindset Pattern, a three-step tactical maneuver to dissolve friction:
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See Others: Before implementing a change, leaders must stop and see the people impacted by it. What are their objectives? What are the "headaches" this change might cause for them?
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Adjust Efforts: Once you see their challenges, you adjust your approach. Instead of pushing the change at them, you ask: "How can we roll this out in a way that actually helps you do your job better?"
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Measure Impact: You don't just measure if the system was installed; you measure the impact of your work on the success of those around you.
This isn't just a "nice" way to work. It’s a way to ensure that the strategy you’ve spent months building doesn't die in the noise of daily operations.
The Outcome
When you prioritize mindset over behavior, the friction disappears. You stop wasting time on blame-shifting and start spending it on execution. You don't just "survive" the change; you create a culture that is agile enough to handle the next shift without the typical organizational exhaustion.
FAQ: Thriving Through Complexity
Q: How do we stop people from resisting a change that is clearly good for the company?
A: People rarely resist change itself; they resist being treated like objects in a process. When leaders apply an inward mindset, they push change on people. To stop resistance, you must involve people in the process of how the change can help them help the organization.
Q: Why does our strategy always seem to get lost in the noise of daily operations?
A: This is the "Strategy-Execution Gap." It happens when daily operations are driven by inward-looking silos. If everyone is only focused on their own "to-do" list, they lose sight of the "to-be-achieved" goal of the organization. Shifting to an outward mindset aligns those daily tasks with the bigger picture.
Q: How can we maintain our culture during a merger or major reorganization?
A: Culture is simply the sum of how people treat one another. During a reorganization, the tendency is to turn inward for self-protection. To maintain a unified culture, leaders must proactively model an outward mindset—seeing the challenges of their new colleagues as clearly as their own.
