Want a Successful New Year’s Resolution? Try Management (Recipe Enclosed)
A friend told me he wanted to “get in shape”. Gabe said, “I’ve been getting lazy in this pandemic with gyms closed and online classes that aren’t great. Putting on weight, losing muscle tone. I’ve got to do something, sort of an advance New Year’s resolution.”
We talked about changing diet and exercise habits. Gabe said, “But it’s not like regular change management. When my company wanted to merge two divisions and realign staff responsibilities into a smoother set of processes, they had to study change management to get it done. This diet-and-exercise change is a whole other kind of problem.”
Is it really? The principles of management are the same in both cases. Management has only three primary elements: Goals, Resource agreements and Tracking (more on this below).
A 2017 Harvard Business Review article, called All Management is Change Management supports those ideas. The point of the article was to “view change not as an occasional disruptor but as the very essence of the management job”. The author was developing a perspective that would make “constant improvement become the routine” for all managers and employees. In sum, “Setting tough goals, establishing processes to reach them, carrying out those processes and carefully learning from them” is what constitutes management for any intended result.
Will this recipe work for an individual who was looking to change a personal habit rather than a corporate structure or process? I walked Gabe through my own personal “management recipe” and here’s what we came up with:
- Clearly Stated Goals, with Measures of Success and Schedules of Action: Gabe defined his “get in shape” goal by identifying two metrics: body weight and weight-lifts. He wanted his body weight back to below 165 and his weight-lift capacity at up to 50 pounds. He also identified two actions he would need to take daily: a low-carb diet and a 45-minute workout every day.
- A Network of Resources and “Performance Agreements” with Each Player: The primary resource Gabe had was his business partner, who was planning on doing a similar program. They agreed to compare their progress every Friday morning. Another resource was an online site for choosing low-carb foods to buy or make. Gabe also decided to try a new online workout program to use whenever he felt the need for variety.
- Regular Tracking, Reporting and Updating All Agreements: Gabe went to Staples and got a small white-board to hang in his spare room, where he planned to do his workouts. He used it to track his weight, his weight-lifting capacity and his daily workouts and calories. On Friday mornings, Gabe and Barry reported their result measures to each other and supported each other to stay with their game.
The answer to the question “Will this work?” is Yes. Gabe has been using his new management system for just over three weeks now and has lost 7 pounds. His weight-lift capacity is above 40 pounds at this point, and he is doing two 30-minute workouts every day.
When Gabe and Barry compared their statistics last Friday, Gabe said his agreements were producing good results and he didn’t need to change any of them. Barry, however, decided to add a new measure to his reporting agreement with Gabe. “I’m not as interested in weight-lift ability”, he said. “I want to take that online yoga class I found online. I’ve been sitting at a computer or a TV almost full-time and I need to get flexible.” Both men are still going strong with their programs.
As the HBR article said, “A critical part of this evolution is holding managers accountable for continuing improvements.” Gabe and Barry are going to continue their Friday “measures-matching” conversations, and both are winning their game. Gabe says that he expects to be halfway to his goal before New Year’s Eve. It looks like change management is useful for all kinds of result-producing, right?
