Transcription of Immunity to Change
1 C H A N G ED O S S I E RImmunitytoChangeHowto Rel eas e the Potential of Individualsan d Or gan iz ati onsJ U N E2 0 0 9 B U S I N E S S D I G E S T NO. 1 9 7 238 POINTOF VIEW:ImmunitytoChangeBased on the book byRob ert KE GANan dLisa LaskowLA HEY,HarvardBusinessSch ool Pr ess, Feb ruary 2009 .Ke yIdeasImmunity to Change ,a parad oxicalshor t-te rm self-defensemech ani sm,is a fund amentalhindrancetoor Imm unity to Change , au thorsRobertKeganand Lisa LaskowLah eyshow that even the most wi ll in g wi llnever tr uly changeunlessthey cometo understandhow sometimesunconsciousbehaviorpreven ts themfrom ac hievingtheir changeob jecti erg Herrenhas combi ned ind ivi du alan d grou p methodsto coun terresi stanceto coll ecti ve gen eral managerof Weal thMan agementIn ternati onal (a di vi si onof UB S AG).
2 Si nce 20 07 , he has beenleveraging the ITC ( i mmunity toch ange )sch eme as wel l as groupcoach in g to dri ve the ach ievement ofcommonobj ective s. As a resul t, he hasseen six peopl e ov ercomeprevi ousl ypowerfu l personalobstacles to e ITC app roachreq ui res a long-terminvestment,cl ai ms Abi gai l Jenki ns,sal es directorof Med Immune(U ni tedStates).In 2004, whi le a memberofPfizer , sh e took part in a changeini ti ati ve wh ere the ITC methodwasused to transforma di sparategrou pof peopl e into a ti ght, effecti ve ns testi fi es to th e posi ti ve impactof the exp erien ce on the rest of hercareer .6 INTERVIEW:WhenGrowingPeopleHelpsChange Succ eed,theUBSAGca seInt er view wit hJu erg HE RRE N,managing di rect or, WealthMan agementInt er nat ional , UB S AG (Sw itzerl and ),Jun e :MedImmune, OvercomingPerso nal IssuestoImproveTeamPerformanceInt er view wi thAb igai l JEN KINS ,Chesapeakearea bu sinessman ager, Med Immune (US ),Ju ne ers who seek to wi n a war for talentby co nc ei vin g of ca pa bility as a fixe dresou rce to be found ou t th ere putth emselv es and the ir or gani za tio ns at aserious di sadvantage.
3 On th e otherhand,leaderswho devel op thei r teams,empl oyees,and themselves wi ll createasustai nabl e comp etiti ve edge and boostbot tom-line resu lts. Many se niorexecutives are al ready aw are of th is and thus investpreciousfi nanci al and humanresou rces to improve their people sca pab ilit ies. Yet , su ch co stly or gan iz atio na l ef for ts (e .g .,personal-devel opment programs,leadershiptrainings)sel domengenderlong-termchangean d result in slight or tem porarybehavi oral adj ustmentsat best. T echn ical versus A daptive Chal lengesWh y ar e th es e ef fo rts so in eff ec tive ? Be caus e, acc ordi ng tothe au thors, leadersoften ask peopl e to make chan ges th at gobeyondth eir currentlevel of men tal complexity(see bel ow),whi le prop osi ng techni cal solu tion s to ad aptivechal lenges whi ch can onl y be met by a mi ndset aut hor s not e, The ch all enge to changeis often misun derstoodas a need tobetter deal wi th or cope with the greatercomp le xi ty of thewo rld.
4 Co ping and de ali ng inv olve addingnew skill s orwid eni ng our repertories of responses, not necessarilydevel opi ng peop le. And whi le copi ng an d deal ing are val uabl eskill s, th ey are in ade qu at e fo r acco mp lish ing lon g-te rm,adapti ve chan ge. Understandingthe Devel opm ent of MentalCom pl exityBu t can you re ally teach old do gs new trick s? That is, canadul ts after the age of 30 reall y chan ge? The an swer is yes,sa y Kega n and Lahey , whoseresearchshowsthat the adul tmi nd is capabl e of devel opmentthroughout ad B U S I N E S SD I G E S T NO. 1 9 7 J U N E2 0 0 9 ImmunityBas ed onImmunityto Ch an ge:Howto OvercomeIt andUnlockthe Potentialin YourselfandYourOrg ani zation,byRo be rt KE GANandLis a LASKOWLAHEY,Har va rd BusinessPre ss, Fe br uary 2009.
5 Change or die. That sthe choicethat doctorsgive at-ri sk heartpati ents,and only one in sevenis ableto makethe nece ssaryli fe-style s a matterof life or deat h, the abil ity to changerem ai nsthe gr eat est chal lengefor mostindi ven thesedaunting odds,how can leaders get theirpeople to changein orderto stay competitivein a fast -p acedwor ld?C H A N G ED O S S I E RMost leaderswouldagree th at improvementand ch ange areco re or ganizati onal pri or it ies . Yet , des pite the ple thora ofli te ra tur e, pro gra ms an d tr ain ing materials,most stru ggle tobring about changein th emselvesan d oth ers. The problemis,mostpeopledo n t seem to know planations lackof urgency,in adeq uate in centi ves, lack ofdi sci pli ne al l poin t to in suf fici ent moti vationas the mainba rri er to ch an ge.
6 Yet, according to Rob ert Keganand LisaLaskowLahey , the pr ob lem is not a lack of wil l, bu t rath er th e i nabilityto close the gap betw een wh at [p eopl e] gen uinely,even pas sio na te ly want and what [t he y] are ac tually able todo. In ot her words,peop le (an d organ izati ons) may desiretochange,but they are incap abl e of doin g so! Wh ile freq uen tlyat tr ibutedto age, the auth ors provid e sci enti fic evi denceth atthe adult mind evolvesin compl exity wel l beyondth e age of30. In Immunityto Change ,they sh ow how ind ivi dual beliefsand the collectivemi ndset s of organ izati ons interactto createa pow er ful i mmuni ty to cha ng e a pa radox ical safe tydefensethat protectspeop le from iden tifyingtheroot caus es of the se immunities, individuals can ov erco meobstaclesto changeand move their organ izati ons VI NG THE CHALLENGEOF CH ANG EAc cor di ng to Lah ey and Kegan,humancapab ili ty will be adecisivesuccessfactor fo r companies in comi ng years.
7 ButtoChangecu lt ur e in an in cr ea si ng ly fa st -c hang ing envir onm ent . Inother words,companies need workerswho are at (or beyond)th e le ve l of the self -aut hor ing mind , an d thus ca pable ofcar ry in g out ad ap tive so lut ion s t ha t is , ind ivid uals wh o areab le to mak e choic es abo ut exter nal expe ctatio ns, takestands,set limits,an d createbound aries to advan ce ami ssi on or agend a. The question is, how can companiesacceleratethe develop ment of mentalcomp lexity or how canthey meet an ad apti ve changethroughadaptivemeans?Thefi rst req ui rem ent is an ad apt iv e for mu lat io n of the pr oblem(i. e., how the probl em runs up aga inst the lim it s of anindi vidual s menta l co mple xity); the seco nd is an adapti vesolu ti on (i.)
8 E. , how th e indi vi dual must adap t).UN CO VERI NG TH E IM MUN ITY TO CH AN GETo unde rstan d how a cha ll en ge bring s an indi vidua l to theli mi tati ons of hi s or her mentalgrowth , Immunity mappi ng is an extremely effecti ve tool . It helps peop le see not justhow thi ngs are at th e moment, but why they are this way, andwhat wil l actual ly need to ch ange in order to bri ng about an ysign ifi cant new resul ts. Understanding Imm unit ies with MentalMappingUnli ke tr ad iti on al dia gnosis tec hniq ues (wh ich simplyid en ti fy bad behavi or s to be avo id ed) , ma ppi ng get s at thero ot caus es of the underlying commitmentsthat makeob st ruct ive beha vio r effec tiv e yet pr ev en t peo pl e fromac hi ev ing the ir goals.
9 Until the se competing commitmentsha ve be en br oug ht to the surface,ind ivi dual s wi ll contin ue in vai n to ap pl y tech ni cal means(i. e., usin g plansorst rate gies for el imi na ti ng obs truc tive behaviors) to sol vead ap ti ve pr obl ems. The end result of th e mappi ng processisa cle ar po rtrait of an in divi dual s i mmunity to Change . Theau th or s us e the me dical metaphorof Immunity to hi gh li ghtthe dual ity of an ind ivi du al s resi stanceto ch ange. On th eon e ha nd, an im muni ty can be a sourceof theot he r ha nd, it can threatenan indi vi dual s heal th by rej ect ingne w in fo rma tio n th at the bod y need s to heal its elf or toth ri ve. J U N E2 0 0 9 B U S I N E S SD I G E S T NO. 1 9 7 4id en ti fy thr ee qualitatively di fferen t pl ateaus,or levelsinmental co mp le xi ty.
10 Thesethreesys tems thesocializedmin d, self-authoringmin d, and self -t ra nsfo rm ing mind inter pret the world in di ff erent ways. Eachsuccessive levelof ment al complexityis formally higher than the precedingone becauseit can performthe mentalfun ctionsof the pri orlevel as well as additionalfun ction s, expl ain the au thors. Insum, th e higherone s mentalplateau , the better one performs(becauseone is better able to meet adap tive chal len ges).Acc or din g to the autho rs, cu rrent le ve ls of comp lexi ty ofmind which typicallyhover betweenthe social ized mind an dthe self-authoringmind2in ad ul ts areinsuffi cien t to meetthe dem an ds of today sbusin es s note, Skil lfulas .. managersmay be, th eir ab il ities wi ll no longer sufficeina worldthat cal ls for leaderswho can not onl y run butre cons ti tut e th eir orga ni za tion s its norms,mis sions,andRobertKEGANandLisa LASKOWLAHEY have workedas researchand practicecollaboratorsfor 25 years.
