When it comes to human behavior, tactics don’t truly deeply change anything. The next time there’s an executive clash they’ll be right back in the CEO’s office. Tactics treat the Symptom instead of the System.

In my previous blog How Change Fails I covered the 6 levels of change and how Core/Culture is the highest impact level, followed by Identity and Beliefs. To change the System for either an individual or a company we must first understand the Present State (where we currently are) and the Desired State (what we want).

Image Credit: www.Further.se

Back to the VP Marketing who wants to spend more and the CFO who wants to prevent it. Let’s analyze the Present State of the company, which is why the executives behave as they do.

Company X Present State

Core/Culture: Culture where low accountability, execution, distrust is perpetuated

Identity: I AM powerless/frustrated/not valued/blocked from what I need

Beliefs: “This won’t/can’t change”, “me versus them,” “I’m the only one who delivers the goods around here”

Capability (limitation): No accountability or execution structures, no communication rhythms

Behavior: Resist accountability, inconsistent execution, blame one another

Environment: Silos of info, cliques, executives avoid one another physically