Lessons from Long Distance Running: Milestones

This is part of the series "Lessons from Change Management Strategies and Long Distance Running."

Any journey begins with one step!

As the saying goes, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. The same is true of a long distance race. At least for me! Sixteen miles to run can be an overwhelming thought, discouraging, even depressing to some! The night before the race I drove through the course to familiarize myself with the course, the turns, the hills, some key landmarks. Mentally I broke down the course into manageable pieces or segments.

From the map I knew where the mid-point was. The course also had markers every mile. My mental "milestones" were at mile 3, 7, 10, 13, and the finish line. Past mile 7 it was all about running 3 more miles. A 3-mile run (5K) is manageable, I knew I could do that much. I just needed to do that three times. But my focus was only on the segment I was on, which I knew I could finish. I'd worry about the next segment in time. Throughout the race there was support stations with water, oranges, energy gels, and first aid help for those who needed it. Best of all, there were plenty of people rooting for and celebrating the runners.

Implementing a large change initiative can be daunting. In fact, it is the overwhelming nature of the beast that often causes the initial challenges such as disbelief, lack of confidence, the 'this too shall pass' syndrome, and other reactions that threaten success. Borrowing lessons from a long distance run, here are five ways to make organizational change more manageable through milestones:

1. Define a roadmap: Establish a well defined end point and roadmap to get there. Involving key people in the process helps. Sharing it broadly and inviting discovery helps make the roadmap 'theirs.'
2. Chunk it up: Break the roadmap down into manageable pieces with a defined outcome people can recognize. Examples might include: announcement of proposed solution(s), data collection and analysis, pilot phase, rollout in location A, etc.
3. Know the way: Familiarize the organization with what the path might look like, what they can expect to see, both good news and bad news. Plan and equip people with ways to deal with roadblocks, slowdowns, detours, and other challenges.
4. Focus on the now: We'll explore this one point further in a separate post but if leaders get onto other 'priorities' hoping the troops will continue the work, they might find that the troops followed suite and they also take their eyes off the current body of work.
5. Celebrate: mark each milestone and associated accomplishment with a genuine cause for celebration. This gives people a sense of closure, helps them recognize progress, and provides energy for the next phase.

Milestones require early and careful planning. They can provide focus, direction, and are one way to create energy to fuel the change work. Milestones made it possible for me to complete something that initially seemed impossible because of my knee problem. Likewise, with the right planning and roadmap, large and complex organizational change can be a productive transition that achieves the desired results, even if it means one bite at a time.

Photo by Dan.

Change Management Strategies & Long Distance Running

With two good friends after the race

I recently completed my first 25K race (15.8 mi), which was quite the experience! Though I'm glad I did it, the race was long and difficult. Of the thousands who started, many runners did not finish. Some got injured; others simply gave up. I even saw an ambulance...not an encouraging sight!


So, what does this have to do with Change Management strategies?

As I trained for several months, I thought of some similarities or lessons about long distance running and embarking in a large organizational change initiative, particularly those aimed at culture change. I’ll explore these lessons in separate posts over the next several weeks.

These lessons are not meant to describe all there is to running or to describe all in effective change management. They are only intended to highlight individual aspects of complex organizational change that leaders and change agents should consider as they embark on such a transition.

1. Preparation—probably the most important aspect but often shortchanged for the sake of expediency.
2. Commitment—successful completion requires doing, not just talking about it.
3. Flexibility—flexibility is critical to endurance and managing pain and the urge to stop.
4. Milestones—breaking the effort into phases with specific milestones can make the process much more manageable.
5. Focus—managing competing priorities and initiatives can help maintain the necessary focus, particularly over a long transition.
6. Energy—required not only to start but also to continue, complete, and sustain the effort.
7. Pace—burning yourself out too soon can make the difference between failure and finishing.
8. Pain—managing pain is a critical component to a successful completion AND to a healthy recovery.
9. Support mechanisms—important to sustainability and ultimately completion.

There is more to both endurance running and organizational change management. I will focus and elaborate on these similarities over the next few posts.


Stay tuned...