Sometimes when people need to change to adapt to the company, we’re not sure of the journey and how to help them — either to succeed in the team and role they’re in, or whether to make a different kind of change. I’ve found the framework below useful.

Six levels of change

Track where people are, and where you think they can get to.

  • Level 1: Unaware of lack of alignment with culture or the need to change.
  • Level 2: Aware of lack of alignment, but don’t think change is needed.
  • Level 3: Aware and care to change, but don’t know how.
  • Level 4: Aware and willing and working on it, but ineffectual.
  • Level 5: Aware and changing.
  • Level 6: Changed and maintaining openness to new changes — and regularly watching for backsliding.

Level 6 is the desired steady state. Watch out for backsliding. And watch out for your rose-colored glasses when you see progress.

Forced → practiced → engrained

It’s natural for each level to be achieved through force or prescriptive direction. But then, because the change is not engrained, it often relapses. Only as the level and the desired change move from forced to practiced and finally to engrained is real progress made.

It’s important to be patient for the final outcome, but impatient for progress.

Caveats

The framework above is pretty basic and might not apply to your situation. For example, it’s often the case that people are at Level X in one area but at Level X−1 or Level X+1 in other areas. So avoid being pedantic. Focus on the single most important change you’re trying to accomplish — i.e., the one that helps them adapt to the company in the area that’s causing the most issues.

The 3-4-5-3-4-5 cycle

The biggest problem I have observed in tech is the 3-4-5-3-4-5 cycle. It is so easy to get excited every time you see behavior change (Level 5). People who cycle like this are really at Level 2 or 2.5.

You need to change the role and responsibilities (or perhaps the company) of anybody who can’t achieve at least 4–5 on an ongoing basis.

Hopefully this framing is useful to you. I am always eager for feedback.

— Mark

P.S. I found Roy Rapoport’s The Five Conditions for Improvement — and the story of Bob in it — interesting alongside this framing.