We have all had fun with oxymorons … and here are a few of my favorites:

• approximately equal
• jumbo shrimp
• artificial intelligence
• huge market niche
• insane logic
• low-intensity conflict
• numb feeling
• quiet revolution
• real phony
• required elective
• resident alien

What is an oxymoron?

a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness); broadly : something (as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements

Over the years we continue to hear a number of what to us are oxymorons about organizational change … although many times the speaker or author doesn’t seem to recognize that. Some of the most common Oxy-changes we hear are

• Once-communicated change
• Change without intrusion
• Low-energy change
• Effortless change
• Change completed 8-5
• Volunteer change
• Optional change
• Eventual change
• Selling change

The message coming from a review of such phrases might be that change is in fact optional, that change must be sold, that following along can be done at any time, and that “psychology” is the guiding technical discipline.

For a change of pace, to coin a phrase, just imagine these situations:

• a script change made by a playwright that is considered optional by some members of the cast … want to see that play?
• an airline copilot who decides his/her captain’s procedure change is optional … want to be in heavy weather with this crew?
• a surgical team who each feel that cooperation with other team members is optional (or dependent on the “psychological approach” being used) … want your child in this operating room?

We see change as fundamentally a “contract and compliance issue.” If you can’t handle a procedure change, you can’t keep a job as an airline pilot. If you can’t appropriately respond to another member of the surgical team, try a different profession. And, as a manager, if you can’t lead your team or department to a successful change, try a staff job.

In our practice of “change engineering,” we have taken the position that making an organizational change, once decided, in not an option but a requirement … and that the following phrases are NOT oxymorons or impossibilities: 

• Required Change
• Change compliance
• Change on target
• Change on time
• Change on budget

Bottom line, organizations won’t survive if they don’t change to keep up … and also won’t survive if they can’t make such changes … on target, on time, and on budget. And that’s not Oxy-change!

 

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