Equations behind successful change: D2 = G2

D2 = G2

If people Do what people always Did, you Get what you always Got                              (anon)

A good equation is usually simple and beautiful and is perfectly capable of explaining itself. This is definitely one of them.

If you want better or other results, change the way things are done. If you can't structurally change the way things are being done, the results are pretty much you always got.

However, changing how things are being done is not as easily as we all know.

What I learned was that people have optimized how they work together. Sometimes it is necessary to dig deep to get the understanding why people do these 'stupid' things. People are not stupid, they found out what works best for them given the situation they are in. Everybody is 'trapped' in the balance that was found over time that seems to work best for all. This trap is quite resillient towards changes from outside.

Something similar in chaos theory is called 'strange attractor'. A strange attractor is something that causes a dynamic system to evolve to. The dynamic system will remain in this 'state' dispite even some disturbance from outside the system.

So, the question to change the doing in D² = G² in order to get other and more importantly better results is: what is the strange attractor in people's behavior. More on this in M² = D².

The Science of Change:

• D² = G²: If people Do as they always Did, you Get what you always Got (anon.)
• M² = D²: If people are Managed as they where always Managed, people Do what they always Did (Stefan van Aalst)
• I² = M²: If managers are Informed as they were always Informed, managers will Manage in the way they always Managed (Stefan van Aalst)