MAYA-principle: a successfactor for implementing change

The key to any well implemented change is how well the change is embedded inside the minds, behavior and actions of the involved people. They MAYA-principle, Most Advanced Yet Acceptable, can be very useful for planning the change to maximize the embedding of the change.

We first encountered the MAYA-principle in our research to develop a good Personal Branding process. It turned out that in our Personal Branding process the MAYA-principle was extremely useful for both branding the process in our company, and in branding our people.

The MAYA-principle is the invention of Raymond Loewy, an industrial designer. He believed that, "The adult public's taste is not necessarily ready to accept the logical solutions to their requirements if the solution implies too vast a departure from what they have been conditioned into accepting as the norm." Calling the concept "beauty through function and simplification," Loewy spent over 50 years streamlining everything from postage stamps to spacecrafts. "I'm looking for a very high index of visual retention," Loewy explained of his logos. "We want anyone who has seen the logotype even fleetingly to never forget it." Among Loewy's highly visible logotype designs are those for Shell Oil Company, Exxon, Greyhound and Nabisco.

What we learned from the MAYA-principle is that in order for something/somebody to be well placed and ‘sticky’ in the mind of the target audience, the basic message must be simple, recognizable, and at the same time very different from past experiences.

To give an example. We’re in the process of developing a product for the time being called “Project Portfolio Management the Symbision Way”. We believe from our experiences that we have a way of implementing and managing the Project Portfolio of an organization that is both very effective and practical in terms of realizing the organization’s objectives.

Of course there are others that claim to be similar, even better, and/or that it is done already 30 years ago. This is like ‘fighting a battle uphill’, you need to be hugely outnumbering the others and accept high losses. Well Sun Tsu claimed that the best way to win is to position yourself in such a way that you don’t need to fight. And here we believe the MAYA-principle can be very useful.

When the objective is to implement a change, the best way to have it implemented is by not fighting the people that are confronted with the change. Of course there are plenty of alternatives to the one that is chosen to be implemented, possibly some of them even are much better. Of course any good change is sound in its basic and of course people did in the past sound things as well, thus it resembles what was done years and years ago. If we have to address this kind of energy we’re fighting a battle uphill.

The change should be communicated visually with a high degree of retention. The communicated change should be simple enough to directly grasp directly the essence and apply to every detail of the change. And yet, the change must be experienced as something unique as something invitingly new.

During my career I’ve seen some people hopelessly fail in well implementing a change. I’ve stood aside people implementing the seemingly impossible as it was the easiest thing in the world. Even in situations that were ‘tainted’ with many years of failure. One of the key differences was how the change was communicated. If ‘not advanced’ enough, people ‘resisted’ because they kept asking why this change and not something like …. If ‘not acceptable’ enough, people ‘resisted’ because they couldn’t grasp it directly and needed more ‘time’ and ‘understanding’. The change agents that were successful had an easy to grasp message that was very different from what most, if not all, knew.

A very good example is Demings’ PDSA-circle. Over 60 years later it is still an essential part of improvement and quality programmes. The PDSA is so different from anything else before and after. The PDSA it is so simple and yet very profound. The PDSA grasps you visually. All the key ingredients of Loewy that he formulated into one single term: MAYA; Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable.

Team Forming

In forming the team three things are important:

having the right styles in the team creating shared values creating a shared vision

Style

In any change that has some impact, it is important to have a quick start. Momentum must be created and all the basic processes, procedures, tooling, etc must be in place as soon as possible. The style, start-up'ers, that is required is quite different from the next phase. Usually this phase takes between 3 to 6 months. To make the change lasting, slowly but with persistance, people have to be guided in the new way of working. The time frame associated with this is in the order of 18 to 24 months. The style, implementors, is very different from the style needed in the previos phase. One of the biggest pitfalls we experienced in many organizations in every type of industry, is that good people are in charge with the inappropriate style given the phase. The most success has been achieved by having a person with start-up style in place in the beginning and that the implementor is already present in the team. When the start-up nears completion, the implementor becomes more and more dominant and will take full charge at a given moment. The start-up'er will stay available and will emerge when a crisis might take place.

Shared values

Too often people want to start working too soon on the change. A change is never a one man show. People have to work closely together and sooner or later differences will pop-up. Having strong binding shared values ensure speedy and proper solutions whilst ensuring the relationship; making it usually even stronger. Shared values come into existance via the well known steps Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing-Adjourning. However, each of these steps must be carefully prepared and managed. People with natural leadership skills can do this on the fly, however, to ensure the right outcomes they do well by doing what others for sure must do: following Plan-Do-Study-Act for each stage. A start-up'er must embrace and breath-and-live the shared values that are created together very quickly. Implementors usually require more time and tend to focus on those shared values that in the implementing stage are so important.

Shared vision

Very quickly the team must embrace a strong, compelling and above all shared vision. It must be felt in the gutt. Frequently the initial vision changes during the process. If people only agreed, or can only agree to an initial explicit made vision, success is very unlikely. And, at the same time a strong shared vision is required to make people enthusiastic, to mobilize them. It is almost mandatory that the start-up'er has a strong vision. A strong vision provides certainty in times of uncertainty that any change will bring. The shared vision must address the why, the what, and the how-to.

The creation of shared values and a shared vision go nicely together. To make a change last it is necessary that the implementor is part of this process. Not only to ensure that the momentum of the change continues, but it is harmonius as well. This will make the transition much smoother and increases the overall success. A good start is a job half done.