Change the Climate Before Changing the Weather

by Ben Greenberg

The video titled "Change the Climate Before Changing the Weather" presented by Ben Greenberg during RubyConf 2022 discusses the challenges of instituting change within organizations, emphasizing the need to approach change from the micro (individual) level to the macro (organizational) level. The presentation highlights how workplaces are inherently difficult to navigate due to their complex cultures and the varied climates within different departments. The core message is that while changing the overall organization (the "weather") can be daunting, individuals can instead work to transform their local environments (the "climate").

Key points covered in the video include:
- The Nature of Workplaces: Workplaces are often difficult to orient oneself in, particularly for new employees. The complexity and culture can lead to feelings of ineffectiveness when adapting.

- Challenges of Change in Organizations: There's resistance to change because of entrenched systems and emotional ties to existing norms.

- Three-Step Framework for Change: Ben introduces a three-step framework to facilitate change: (1) Personal Change - advocating that individuals must embody the change they wish to see. (2) Identifying Self-Interests - understanding what motivates coworkers and using that as a basis for collaboration. (3) Incremental Adjustments - integrating changes gradually to build momentum and facilitate acceptance within the organization.
- The Ripple Effect of Change: Initiating change with a small group can lead to larger shifts within the organization. The ideal size for initially implementing change is around 2.5% of the company, which can expand to create a ripple effect as more employees become engaged.

A significant example used in the talk is the implementation of a Gender Inclusive Slack Bot in organizations, illustrating how a small adjustment in communication can lead to larger cultural benefits. Ben stresses the impact of individual efforts in driving collective change, culminating in a redefined workplace climate that is more inclusive and adaptable.

In conclusion, the video encourages viewers to start with personal actions, engage in meaningful conversations about self-interest, and gradually advocate for inclusivity and progressive changes in their respective workplaces. By viewing change as a gradual process cultivated through small, thoughtful steps, individuals can significantly contribute to shifting the overall organizational climate.

00:00:00 Ready for takeoff.

00:00:17 Hello everyone! How are you doing?

00:00:19 RubyConf is going so well so far.

00:00:21 Yeah, I felt a little enthusiastic in the front here, but not so much in the back. It's going great!

00:00:27 Awesome! We're going to talk about something that hopefully won't bring down the mood too much, which is how hard it is to bring change into your organizations. It's really challenging!

00:00:34 If anyone here has ever experienced wanting to do something different at the company they work for, I see a couple of head nods and hand raises. Have you experienced any challenges at all? None? It was perfectly seamless? Great!

00:01:01 For those of us who are not as fortunate as you, who have experienced some challenges, I hope in our time together we'll present a framework on how to really grapple with that.

00:01:10 We call this talk "Changing the Climate Before Changing the Weather," and hopefully, we'll see why in just a couple of minutes.

00:01:15 I want to start with a bit of an axiomatic truth: I believe that workplaces are difficult. They're challenging on many different levels.

00:01:22 They're often difficult to get onboarded into, as can be seen in the experience of a new employee in an organization. Even with the best onboarding docs and guides, it can be really hard to figure out what exactly you're supposed to be doing in those first 30, 60, or 90 days.

00:01:31 You may be the kind of person that wants to feel productive, but when you start a new company, you often experience a lack of productivity because you're just engaging in a lot of learning. Learning doesn't necessarily feel productive, even though it is, and you might not know what you should be learning. It can be extremely hard to find your place in a company.

00:02:15 Who are the people you should be getting to know? Who are the communities within the company that are important to engage with in order to get your job done most effectively? Unless you have a mentor or a buddy system of some sort, it can be really difficult.

00:02:35 As a result, it can be hard to feel like you're succeeding at your job. In the context of our conversation, I want to focus on what's most notoriously difficult about workplaces.

00:02:50 We can perhaps say the same for organizations at large: workplaces are notoriously difficult at adapting to change. The larger the organization, the harder it becomes to manage adaptations.

00:03:06 The slower the organization moves, the more resistance there tends to be to changes. In our time together, over the next few minutes, we're going to try and address three things: why exactly is that the case?

00:03:25 Why are workplaces so hard to change? Then, we're going to show you a three-step framework to help address these kinds of issues and how you might be able to affect change in your organization.

00:03:34 Lastly, we'll conclude with a relatively compact practical example that illustrates that framework in action.

00:03:44 Sound good? Awesome!

00:03:49 But first...

00:03:50 Let me introduce myself. You're probably wondering, "Who is this guy talking to me about these things? Was he invited to speak here?" My name is Ben, and I work as a Developer Relations Engineer at a company based in Germany called Parity Technologies.

00:04:17 I am a second-career developer. I previously spent a decade working as a congregational rabbi and community organizer throughout the US before I moved to Israel.

00:04:26 Now, I'm based outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. On the side, I do a couple of small projects for fun. One of them is called Hire the Pivot, which is a reverse job board created in Rails for second-career developers.

00:04:41 I also write an occasional newsletter that attempts to find the intersection between hummus and Ruby on Rails, my two favorite passions in life: good hummus and good Rails.

00:05:02 It's really great to be here!

00:05:05 Now, let's try to understand the problem. What is going on when we talk about the challenges of workplace adaptation? Essentially, when we talk about organizations, we are discussing companies and how they function from a systems theory perspective.

00:06:01 An organization, whether it's a workplace, a Meetup group, or a family, consists of various smaller systems—subsystems that come together to form a greater whole.

00:06:14 For example, let's say you're on one of the back-end teams at a Ruby conference. You may interact with front-end developers regularly, as well as DevOps and CI/CD people quite often.

00:06:28 You may have a good, healthy relationship with product managers. However, you probably don't interact with the marketing and sales teams very often, if at all, except for maybe during company retreats or when you receive gifts from HR.

00:06:46 Despite the level of interaction with these different entities, they all come together to form the larger whole. Each of your departments can be seen as its own climate.

00:06:55 This connects back to the title of my talk: each of your departments contributes to the overall climate of the organization. Together, these different sub-climates form what we can refer to as 'the weather' of your workplace.

00:07:14 So, given this framework for understanding organizations, I want to present a screenshot of something that may or may not look familiar to you. This is from a Slack bot called the Gender Inclusive Slack Bot. Is anyone familiar with it?

00:07:29 I see a good number of hands, so perhaps your company uses asynchronous chat platforms like Slack. At some point, it was discussed or implemented that there should be a Gender Inclusive Slack Bot.

00:07:45 The notion behind the Gender Inclusive Slack Bot is that in companies with multiple genders, it is crucial to address the maximum number of people in a room and not just refer to those who identify as male. Instead of using phrases like 'Hey guys,' you can use alternatives like 'Hey all' or 'Hey folks.'

00:08:09 I love this example for many reasons. First, the ask of the people in the room is pretty small—the change of a word when addressing the group. However, the net positive result of doing that can be quite large.

00:08:44 This example helps illustrate the challenges of organizational change. Sometimes the experience when this conversation happens is incredibly positive, and I've been in those rooms where it went really well.

00:09:03 But, at other times, it can feel like this: everyone is shouting into their laptops, generating a chaotic environment. It becomes like a boxing ring within your company.

00:09:14 At the end of the day, you're making a small request that could lead to a significant positive change. Yet the response can be overwhelming.

00:09:32 What's challenging is that we often think our companies are filled with relatively intelligent people. However, when it comes to change, we sometimes fail—or as Einstein might say, 'Intelligence is the ability to take in new information and adapt.'

00:09:49 But if that is the measure of intelligence, we often fail at that—possibly due to the way we hire. There are numerous challenges with the hiring process, where the evaluation often focuses on technical skills.

00:10:06 Yet real intelligence is about adaptability. We often fail to adapt to new ideas, especially when challenged with perspectives that threaten our world views.

00:10:25 The reality is that intelligent people can still struggle to accept new information. We are also emotional beings, and many do not like being told they are wrong. This emotional aspect complicates our ability to embrace change.

00:10:42 So how do you bring about change without forcing it and causing discontent? That's what we're going to address together. We'll look at three possible paths as part of a larger framework for implementing change.

00:11:01 This change will help, or at least prompt you to move an angry mountain forward while establishing a loose framework for change.

00:11:14 To begin with, let’s look at where change originates within your multi-faceted organization. Regardless if it’s 800 people or just 10, there's a lot of complexity embedded within a company. You may have been there for a few months or a few years. Regardless, you have an idea—a new way of doing something.

00:11:42 This could be something straightforward, like assigning reviewers to pull requests differently. So, imagine you muster the courage to raise your hand during a meeting and suggest you have an idea for something better.

00:12:00 The first thing to understand is that simply suggesting something can be a terrifying act for many of us. It can feel daunting to stand out completely, especially in a company that is large and complex.

00:12:15 The initial step is to practice courage and take action. However, courage is not something you are simply born with—it is something you develop over time.

00:12:25 I often echo the words of Maya Angelou, who eloquently stated that 'People are not born with courage; you develop it by doing small courageous things.' This goes similarly for those of us who aspire to change the world.

00:12:42 An example comes to mind about Rabbi Israel Kagan, who struggled at first with wanting to change the world. After realizing that he couldn't do that, he aimed to change just his city—also a challenge.

00:13:08 Finally, he realized that the change he needed to make was with himself, and it was through this personal transformation that he ultimately sparked change in the Jewish ethical sphere for over 100 years.

00:13:28 The first principle is to be what you want to see. If you want to see change happen, it starts with you. Therefore, the journey of change cannot start any other way.

00:14:04 The second principle, which I often reference from Saul Alinsky, centers on the concept of self-interest. Self-interest is often viewed negatively, but Alinsky emphasized that ignoring self-interest will prevent the achievement of any goals.

00:14:27 Every individual has a competing array of wants, desires, fears, and dreams—these are the factors that motivate us to get out of bed every morning.

00:14:43 Yes, you might start with self-change, but if you only end there, you haven't accomplished much. To truly drive change, you must build power with others.

00:15:02 The way you build power with others is by identifying their self-interest and creating a shared narrative for change.

00:15:22 This requires active listening while developing relationships, forming genuine connections, and truly understanding people's motivations.

00:15:35 My experiences have taught me that active listening is oftentimes more challenging than it seems. When we’re in conversation, we tend to focus on what we will say next instead of really engaging with the speaker.

00:15:48 To practice active listening, one should pay full attention to the speaker, eliminate judgments about their words, and focus on reflection and clarification.

00:16:09 The goal is to summarize what you heard and clarify anything that might have been misinterpreted. You do this enough with people, and you start to grasp the dynamics within your team.

00:16:30 By understanding their self-interests, you will build consensus toward realizing meaningful change.

00:16:54 Research conducted by Harvard Business Review shows that most of our lives are based on routine. We often don’t realize how much we tend to operate on autopilot.

00:17:15 If you want to make lasting change, it’s crucial to integrate one new thing at a time until it becomes routine in your daily life.

00:17:35 Consistently taking small steps moves your behavior from conscious effort into one that is integrated and automatic.

00:17:51 This incremental approach has been shown to work effectively. Once you have learned to gather your allies and develop a shared narrative, it becomes possible to implement small changes.

00:18:02 Research indicates that the ideal group for implementing change within an organization is about 2.5% of the company. This small group can successfully challenge the status quo.

00:18:28 As they begin to implement their ideas and new routines, the initial 2.5% can grow to 20%. This increased participation can create a ripple effect throughout the company, as more and more employees understand what is happening.

00:18:58 Once the 60% threshold is reached, the changes begin to take on a nature of standardization—this is now recognized as a norm. Ultimately, by ensuring 80% of people are on board, you have fully integrated change.

00:19:31 This process on average should start with a small commitment from a couple of people who want to build power together.

00:19:56 Now, let's talk about applying this in practice. Remember our discussion about the Gender Inclusive Slack Bot? Think of it as the perfect example of organizational change—where a small request can have a massive positive impact.

00:20:25 To foster a gender-inclusive environment, you can start from yourself; incorporate inclusive language into your chats and communications.

00:20:42 Then, reach out to your team and engage in open conversations based on the principles of active listening. Build a shared understanding and make sure to include discussions about self-interest.

00:21:05 You can slowly integrate gender-inclusivity principles into a wider company culture, facilitating discussions between teams and departments.

00:21:34 This approach fosters collaboration and can lead to larger-scale, systemic changes over time.

00:21:56 In conclusion, think of these little droplets, these small actions that collectively can bring about significant changes—reminding us how even minor efforts can contribute to forming mighty currents in the workplace.

00:22:31 Thank you very much!