Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change.
How does this apply to organizations? Let's meet John and Paul.
Paul: Hey John, how's it going?
John: Really good, we are in great shape for our upcoming release and the team is starting to gel!
Paul: That sounds great! Oh, by the way, I was talking to George (you know, our customer) and he has a great idea. He wanted to add an analytic module to our solution as part of the upcoming release. I said, "Not a problem, it will be there!". What do you think?
John: OI...ok, that seems aggressive but shouldn't be an issue if we delay the release by a few weeks.
Paul: Well, about that. I also mentioned to George that this new feature would not impact the release date.
John: OI...ok, let's increase Ringo's allocation on our team. With his expertise in analytics, it will still be tight, but I think we should be ok with our schedule.
Paul: Great idea, but no can do. Ringo is currently allocated 100% across several teams and we can't spare more of his time. Hmmm, I remember him saying something about being willing to help train though...or something like that.
John: OI...Ok, I know a contractor (Pete, he's the Best) that we could bring in right away that would help keep the schedule. I just need you to approve the budget immediately.
Paul: LOVE the idea, but dealing with the red tape and finance would take weeks to get him onboarded to the project.
John: OI.
What is organizational inertia and where can it come from?
According to Science Digest, organizational inertia can be defined as the organization's ability to make internal changes in the face of significant external changes. When inertia gradually occurs in the organization's actions, the organization automatically reacts based on past experiences and strongly resists against changing. When it comes to transformation efforts, organizational inertia (OI) can be viewed as the organizational attitudes, behaviours, and culture that influence the ability to change our ways of working.
Organizational inertia can come from anywhere, but for the sake of simplicity, we can define 4 classifications of organizational inertia.
Team – those working together to deliver value to customers, stakeholders, or the business.
Leadership – those that assign the work to the team.
Portfolio – the business function that determines and drives strategy and execution priorities.
Corporate Functions – the business units that provide governance and oversight to how an organization operates such as Human Resources, Finance, or Legal.
Each classification can be a source of organizational inertia in any of the other areas. Additionally, there is a constant interplay between the classifications. Depending on the perspective you are taking, organizational inertia will come from the other classifications. For example, when transforming a Team, organizational inertia can come from Leadership, Portfolio, and/or Corporate Functions. Conversely, when transforming Leadership, organizational inertia can come from Team, Portfolio, and/or Corporate Functions.
When embarking on a journey of transformation, it is important to consider the sources of organizational inertia from each classification to gain a holistic perspective of the potential influence on the transformation.
Returning to John and Paul, we can see Organizational Inertia in action and the influence on Paul's attempt to transform the Team.
OI Source: Leadership - when John promised the feature for the team without considering what the team is doing if they have the capacity and current priorities. It was a leadership decision that is being mandated by the team.
OI Source: Portfolio - Paul asked for Ringo's (BA) time to help define and refine the new feature but met resistance due to the siloed nature of team members across teams.
OI Source: Corporate Functions - when Paul asked for more money to help augment the team, there was resistance due to the red tape of having to engage finance to get more budget.
Making Organizational Inertia Visible using the OI Framework
To help identify and make organizational inertia visible, we suggest using the Organizational Inertia Framework. A simple, four-quadrant matrix showing the interrelation of Teams, Leadership, Portfolio, and Corporate Functions. Below is a representation of the organizational inertia being experienced by Paul that is impacting the team.
We represent the organizational inertia via coloured boxes. The colour of each box represents the classification impacted and the location of the box represents the source classification of the organizational inertia.
In many cases, you will observe that organizational inertia can impact more than one classification. You will also need to be aware of any organizational inertia that you may be creating as a result of your transformational efforts. We have added to Paul OI Framework to demonstrate some additional common sources of organizational inertia experienced.
We have identified Organizational Inertia - Now What??
Once the organizational inertia has been identified, we now look for opportunities to direct that inertia in a manner that allows for more positive impacts on the organization and the transformation efforts. This is done by addressing it through any combination of the following three Directing Strategies:
Leverage – Enhance the current organizational inertia and turn it from a hindrance to an enabler
Initiate – Create new organizational inertia to counteract destructive patterns and align with Agility
Stop – If there is no other recourse, aim to stop the organizational inertia in its tracks
By identifying and directing the organization’s inertia, we can buffer the team from the impact and influence of the sources of organizational inertia, effectively redirecting the energy.
To demonstrate this, in the case of John and Paul's exchange, appropriate responses could be:
Since Paul indicated that the BA is interested in training, Leverage this as an opportunity to use Ringo's commitment to the team to help cross-train other team members. While this doesn't change the organizational inertia demonstrated by the portfolio, it provides an opportunity to build stronger teams and educate others through the SMEs that are already sprinkled across the teams.
When Paul was expressing concern regarding the process tied to an increase in budget, he mentioned that it happens all the time. Use this as an opportunity to Initiate a new way of funding to reduce waste and complexity. The old process may have been created for a different time and does not align with the goals of the new ways of working.
Leadership needs to learn to Stop making promises without talking to the team and considering capacity, work in progress, and priorities. Explain why this is detrimental to the team.
Now, this is easier said than done. Individuals may not have the ability to direct all sources of organizational inertia. In our example, John will not have the authority to change the way funding is done. However, John can use this opportunity to demonstrate quantitatively areas of inefficiencies from existing processes and start the conversation to support future change.
Organizational inertia is a powerful force found in every organization. Our experience has demonstrated that in the early stages of supporting digital transformations, utilizing the OI Framework to identify common sources helps prepare us for potential areas of resistance to our transformational efforts. By periodically reviewing and updating our framework throughout the transformation effort we ensure we are directing organizational inertia appropriately.
This article created through the collaboration between Raj Chander and Gary Bergmann
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