Problematic Process Change in the Kitchen – from CMO to FMO

How many process sequences do you think you have stored in your mind? There are many things that each of us does without consciously thinking about it because they are stored procedures that most of us don’t think through step-by-step, we just do them. Some of these processes are so embedded, for me, that I would struggle to articulate what the steps were. For most of us our brains do a fabulous job of storing these things away in our subconscious so that we don’t have to think about them each time we do them.

What are the steps involved in leaving the house? What are the decisions that I am making as I do it? Am I checking that everything is locked, or is someone else still in the house? What don’t I check because I already, subconsciously, know the answer? Have I picked up that thing that I left by the door, so I didn’t forget it?

I hadn’t really given much to this time thought until recently when my normal processes have been disturbed by the installation of a new kitchen. Who would have thought that the refactoring of a single room (or two, I’ll explain later) would impact so many different things?

It’s like the house has had half of its operating manual ripped-up and rewritten.

Let me give you some context. Yes, we’ve had a new kitchen fitted, but that simple statement hides several factors that would be useful for you to know:

• We used to have a kitchen and a utility, now we only have a kitchen that incorporates the space that used to include the utility.
• We have moved the oven from one end of the room to the other end.
• The washing machine that used to be in the utility has moved into a different space in the new room.
• Nothing is in a cupboard where it used to be – cutlery, crockery, spices, pans, glasses, mugs, utensils everything is now somewhere different.
• For three weeks we used a makeshift kitchen was in the garage.
• There is still one vital appliance that is in the garage because of supply issues on its replacement (Brexit? COVID? Who knows?) – this is the fridge.
• We no longer have a kettle; we have a tap that issues us with boiling water. More about that later.
• The new layout makes much more sense than the old one – it’s unquestionably better.

I’m involved in process change as part of my job and we regularly have conversations about CMO (Current Model of Operation), TMO (Transitionary Model of Operation) and FMO (Future Model of Operation). We often talk about these different modes as a continuum with each change only impacting a small part of a process, and a few people.

Thinking back through my kitchen experience I’ve had some new insights into how people respond to change. The move out of the kitchen into the garage was one change, the move back into the new kitchen was another change, both changes required us to adapt how we did things. Note that neither change is yet fully completed.

During the TMO (Garage) nothing felt comfortable because it wasn’t better, it was worse. We embraced this time because we knew that something better was coming. We were a little nervous of the new world, but we had chosen that future and were excited to see what it would bring. There are many times when we are expecting people to embrace a change which places them into a worse position for a period of time on the promise that things will get better. Often. though, they haven’t been a part of designing the future world, they don’t have a nervous excitement.

Even the FMO (New Kitchen) didn’t feel comfortable immediately, there are parts of it that still feel uncomfortable. We are in control of much of those new operating procedures though and will make it work for us. Part of the reason that we haven’t fully settled in is because we are still going out to the garage for refrigerated items. That one simple issue is significantly more jarring than the extra nine steps out into the garage would suggest. We are expecting a new future and see it tantalisingly close, and yet, we can’t attain it. There isn’t anything I can do to expedite the delivery of the fridge and that sense of helplessness is remarkably stressful.

It’s not surprising that in a world where people have continuous change thrust upon them that they don’t always embrace it with delight. This is particularly true when the future that they are being asked to adopt isn’t one that they have chosen. Autonomy and mastery are important aspects of people’s motivation, yet we constantly take these away from people as we drive standardisation of tools and processes for an opaque greater good.

Next time: Problematic Process Change in the Kitchen – Rewiring the Stored Procedures

Header Image: This is the view approaching the slightly strangely name The Cage at Lyme Park in Cheshire. Its name, apparently, comes from its use as a holding prison for poachers, I think I would have found a new name for it if I owned it. It just goes to show how difficult change can be.😉