7 Levels Of Change (Part 6 of 9) - Level 5: Copying
Table of contents for 7 Levels Of Change
- The 7 Levels Of Change - Introduction (Part 1 of 9)
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 2 of 9) - Level 1: Effectiveness
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 3 of 9) - Level 2: Efficiency
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 4 of 9) - Level 3: Improving
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 5 of 9) - Level 4: Cutting
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 6 of 9) - Level 5: Copying
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 7 of 9) - Level 6: Doing Things No One Else Is Doing
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 8 of 9) - Level 7: Doing Things That Can’t Be Done
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
The sixth in a nine-part series on Rolf Smith’s 7 Levels of Change, I introduce the fifth level of change - Copying (Doing Things Others Are Doing).
Part 2 - Level 1: Effectiveness
Level 4 was a transitional phase. It moved us from Levels 1-3, which concentrated on various forms of improvement, to a level that forced us to focus our efforts on the things we do that matter the most, and eliminate the things that are no longer needed. This creates a series of voids, and what better way to fill the voids than by moving to Level 5 and learning to copy and adapt what others are doing.
Levels 1-4 have concentrated on what works or doesn’t work for YOU. Level 5 forces us to look outward and determine what works for OTHERS. By focusing outward we see opportunities we didn’t know existed, think about problems in ways that we’ve never thought about them before. But we’re not going out on a limb, because the things we gravitate towards are proven. There is a huge incentive to copy and adapt, because in doing so you’re letting someone else do all the hard work for you - research, engineering, prototyping, testing, and marketing - then reaping the rewards of their efforts.
Microsoft is a master at this technique. By copying and adapting the visual appeal of the MacIntosh operating system they created Windows. By copying and integrating the successful features of Wordperfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Harvard Graphics and dBase, they created Office. By copying and integrating the appeal of the Netscape browser they upgraded Internet Explorer. In each case, the Microsoft products seized the market from the competitors they copied, due to the way Microsoft adapted their ideas and integrated them into product systems and suites.
KAI adapters view Level 5 as a major change but will accept Level 5 ideas if they’ve been proven in the field. This mitigates risk. KAI innovators see Level 5 thinking as a first step that can easily garner widespread approval, in anticipation of higher orders of change later.
Thinking
To get new results, you have to do things others are doing. To do things others are doing , you have to see and notice things. You have to focus outward and start seeing what is going on in your industry, as well as other industries. Because copying and adapting isn’t always linear and concrete - it also comes from abstract connections with metaphors from other fields.
Just as Level 4 is based on the Pareto Principle, Level 5 is based on another broad concept - benchmarking. The entire Doblin strategy of innovation effectiveness is based upon applying industry best practices in the areas that make the most difference.
But beyond that, benchmarking is a powerful tool that lets us ask: “How do people in other fields solve the kind of problems we face in ours?” Our thinking becomes more lateral and seeks to create analogous situations - “How is my problem in industrial design like someone else’s problem in business acquisition?”
Who
Level 5 change is approaching the wild stuff but not quite there. You might find that Level 5 folks aren’t as orderly, leaving office paperwork in piles instead of files. Personally I find myself to be most attracted to Level 5 change, and my KAI is 118, so you can place the range just to the right of the mean of 96. Myers-Briggs types may be xSxP moving to xNxJ.
Level 5 thinkers are also useful as ‘bridgers’ who can broker cooperation between the more adaptive and innovative team members. They are good at taking high KAI thinkers’ ideas and fashioning them into useful solutions.
Ideas
Level 5 ideas are generated from noticing things - things from nature, things from other industries, things from newspapers/periodicals/books, things from areas of personal interest, things from the imagination. Ideas created from benchmarking need to be adapted to your particular situation, which in of itself generates more ideas that answer the questions: “How could we do this here? What will we have to do to make it work for us?”
Copying can also generate change at all the other levels. If I benchmark some else’s best practices for a manufacturing process, I am, in effect, improving my own process (Level 3). If I adapt someone else’s technology in inkjet printing to my problem in homebuilding, I am creating something that’s never been done before in my field (Level 6).
Tools
Level 5 tools help us see what’s proven and works the best, and helps us create new ideas from lateral thinking. Here are a few not mentioned in the book that I have found work for me pretty well.
- Doblin’s Ten Types of Innovation - We’ve used this many times before. It is a strategic level best-practices tool for focusing your creative efforts in the areas that make the most difference.
- TRIZ - TRIZ is a powerful tool developed by G.S. Altshuller in the former Soviet Union between 1946 and 1985. It is a problem solving philosophy based on the principle that “most innovations are transpositions of known solutions from other fields.” TRIZ practitioners are adept at searching patent databases. There is also a TRIZ ‘contradiction matrix’ (see the linked website) which uses the results of the original TRIZ patent search to form a powerful linear problem solving tool in itself.
- Lateral Connections - Use the lateral connections tool on the Arsenal page to move from concrete to abstract, then to more concrete analogies in other fields.
Levels 1-5 all have something in common - by and large, they deal with ‘knowns.’ Moving beyond Level 5 takes us into uncharted territory. The risks, as well as the rewards, are higher, but it’s not for the timid. Our next installment will focus on Level 6: Doing Things No One Else Is Doing.
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[...] When you eliminate big chunks of things by cutting, you leave holes and gaps. To enter the world of “doing different” you can start by filling those gaps by moving to Level 5 - Copying. [...]
[...] When you eliminate big chunks of things by cutting, you leave holes and gaps. To enter the world of “doing different” you can start by filling those gaps by moving to Level 5 - Copying. [...]