How to implement change optimally

Organizations can take a page from motorcycle racing manuals when they need to make changes in their processes.

Slow, Look, Lean, Roll is the mantra motorcycle racers use to execute turns at the highest possible speeds for the fastest possible cornering times. Follow these four steps and you will make a perfect turn.

Some background first. Race motorcycles are very fast (200+ mph fast). They are most stable when they are vertical and not so stable when leaning or changing speed. When cornering, a racer leans into the turn to counteract the centrifugal force of the turn. The faster the turn, the more you need to lean. Last point: In every turn, there is a single optimal path or line through that turn. When you follow that line, you are the fastest through that turn. Miss that line and you are making a sub optimal turn.

So what does Slow, Look, Lean, Roll mean?

Slow: Slow means prepare for the turn before you get to the turn. You can’t take a turn at full speed. Decelerating is an unstable event, you want to do that when you are vertical (most stable). You do your slowing before you start your turn so that when you enter your turn you are already at your correct speed.

Look: Look means find your path through the turn and focus on it. The brain is an awesome thing. It does what it focuses on. If you focus on the rabbit or the tree that you don’t want to hit, guess what, you will hit that rabbit or tree. Likewise, when you focus on your optimal path, you will hit that path.

Lean: Now you are starting your turn, you are at the proper speed and focused on exactly where you are going, so now you commit to it and lean into the turn, stick your knee out and lean all the way over, get real close to that ground zipping by.

Roll: You've passed the apex of your turn and you are starting to level out so smoothly roll on the throttle (step on the gas!). Accelerating is an unstable event as well, so you need to do it smoothly while you are in your lean, and increase it as you level out to vertical. When you come out of the turn you are at full throttle, ready for the straightaway.

That's it in a nutshell. Do it right and it is smooth as butter. Come in too fast or lose focus and best case is you make a sloppy, slow turn. There's plenty worse, that will be left to the imagination of the reader.

How does this apply to organizational change?

Slow - prepare for the change before it happens. Do all your research, validation and setup before you make the change. This is where you take the time to make the right decision. This is where you plan and prepare for the actual change from the old system to the new system.

Look - keep your focus on the new system/process. You are not looking for defects or how the old way is better or whether you should go back to the old way, you have made your decision, now you are looking to make this system work. Focus on what the goal of the change is and how this change will get you there. If you need to make adjustments, make them now. Your mission at this point is to make this change work. Do what it takes to make it succeed. Keep track of everything you do and change to make it work.

Lean - this is where you fully commit to the new system. You are transitioning from the old system to the new system. You want to transition as quickly as possible and then get back up and running. You don’t want to take baby steps or half measures. You are changing the organization, so make the change and move on. The quickest way to make the change will be disruptive. It is not business as usual. If you have to take systems down or stop business, do it. You want to be off the old system and on the new system. Transfer and merge and install once and then get back to running the business. One weekend or one week of downtime is much better than a month or a year of half time.

There are many ways organizations can create problems at this step. Phasing in over time or over regions may reduce the risk of a bad decision, but it incurs its own penalties. It requires running both systems with both sets of problems and the added problem of keeping them in sync. It increases the chance that the change will be stopped and reversed. It is much easier for detractors to reverse a decision that is only half done. The time for second thoughts and reversing decisions is in the first step, not here. Another often overlooked penalty of a phased in approach is that the organization misses out on the benefits of the change for all of the left behind/delayed regions.

Make the change completely and quickly and people may grumble, but they will live and the company will be better off. Make a slow change and everyone is grumbling until eventually the change grinds to a halt. Or the weekly migration effort between the two systems becomes so overwhelming that core resources are reallocated away from profit centers. Change is not a revenue generating event, it is a cost. The longer a change takes, the more it costs you. Remember the goal of the change is not the change; it is what comes after/as a result of the change. So make the change quickly so you can get to that result.

Roll - Once you have the new system in place and running, get back to running the business. Do what it takes to smooth the ruffled feathers now and move on. Make sure everyone knows the change is complete and it may have been painful but it is over now and we are getting back to work. Remind everyone why the change was made. The benefits of the change will be evident soon enough and the advantages will make for a stronger organization.

It takes a lot of practice to make a perfect turn. But if you follow the correct principles, you will succeed. Likewise, organizational change is not an easy thing. There will be resistance and there will be problems and skirmishes to overcome. If you follow these principles, you will succeed in your change:


Plan out your change and prepare for it in advance.

Keep focused on what you are doing and why it is important to the organization.

Commit to the change completely.

Move on.


Turns represent a small fraction of the total racetrack, yet they are vital to the outcome of the race. The race is not won on those high speed straightaways; it is won and lost in those fractions of a second it takes to make those turns. Changes in an organization are the same way. Changes have very little to do with the day to day business, and yet they represent crucial opportunities to win or lose.

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