by David Denham, President & CSO at space150

We, as an agency, change every 150 days. Not our mission, not our name, not how we service our clients. We change how we express our point of view to the market every one hundred and fifty days. Today, we reside upon the 37th version of space150 with the handle, "Masters of Morph."

We also change where our people sit. At least twice a year, our people sit at a different desk, with a different view next to different team members. We use a lottery, in fact we use bingo balls for spacers to draw a number and BAM! — that is your desk for the next couple of months. We also change our beer selection. It's a small thing, but you'd be amazed how a simple beverage change can create some discord.

We do honor and hold steadfast on many traditions and protocols since our founding, but it is the process of "mixing it up" and seeing how the chips may fall that reminds our spirit that change is good and required. Destroy convention to create demand. These internal changes keep us aligned to this mission.

Here's the first point about change. It is inherently inefficient.

Change is arduous. Without thought, it has the ability to create all forms of chaos, complexity and uneasiness for all involved. The act of change is an invitation for disruption to take up residence within your #1 asset — your people. Why would change be encouraged if it causes so much strife? Is it no wonder that for most organizations, change is something they actively manage against?

The very pursuit of efficiency is an active process to mitigate against divergent ways of working. This is not an entirely bad thing. Process approaches, such as Six Sigma, have proven incredible value to marketplaces and their consumers for years. However, the trigger for when efficient process may have reached a point of diminishing returns and weak competitive advantage is when the response to the action is, "that's how we've always done it." At that point, a session of reflection, assessment and inspired thinking may result in a much-needed change.

Here's the second point about change. Once you become comfortable with embracing it and welcoming it as a key value to your culture, it becomes productive.

When change becomes a cultural value, it affirms the belief that anything is possible and everything can be improved. Change creates confidence. It provides forward momentum, especially in industries constrained by commodity mindsets. It fosters experimentation. It asks for risk taking. It surfaces hidden talent within the same workforce. It creates characters (we lovingly call them freaks). It connects people. It breeds productivity for the enterprise.

Every one hundred and fifty days, we use our versions to foster experimentation, to explore, to test, to express and to imagine who we can be for the next 150 days. Each of our versions has a story, a rationale, a purpose. Each version welcomes a change affording us the gift of experience.

Here's the third, and final, point about change. Drive change, don't let it drive you. This requires the courage to ignore the resistance that will present itself across the entire process. Find a way to introduce change into your world. Be it as an individual, a team or an organization. Identify a day the changes will occur as individuals or a collective group and make it happen. Doesn't matter what the change is, what matters is that Life will be different. Keep that ritual going and it will become a tradition. Because only then will change evolve from a perceived hindrance to a resource for relevance and survival.