Engineering The Change Journey

My background in engineering has always provided a logical, structured framework for how I see the world. It’s this perspective that I’ve carried with me into every role, every challenge, and every solution I’ve been a part of.

In engineering, we’re taught to understand the properties of materials—their strengths, weaknesses, and how they react under various stresses. Concepts like ductility, elasticity, and brittleness are not just academic terms; they are fundamental to how we design, build, and ensure the safety and resilience of structures. It’s this understanding that has shaped my approach to business and, more specifically, to managing change.

The Bridge Between Engineering and Organizational Behavior

Throughout my career, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn to the challenge of leading change. However, I often found the traditional models of change management, like the Kübler-Ross curve, somewhat abstract. They didn’t resonate with the way I naturally think— with a keen awareness of boundary conditions and thresholds.

It wasn’t until I began to view organizational change through the lens of materials engineering that things started to make more sense. Just as materials exhibit properties like ductility (the ability to bend and adapt without breaking) and brittleness (rigidity that leads to fracture under stress), so too do organizations. Some organizations can absorb and adapt to challenges, emerging stronger and more resilient. Others may fracture under pressure, struggling to adapt to the inevitable changes that come their way.

Why Ductility Makes More Sense

In recent years, "organizational resilience" has become a buzzword, often cited as the key to surviving and thriving in a rapidly changing world. Resilience is about bouncing back, but it sometimes leads organizations to change their core business propositions to fit new conditions. While this can be effective, it risks altering the fundamental characteristics that made the organization successful in the first place.

This is where "organizational ductility" offers a more nuanced approach. Ductility, a concept rooted in materials science, is about adaptability while preserving core properties. When a material is ductile, it can bend and stretch under stress, but it doesn’t lose its essential nature. Similarly, a ductile organization can adapt to change without losing sight of what makes it unique and valuable.

Introducing Organizational Ductility: A New Model for Change

Inspired by this realization, I thought about the concept of "organizational ductility." This concept draws directly from the stress-strain curve of materials like steel—a curve that illustrates how materials behave under tension. The more I thought about it, the more parallels I saw between this curve and the emotional and structural journey organizations undergo during change.

In the stress-strain curve, materials initially respond to stress within an elastic region. In this phase, they can handle the stress without any permanent deflection—much like an organization can absorb and adapt to challenges without lasting impact. But once the stress exceeds a certain threshold (the yield point), the material enters a plastic region, where permanent changes begin to occur. For organizations, this is the critical moment of transformation—where change becomes inevitable and lasting, yet the core characteristics remain intact.

The challenge, both in engineering and in organizational leadership, is to navigate this zone without exceeding the ultimate strength, the point at which both materials and organizations risk breaking under pressure. This approach ensures that while the organization adapts, it doesn't compromise its core values and propositions.