Better Isn't Free... Especially in Your School
Written for martial arts school owners. Families looking at KarateBuilt: see KarateBuilt.com for how our programs work.
Transition stress and how to tell when a change is worth it for your school
Change costs you something, even the good ones.
People often want change, but they don't consider the transition stress. They think about what they'll get (new software that saves time, losing weight, finally writing that book, a house painted a new color) and not what it takes to do it, like the hours, learning something new, the frustration and everything else that has to wait while they do it and get the results they want.
School owners do the same thing. We think about what we'll get (a CRM that tracks belts, a billing company with lower fees, a new curriculum, a cleaner class schedule) and not what the change costs us, like retraining staff, moving every family's card, answering parents' questions and everything else that waits while we do it.
Transition stress is the cost and pain of making a change, separate from the cost of the thing you're changing to. It shows up during the switch, usually before the benefit does. Even good change counts: on the Holmes and Rahe stress scale, getting married scored higher than getting fired (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). I wrote more about the life side of this in my article on transition stress at home and at work.
Transition stress in a school
| Category | Change | I wanted… | I got… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Systems | New CRM | Better features, cleaner reports | The twenty small things the old one did that nobody listed, found after the old one is gone |
| Systems | New school management platform | Belt tracking built in | Every student's rank history moved by hand, staff learning new screens, and billing questions from families in the first month |
| Systems | New billing company | 1% lower fees | Credit cards don’t transfer, some payments fail, and staff spend time on calls. Clients are mad at you if it makes a mistake. A 1% improvement for a 500% headache |
| Systems | New phone or texting vendor | Lower cost, better app | Lost text history with families, new numbers to learn, and reminders that go out at different times or with different wording |
| Systems | New website | A fresh look | Broken links, lost rankings, and parents who can't find the trial class form |
| Process | New curriculum | Better students | Instructors relearning what they already taught well, and students asking why their form changed |
| Process | New class schedule | A cleaner week | Every family rebuilding their week around your new times |
| Process | Price change | More revenue | Questions, objections, and the staff who have to answer them |
| People | New program director | Fresh energy | Everyone learning a new boss, and the boss learning everyone |
| People | Replacing a long-time front desk person | A stronger hire | Years of "they just knew that" walking out the door because of lack of systems. |
| Place | Moving locations | Better space, better traffic | Every family's drive, and a few families who don't make the trip |
Why we underestimate the change
Let’s take an example case: You look for a new system with a list of what's wrong with the old one. The demo shows everything on your list. The demo never shows the small things your old system did that you never thought about, because you never had to think about them. You find those a month or two in, after the data is migrated and the team is already tired.
This is a really common problem because people get excited about this bright shiny object of a new software system. Or a new curriculum or a new product that can sell, but there’s transition consequences and long-term consequences… I can’t tell you how many times I had people change CRM and then they go back to the original one or they flip to another one…
Michael Fullan found that performance and confidence drop when something new starts, before they improve (Fullan, 2001). Most new systems make you worse for a while before they make you better. The question is how much stress the change brings and how long it lasts.
Frustration with the old system climbs for months while the excitement you once had for it slides, then drops to almost nothing after the demo. Excitement for the new system peaks right at the switch. In the first stretch after the switch, frustration with the new system spikes and excitement fades. If the switch was a good choice, frustration drops and excitement climbs back. If it was a bad choice, frustration stays high and excitement keeps falling.
Bigger fish to fry
| The change that felt urgent | What actually needed attention |
|---|---|
| New software or CRM | Marketing, with no new intros on the schedule |
| Redesigning the website | Following up with the trial class leads you already have |
| A new curriculum | Calling the families who stopped coming |
| New uniforms or a new logo | Renewal conferences coming due this month |
| Changing the class schedule | Training staff on the enrollment conference |
If it doesn't fix the biggest problem you have, it can probably wait.
When change is worth the transition stress
Before you switch anything, here are five questions to ask...
| Question | Worth it if… | Not worth it (shiny object) |
|---|---|---|
| Does it remove a real bottleneck? | Fixes the thing that costs you the most | Adds features you didn't ask for |
| Is the gain bigger than the current cost + transition cost/stress? | A large, measurable improvement in a key area | Small savings, big headache |
| How much is the transition stress? | Is it much less than the long term benefit/savings? | Customers and staff (and you) find out the hard way |
| What else is changing right now? | No or limited changes now. | Third new system this year… we’re changing 27 things at once |
| Does it pay back inside 90 days? | Payback is realistic (and even worst case) | "Eventually it’ll help" |
DON'T say: "This new system has everything. We'll switch next month."
SAY: "This fixes our biggest problem. Here's what we'll lose, who it affects, and how long until we get the benefit."
Which one would you rather hear from your manager?
If the change passes these tests, then great! I am a big fan of improving if it’s going to be a big benefit (increased income, savings, less headaches). One of the goals for my business clients is “high net income, low brain damage”. For all of us that could be read as “Big net benefit, low brain damage!”
If you've made a switch and regretted it, that does not mean you made a dumb decision. You were sold the features, and the transition stress usually isn't part of the demo.
One at a time
Start with acceptance. You can't do all of those things at once. Pick one, get it running, then add the next. Someone who wants to quit smoking and lose weight is usually better off picking one first, even though both will save your life (but your life won’t get saved if you don’t do either!)
A new CRM, a new curriculum and a new schedule in the same quarter is three rounds of transition stress for the same staff.
The story goes that Warren Buffett once had his pilot, Mike Flint, write down his top 25 career goals and circle the five that mattered most. Then Buffett told him, "Everything you didn't circle just became your Avoid-At-All-Cost list." James Clear tells the story secondhand as a way to keep your focus on a few priorities (Clear, n.d.).
The other 20 can be good goals too, but working on them takes time and energy from the five.
Frequently asked questions
What is transition stress?
Is it worth switching billing companies to save 1%?
How long does the stress of a new system last?
How do I know if a change is a bright shiny object?
In the end
| Idea | What it means for your school |
|---|---|
| Transition stress | The cost and pain of making a change, separate from the cost of the thing |
| Hidden losses | You find what the old system did after it's gone |
| The stress after a change | Performance drops for a while before it improves |
| Bigger fish to fry | Fix the problem that matters most before the one that annoys you most |
| One at a time | Pick one change, get it running, then add the next |
| The test | Bottleneck, gain vs. total cost, size of the transition stress, what else is changing, 90-day payback |
Before your next change, at home or at work figure out the gain you expect, how many weeks the pain will last, and the payback date. You’ll have to decide what the balance is but for example, if the payback is more than 90 days out and nothing is broken, the old system may be doing just fine. If you want a second set of eyes on a change you're weighing, you can always reach out to me!
References
Clear, J. (n.d.). Warren Buffett's "2 list" strategy: How to maximize your focus and master your priorities. James Clear. https://jamesclear.com/buffett-focus
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. Jossey-Bass.
Holmes, T. H., & Rahe, R. H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11(2), 213–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(67)90010-4