The perpetual nature of organization change
June 30, 2009
I’m reading Daryl Conner’s book Managing at the Speed of Change, published in 1992. On page 41, he lists the following changes that organizational leaders considered crucial to success, compiled from a survey he conducted.
- Initiating major reorganization plans
- Improving competitiveness through the implementation of total quality-management processes
- Incorporating information systems as an integral part of business and production strategies
- Integrating customer-service mentality and behaviors throughout the organization
- Responding to new or increased global competition
- Accommodating the turmoil associated with mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts
- Redefining the organizational culture to be more supportive of corporate business objectives
- Initiating cost-containment mechanisms
- Rightsizing the work force
- Establishing employee-involvement programs to generate a sense of empowerment and commitment
- Establishing new products and markets
- Incorporating new production/manufacturing procedures and machinery
- Adjusting to the changing profile and needs of today’s employees
- Complying with new government regulations
Sound familiar? We’re still facing the same challenges today as we were 17 years ago – even some of the terminology is the same. Perhaps the difference is the number of concurrent changes going on, or the rate at which organizations and people are expected to change. (Consider the fact that this book was written at the dawn of the internet.)
The list speaks to the perpetual nature of organizational change. In the last 17 years, much research, learning and theorizing has been done to better understand how to make change easier. The fact is that change might get easier and better understood, but it never goes away. There is always a new set of employees, circumstances, leadership, technology and environmental factors that require a better way to move forward. The way we accomplish that tends to fall into the same categories of change over the years.
What would you add to this list in light of today’s environment?
How many of these are you currently working on in your organization?
Planned obsolescence of change initiatives
June 24, 2009
Sometimes, it can be hard to forget that the goal of any change initiative is to make itself obsolete. You want the change to become part of the day-to-day culture and process of the organization. The processes and attitudes that at first engendered resistance are adopted and incorporated into how the business gets done.
Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight. And you can’t go straight from where you are now to where you want to be. There has to be a journey. The key is to not be sidetracked by the process of change.
Kurt Lewin (1890 – 1947) was the first to describe change as a 3-step process:
- Unfreezing – dismantling the old way, creating a sense of urgency and a need to change
- Changing – a period of transition, challenging the old way but not really knowing what the new way is
- Freezing – a returning to a sense of normalcy and comfort, crystallizing the new way
A good example of this is in a case study I wrote called A Roundabout Path to Increasing Employee Suggestions – the roundabout part is exactly what I’m talking about here.
In the case, the three steps could be described like this:
- Unfreezing – We started a steering committee separate from the executive team to collect and manage ideas. We challenged the concept of paying for ideas.
- Changing – The steering committee collected ideas, and was proactive in the response and tracking. We started a weekly newsletter to keep idea-generation and problem solving at the forefront. Idea submission levels increased dramatically.
- Freezing – Managers started holding regular meetings with their direct reports to identify and discuss opportunities for improvement, and to brainstorm on ways to address the issues that came up. The number of ideas, maintained by managers in a central database, increased even further.
If we had stopped with the centralized suggestion box as the final way for employees to submit suggestions, then we wouldn’t have followed through with the ultimate purpose of the change program: to increase innovation, not because employees submitted more ideas, but because managers asked for and valued them, and involved their teams in solving business problems.
Bottom line: It’s important to not get stuck in the change step, and keep in mind the final state and ultimate mindset change that you are going after. Plan to make your change initiative obsolete.
Inquiry: What will your organization look like when your initiative dissolves?
This post is also featured at Tenacious Tortoise.
The change agent’s dilemma
June 16, 2009
The position of internal change agent – wherever it falls in the organization – can be a tricky one.
You are responsible for influencing the organization, usually without the direct authority to do so.
Leaders are quick to delegate ownership to you, even though they are the ones who really need to own the project. Although it’s much easier to maintain control if you handle things yourself, if the organization sees you as the project champion instead of the leaders, they will not take it as seriously.
On the other hand, try to guide (manipulate?) leaders too much into doing what you want and they will resist being a puppet.
So the ultimate change agent’s dilemma might be this: How do you balance control and influence?
NEW! Pinpoint Communication Workbook
June 11, 2009
I’m excited to offer a new workbook in my series of step-by-step organizational change guides. I collaborated with my friend and colleague Monica Nakielski of Harmeda LLC to bring you:
Pinpoint Communication: Plan to Avoid Scattershot Change
Communication is one of the primary tools you will use to bring about change in your organization, and yet we frequently see communication used in a haphazard fashion. The resulting hodgepodge of posters, newsletters and meetings yield a less-than-compelling story of change.
The workbook walks you though 5 Steps that build on each other. By the end, you will have developed a complete communication plan, including a schedule and measures of success.
The Pinpoint Communication Kit includes not only the workbook, but also high-quality, presentation-ready MS PowerPoint templates. Just complete the template with the information you developed in the workbook, and you’re ready to share with your organization.
This practical guide is truly something I wish I had back when I was an internal change agent. I would have been much more organized and deliberate about how I used communication. I’m excited that it might help you be more effective as you implement change in your organization.
For more information, a preview, and to purchase the workbook, templates or kit, visit www.enclaria.com/communication/.
Four Ways to Boost Your Organizational Power
June 9, 2009
For advocates of organizational change, power is the ability to get things done either by influencing others or by making decisions. Possessing power means that colleagues are more likely to do what you ask, respect your opinion, and follow you in the direction you want to go.
Fortunately, power is not something you can buy or take. It can only be given to you by others. Follow these four ways to earn more organizational power. Read more
The boundaries of culture
June 4, 2009
My oldest child turns 4 years old today. It’s so interesting to watch him learn. In recent weeks it seems he’s turned up his language skills a notch, using more complicated words and phrases, and checking his understanding of words he hears us use. He’s also become more of a boundary tester, becoming aware of behaviors that are off-limits, admonitions that are mere suggestions, and other behaviors that required. He’s thoroughly confused about the difference between lying and sarcasm.
I realized he’s learning culture for the first time. Up to this point, he’s been living by our rules more-or-less because we say so, but now he seems to be more deliberate about learning what really is acceptable and what things mean. Fascinating!
This got me thinking about how once we have the initial learning about human culture as children, learning how to fit into other group cultures – first school, then work – comes easier and less deliberate. Some of my ex-colleagues used to say, when a new employee joined the company, “Write down all the things you want to fix, because after six months, you become part of the problem.” Either we assimilate quickly, or we bounce off to another organization if we reject the culture we find (or it rejects us).
Which makes me wonder: if it is so easy for an individual to assimilate into a new organizational culture – to learn new rules, guidelines, values and language – then why is it so hard to change culture?
Perhaps we should go back and look at how people learn culture in the first place. Like my 4 year old, we all learn culture by testing boundaries and processing the resulting feedback. If we want to change the culture, then we need to move the boundary. Then, retraining individuals on the new culture requires feedback as the new boundaries are explored – through correction, repetition, and praise. The challenge is how to do that without making people feel like a 4 year old. If we were all still motivated by timeouts and stickers, changing culture would be a whole lot easier.
Inquiry: What boundaries are you moving?
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