People Volunteer All participants must volunteer to join a transformation process. Each person taking an active role must express the desire to participate and act on that desire. Each role is filled by individuals who freely accept the responsibilities and are committed to the transformation. Why is this necessary? Organizations transform themselves because new strategies (their commitments regarding relationships with the outside world) cannot succeed with the current culture and business processes. Processes can be changed through a management edict. But, an organization's culture (its values and beliefs) only change when the people of the company choose new ways of working and interacting. Changing processes is mechanical; changing a culture is a human activity. Change Agents are volunteers who choose to generate Change Initiatives for the transformation. They accept the responsibility for creating, researching and forming initiatives. Champions volunteer to contribute their skills, their contacts and their "political capital" to advance Change Initiatives they choose to support. Change Team members are also volunteers. They are committed to making a specific change and committed to the teams they join. Team Coaches volunteer and dedicate themselves to the health and well-being of specific Change Teams. Working on an initiative may take a lot of time and energy. Don't kid yourself about how much time you have available; having to withdraw from an initiative when it most needs you can undermine the work of the entire team. Discuss with change colleagues the probable time requirements of this Change Initiative. Some initiatives require more time than others. Because the Change Team has ultimate control over the direction of the initiative, it may be impossible to accurately estimate the time needed. Be open about your limitations. Desire to work on a particular initiative is also important. You should have a personal interest in the success of any Change Initiative you choose to join. Having the time, interest and
desire to work on a Change Initiative are paramount to the success of the initiative. It's
okay to turn down an opportunity to work on a Change Initiative. There will be others down
the road that you may be able to work on more effectively. You may do the initiative more
harm than good if you join when you are not able to offer full support. A Story At one company attempting a transformation, certain people were ordered to participate on Change Teams, either as members or in support roles. People were no longer volunteers ... they were volunteered by their bosses. The result was devastating to a number of Change Initiatives. A Change Team set out to implement "one phone call service" for customers calling in. Rather than multiple phone numbers for customers to call depending on the service they required, this team planned to establish one phone number; the person who answered the phone would either assist the customer directly or take personal responsibility for the customer getting the service elsewhere in the organization. A great idea that met all the requirements for a Change Initiative at that company. Unfortunately, there were a number of people -- both on the team and working with the team -- who did not volunteer to be a part of the team (nor did they support the goals of the initiative). They were assigned to this duty. As a result, the team never formed a common vision, never shared a common goal and had numerous problems moving the initiative forward. After nine months of trying to work as an active Change Team, they ended up PROPOSING a change to the senior executives of the organization (not implementing anything) and the team finally disbanded. No changes were made, resources and
time were wasted and, worse, the people who did initially volunteer for the Change Team
were so disappointed with the way project progressed, they decided to never again to
participate in a Change Initiative. © 1997 ChangeCraft™ Written by Heidi
Jeanne Hess and Doug Wesley Check Point (Please complete and submit the Form below) When you are finished
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