People Volunteer To Transform the Organization Those who play special roles in a transformation process volunteer for the responsibilities. In most cases, people do this in addition to normal workloads. Each person taking an active role must express the desire to participate and must 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? An organization transforms
itself because new strategies (commitments about relationships with the outside world)
cannot succeed with its current culture and business processes. Work processes can be
changed through a management edict. But an organization's culture (the values and skills
and traditions passed from generation to generation of employees) only change when the
people of the company choose new ways of working and interacting. Changing processes is
mechanical. Transforming a culture is more organic: a human activity. People dedicated to
the mission can change a culture. We believe the historic two-thirds failure rate of
corporate transformation attempts is due, in large part, to the fact that these change
efforts were ordered through the chain of command. Change Agents are volunteers who choose to generate Change Initiatives for the transformation. They accept the responsibility for researching and organizing initiatives, and for putting together Change Teams. 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 they agree to serve. Working in a Change Team on an initiative may take a lot of time and energy. (The good news is that Change Teams, by their nature, have a limited life span.) Don't kid yourself about how much time you have available; having to withdraw from an initiative when your work is most needed 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 Change Teams work to discover new solutions in unknown territory, it may be impossible, though, to accurately estimate the time needed. Be open with your team about your limitations. Choose to join a Change Team only when you have a personal interest in the success of its particular initiative. No one but the Change Team is responsible for the success of an initiative. Members must depend on each other's natural motivation to make this change. Having the time 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 StoryAt 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, a number of people -- both on the team and working with the team -- were assigned to this duty. They did not volunteer to be a part of the team (nor did they support the goals of the initiative). 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 disbanded. No changes were made. Resources and time were wasted.
Worse, the people who did initially volunteer for the Change Team were so disappointed
with the way the initiative progressed, they decided to never again to participate on a
Change Team. Written by Heidi Jeanne Hess and Doug Wesley (Veronica Boaz contributed, James Lloyd edited) Check Point (Please complete and submit the Form below) When
you are finished Updated: July 5, 1998 |
