What’s the difference between change and change? The answer to that seemingly perplexing question is that it all depends on the kind of organization you are. Essentially, there are only two kinds of organizational change: holistic and linear.
The linear change organization
Your organization is bureaucratic, set in its ways, still relying on old thinking for what succeeded in the past. Your org chart looks hasn’t changed; only the names have changed. You change when crises hit, going from one to the next, changing in reaction to change, and then you do it all again when confronted. Change brings fear, anxiety, trepidation, and resistance. For your organization, the change process is an event, with a starting point, stages, and an end point. As such, you change, stop changing, then change again. And so forth. Lots of motion, little action.
The holistic change organization
On the other hand, your organization could be more holistic, which means continuously changing, not in response to external stimuli but driven by vision and mission. You create change because you’re comfortable with it and confident in it. As a result, change is welcomed, embraced, and willingly participated in, and it is generally accepted that you’re always changing – especially in the 21st century. Witness AI, mRNA, cryptocurrency, hybrid workplaces, and dozens of other forces.
Change is a state of being, not a process; organic, not planned and plotted; integrated, not silo-ized; guided by principles, not adherent to rigid data. Holistic change is marked by shared leadership, not top-down autocracy; built on self-managed teams, not directive after directive; and depends on self-ownership, not change agents.
A linear change guide – just once more
Despite the obvious bias toward holistic change, it’s fruitless to think it can be attained if linear change is baked into one’s organization. So, here’s the most logical 10-step process, which should now be used to change your organization into a holistic one – once and for all.
1. Establish a sense of urgency.
This should be the first step, no matter how your organization is built. No urgency, no need for change. So, identify it or create it.
2. Create a steering and guiding group.
This should not be strictly top management or leadership. It should be a carefully selected, well respected, apolitical team of influencers whose presence should be all anyone needs for legitimacy, and who will keep this on an objective path.
3. Develop the core of the vision and mission.
This is what everyone will be working towards, so make it terse, pithy, and relevant. Full details are not needed yet, but an awareness of who we are, what we’re doing, and why, is needed – now.
4. Communicate the new vision and mission.
And, of course, the newly spawned ideas. This is where things can fall apart. Communicating to every last person in the organization – not just in email blasts – is time consuming, tedious at times, and daunting. But it’s indispensable and a deal breaker if not successful.
5. Take a skills inventory.
Picture the place to which your employees’ skills – general and specific – are expected to take you and in which they are expected to succeed. Build a robust, ongoing training and development environment.
6. Strengthen and upgrade current skills; acquire needed skills.
If you have a strong employee retention program, what’s it worth if your employees lack the strengths you need? And if they do, tie it to retention.
7. Empower broad-based action at all levels.
This is where you prove your commitment to inclusion. Intrinsically motivated people are driven by purpose, autonomy, and mastery – and you get there through inclusion.
8. Foster immediate “small success stories.”
Now that you’ve got things rolling, teams are motivated by mutual success, and since it will be a while before long-term goals are met, structure short-term goals so that they are reachable and frequent. We all like – and need – achievement. It keeps the fire stoked.
9. Create momentum for gain – institutionalize the process.
There should be enough mass and force by this time to firm up what’s working and correct what’s not, so that it can become part of the operating culture of the organizational culture. This is the new “that’s the way we do it around here.”
10. Spawn new practices and approaches – inject into corporate culture.
The only way to sustain success is to repeat it. Success needs to be who you are.
Next post: 10 Pillars of Holistic Change
Coming soon.