"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
- John Lennon
In our business lives we do a lot of planning. 'Woods meetings'. budgets, strategy, ...'deliverables'. With often a general belief that the 'roadmap' produced is 'written in stone' ...as long as 'no one gets in the way'.
From these aspirations we appoint teams of people. Some new to the business, some not, some visionary and some, 'meat and potatoes' types. They all get together and try to deliver 'the change' to what is too oft' believed to be - 'hostile types' - generally thought to be resistant to change. These people are in fact generally the the core of the business!
Despite best advice from the 'oracles of management & leadership' over the past twenty years these views still remain prevalent. Is it any wonder major organisational changes fail so often ...regardless of how much effort is thrown at them?
"If the systems we design are based on the principle that people can't be trusted, then these people simply won't bother to be trustworthy" - Charles Handy, The Hungry Spirit
A more appropriate model then presumes that:
- people are drawn to do new things by their very nature
- generally embrace things positively when they see something new
- naturally engage in communities
- relish being seen as a productive member of a newly formed team
- given they are operating in a clear, empowered and rewarding role
Even when we are working in harmony, things will arise that are not in 'the plan'.
That's life ...not theory!
The appropriate philosophy then is that we bond together to find a solution and implement it with all speed such that the common good will be enhanced. Trust is the prerequisite. Our supportive leadership should underscore that using requisite management techniques and a fair spread of governance.
Contingency plans are always prudent ...but cannot meet all unexpected issues that will arise over time given the complexity of a change programme say. The best thing we can have is a strong and resilient team culture that 'steels' together to meet the need - much as we do with natural disasters.
This says a lot for how we should approach major change. Instead of depending on a 'few people' being seen to bravely take on 'the rest', our change programme needs to feature broad involvement and a 'communication plan' that not only 'spreads the word' but one which really 'engages people'.
Get them all on-side with bravado (even in policy development) and promote 'sharing' the journey! Leading with a straight forward honesty helps... but this needs to come from all levels (one story).
Planned change is about us ...it affects us all.
Grahame J Flynn FAICD CGEIT(ISACA)
at last he could see over the mountains
Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better
Out on the ocean sailing away
I can hardly wait
To see you come of age
But I guess we'll both just have to be patient
'Cause it's a long way to go
A hard row to hoe
Yes it's a long way to go
But in the meantime
Before you cross the street
Take my hand
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans
Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful boy
Darling, darling, darling
Darling Sean
