Who should trigger changes in an organization
When did you experience this situation the last time: Your manager calls your team for a meeting in which he tells you that the organization is going to change.
During the meeting, the reasons and the intentions of the change are communicated to the team clearly and understandably. You have to embrace the chance, but in the end, you’re not happier with this change than before.
Perhaps you do not understand the reasons and the targets behind the change, or it doesn’t address your day-to-day problems.
This situation is prevalent in large companies, as the upper management seeks for more profit and to reduce costs.
The reasons for such organizational changes are one or more of the following:
- Greater effectiveness
- Better cooperation
- Use of synergies
- Improved productivity
While any reason can be used for the reorganization, in the end, they can be reduced to one or more of the reasons mentioned above.
After some time, you realize that your daily work has not changed that much, and you still have to cope with the same problems and challenges.
None of the management induced changes will address these problems, as none of the managers is aware of your problems.
Based on these observations, which should be the person, which should propose and implement changes?
The affected peoples and teams itself!
Of course not you alone, but the entire team, or the group of person who has to cope with the same problems every day.
Some essential topics need to be addressed when starting with this approach:
Responsibility
The “little working ant” in a classic organization is not used to take responsibility for his actions. There is a manager who has the final responsibility.
But anyone should be ready to take over responsibility and to be able to think outside of the box. This way, anyone can find new ways to solve problems.
An important benefit of this approach is that each member of the team and the organization feels better integrated into the team and the organization as the responsibility for the success of the entire organization is shared among all members.
I cannot emphasize this enough:
- Every member of the organization should be ready to take over part of the responsibility
- Everyone plays an integral role in the organization
- Nobody is more important than the other
Transparency of information
The entire organization must be transparent to all members. All numbers and all information must be shared.
Of course, some confidential information must be kept secret. For example, in some countries, it’s not allowed to share salary information.
Further on, you have to adhere to regulations. For example, when the organization is listed on the stock exchange. But this is a solvable challenge.
The members of the organization will never be able to find sustainable solutions to day-to-day problems without all the information related to their jobs.
Integration of solutions
You have to learn how to formulate solutions in a way that they are viable in your organization.
These solutions must integrate into the organization in several ways:
- Purpose of the organization
- Targets of the involved persons
- Integration with other teams
- Ability to fulfill the job
- And much more.
Let’s look a little bit deeper into these topics:
Purpose of the organization
Depending on the type of organization, the goal is different. A Non-Profit organization is different from a health-care company or a purely profit-driven organization.
The purpose of the organization, among other factors, drives the final target of the solution:
- Cost driven
- Outcome driven
- Collaboration driven
- Etc.
The purpose of the organization plays a critical role while determining the constraints for any solution.
Targets of the involved persons
Each person has individual goals. The solution to a problem must take into account these targets. A potential solution can go against the specific goals of one member of the team.
In the end, it makes no sense to try to implement a solution to an issue when it contradicts the aims of one, or more, of the team members.
In such a situation, you can use specific decision finding processes like the one described in my following article:
Integration with other teams
No team works only on his own.
You have to look at your environment and at all other teams, which can be affected by the change.
In reality, organizations look more like a web of teams and interactions than a strict hierarchy.
Ability to fulfill the job
Does the solution help you to achieve your job?
Is it possible that the change impedes the ability of someone other inside your organization to fulfill his job?
Embracement by the management
But there is the other end. The management end:
- Is the management ready to hear your opinion?
- Is the management ready to give you space to develop such solutions?
- Is the management ready to embrace this alternative approach and the proposed solutions?
- And, most important of all: Is the management ready to pass part of their power to the members of the organization?
The entire organization must be ready for such an approach.
It’s a change in culture and a change of collaboration inside the entire organization.
It makes no sense to elaborate on excellent solutions to a problem when it is impossible to implement the change.
And it is impossible to take over responsibility if the management is not willing to pass their final responsibility to all the members of the organization.
An organization looks like your body: Each part of it plays an essential role in the entire organism. Even your small toes help you standing on your feet. OK, you can remove your appendix and continue to live without any restrictions — as this is one of the small numbers of exceptions in your body.
Such an organization works as a real team, as all members work together towards a common goal. Everyone knows that all team members share a part of the responsibility for the success of the organization.
Such an organization will be more durable as the entirety is more than the sum of all members (free interpretation from Aristotle).
