David Frerker asked for advice
>I do have a request for advice or a paradigm to conceptualize how to
>handle a potential issue I will have: as the COO, I have 3 divisions
>ireporting to me - each with very different cultures - the latest division
>to come under operations is a joint venture with two not-for-profit
>community mental health centers serving the seriously mentally ill
>(commonly referred to as chronically mentally ill). These folks take
>their jobs/mission very seriously, not unlike religious zealots; there is
>much self-righteousness. They are fairly rigid in thinking their
>model/program is the only way to do things. They resist change. They
>have never had 'to make a buck'; they lobbied the state and got grants.
>Their systems are subdivided into 'fiefdoms' that are defensively guarded
>from change. Their systems are very inefficient and expensive due to
>overstaffing and low productivity and high salary costs.
You don't say how many people this wonderful system includes but I am
assuming it is fairly big. It also strikes me as having a lot of things
you can really work with - these are people with commitment (and they have
a new leader with vision who cares about learning organisations), once you
get the sort of dialogue going which enables you to tap into the things
they really care about, get an understanding of the things they are
unhappy with (I bet there are some!) and you share the issues facing you,
then it should be possible to develop a sense of common purpose which
takes accunt of everyone's perspective, nothing like a group of religious
zealots with a new sense of common purpose!!
I have heard a similar type of setting described before (see Real
Time Strategic change - Robert Jacobs) they worked with the New
York Health Agencies to look at the work they were doing around
the epedemic of tuberculosis amongst the homeless of the city.
They had disparate agencies with various funding and a range of
processes for dealing with the homeless all unconnected and which
generally meant that they did not return for the results of tests
and treatment. They brought the whole group together (yes hundreds
of people) and they worked together to build a common picture of
the current state of TB, understand how the current system worked
(and didn't) identify ways to implement a blueprint for TB control
and commit to a collaborative effort.
-- Julie Beedon VISTA Associates - consulting for a better future julie@vistabee.win-uk.net