Christopher asks,
As leaders in companies that are embracing change (I hate those two words
when they're used hollow-ly), what sources did you use as your "toolbox?"
Where did you start the change process? (Please don't just answer "the
top.")
What were some of the less pleasant surprises of this change cycle?
Who do you look up to in the realm of leadership?
Read any good books or web pages lately?
== end quote ==
Most of the tools are basically mental models. Matrix management. When
teams work, and when they don't. When does down-sizing work and when does
it not work. What do you want down-sizing to do? Is down-sizing a simple
(non) solution to a very real problem? What is the realm of senior
management, and where does everyone else hold sway. Process management.
systemic thinking. Personal Mastery. They're not all LO tools, but LO are
part of the package.
Tools without task are solutions waiting for a problem so to speak. The
task needs to be concrete. Not ROE, ROS, not ambiguous, but concrete,
something basic, something you can touch, feel, smell, taste, feel good
about, and something people can believe in. Not even butter customer
service, unless you can define and measure precisely what you mean by
that.
For us the change process started in the mid-levels with perhaps one
evangelist. One consistent, simple, believable message, one complex
solution that was not completely defined, but people could intuitively buy
into. Some serious risk-taking with corporate career on the line.
Unpleasant surprises included a very real crisis (actually 2) which was
extraordinarily and personally painful, but moved the company quickly to
"see the light".
You didn't ask, but pleasant surprises included how quickly people joined
the bandwagon -- really joined, not just lip-service -- once buy-in
occurred. Corporate sacred cows were slain right and left. We are
probably unconsciously creating some new ones now.
Leaders? I dunno, maybe Bill Clinton.
This is as good a web page as there is.
--Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>