Unfortunately, it's the rare company that
understands the importance of informal improvisation -
let alone respects it as a legitimate business activity.
In most cases, ideas generated by employees in the
course of their work are lost to the organization as a
whole... This important source of organizational
learning is either ignored or suppressed.
Beware of formal organizational improvement plans;
they can lead to rigidity, bureaucracy, and resistance
to change. Too many improvement plans are built on the
same faulty premise as strategic planning, that there is
a right path that can be determined in advance and then
implemented.
There is no set path and since you haven't been this
way before, you have to make decisions at the forks
about which way you will go and then to decide to blaze
a new path through the forest. Having a clear vision of
where you are going, values, and principles you hold,
helps you make decisions. Thinking corporately, acting
locally. You have to be able to take advantage of the
unforeseeable opportunities that will present themselves
as your journey unfolds.
Developing change champions and supporting local
initiatives is part of taking advantage of unforeseen
opportunities. Like innovation, it cannot be planned.
As a senior manager, part of the job is to visibly
lead the organization and communicate in an exciting way
the vision, values, and principles of the organization.
Another part of the job is to serve and follow, and a
realization that the organization is full of current and
potential change champions who need to be nurtured and
developed. These people are much closer to the action
than anyone in senior management, and have a much better
sense of which change and improvement tactics will work.
You can't encourage and support what you don't know
about. The most interesting and useful local change
initiatives rarely make it into reports or through
formal channels. That's because they're 'illegal,' don't
follow the rules or aren't in the improvement plan and
wouldn't get reported. So get out and poke around.
Make sure changes focus outward, making things better
for the customer/partners not the other way around.
A key measure of managers and teams should be how
much they've changed, improved, and innovated. Managers,
who aren't improving should be coached, trained, and
developed. If they still don't improve, you can't afford
to keep them. Help them find other career opportunities.
If you're not a senior manager, your organizational
change choices are:
- Do nothing but complain and hope 'they' smarten
up.
- Quit.
- Make as many changes as you can in your own area
and try to influence the system. Act like a leader!