Seven Blunders That Can Prevent Change
With constant change the new norm these days, the most important role for management is directing and promoting change. In his book Leading Change Toward Sustainability, Bob Doppelt describes seven blunders that are common amongst companies that fail to manage the change process effectively. While he is looking specifically at sustainability, the blunders he describes are equally applicable to any major change that companies are trying to implement, such as adopting Lean or other quality initiatives.
Blunder 1 – Patriarchal thinking that leads to a false sense of security
The patriarchal approach holds that there are clear vertical lines of authority in a company – information flows to the top where decisions are made and directives flow downwards. This “smartest guy in the room” approach has unintended negative consequences. It tells those in the middle or bottom that they are not responsible for their own decisions and undermines personal responsibility and accountability. It disempowers people and undermines their ability to fully contribute, leading to complacency. People become reactive and see no reason to change.
A more distributive authority model actively engages employees in planning and decision making. Meaningful involvement promotes a sense of buy-in and personal responsibility. People not only accept change, they often drive it.
Blunder 2 – ‘Siloed’ approach to organization
Traditional management programs promote a mechanistic approach that views organizations as collections of spare parts that can be managed independently. Safety is the responsibility of the safety manager, quality is located at the back of the building and separate departments are often antagonistic towards each other. No single unit can see how the whole system operates, so no-one is meaningfully engaged in finding system wide solutions.
Blunder 3 – No clear vision of the future
Exemplary organizations are exceptionally clear about their purpose. Purpose is defined by clear visions of the ideal condition they want to achieve in the future, as well as the principles that guide movement towards the vision.
Too often vision statements are just pictures on a wall, with no connection to the day-to-day operations of the organization. Positive, forward looking visions and guiding principles are a driving force behind a common goal.
Blunder 4 – Confusion over cause and effect
A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. Lacking a sound understanding of the true sources of their problems, organizations resort to treating symptoms.
If an order ships late, management blames production. Production blames purchasing for not getting parts in time, purchasing says engineering didn’t get them the parts list, engineering says sales didn’t give them all the information they needed, sales says they knew information was lacking but management said to enter the order anyway because this month’s numbers were weak, we’ll make up any delays in production…
Blunder 5 – Lack of information
Organizations cannot transform themselves unless employees are willing to actively support and participate in the effort. People will resist change unless they clearly understand the need, purpose, strategies and expected outcomes of the effort and believe it will succeed and benefit the organization and themselves. A tremendous amount of clear and easily understood information is needed to generate this type of understanding.
Blunder 6 – Insufficient mechanisms for learning
People ultimately learn by doing and by judging results. When employees are given few opportunities to test new ideas, and when few rewards are provided for those who do so, not much learning will occur.
In underperforming companies, employee innovation is often frowned upon and not accepted. On the other hand, top performers consistently acknowledge and visibly reward employees who propose new ideas, apply them and learn from the results.
Blunder 7 – Failure to institutionalize a new culture
The ultimate success of any new initiative is found when thinking, perspectives and behavior that reflect the new initiative are incorporated into the everyday operating procedures and culture of an organization. As long as an organization’s policies and procedures remain at odds with the new initiative, the risks are high that old thinking and behavior patterns will eventually rise up and overwhelm efforts to adopt the new initiative.
If one or more of these blunders exist, spending millions on new technologies or installing new management systems will not by themselves drive any new initiatives. On the contrary, confusion may reign over the purpose and goals of the initiative, new policies and tools are likely to be poorly understood and implemented, employee commitment will be marginal and thus initial progress is likely to stall or the effort may simply crumble. The presence of any one of the blunders may undermine the ability of an organization to adopt a new initiative, but sound leadership will create a dialogue that promotes and supports change.
