Over the course of the past year I have been in a position to observe and take part in an organization which is undergoing changes on many levels including leadership, focus, and organizational structure. I’ve been involved as both an employee as well as in a team to study and report on organizational models, making recommendations regarding re-organizing an IT organization comprised of approximately four-hundred individuals.
Once an organization reaches a certain size it becomes difficult to overcome momentum in order to pivot, change, or go in a new direction. The longer an organization moves in a direction, the more ingrained patterns of behaviour become. In time it becomes like an old dirt road; enough traffic results in ruts. It might seem easier to just go with the flow and follow the ruts but in the long run the ruts become deeper and it becomes even harder to change when necessary.
Change is necessary — an organism which does not change is stagnant. However there are good ways to approach change and, conversely, bad ways. Here are some of my observations and understanding of what to do and what not to do in order to foster an environment for change.
| Good Idea | Bad Idea |
|---|---|
| Communicating the need for change and having town halls as an open forum for communication. | Bringing in a motivational speaker who told the tale of how he freaked out one day and fired everyone at his business. |
| Establishing timelines for actions. | Missing dates and milestones. |
| Openness where appropriate. | Bringing in high-powered consultants (“Bobs”) who proceed to rule by fiat. |
| Be expeditious. | Having the ‘Sword of Damocles’ dangling for months at a time. |
| Leadership communicates strategic direction. | Communication disconnects result in tactical marching orders not given to worker bees. |
| Manage expectations. | Loss of narrative. Gossip travels faster than the speed of light and beliefs, once established are almost impossible to change. |
| Be understanding of culture. | Adopting a “one size fits all” mentality and dismissing concerns. |
| Sunlight in vendor management. | Consultants should not only advocate for a single vendor to solve all problems (other than cost). This leads to questions of “kickbacks” or other improprieties. If the consultants are getting a kickback, that should be communicated. If they are not that also needs to be communicated. |
| Respecting employees | Believing that people are infinitely fungible. |
| Having compassion. A surgeon makes cuts which are necessary in order to bring healing to the patient as a whole. | Blindly cutting. |
At the end of the day, I believe that change is necessary. How one goes about change drastically affects the outcome. Change is seldom fun but it can be good.
