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How to institute a major change in how your company is run

by Stephen Hawley Martin
for Virginia Business
May 31, 2006

Companies around the world are finding that in our fast-moving, global economy, the old way of managing through "command and control" just doesn't cut it. The top guy and his surrogates simply can't be everywhere at once. Employees and workers down the line need to be empowered to make decisions on the spot and to keep things moving forward. For most businesses this means organizing into empowered, interlocking teams.

But how can this kind of wholesale change be implemented?

At least two methods exist for implementing major change. The common approach is called the "define-and-convince" model, in which an assigned expert (or expert team) defines the change specifics and convinces the rest of the organization to follow its blueprint. This model works best in small companies, largely because of the close link between the company's leadership and its workers. But in large companies, the process is slow, seldom wins widespread buy-in, and often requires extensive infrastructure and procedural controls to maintain the change.

The other method is the "participative model." The leader defines change goals and challenges the work force to define and execute the changes. The actual process involves a series of facilitated large-group sessions for convergence and decision-making, which are positioned around smaller group activities. This is where the testing and learning takes place. This approach works best because rapid assimilation of knowledge and buy-in usually takes place across the organization. Nevertheless, old- line managers often hesitate to use it because it requires the leaders to trust workers, instead of what they perceive as experts with the details.

Participative change roles are quite different from those in the design-and-convince approach. Leaders are not order givers, but participants in learning and decision-making. Experts don't define specific changes, they provide substantive knowledge. Workers are not "change targets," but full participants in learning and decision-making.

Even though it is rarely used, participative change is not new. I won't go into extensive detail as there are several books on the subject including "Whole Scale Change" by Dannemiller Tyson Associates and "Large Group Interventions: Engaging the Whole System for Rapid Change" by Barbara Bunker and Billie Alban. These books propose many tools and techniques for engaging the work force. Often they are different in style, but all are based on the idea that the work force should be engaged and involved. Be aware that the approach may benefit from special facilitation skills for orchestrating the large group sessions. Plus, an organization's leader ought to understand the process and have the confidence to empower the work force.

To make change happen, leaders need to set targets and make strategic decisions. The people who have to live with the details make up the group that ought to determine the details. Administrators aren't needed to control the process or define the results. To make sure change happens in a timely fashion, milestones need to be set that will mark key points of system integration. These large group sessions are forums for defining, understanding and decision-making on major integration issues.

System integration points are milestones at which the forced narrowing of possibilities takes place. Directional decisions might be made before the large integration meetings in change-agent, cross-functional team meetings to winnow down the options. These decisions will be reviewed and the rationale explained at the larger meeting. But to assure buy in, final decisions selected from viable options should be left to the larger group. For this reason, milestone events should be attended by virtually everyone in the company who will be affected by the change and the new procedures. The more who take part, the better. This is how ownership is achieved. Also, large sessions make the progress highly visible and provide opportunities for visible support by upper management. This is important to maintaining momentum.

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Stephen Hawley Martin is a former principal of The Martin Agency in Richmond and the author of more than half a dozen books including his newest, Lean Enterprise Leader: How to Get Things Done Without Doing It All Yourself. He is editor and publisher of The Oaklea Press, a book publishing business dedicated primarily to helping business executives increase productivity.