Imagine you have been given the brief and mandate to rebuild a struggling organisation. There are many ways to make this happen. Sometimes the different approaches can be likened to building a house.
Some people renovate an old house. Some build a new house that is connected to an old house. Some build a new house in a new place.
It is vital to choose the route that matches your strengths. So let’s explore these three ways of building a superb organisation.
Renovating An Old House
There are many ways to renovate a house – or to revitalise an existing organisation. Imagine that you have been invited to tackle such a turnaround.
Start by making sure you have the authority to do whatever is necessary. Meet the key bosses – the owners, bank or board – and agree on three things.
* Clarify the picture of success.
Make sure that you and the backers are agreed on the real results to achieve. ‘Play black’ your understanding to make sure everybody has the same picture.
* Clarify the overall strategies for achieving success.
Make sure that, within this framework, you have the mandate to do the job.
* Clarify that the key backers are really serious.
Making changes will bring both pluses and minuses, so you will need their support when things get tough.
You can then move on to revitalising the organisation. There are several approaches to making this happen. You may choose to pursue or combine some of the following options.
a) To close the business and start again.
b) To build on the good parts of the business and close the rest.
c) To put everybody through a ‘change programme’ and hope they develop the urgency required to achieve success.
d) To clarify the organisation’s strengths and successful patterns – by using methods such as Appreciative Inquiry – and develop these to build a successful future.
e) To maintain the present business but simultaneously develop prototypes that show how the business can be successful in the future.
Revitalising an existing house – or an organisation – can be challenging. Sometimes changing a system meets resistance. Too much time can be spent trying to ‘persuade’ people, rather than delivering the required results.
It is possible to rebuild an organisation. But you will need to implement the right strategy with the right people in the right way. This may call for many tough decisions along the way.
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Imagine that you have been invited to rebuild an organisation from the inside.
First, describe what you see as the pluses of this approach.
Second, describe what you see as the potential minuses.
Third, on a scale 0 – 10, rate the attractiveness of this approach to you.
Building a new house that is
connected to an old house
Kate Lavender is somebody who has followed this route. She has built ‘new houses’ – new ways of doing things – that have been connected to existing organisations.
For example, she led teams that developed new approaches to customer service for companies in the travel, insurance and high tech sectors. Kate often did this by taking the following steps. She aimed:
* To get a clear picture of success and mandate from the Board.
* To clarify what had worked best in the company and show respect for its heritage.
* To connect the new approach to the existing company by creating some kind of ‘corridor’ – but developing the new approach separately.
* To build the new department, deliver great customer service and show the bottom-line results.
* To hand-over the department to people whom she coached to run it successfully.
Kate has a track record of making this happen. Sometimes the ‘existing house’ – the old way of doing things – was then demolished.
Many elements of the cultures she built remain. They continue to serve both their company and their customers. You can find out more about Kate’s approach at her company’s website.
http://www.heartandsoul.co.uk/Home.html
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Imagine that you have been invited to build something that has some ‘connection’ with an existing organisation.
First, describe what you see as the pluses of this approach. For example, you can draw on the organisation’s resources, but not get caught up in running everything by ‘committees’.
Second, describe what you see as the potential minuses.
Third, on a scale 0 – 10, rate the attractiveness of this approach to you.
Building a house
in a new place
Pioneers often take this route. They go out and build a ‘house’ – a new business, new idea or new project – on the prairie. Sometimes they find gold; sometimes they go bankrupt.
Such people go beyond having a Big Idea. They move forward through the stages of imagination and implementation to achieve the desired impact.
Can you think of people who have built ‘a new house in a new place’? Certainly it is not always possible to create something completely new, but here are some people who have taken this path.
The Apple Team building the Macintosh; Anita Roddick creating The Body Shop; Dame Cicely Saunders starting the modern hospice movement in the UK; Peter Benenson founding Amnesty International; The Sony Team inventing the Walkman; Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and others creating Humanistic Psychology.
Who do you believe has followed a similar route to do pioneering work?
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Imagine that you want to build ‘a new house in a new place’.
First, describe what you see as the pluses of this approach. For example, you may have lots of freedom to make the rules.
Second, describe what you see as the potential minuses. For example, there may be an element of risk.
Third, on a scale 0 – 10, rate the attractiveness of this approach to you.
There are many ways to build a team or organisation. Some people revitalise an existing house. Some build a new house that is connected to an existing house. Some build a new house in a new place. Some combine elements of all three approaches.
You will, of course, choose your own way. Bearing in mind your strengths, try tackling the final exercise.
First, describe your preferred way of building.
Second, describe your reasons for preferring this approach.
You can then get on with building your superb team or organisation. Try completing the following sentences.
Posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 at 3:25 pm in Companion, The Strengths Blog | RSS feed
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