Despite the never ending recession, there are some growth industries.
One of the few growth industries these days, aside from bankruptcy consulting, is Change Management. It stands to reason that when what you are doing is not working, do something different.
One of the few growth industries these days, aside from bankruptcy consulting, is Change Management. It stands to reason that when what you are doing is not working, do something different. So we look at new methods of doing what we do, new know-how’s, new technologies. When we exhaust all other possibilities we even try new management models. So what happens? Experts enter with elaborate training model complete with flip charts and complex schematics. Countless meetings and discussions later everyone is knee deep in new terminology, meanwhile the results have not improved.
Then when the exercise is deemed a failure, the consultants are blamed for the models inability to address the problem, and the company starts searching for another fix. In the meantime, precious time has been lost, resources wasted. Beyond this the receptivity to change within the organization diminishes, the employees now having formed a negative association with the word ‘change’ itself. Meanwhile the window of opportunity for the firm to turn it around is narrowing.
So then, what is it that gets in the way? Beneath the official organizational chart lies another schematic which describes the way the power and influence are distributed throughout the organization. Each organization is different, but there is a common pattern to these schematics. For example it tends to be a set of circles of related employees, little power hubs with one hub being the central one around which the others revolve. This apex hub is the Inner Circle.
Any change is a threat to the supremacy of the Inner Circle. They cannot be seen to out-rightly reject this new direction. Therefore they engage in a clever exercise of impression management. While giving every outward indication of fully supporting the change initiative, beneath the surface they do everything in their power to undermine it. No doubt, this is what Obama has been experiencing in Washington these days. He is surrounded by senators and congressmen who all feign enthusiasm and support for his new vision, meanwhile working feverishly to preserve the status quo.
I had similar experiences as a crisis manager for a food processing plant in Southern Hungary. From the time I arrived I was cocooned by senior management, who escorted me from meeting to meeting, luncheon to luncheon for months. It was only when there was a strike at the plant, and I had the opportunity to speak directly with the line managers, that I began to get an accurate picture of what was really going on.
This Inner Circle is not an aberration, but the anticipated norm. Its resistance to change is a simple case of self preservation, upon which the prudent consultant can count. Therefore, this aspect of organizational behavior must be built in to a change management model in order for it to be effective.
John Berling Hardy
CEO, Hidden Game Algorithm
http://www.johnberlinghardy.com
About John Berling Hardy
John Berling Hardy is a Chartered Accountant who performs audits on numerous Fortune 500 companies.