Comments on: Make Change Happen Without Disrupting Your Organization

By: organization

organization — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:50:25 +0000

theory organizationa…

[...]Make Change Happen Without Disrupting Your Organization « Phil Cooke[...]…

By: breaklight

breaklight — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In answer to your response what culture does America export to the world? Is it positive? Why the need for change in cultures? How does a culture change if it is negative? I think I will agree to disagree with you this one.

By: breaklight

breaklight — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Listening to the culture is very important when you want to correctly implement a vision but culture is never more important than vision or else we will be living in a perfect world and there would be no need for change/transformation in the first place because everyone is perfect. Besides I tend to prefer what God says as true because He said that without vision the people perish/cast off restraint.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I couldn’t disagree more actually. Vision is critical, but I know a number of major ministries who have a wonderful vision. But their culture is toxic and that vision will never happen. On the other hand – even without a vision, if you have a great, vibrant culture, something positive is going to happen. Think of the culture of your organization as a incubator where the vision can be birthed and grow.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think you're missing my point. In this context, "culture" means what happens inside your organization. I'm not talking about the "outer" culture in society. I'm talking here about creating a vibrant, creative, and innovating culture INSIDE your organization.

By: breaklight

breaklight — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think I understand what you mean now. Instead of organisations to focus on achieving the corporate vision first and foremost it would be better to first create and build a culture where people can grow, thrive and therefore flow with the purpose/vision of the organisation. In other words build up the people first in an environment where they want to be part of what you are doing and establish good relations with them. Thanks for the clarity on this point.

By: Bart Breen

Bart Breen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Good insights.

I'd add this. The time to prepare for change is not when your organization has plateud or is in decline. it is not when leadership changes.

The time to plan and prepare for change is when your organization is on the increase and things are going well. Implementing change is usually done too quickly and without enough planning.

Understanding the organization's culture, and how well it will react and adapt to needed change is far more important and more difficult than implementing change.

Coming up with a vision and deciding to make some changes is easy. Coming up with the right vision and deciding how to make the changes is what separates leaders from managers. It's hard work. Most people want to leap to implementation. Most people do it too late in the organizations life cycle and too early in the planning process.

By: GordonG

GordonG — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Actually 'vision' in the quoted passage of Proverbs means 'revelation of or from God' ['exegesis' in the Septuagint (Latin) version] rather than what we tend to mean by vision when we use that word today. So the Bible is NOT defending the position that you need a 'vision' to hold an organization together and give it momentum, etc - rather it claims that if people do not have a clear understanding of God and who He is and what His purposes are, all activity is useless and without purpose.

Shalom

GordonG

By: Joseph Bruno

Joseph Bruno — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

One thing I always did during my law enforcement career was to do... nothing. I watched, talked to the officers working there and then asked why we did things a certain way. If the only answer I got was "because we've always done it that way" I looked at how to change it to make things better or easier. Some things I changed back but about 90% of my changes resulted in increased productivity and happier officers.

Change is good!

By: Truett Hancock

Truett Hancock — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you have family members in positions of authority in your organization and they are not pulling their weight, make the tough love decision to ask them to move on to another organization. It will hurt for a while but the lasting effects on your organization and staff will be good ones. Unproductive family members on staff are huge morale killers.