{"id":3448,"date":"2018-02-27T04:23:59","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T04:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.culturesummit.co\/?p=3448"},"modified":"2022-04-20T09:32:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T13:32:38","slug":"advanced-lessons-driving-big-change-large-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.culturesummit.co\/advanced-lessons-driving-big-change-large-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Lessons on Driving Big Change at Large Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether subbing out a CEO, troubleshooting a culture of bias, or reorganizing to pursue a new market opportunity, every organization will face a point in its development when it needs to change. And while we all know the basics of implementing any new initiative (get buy-in, craft a plan, follow through), there are nuances to driving big change within an organization that only those who have \u201cbeen there, done that\u201d can point out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Tatyana Mamut<\/a>, General Manager and Director of Product Management, Design, & Engineering at Amazon Web Services, and Ellen Leanse<\/a>, author, Stanford instructor, and former Apple executive, are going to walk us through five advanced (and sometimes counterintuitive) lessons on the best way to approach large organizational change to make it stick:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Ambiguity is what makes change hard<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s natural to assume that the bigger a change is, the harder it will be to implement, and the smaller the change is, the easier it is to implement, but that\u2019s not true. In fact, some very large, significant changes, like a CEO succession, can be fairly straightforward because there\u2019s so much information around<\/span> the topic. Organizational change is hard or easy not based on the size of the change, but on the ambiguity of the change process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies will often send out a press release about what a big change it is to replace a CEO, but most of the time it\u2019s not a difficult change because it comes with a very well known playbook \u2013 we know what needs to be done and how to accomplish it,\u201d says Mamut. \u201cWhat makes a change hard is when there\u2019s no playbook for it and it\u2019s ambiguous, <\/span>uncharted territory. You don\u2019t know if you have a full commitment from other leaders to head down the same path, and the machinery and mechanisms aren\u2019t there to support the change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Small changes can actually be more difficult to implement<\/h2>\n

Even with a clear playbook for change, small changes can often be more difficult to implement than large ones because we assume we can accomplish them under the radar, without looking at the big picture. But we can\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you try to change one or two small things at a time, the immune system of an organization will respond and show up to attack the changes,\u201d says Mamut. \u201cSmall changes fail because people don’t take the time to design the larger holistic playbook and the context into which those changes will fit. If there\u2019s a big goal you want to achieve, you may have to change everything all at once in an orchestrated and coordinated move rather than making small changes over a period of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. The most powerful change is changing how people spend their time<\/h2>\n

Whatever particular change you\u2019re planning for your organization, try to focus on what impact it will have on how people spend their time at work. Not only will that give your team a definite example of how the change will affect their work but it will make it clear that the change is a holistic one, meant to impact everything about the way they do their job.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe number one thing that makes a difference in creating sustainable<\/span> culture change in companies is when they have certain agreements or encouragements about how time is spent,\u201d says Leanse. \u201cThe most powerful change is getting your team out of their time rut <\/span>of easy work and meaningless checklist items in favor of real, deep thinking. Companies that can change that can change everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. You can\u2019t \u201cDo it right and be done\u201d<\/h2>\n

Implementing a big change within an organization requires a lot of planning, and that planning can be painstaking work. But no matter how much effort you put into the coordination and strategy behind the plan, the rollout of change is the beginning of the work, not the end. Going through the process with an open mind and a sense of persistence will yield insights, integration, and value.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen change isn\u2019t easy right away, people tend to want to say, \u2018I did it right, and it didn\u2019t work, so I give up,\u2019 and the business world tries to reinforce that kind of thinking,\u201d says Leanse. \u201cBut when you\u2019re implementing a really big change, you\u2019ll never get to a point when you can say, \u2018My work here is done!\u2019 Real, lasting change is built on asking hard questions and embracing and reacting to input, even when it disagrees with yours.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. Successful change is always top down<\/h2>\n

The first step in making any culture change within an organization is to get buy-in from the leadership team, but it\u2019s even more important when it comes to driving big change in a large organization. The board of directors down must understand and commit to the plans for change (and why there\u2019s a need for it) in order to give the change the support it needs to be truly transformative.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMiddle managers are always looking for stories of how a small team did something big in a bottom-up way, but it’s very rare,\u201d says Mamut. \u201cI\u2019ve worked with CEOs on large transformation initiatives \u2013 including the transformations at Life Technologies and Procter & Gamble \u2013 and it\u2019s always led by the top and coordinated with the support of the board of directors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How can you initiate this kind of support? Focus on getting an advocate on the board of directors: \u201cFind at least one person on board who understands the change and can guide the conversation for the entire board around it, asking questions like, \u2018Will we need to change our metrics of success, including our financial metrics?\u2019\u201d and \u2018How are we going to assess the success of the C-suite for the next 2-3 years for the investment?\u2019\u201d says Mamut. \u201cThis person needs to not just be on board with the plan \u2013 no pun intended \u2013 but actually drive the strategy around it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re on the verge of driving big change within your organization, we hope these tips will help get you in <\/span>the right mindset to be successful. And of course<\/span> if you have any experience to share, please let us know in the comments!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether subbing out a CEO, troubleshooting a culture of bias, or reorganizing to pursue a new market opportunity, every organization will face a point in its development when it needs to change. And while we all know the basics of implementing any new initiative (get buy-in, craft a plan, follow through), there are nuances to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,31],"tags":[69,70,71,72,73,22],"yoast_head":"\nAdvanced Lessons on Driving Big Change at Large Organizations - Culture Summit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advanced Lessons on Driving Big Change at Large Organizations - Culture Summit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether subbing out a CEO, troubleshooting a culture of bias, or reorganizing to pursue a new market opportunity, every organization will face a point in its development when it needs to change. 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