Co-Creating Organizational Change
I work with a band of designers and wicked smart thinkers to help large, complex organizations activate strategies and improve organizational performance through visual thinking and co-creation. And yes, when I use that line to describe my work at cocktail parties eyes glaze over.
Recently I’ve been out and about leading workshops on designing interventions to inspire organizational transformation. Inevitably, near the end of almost every workshop, someone raises their hand and says, “This is all really awesome. And, [but] what if you don’t have the authority to launch a major change initiative in your organization? There are things in my organization I’m dying to fix or improve. How do I do it?”
So let’s pause there (we will come back to this in a second).
Imagine if you will, that you are an executive or formal leader in an organization (okay- maybe you are one, and you don’t have to imagine). Imagine then, if you will, that your job is kind of like being a captain or ranking officer of a boat.
Odds are, your boat is (hopefully) in the water, and that you spend most of your time “here.”
And, maybe, if you are a mid-level executive, or you like to really get hands on and walk the halls, you might spend most of your time “here” and “there.”
If you work in a traditional organization, then one of your major accountabilities is to initiate and lead change within your organization. Whether tacking the ship (strategy change), replacing the intercom system and protocols (new technologies and behaviors), or changing crew at the port (from re-org to merger), when it comes to major change initiatives, your buy-in and leadership is key. To keep the boat analogy afloat (I know, I’m hilarious), let’s say a major part of your job is to say, “Hey everybody, we are heading towards that island over there.”
But, here is the thing. While you are up on the deck, scanning the horizon, most of the people who are actually getting the boat to work are “down there.”
Manning the pumps.
Okay, so it’s time to return to this guy…. remember him? Lets call him Tim.
There are two critical things you need to know about Tim.
One. The fact that there is a “Tim” in every workshop is consistent with my experience working in client systems. Deep down inside, Tim, wants to succeed at his job. And most people are like Tim. They want to know that when they show up at work everyday their contribution matters. And… here is the kicker… that means they want to help the ship get to the island, but are rarely asked for their input as to how best to get there.
Two. Tim has critical information you need to successfully get to the island. He may know if pumps number 3–40 need to get replaced before you leave the port. He may know that you’re currently running with 100 pumps, but you really only need 5 to go the same speed. Whatever it is, if you design your plan to get “to the island” without the Tim’s of your world, you are missing critical front line information about what might get in the way of success, and creative solutions for winning that you could have never imagined.
In today’s environment of rapid change and complexity, you can’t afford to leave your employees insights and inspired engagement on the table. The Tims of your organization just might be the not-so-secret secret you’ve been waiting for.
So what to do? Co-create with the Tims.
When I work with clients to design change, we focus on co-creating solutions with(in) their organizations. We bring people into the room who will actually be doing the work and ask them to break the question, imagine the destination in some new way, and ask them for input on the path forward. For some leaders, the act of leaving “the top decks” to listen to needs and ideas of stakeholders from different elevations of the organization can feel new, and sometimes disorienting. My experience is that when it’s done right, even the most unsure executives have the light bulb moment.
The light bulb moment is the moment the they see insights and perspective of the full organization come together in one strategy, with a team that is ready to deploy with a sense of ownership, contribution, and purpose. And that my friends, is the power of co-creation.
