Change breeds uncertainty and discomfort, even when the need
for change is agreed upon. However,
nonprofits exist in dynamic environments, as evidenced in the last round of
blog posts, in which change is the only constant. As such creating a culture where change can
take hold is crucial. Below are five
common barriers to creating this culture and methods to mitigate them.
Poor Communication
Communication is fundamental to change. Communication must be constant, formal and
informal, vertical and horizontal, and exist prior to attempting change. An organization that wishes to change must
first be an organization that communicates (Renz, Charan, Cameron).
Communication has both system and cultural components. For example, ‘system’ could pertain to the
way meetings are organized and held. For
example, when organizing a strategic planning meeting are employees
involved? Stakeholders? Which stakeholders? Is the meeting in a good location
for all parties? At a good time? The meeting itself permits easy communication across parties
and the method of organizing it indicates that participants' input matters. An additional example of a ‘systems’ tool is a
newsletter with a wide range of stakeholder contributors.
Culture is more amorphous. Cultural questions could be whether a manager
leaves their office to talk to people as opposed to merely relying on a passive
open-door policy which requires others to walk *in.* Culture could also be the
occasional scheduling of in-depth focus groups with employees or stakeholders
Focus groups require management to
listen as opposed to speak. The openness both speaking and listening as
part of communication can filter through an organization as well as provide a
broader understanding of the status quo and how to effectively implement change
(Charan).
Not Supporting Change
Mandating that people change without providing adequate funding
and staffing will instill bitterness. As such once change is planned for, based
in part on communication (take some time to communicate and listen to people), resources
must be provided to turn the organization in a new direction (Renz). Supporting change also requires that
organizations permit mistakes as people learn about new ways of working. Finally, evaluation methods must incorporate
both the desired outcomes of change as well as (if possible) activities that
capture if an employee is participating in change (Cameron). For example, rewards for employees that
streamline a certain process could be offered in an organization with a goal to
reduce waste.
No Urgency
The need for change must also be created (Cameron). For example, people react strongly to negative information. Instead of, for
example, stating that 70% of clients were served effectively underscore that
almost one in three weren’t. Creating
urgency amongst stakeholders will help propel change.
And have you looked into communication? Without it how is
urgency supposed to be communicated and reinforced?
No ownership of change
In class we reviewed a few exercises that were structured methods
to ensure that everyone could participate in strategic planning, vision
creation, and mission writing. These
methods rely on collaboration and should be employed as they increase the
likelihood of ‘buy-in’ to change by providing participants a bit of ownership
over the agreed upon direction of the change (Renz, ‘challenges’).
Also, collaboration is crucial to these methods and it only
happens when people communicate. So,
think on that.
No change agents
Organizations require a key group of people to shepherd the
change process. Finding, training, and
incorporating these people into the process of the change is crucial (Renz).
They can be found by effective communication. So, talk to people. See who is excited about the future or, at
bare minimum, scared of the status quo.
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Works Cited
Cameron, Kim (1991)
“Transformational Leadership.” Harper Collins.
Charan, Ram and Noel Tichy. (1989). “Speed, Simplicity,
Self-Confidence: An Interview with Jack Welch.” Harvard Business Review.
Renz, David, (2010). “The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit
Leadership and Management 3rd Ed.” Jossey-Bass.
Vaish, Amrisha, Tobias Grossmann, and Amanda Woodward (2008)
“Not All Emotions Are Created Equal: The Negativity Bias in Social-Emotional
Development.” Psychological bulletin 134.3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3652533/
Challenges “The Challenges of Strategic management” Bibliographic
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