I once took a class on Capitol Hill on how Congress operates. The conversations were less on the Constitution, committees and bill making. It was a peek into how Power operates. Then, I was reading books on Organizational Change and Power. Both Change and Power touch on Culture.
The Nature of Power. The US Constitution hard codes political impediment, a cunningly crafted document that prevents the over-accumulation of power. That was the message at the beginning. They warned us that throughout the course speakers (former members of Congress) would speak to the need to accumulate power.
What I learned is that to get anything done, you had to accumulate power. The bigger the change, the more power you had to accumulate. When you exercise that power to implement change, that power is dissipated. Therefore, party control shifts after massive legislation. The party that exercised their power for massive change spent the power to remain in control. (Also why you should always doubt politicians who want to do away with the Constitution. They want to remove the key impediment to their gaining and retaining power.)
I walked away with the realization that Power is like the weather. There are fronts of change. The mild ones go unnoticed. The massive fronts with significant temperature shifts cause property damage through hail, flooding, tornados and hurricanes.
Organizational change exercises political power on a culture to effect change.
The premise of Kanban Change Leadership (my current WIP) is that a culture of continuous change (like Toyota) keeps the changes small, constant and (largely) tactical to avoid the cultural storms that result. You need never accumulate a significant amount of power because the changes are microscopic, repetitive, accumulative.
Culture as the Problem. I’ve led two organizational change activities; one successful and one that is still ongoing as I write this. Major technology transitions are never about the technology. I agree with the maxim that 70 percent of any technology transition is about Culture (you and me), 20 percent is about Process, and 10 percent is the Technology. As a technologist, new technology is easy. Getting people to embrace the behavioral changes new technology introduces is hard.
To succeed in any technology transformation, get the right people to actively support the need to change. This requires intention, high emotional intelligence, and the competitive will to succeed. But that competitive will must focus on the keys of communication: first seek to understand, then seek to be understood.
Culture is more engaged with technology that is core to its operations. Thus, introduction of major enterprise service management systems such as SalesForce, ServiceNow or PeopleSoft can be a shock on the culture and incur the most resistance. This resistance is lowered when the has-been system is unpopular. But, the resistance increases when there are pockets of powerful change detractors.
Of course, you are a part of your organization's culture. Whether you are part of the problem or solution depends on whether you can shift with the organizational change.
The Nature of Power. The US Constitution hard codes political impediment, a cunningly crafted document that prevents the over-accumulation of power. That was the message at the beginning. They warned us that throughout the course speakers (former members of Congress) would speak to the need to accumulate power.
What I learned is that to get anything done, you had to accumulate power. The bigger the change, the more power you had to accumulate. When you exercise that power to implement change, that power is dissipated. Therefore, party control shifts after massive legislation. The party that exercised their power for massive change spent the power to remain in control. (Also why you should always doubt politicians who want to do away with the Constitution. They want to remove the key impediment to their gaining and retaining power.)
I walked away with the realization that Power is like the weather. There are fronts of change. The mild ones go unnoticed. The massive fronts with significant temperature shifts cause property damage through hail, flooding, tornados and hurricanes.
Organizational change exercises political power on a culture to effect change.
The premise of Kanban Change Leadership (my current WIP) is that a culture of continuous change (like Toyota) keeps the changes small, constant and (largely) tactical to avoid the cultural storms that result. You need never accumulate a significant amount of power because the changes are microscopic, repetitive, accumulative.
Culture as the Problem. I’ve led two organizational change activities; one successful and one that is still ongoing as I write this. Major technology transitions are never about the technology. I agree with the maxim that 70 percent of any technology transition is about Culture (you and me), 20 percent is about Process, and 10 percent is the Technology. As a technologist, new technology is easy. Getting people to embrace the behavioral changes new technology introduces is hard.
To succeed in any technology transformation, get the right people to actively support the need to change. This requires intention, high emotional intelligence, and the competitive will to succeed. But that competitive will must focus on the keys of communication: first seek to understand, then seek to be understood.
Culture is more engaged with technology that is core to its operations. Thus, introduction of major enterprise service management systems such as SalesForce, ServiceNow or PeopleSoft can be a shock on the culture and incur the most resistance. This resistance is lowered when the has-been system is unpopular. But, the resistance increases when there are pockets of powerful change detractors.
Of course, you are a part of your organization's culture. Whether you are part of the problem or solution depends on whether you can shift with the organizational change.
--
Ben
In tenebris solus sto
Ben
In tenebris solus sto