Build a platform for change, not a change program

I do not necessarily speak of the private and business environment, rather than when we go to say “we will make a change and that is why I will now present my program …” Bs dude !! to make good and real changes it is necessary to build and plan the Change platform.

It is necessary to change the way we change. To its fullest extent, this phrase should apply to the model of evolution, improvement and change of the current business. The change of traditional program, that whose only possible manager was that member of the management, must be replaced by a change of platform; more participatory, social and effective.

Time, based on studies by John Kotter, a professor at Harvard University’s business school, has written in bold print: 70% of change programs have not met their goals. And the problem with program changes is not in the very fact of change, something that could be assumed. The problems are rather related to the management of change itself, to its agents and executors.

In most organizations, change is designed, written, and implemented by senior management of these organizations, wasting the creativity and discretionary power of employees. The result is problematic, confusing, convulsive, and slow. And also, for that change of program happens, the change of administration is almost necessary.

Change management must improve. The member of the management must pass from the role of manager of transformational changes to manager of the platforms of change, functioning as a kind of facilitator of the change, which through this platform allows anyone to initiate change, recruit allies, suggest solutions and launch experiments.

The effort to change must be socially built, in a process that gives everyone the right to establish priorities, diagnose barriers, and generate options, leaving in the past the official edict and giving way to the organic and inclusive change of the entire company.

Change management implies that deep change can be managed and managed. But if the change is truly transformational, it can not be predetermined. When program changes are designed, your universe of solutions is limited by what senior people can imagine. A change of platform, in contrast, gives everyone the power to suggest strategic alternatives. The result is that the options are diverse, radical and full of nuances.

Transformational change can not be sustained without a real commitment from those who will be most affected. Change comes naturally when individuals have a platform that allows them to identify common interests and generate solutions.

An example of this is the medical and high-growth medical device company Nuasive which, in order to optimize and redesign its supply chain, dispensed with a team of high-level specialists, and in turn invited all employees of the company to collaborate in the process. In this way, a group of volunteer staff from across the company, with the support of a small coordination group and a few volunteer coaches, contributed to a process that succeeded in generating a common vision of the problem, a set of shared aspirations for performance and a portfolio of new initiatives to achieve this.

In particular, the platforms of change are better instances of evolution, due to advantages such as:

• Encourage people to face major organizational challenges, ie those that are often considered beyond the “pay grade” of an employee or sphere of influence.
• Encourage honest and direct discussion of root causes, and in the process develop a shared vision of the most difficult barriers to overcome.
• To provoke dozens of possible solutions, instead of seeking to join a single approach ahead of time, the goal is to first diverge and then to converge.
• Focus on generating a portfolio of experiments that can be carried out locally in order to test or refute the components of a more general solution, rather than developing a single large project.

Encourage people to take personal responsibility to initiate the change they want to see, and give them the resources and tools necessary to stimulate their thinking and imagination.

“What we need is constant experimentation with new operating models, business models and management models. Do not freeze and refreeze, but permanent snow, “says psychologist Kurt Lewin.

Generating a platform for change is not easy or fast, but it is possible and effective. The biggest challenge in its process is not technical, but rather a change of roles and visions regarding the change itself. The manager must act as a facilitator of change and not a generator of change. The process of socially constructed change is the future. The change program is already irrelevant. Facts give reason.