Innovate

Innovation and transformation are inescapable in today’s society. The churn in the economy, society and government has reached a point where even the most conservative, risk-adverse organization needs to change. Massive structural shifts in the economy, the eruption of disruptive technology, and the emergence of a new relationship between citizens and government where citizens demand the same level of service from government as they demand from the private sector make transformation imperative.

Organizational Transformation: Old versus New Government

This has created a mismatch between pre-millennial organizations (i.e., those organizations that were created prior to the great transformation that we are living through) and post-millennial customer demands. Organizations that have resisted transformation end up as being consumed by better adapted organizations that are able to survive and thrive in the post-Millennial world.

Key Principals to Keep in Mind during Transformation

• Everyone Should Know What They Are Doing: Define clear and distinct charters for every function in an organization — everyone should know what they are meant to do and why it’s different from other peoples work
• Don’t Build for Superman: Eliminate impossible jobs that only super-people can fill — the more the organizational structure permits specialization, the more depth it can offer in each area, and the better it will perform
• Don’t Build for Underdog: Avoid jobs for underachievers — employ everyone’s full range of talents within well-defined lines of business
• Culture is not just a Mold on a Tub Of Yogurt: Culture is the real, alive medium in which people live their life – do everything you can to reshape the culture to support your vision – if the culture changes, the organization will follow
• Empower All Levels: Every level of the organization should be empowered and held accountable for results rather than tasks
• Empower All Functions: Don’t limit accountability to one level and authority to another – disperse power and accountability through the organization
• Don’t Intervene: Don’t attempt to control everything management does — establish general guidelines to regulate behavior
• Don’t Rely on Authority: People do things because they see a benefit from an action – don’t rely on status hierarchies and control – make the resource bargain is explicit (“if you do this, you get this”) – don’t rely solely on monetary awards
• Emphasize Business and Individual Benefits: Be explicit about the benefit of any function to the organization and the reward that an individual or organization will receive for delivering that benefit
• Remember People are Not Idiots or Children: People are smart enough to know when transformation rhetoric is just for show – don’t lie to people and expect them to believe – people can understand their own interests and will act in accordance with their perceived interest – explain how transformation will benefit them and what they have to gain from it
• Keep Rules Simple and Flexible: Don’t attempt to control everything through detailed, inflexible plans — establish general guidelines to regulate behavior and positive incentives
• Don’t Discrimination Against Functions: The organization must be equally ready to support any of its many lines of business without predefined preferences – a function that is held in low regard will not function well
• Design Around Broad Personality Types, Not Individuals: Be conscious of the personality type needed and what types are interested in the resource bargain – design around broad personality archetypes rather than people
• Reward Results, Not Tasks: Align rewards feedback loops with intended results, define structure by the products they produce rather than the skills or tasks needed to produce them
• Make Inter-dependencies Explicit: Inter-dependencies must be clearly established — build a clear understanding of each group’s internal customers and suppliers
• Build for Integration: Explicitly assign responsibilities for ensuring collaboration across boundaries
• Build for adaptation: Explicitly assign responsibilities for improving the organization – make the structure self-adjusting and self-correct

Our experience has shown that pre-millennial organizations typically put off change until is it too painful not to change. At that point, if they ignore the need for transformation or treat it half-hearted they are doomed to irrelevance. Organizational leaders typically demonstrate a dangerous reluctance to face the truth. They rely on outmoded behaviors and maintain a “business-as-usual” mentality.

In the public sector the result is that loose stakeholder support, experience declining budgets, and end up having their functions and core competencies transferred to other organizations. Innovate offers the tools and vision to breakthrough the pain of transformation. We do not believe in manage fads and partial change; we stand for route and branch transformation to dramatically improve performance and shift organizations to a new plateau of performance and achievement.

We use a four-phase approach to business transformation: