Transformation Cornerstones

Up to now, we have suggested that change is difficult because of people, systems, and emotions. Yet organizations need to change because the environment is changing. We also have suggested that there are different types of changes organizations need to focus on in order to improve the organization’s results. Maybe this explains why there are so many books on organizational change. Unfortunately, as we are laying track to make our argument about organizational change, we need to discuss one more concept. Change not only is difficult but also does not occur in just one part of the organization. If only it were as simple as “change the technology, change the organization.” Or even “change the people, change the organization.” Successful change occurs when multiple aspects of the organizational change. We call these different aspects the transformation cornerstones (see Figure 3.1).

There are four cornerstones of transformation: self-mastery, interpersonal mastery, value exchange, and change methodologies.⁵ It would be pleasant to focus on only one of these areas for renewal at a time and then move on to the next cornerstone when attempting transformation. Unfortunately, the demand is to work on all four at once and address the interrelated nature of the cornerstones.

Self-mastery is about the individual being open and engaged in transformational change of self. As the organization is composed of individuals, it is holding the current state of each of its members in check. For massive change to take place within the organization, individuals must make a mental leap in consciousness and effectiveness: The individual must jump toward a higher level of personal mastery in order to affect the organization. Simply talking about a change effort is sorely insufficient. An internalization of the change sought, coupled with new paradigms about self-capability, is required. This is difficult work, but avenues exist that are guided by a rich body of knowledge in psychology.

It is not surprising that a number of great leaders had reflection time forced upon them in the form of a prison sentence. Putting aside any personal moral judgment concerning their visions, many acclaimed leaders have served jail time; they were able to spend time reflecting on the results of their actions to date and determine how to improve on them once released from prison. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolph Hitler, Fidel Castro, and the Apostle Paul served time in prison where they considered their past results and pondered on future, postprison actions. Now, short of sending every aspiring leader to prison, taking time out of a crisis-ridden schedule to think will certainly benefit a leader seeking to grow in effectiveness. In his book, Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests that in order to get the most out of life, which he calls the quality experience, you need to understand who you are and how you work: “You can drive a car all your life without knowing how the engine works, because the goal of driving is to get from one place to the next, regardless of how it is done. But to live an entire life without understanding how we think, why we feel what we feel, what directs our actions is to miss what is most important in life, which is the quality of experience itself.”⁶ We, along with Csikszentmihalyi and many others, all agree that to live a more fulfilling life, be it as a leader of a major corporation, a team player in a small department, or a husband or wife, requires a deep understanding of who we are and why we do what we do.

Interpersonal mastery deals with how individuals relate to each other. However, given deeper insights gained through a deeper consciousness of yourself as a leader, interpersonal mastery involves how you help others to develop that similar consciousness of themselves and how you relate to other highly conscious individuals. Far beyond the normal team-development work or call for diversity appreciation, developing interpersonal mastery entails understanding each other’s purpose, vision, and values and discovering each other’s points of agreement. In fact, superficial team-building exercises get in the way of the search for deeper relationships that teams need to reach a high level of effectiveness. Only from this meaningful investigation of each other and discovery of collective passion can breakthrough occur. Simply said, a high-performance team is composed of high-performance individuals with deeply rooted, overlapping passion to create.

Value exchange means recasting the relationships among the various entities within the whole system. There are a vast number of demands, requirements, and expectations between an organization, its customers, identified stakeholders, and the world at large. These expectations extend far beyond the receipt of monies for products or services. In addition to this obvious exchange, we have exchanges of mutual respect, loyalty for consistent customer satisfaction, support systems for taxes, approval for acceptable business practices, and the list goes on. Clearly, history points to the shifting of value exchanges during the course of an organization’s life. If we go back to the example of General Motors, you can see how value exchange works. In the early days of the automobile, the value exchange was distance for dollars. We gave the car companies money, and they gave us a vehicle that allowed us to travel. Then we wanted reliability, greater ability to travel, comfort, fuel economy, and safety. We now want all of that, along with a great entertainment system and a minimal impact on the environment. Given the choices we have in terms of which automobile to purchase, General Motors’ success will be determined by how the company is able to meet the customer’s value exchange better than other automobile companies.

Waiting to respond to a shift until it actually happens, however, is not a sustainable strategy. It is no longer a successful strategy to ask the customer what they want and then try to deliver. Becoming conscious of the different exchanges of value under way allows an organization to take proactive action to build strength. Knowing where value exchanges are headed allows transformational actions to leap forward. Also, the creation of value streams allows the organization to develop systems and processes to support ongoing value exchange. Seeing the connection of an organization to other people and entities that are license holders opens the door to transformation opportunities. Every person and every organization in the world has some level of potential impact on an organization’s work. We might not be conscious of all these different stakeholders, but nevertheless, they could choose to support or undermine an organization at any time. Not knowing who they are can be a lost opportunity at best and dangerous at worst. Seeing the connection in advance gives an organization the option to solicit support or avoid unnecessary conflicts.

Finally, the cornerstone of change methodology captures the proven approaches to change itself. Through decades of action research and a vibrant community continually engaged in discovery, there is strong evidence of the strength of particular approaches and methodologies. The mistake many organizations make is to assume that by choosing a well-established approach to change, and neglecting the other three cornerstones, transformation will occur. Multifaceted systems, organizations, and individuals do not transform given a paint-by-number process. We have found most organizations are rich in change methodologies and poor in the other three cornerstones. The “program of the month” label tends to be slapped on these narrow efforts, and resistance soars.

You will find the five ingredients covered in latter chapters will address all four cornerstones. Keep in mind the skills needed to actually transform an organization (as opposed to asserting transformation) are across the human experience. It is an individual transformation that is being called forth, along with a transformational experience in relationships with coworkers and customers. Executing one step of a transformational program alone will just make it harder for the next set of leaders who know what they are doing.

Most recognize that substantive change is challenging. As a result, many dive into the detail and build programs that are extremely complicated. It is true that comprehensive planning is needed, but a constant process overlay is essential. Sharing a well-understood and meaningful vision as a response to a real burning platform, with a limited number of major thrusts for achieving the vision, is what you should try to achieve. Each individual should be able to give voice to this macro plan without having to reach for the talking points distributed on a brochure. Often organizations make the mistake of producing a T-shirt, a poster to be placed on the wall, or a card to go into your wallet that summaries key points of an initiative or change effort. When pressed to discuss the change effort, we have seen many leaders reach for their “wallet card” to communicate the change. While a useful tool, we think successful leaders go beyond the “wallet card” in an effort to communicate and share the organizational transformation plan or initiative. Leaders understand the necessity of building plans, but you should not substitute the plan for leadership competency.