Evolutionaries

We’re suffering from a language deficit when it comes to talking about what we do for clients.

“Change management” presupposes reaction, albeit engaged reaction. It’s not a bad tag as far as it goes, but it suggests a timeline: static—>change—>static. We don’t like that; change is ever present. The question is who’s driving the changes in your organization (and do they know what to aim for).

“Organizational development” begs the question: what if the organization is the problem? It’s all well and good to teach your people, to train folks, to “empower employees,” but if the structure in which they work constrains their effectiveness, then no amount of development is going to help.

What is required is a toward-the-middle approach that embraces a simple principle:

You can do better.

By “toward the middle,” we mean that we work from the top down and bottom up simultaneously. We require heavy lifting from the leadership and rank and file alike. At the top, we develop strategic goals and communication models that encourage innovation, de-normalize cultural barriers to access, and aggressively seek the right future for the company. At the bottom, we ignite the courage, power and passion of your workforce to make the changes that they know must be made.

Not everyone at the top is going to love the idea of letting the inmates run the asylum. Not everyone at the bottom is going to grasp the value of the freedoms they are given. But it only takes one person from each camp to make remarkable things happen.

Creating a culture where your “evolutionaries” can connect and work together will yield tremendous results for your organization.

Carmen and Randy discuss the concept further: