Imagine you have to been invited to ‘make things happen’ in an organisation. For example, to introduce a new approach to customer service or create a new business. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that it is possible. The bad news is that the corridors may be littered with corpses of people who ‘tried to change the culture’. So how can you deliver success? It will be important: a) to get a mandate; b) to set things up to succeed. Here are three steps you can take towards making this happen.

1) You can clarify what the organisation wants to keep and wants to change.

Every organisation has rules. Some rules are written, some are unwritten; some may be contradictory. Some rules work well for the present time, but other rules may be required in the future. Get to know an organisation’s rules before embarking on a project. Be diplomatic, but ask the decision-makers about:

a) The things they want to keep doing in the organisation - because some of these patterns will have contributed to their success;

b) The things they want to add, develop or change.

“Tackling this exercise was fascinating,” reported one person. “I was offered a senior role in a relatively successful insurance company. The leaders were worried about new competitors on the net, so the brief was: ‘To build the future business.’ At first the responses to what they wanted to keep and change were full of modern management speak. Delving beneath the surface, however, the real answers began to emerge.

“What they wanted to keep included: the quiet, studied atmosphere in the office; the formal dress code; the numerous internal meetings; 5 days a week in the office - no working from home; managers acting as supervisors and the staff being relatively ‘compliant’. What they wanted to develop included: proactive staff, greater customer focus and a dynamic growing business. The two lists contained many contradictions. This was good to know before trying to build the future business - otherwise I would have been sunk.”

Let’s imagine you have been asked to make things happen in an organisation. Interview the key people, ask in-depth questions and then complete the following sentences.

The things we want to keep are:

*

*

*

The things we want to add, develop or change are:

*

*

*

2) You can clarify what must be done to really make things happen in the organisation.

“We had an excellent discussion about what they wanted to keep and change,” continued the person charged with building the future business. “After a while it became obvious that it would not work to try to ‘change’ the present culture - there would be too much resistance. The leaders wanted to retain what worked in its traditional market - but also develop a more dynamic insurance business. They recognised two factors. First, they wanted the financial benefits from the new business. Second, they understood it required new staff applying modern practices in a dynamic culture. How to solve the problem? The new business must be in a different location - possibly under a new brand name. Providing I delivered the results, they would not interfere. So that is what we did - and it worked. But it only came about from recognising and respecting what they wanted to keep and change.”

Let’s return to your ‘change assignment’. Looking at the organisation, be absolutely brutal about what must happen if you are going to be able to fulfil your mandate. Try completing the following sentence.

The things that must be done to really
make things happen in the organisation are:

*

*

*

3) You can get the mandate to make things happen in the organisation.

Get the authority to act. You have the brief - but now you need the mandate. Agree with the key decision-makers on: a) The specific things that are definitely required in order to succeed; b) The other things that would be helpful. Be crystal-clear on the 3 A’s: accountability, autonomy and authority. You are prepared to be accountable, but must have the necessary autonomy and authority to deliver the results. Get the mandate - then produce some early visible successes. These will provide the momentum for making things happen in the organisation. Try completing the following sentence.

The things that must be done to make sure I have a
crystal-clear mandate for making things happen are:

*

*

*

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