change

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August 10, 2022

The Challenges of Change Are Human

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under change, leadership, Organization Development | Tags: , , , , |
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Whether technology implementation, process improvement, or cultural transformation, implementing change is hard.  It involves engaging the human dynamics of an organization; dynamics that are complex, social, and unique to each community.  In their 2021 International Journal of Engineering Business Management research article, reviewing an array of change models, Abdelouahab Errida and Bouchra Lotfi, ascertain that using only one model may not provide a full description of the change management process… [that] several change models could be combined to best fit the particular situation of change or the circumstances of an organization. Angela Lee of Columbia Business School proposes that resistance to change is rooted in psychology and neuroscience which reveal that our individual brains are wired for laziness, limited capacity, and [simply] don’t like change.  Though the psychology and neuroscience claims may be valid, if cynical, I advocate David Cooperrider’s observation that, People don’t resist change. They resist being changed. 

Fundamentally, the human dynamics challenge seems rooted in the context of individual choice.  The popular Prosci® model emphasizes and coaches around the individual need to desire change. I have, throughout my time engaging change, intuitively sought to leverage available value propositions to influence individual choice for change.  Revealing genuine individual benefit can serve to counter the grief of loss that comes when change feels imposed.  Even leaders must choose to willingly lead the way and model new behavior.

Given these human dynamics, development and change agents remain challenged to discern and affect the human factor of each particular environment seeking to make a change.

 

September 7, 2019

Why OD (Organization Development)?

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under change, leadership, Organization Development | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Organization Development (OD) is the scholarship and practice of applied social sciences to cohesive groups of people – organizations, communities, unions and the like. OD professionals tune into and assess an entire social system with an aim to guide and coach it to discover and evolve itself, bringing people-based processes to do so.  To clarify, OD professionals are not hired to fix a system like a doctor or manage it like human resources (HR). We might work with individuals and teams, though usually with ALL of them or those identified as requiring support to fit the organization as it needs and wants to be as a whole.  Those who practice are typically systems thinkers, with a view on how people, process and systems work (or don’t) together. We discover how a system may work against its own interests and support it to evolve to serve those interests instead, not in doing anything to the system but by supporting its development of a more effective way.

We support pursuits like strategy-culture alignment and employee engagement through a variety of aforementioned people processes, including:

  • Strategy development
  • Leadership and management development
  • Team development
  • Coaching and facilitation
  • Conflict resolution
  • Large group interventions
  • Succession planning
  • Talent acquisition, retention and development
  • The list goes on…

…but OD professionals do not typically specialize in a single process. We usually have a capacity for multiple processes. Our specialty is in getting to know the system and what it may need, then figuring out the process to support it through research, drawing from our professional community, and trial and adaptation.

As a coach supports an individual to their own growth and development, so do OD professionals support an organization and all its individuals to its whole growth and development. To do this, we must start by engaging the very top level. If leadership is unwilling to change, there is little hope for the whole system to do so. That is the rub. On the subject of employee engagement, for OD, it isn’t about managing employees to engage; it’s about engaging employees, and we can support leadership and management to develop the capacity to do so effectively. Transformation of an organization requires every single member to develop new capacities. We can support that process, too.

If, as a leader, you are looking to take your organization to a new level or in a different direction, we can support you to evolve your organization, as a whole, to move that way. Call on us via OD professional organizations such as the OD Network or the International Society of Organization and Change as well as higher education such as Benedictine or Case Western Reserve University. You can bring us in as external or internal consultants as we do our best work in autonomy from the system, not tucked in to a department, other than perhaps the C-Suite.

We, Organizational Development professionals, look forward to serving your organization’s strategic development needs.

Be well.

Published September 2019

 

October 31, 2016

The Failure Rate of Change

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under change, leadership, People, process, Systems, Uncategorized
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When it comes to change, whether planned or perhaps just keeping up with change inherent to the global business environment, it is well discussed and debated that the success of change has held steady at a rate of around 30%. If we consider the fact that change is typically viewed and managed from a technology and logistics perspective, this might very well make sense. Whether a merger and acquisition, installing a new system or imposing process best practice, without an understanding of the people dynamic of the organization, what gets missed is whether a desired merger, system or process is a fit for the environment.

Think about it, how many individuals read books about the success of leaders only to discover that mimicking their actions does not work for us? How many successful leaders in one environment have been hired into another only to meet with failure? This phenomenon holds true for teams as well as whole organizations. If leaders lack an understanding of the socio-cultural aspects of the people they lead, how can we be sure the latest system or process is a fit for the organization? Taking this a step further, if we do have a level of understanding, do we see a path for developing our people to transition to the change we desire to make?

The most successful system changes of which I have been a part have typically been home grown. They take into account successful process already in place, driven by the unique dynamic of those working in the environment. The most unsuccessful changes I have observed are those “latest and greatest” off-the-shelf options that are imposed on existing workforce dynamics un- or ill-prepared to take them on. Others lie somewhere in between.

For change to be successful, leadership must make the connection between the system or process and the particular human dynamic of the organization. We must then consider how much the workforce will need to be developed to meet the requirements of a desired system or process, or perhaps what it will take to evolve the existing workforce dynamics to organically update existing systems and process to meet the goals of desired change. If we are adamant about installing or imposing externally allocated systems or process, then we must be prepared for the cost of customization as part of implementation. I have yet to witness a culture changed simply by overlaying an ill-fitted system or process structure. In fact, this is where a 70% rate of change failure may very well lie.

If a leader wants a fuller sense of the human dynamics of the organization, there exists a field of professionals who can support seeing, understanding and developing the people dynamic of the business. These professionals might be found in human resources (HR), though HR professionals are traditionally adept at and focused on managing legal, policy and other types of transactions with employees. Their view is rightly based on protecting the business from missteps around regulations and benefits to employees required by law. When it comes to change and transformation, the mindset and professional capacity of those prepared to bring a growth and development lens to the environment are those educated and practiced in organization development (OD) or organization effectiveness (OE). In fact, OD/OE professionals might be considered the original change agents because we have always approached change with an understanding that it isn’t imposed so much as it is coached and facilitated. OD/OE professionals don’t do change on a leader’s behalf; we support a leader to lead change.

 

July 15, 2016

We Cannot Go Back

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under change, Economy, Global Presence, People, Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” ― Heraclitus

With great change, the likes of which the world is and has been experiencing, comes great nostalgia for what was. It can be a sense of loss enough to trigger the grieving process – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The grief is evident on a social scale. We see it in the rise of nationalism, isolationism and authoritarianism across countries, in the resistance to immigration and integration.

It’s too bad that change has come so quickly that many haven’t had the chance to catch their breath, to build the necessary resilience. I am more than hopeful that the change occurring is making us better. Younger generations sense this. Older generations want what was, and cannot fathom a world, that they seem also resistant to accept, they helped create.

To those who work with change, this is all standard protocol. Those who work in change management consistently struggle to bestow leaders with the understanding that bringing people along matters, and in this our national leadership, across the board, has failed. Yet, in the observation that the change has happened on a scale and at a speed never before encountered, how can anyone be to blame?

No. We must all take up our share of the responsibility for making the transition, or at least stay out of the way of those prepared to do so.

 

May 29, 2016

A Human Systems Observation on Why Trump

Posted by Jacqueline (Bonin) Gargiulo under change, Politics, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , |
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Fascinating read: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/a-dialogue-with-a-22-year-old-donald-trump-supporter/484232/.  Kudos to this dialogue occurring and to its publication.  We could certainly use much more of it.

I say kudos, because I have long held that the PC movement has caused more harm than good in that it has driven underground this kind of critical dialogue. I am also intrigued at yet another revelation that the left disregarding the views of our fellow citizens on the right as “less than” has helped to create a divide unhealthy to American society.  Now, it is not lost on me that there are those who have purposely influenced a creation of ignorance to be exploited, so perhaps we could treat the situation more appropriately by acknowledging the requisite disenfranchisement that now exists?

Another observation brought to mind by this article is that men have long enjoyed dominant status in American society, and in any number of other societies around the globe. There is currently underway a global challenge to patriarchy. Some countries have made progress on what I witness to be a leveling off to a more egalitarian community. As the US traverses this process, males are undoubtedly experiencing a loss of status, and especially white men. The change is already in process, and those resistant perhaps see in Trump an uber-caricature of (white) male dominance they simply crave to save, and keep in mind this is most likely a subconscious reaction. Bias is not often in awareness, which is why it can be so potent.

It might also be debated that the decades long scrutiny of the Clintons, especially Hillary, plays into this as well.  Obama basically came out of the blue, so without Hillary’s requisite “baggage” from her longer-term exposure to the existing elements, as a representative of minorities in American society.  Is the vitriolic reaction to a minority president not obvious by now?  And here comes, has been coming, a dominating female challenger (note that a black man usurped her long anticipated rise) to male dominance.  Is it possible the decades long scrutiny of her has been a subconscious effort to make her take her submissive place in patriarchal society?

The question becomes, how do the rest of us assist the transition? Help men see that they are simply experiencing what pretty much the rest of society has dealt with under their dominance? It must be an extremely sobering event for them, and let’s face it, it is not human nature to swallow pride so easily. Nope, that’s as vulnerable a position as apologizing.

Be well.  Be kind.  Bring compassion.

~ Jacqueline, Scholar-Practitioner of Human Systems