The Principles of Change
June 26, 2006
I think one of the interesting things to examine that we haven't covered before is the motivation behind change. In the Federal government there are several fundamental principles behind the nature of most change initiatives. One of the major principles parallels pretty closely with the rise of the Internet and the Information Age. In the era of collaboration, organizations need to figure out how to associate effectively and make meaningful relationships that take advantage of the wealth of information that is available. There is tremendous, untapped potential in the information that is out there, and organizations need to figure out how to align their people, processes, and technology to take advantage of it. If they don't, people will point to them and say, "Hey, you had all of this information which, if you had just connected the dots in the right way, it would have led you to the right decisions. Why aren't you connecting the dots?" This is exactly what happened with the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and it is well described in the final report of the 9-11 Commission. As people begin to understand the power they have with information access, they begin to ask more and more, "Why aren't we using it?"
The problem is not simply one of technology - no system or application can accurately make the decisions that need to be made - but is fundamentally a problem of information. Time and time again we have heard that lower-tier employees have reported concerns or identified issues, and this information was obscured by superiors who were threatened for some reason or another by that information. Organizational limitations obstruct the free flow of information and limit its power. This is unacceptable to people in an age where you can learn step-by-step instructions for pretty much anything at the click of a button, and so we see change initiatives such as those put in place by General Cartwright at STRATCOM. Those who have read "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" will recognize the dramatic impact that the Internet and freedom of information are having across the globe, and organizations with rigid hierarchies and reporting chains, such as the Federal government, are struggling to catch up.
There are other fundamental principles behind most change: simple efficiency by removing dead weight and streamlining operations; or rolling out a new policy plan. I think that it's important for us to understand why organizations are changing as much as how change agents are enacting the change. I think as we look into this going forward we may be surprised at what we find.
What do you think?
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