Passion, Creativity, Initiative

“One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested” – E.M. Forester

Passion is an amazing emotion that unlocks incredible ability.  People with passion refuse to give up and can overcome huge obstacles to turn intent into accomplishment.  Passion can transform one person’s convictions in to a mass movement.  Campus Crusade for Christ is a perfect example of that.

Passion, creativity, and initiative are gifts that people choose to give or withhold day by day and moment by moment.  Engaging these gifts requires managing less not more.  It means less directives, less checking up, and less bureaucracy. The more constricting the oversight, the less passionate people are going to be about their work and the less creativity and initiative they will give.

Inspiring people to give generously of their talents requires that they be entrusted with the mission and equipped with the tools, training, and systems to be successful.  To succeed we must let go of the managerial paradigms of the industrial age and embrace new ways of leading that engage passion, creativity, and initiative.  For example, most people are unlikely to get excited about a task that has been assigned to them versus one they choose for themselves.  So why do we still assign tasks?  Sure the work still needs to get done, but a highly committed team should be entrusted to communicate and voluntarily select tasks that accomplish the service levels, goals, and mission of the organization.

What do you think?  Which environment would you most likely flourish in: one with high levels of managerial oversight or one where people are entrusted and equipped?  What thoughts do you have about how the scope of people’s freedom should be broadened by managing less and entrusting more, without sacrificing service levels and accomplishments?

Inspired by Gary Hamel in The Future of Management

Changing Results

I recently heard the statement “What gets measured gets improved“.  I have heard a version of this statement hundreds of times.  I have even said something to that affect many times.  As I heard it this time though, I thought to myself “Is that true?”, “Is that my experience with measurement and change?”

If I want to loose weight, I can stand on the scale every morning and my weight probably won’t change at all as a result.  In fact if I have been gaining weight over time, I will likely see my weight get worse not better.  To lose weight I have to do more than check it on the scale.  I have to make dramatic long term changes in my diet, my exercise, and how I think about caring for my body.

This is true of organizations as well.  You can’t change the results just by measuring the results.  To change the results you have to change what is producing those results. Like the weight loss example, change must occur in the way people think and act.  Because change is so hard, I have found it very helpful to utilize a change model.  In particular, I really like Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model.

Looking ahead in Campus Crusade for Christ I see a number of projects that are currently being implemented that will require major changes to our culture to have their full value realized.  For most of those projects we are in steps 4 or 5 in the change process.  We will need to keep the change model in front of us and be intentional about working toward all 8 steps of successful change.

SET THE STAGE

1. Create a Sense of Urgency.
Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately.

2. Pull Together the Guiding Team.
Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change—one with leadership skills, bias for action, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills.

DECIDE WHAT TO DO

3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy.
Clarify how the future will be different from the past, and how you can make that future a reality.

MAKE IT HAPPEN

4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy-in.
Make sure as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and the strategy.

5. Empower Others to Act.
Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.

6. Produce Short-Term Wins.
Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.

7. Don’t Let Up.
Press harder and faster after the first successes. Be relentless with instituting change after change until the vision becomes a reality.

MAKE IT STICK

8. Create a New Culture.
Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become a part of the very culture of the group.

Removing the Fire Hat

What if more value could be delivered with the same resources?

That is the question we asked ourselves as we were looking ahead at 2009.  We set an aggressive goal on our balanced scorecard for “Value Added” (the aggregate percentage of time across the entire Information Technology Group spent on Enhancements & Projects).  We also set aggressive goals for “Staff Learning & Growth” and “Tier 1 Application Availability”.  To hit the goals, we knew we needed to spend less time fighting fires.  We had to remove the fire hat!

The results of this effort have been amazing!  In the last three months, we have exceeded our goals in “Tier 1 Application Availability” and “Staff Learning & Growth” while simultaneously exceeding our “Value Added” goal by 50%.

There has been a transformation in our culture.  Simply put, we reward the heros that prevent the fires.  When a fire does occur, we put it out quickly and focus on preventing it from happening ever again.  We are utilizing the ITIL practices of incident management, problem management, and change management, and we are seeing the initial benefits they provide through stronger processes.

We are delivering higher value return on the budget our organization’s leaders have invested.  Our IT staff are able to spend more time upgrading their skills through professional training.  We are able to work on significant projects that interest our people while they do work that they enjoy.  Best of all, we get to enjoy more predictable work schedules with far fewer “fire alarms” in the middle of the night!