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Title: Terms of Engagement: Changing the Way We Change Organizations by Richard H. Axelrod, Peter Block ISBN: 1-57675-239-9 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The "Maximum Engagement" Change Model
Comment: I first experienced this change model as a young management consultant in the late 1960s, and was overwhelmed by its effectiveness then. Over the years, I have made this approach a central tenet of how I work with client organizations and our own. Richard Axelrod's book is the best description I have seen to date of the key elements of this model and the reasons why they work. I heartily endorse that you become familiar with this book, which will undoubtedly be a standard reference for many years to come. I was particularly pleased to see how well he has combined the perspectives of many other business and nonbusiness thinkers in this area.
The key challenge to successful change is in communication. Everyone agrees on that from Axelrod to Bob Kaplan to John Kotter. The four-aspect model here is particularly well designed to overcome communication stalls and miscommunications. These aspects are widening the circle of involvement to get more ideas from more people (this is a corollary to the key observations of complexity science for self-organizing order at the boundaries of systems), connecting people to each other (in order to drop barriers to communication), creating communities for action (by establishing a mutual purpose and direction), and embracing our social concepts of democratic treatment of all (to overcome skepticism about the authenticity of engagement potential).
By way of analogy consider the writing of the original Constitution of the United States. How would this have worked out if George Washington had simply dictated what he wanted? As you can imagine, there is no way that George Washington could have come up with that document by himself. Well, that's the way most organizations try to make changes. The leader dreams up what she or he wants and tell or sells everyone else. Next, what if George had called in four of his buddies from Virginia and hired two consultants from New York? Would they have developed the Constitution we have? Probably not. It mostly would have reflected the perspectives of Virginia and New York. Even if they had, no one would have been very committed to it. The process the Constitutional Convention actually used is very similar to the one that Mr. Axelrod espouses.
The book's material is clear, the examples compelling, the warnings are timely, and the directions are appropriate.
What are the limitations then of this book? I see them in five areas: First, you have to experience this process to appreciate its power. So you can read this book all you want, and you may not "get it." My advice is to put yourself in a situation where you try out this model and find out how well it works. Second, there are a lot of other things that can go wrong that are not described here. Think about Russia. The country has gone a long way to create free markets but new enterprises are often floundering. Part of the reason is that people don't think and don't yet prefer to operate in entrepreneurial, participative terms. Many individuals and groups have that same problem. Third, the writing style of the book is too intellectual relative to its emotional intensity to engage many people in its message. Fourth, you may need a guide for the first few times you try this. Those with expertise are in relatively short supply. Fifth, if the people involved in the process do not develop their understanding of how to analyze systems-related issues and devise ideal solutions, you will still be missing a lot of potential for improvement.
You can think of this book as complementary to the ideas presented in the other superb new book on overcoming the communications stall, The Strategy-Focused Organization. I suggest that you read that book as well. The on-going measurements of the Balanced Scorecard process can be quite helpful in establishing all four aspects of the change model. If, independent of these perspectives, you also create a superior business model and strategy, you can be further aided by having irresistible forces consistently favoring your progress. Tie together those three perspectives, and you should be unbeatable.
After you have finished experiencing and applying this improved change model in your organization, I suggest that you consider how you can extend it into other organizations you care about, like the schools in your community, the charity you sit on the board of or volunteer for, and the local hospital.
May you always work openly and successfully with all stakeholders to build better solutions and implement them rapidly!
Rating: 5
Summary: It Works !
Comment: Have you ever been a part or a victim of a failed change initiative? Have you witnessed resentment or cynicism over change strategies where a new process was created by a privileged few and drilled down through the organization? Are you involved in or responsible for bringing about organizational change and afraid of making mistakes that may alienate other employees or cause needed improvements to be rejected? If so, this is the book to read!
The book provides clear and practical guidelines for changing organizations. The examples and case studies concentrate on methods to utilize the wealth of knowledge in an organization to accomplish change. The guiding principles are "Widening the Circle of Involvement, Connecting People to Each Other, Creating Communities for Action and Embracing Democratic Principles".
Examples of tools are well described and illustrated with case studies for each of the guiding principles. Examples of other popular change management strategies are also discussed, analyzed and illustrated. This book is a great field guide and reference for changing organizations responsibly. It is well written easy to read, and goes a long way towards demystifying where popular change methods fail and what to do about it.
Rating: 2
Summary: Enlightened Self-Interest
Comment: Is change failing? Are multiple leaders' initiatives foundering? Is vast energy being expended on change projects by roving teams of the best and the brightest? Maybe the approach is all wrong. Maybe you need ... more people.
So argues Richard Axelrod, democrat and change consultant. Believing that current change practices are too slow and bureaucratic, Axelrod asserts that there simply isn't enough engagement. In other words, after forty years in the business world - a world in which "it sometimes seems as if everything is changing at the speed of light" - the author has concluded that change efforts fail when people don't feel involved.
Whether this is a brilliant insight or a beacon of the trite and obvious is for the reader to determine. In the meantime, consider Axelrod's "engagement paradigm": widen involvement, connect people, create communities, and embrace democracy. All laudable in theory, and the author goes to great lengths to prove that such an approach doesn't cost or waste or confuse as much as a skeptic might imagine. But what does it mean? Larger meetings, fine, open-ended questions, certainly, flip charts and round tables, marvelous, but do these a paradigm make? When you look for details here you find yourself grasping at shadows. Ask for a specific action and Axelrod recommends "creating a compelling purpose." Some might find this a little vague.
Yet lying beneath the misty surface are basic assumptions, assumptions about pluralism and democracy all the more intriguing for remaining untested. Axelrod asserts for example that in large group change meetings, individuals frequently set aside their self-interest for the benefit of the organization. Perhaps, but couldn't we look to our founding fathers for another explanation? Examine the Federalist Papers and their hallowed brethren among American documents, and you'll find that democracy's strength grows not in spite of individual self-interest, but because of it. The negotiated settlement, the win-win solution, the efficient organization: people support such a "democratic" achievement because there's something in it for them.
_Terms of Engagement_ is unsubtle boosterism: of democracy, of Theory Y, and of the Axelrod Group and its Conference Model, which the book more promotes than describes. (Similarly treated are the Group's "walkthrus," a curious colloquialism from an author who eschews contractions.) If you too believe that change happens best in multitudes, pick up a copy of the book today. If not, consider why this nation is not a democracy. It's a republic.
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Title: Reinventing Leadership: Making the Connection Between Politics and Business (Suny Series in Leadership Studies) by Barbara Kellerman ISBN: 0791440729 Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace by Alan Briskin ISBN: 157675040X Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters by Peter Block ISBN: 1576752712 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Whole-Scale Change: Unleashing the Magic in Organizations by Dannemiller Tyson Associates ISBN: 1576750884 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: 30 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
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Title: Developing Critical Thinkers : Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting (Jossey-Bass Higher Education Series) by Stephen D. Brookfield ISBN: 1555423566 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 15 July, 1991 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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