Whole System Change: You Can1 Do It A Drop At A Time
by Linda Tarrant

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-- Are you frustrated with the amount of time it takes to bring about real organizational change?

-- Are you tired of going to yet another team or corporate retreat that doesn`t seem to make a difference?

-- Does it feel like you¹re taking one step forward and two steps back?

If you answered yes to these questions, I would like to suggest that you consider a Whole System Change approach in your organization. Change is extremely complex. Changing an entire organization is even more complicated. There are no easy answers and no matter what, it takes time and resources. Let¹s consider the problem:

Think about your organization as a big bucket of water. It has always been in a liquid state and everyone was perfectly happy sloshing around, doing his or her own thing. But without warning you get bought out, merged or lose your vision or client base and you know you have to do something pretty dramatic in order to survive. So the leadership decides that we must transform our outmoded liquid type organization (water) into a leading-edge solid organization (that¹s right, they want us to become ICE!). Well, we all know how to change water into ice. You just put everyone into a deep freeze and over time we change form. But, organizational change isn¹t that easy, is it? Here¹s why:

Just because the leaders think ICE is better than water, doesn¹t mean that everyone else shares that vision. Some water is really busy and wants to wait until every one else has gone through the process. Other water wants to be frozen with its own level, because after all, the other guys aren¹t really like us. There are problems with getting everyone in the bucket at one time and even if we could, it would take a long time to get all that water to freeze. And of course, we want this change thing accomplished quickly, with little cost and with as little impact on day-to day operations as possible. In the face of resistance and difficulty, the leaders often agree to let us make this transformation on our own, in small groups, whenever we feel ready and using whatever methods we choose. So the organization starts freezing one drop at a time, with no consistent Vision or approach. Unfortunately, rather than ending up with a new ICE organization, we often end up with a bunch of disconnected cubes. That is why many people are so frustrated with the process and pace of change.

A Whole System approach is dramatically different. Rather than taking a piecemeal approach, the change process is integrated throughout the entire organization. There is a unifying theme and a coordinated approach throughout the "system". A Whole System is defined as the entire group that is affected by a change or is expected to accomplish a stated goal or task.

Whole System Change requires:

1. Leadership commitment and a willingness to go first.

2. Large scale involvement of a "diagonal slice" of the organization who identifies issues and concerns related to the change and who frames the change in a way that engages the interests of all the stakeholder groups.

3. A high level of commitment and participation across the organization.

4. Clearly stated expectations of participants in the process regarding input, decision-making, planning and implementation.

5. Large group intervention - working sessions that involve a critical mass (40%-100%) of the whole organization (as defined by the issue/change).

6. Ongoing forums to engage the organization in discussing impacts and implementation issues.

Whole System Change is an intervention strategy that is designed to bring about significant, accelerated transformation. By definition, everyone has to go through it together. The process respects the issues and interests of all stakeholder groups. Mandated follow-up ensures that plans are implemented and not left on the shelf. High involvement brings unity and enthusiasm to the change experience. But hold on to your bucket, because the whole system is going to change.