Do or do not. There is no try. Yoda – The Empire Strikes Back
In the spring of 1977 I waited in line with hundreds of other fans for Star Wars tickets at a movie theater in Omaha. What was going to be so special about a wayward kid, a scoundrel, two robots, and a damsel in distress? I had heard this movie was ground-breaking, and that George Lucas worked hard to convince the Hollywood establishment that an audience existed for high quality science fiction.
Lucas and his team may have used Yoda’s words as their battle cry to drive their vision and plans to change how people experienced movies. Star Wars was a game changer and it took a huge commitment to pull it off. As a science fiction fan, I am very glad they were successful.
To bring Yoda’s message back to Earth, driving change in an organization can be very challenging. For change to take place, there is no ‘try’. For change to take place successfully, everyone involved in driving the change must be committed to ‘do’, especially if the majority of the people in organization are satisfied with the status quo.
Several years ago, I was asked to manage a corporate Quality group that was very good at putting out fires. Unfortunately little work had been done to address the root cause of these fires. To improve this situation, it was clear this would require a major change in how everyone worked. I was convinced a ‘collaborative’ approach between the Quality experts in my group and the Manufacturing group was essential.
If we were to improve the quality of our products, and reduce the number of fires, a great deal of dedication on my team’s part would be essential to achieving a successful transition.
Before I explain how it all worked out, here are the three basic principles we followed to drive this major change.
- Establish the vision and expected benefits.
Management is more likely to get behind the proposed changes if they have substantial, detailed goals. In my example above, I presented the idea of converting the Quality group into a resource and moving the majority of the on-line product quality to the people making the product. The expected benefit of this change was the improvement of product quality and better external audit results. This was a major shift in responsibility, but my manager understood the advantages and felt confident the rest of the supply chain would agree to this change in the ways of working.
- Develop and communicate plans that will clearly show how the change will take place.
A blueprint showed how the goal was going to be achieved and who was involved in the change. For example, I showed Management our plan to use the Quality group as a training resource and subject matter experts. One of the ways we planned to improve the current situation was for the Quality group to work with the plants to perform root cause analyses and then eliminate the source of the issues. This type of collaboration had not been attempted before, but when the plants were presented with the concept, they felt it was a step in the right direction.
- Generate interest and acceptance from the ground up.
The people involved in implementing the change must be fully committed to their mission. In my situation, the people in the Quality group were somewhat skeptical of the change at first. Enforcing the rules and regulations had always been a Corporate responsibility. However, once they could see their role was to become the instructors and subject-matter experts instead of the policemen and firefighters, they were extremely dedicated to the change process.
One of the primary tactics for driving the change was to demonstrate that the Quality group was truly available and would be present to help, not criticize. The Quality group was also committed to success at the plants. In the past, the Quality group would perform internal audits to point out issues/violations and tell the plant to fix them. In the proposed arrangement, it was made clear to the Quality group that if the plant failed an external audit, the Quality group also failed.
After a year of consistent support from the Quality group, and positive results, we were getting calls from the plants asking for help. Everyone could see that working together to solve issues benefited the business and reduced stress levels. By the second year of this new arrangement, we progressed to a place where the plants and Quality professionals were sharing their experiences and collaborating on a regular basis to improve the entire business. It was a great use of limited resources, and also allowed for the experts in the plants to be utilized for the greater good of the entire business.
Making a significant change in an organization requires a combination of vision and planning. It is also a matter of commitment. It is clear that George Lucas, with a little help from Yoda, had a clear vision of their goal and the determination to make it happen. As was once said ‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,’ when it’s time to make a change, there is no try. Only do.
Photo credit: Depositphotos, image ID 56376641, by IlianaMihaleva