Managing Change by Building a Learning Organization
As the organizational change is going on, Tom feels that his 15 members team needs to gain momentum to learn new skills to meet the company’s target as well as cope effectively with change. However, the team members reported to be confused about where to start from, what to do and where to go. Tom thus called his leadership coach to understand how he can motivate and guide them effectively. Together with the coach, he outlined a 3 -month plan with strategies to allow the team to learn and adapt to the new system, pattern and processes to help them achieve their goal and for Tom to be able to build a Learning Team.
STEP 1: SYSTEM THINKING
Tom had assumed that the team understands the organizational change, its need and its impact. However, when he conducted an anonymous assessment with the team built around exploring their perception of the change, he found that 80% of them felt doubtful or uncertain about the new direction. To address this, instead of taking a top-down approach, he organized small learning circles with the CEO, management and team members to discuss, deliberate and clarify the change, its impact on the organization and on the market.
STEP 2: PERSONAL MASTERY
Once each team member was aware of the cycle of change and impact, they were driven towards pushing themselves to achieve their goals. Through one-on-one coaching and team exercises, they were made aware of their strengths and areas of development which needed to be worked on to achieve results.
STEP 3: MENTAL MODELS
It was easy for the team members to keep falling back to their earlier way of functioning as that was their ‘comfort zone’. They were encouraged to challenge that and together develop new intentional habits. The practice of these habits was also recorded and reinforced.
STEP 4: BUILDING SHARED VISION
Through discussion, dialogue and small group activities, Tom enabled the team to translate the team vision into personal action plans. Since the organization was moving ahead with the need to innovate, they together developed an action plan to achieve the same based on reading more about their product line and being mentored.
STEP 5: LEARNING TEAMS
Tom strived to build a learning team where each member would compliment the other by bringing out the best from each other. He planned this around the strategy of ‘walk the talk’ where he started exhibiting innovation in small daily habits, encouraging others to follow suit for e.g., changing the format or medium of conducting weekly meetings. Feedback was encouraged to keep the circle of learning going.
Within 3 months, both Tom and his team members could see palpable change in the attitude and work output. The team felt more comfortable under Tom’s guidance and more in control of the change.
