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Top-Down Change
"Pull
the string and it will follow wherever you wish.
Push it, and it will go nowhere at all."
Dwight Eisenhower
In this section you will find:
Perspectives on Top-Down Change
Top-Down
Change Tools
Core
Capabilities
Case
Studies
New
Thinking
Useful
Publications
Relevant
Websites
Interesting
Articles
Perspectives
on Top-Down Change
Many leaders get in the way of emerging
solutions to complex problems in their organisations because
of their need to prove thy have answers. Real Change leaders
are not in the business of providing solutions, but the top
down approaches offered here can provide useful frameworks
for securing the top-down energy for change.
Top-down approaches on change dominate
the minds of positional leaders. They are fixated by the need
to feel control and predict the actions of everyone in the
organisation. This is no longer an appropriate mindset in
a world which requires adaptable, real time change. Equal
weight needs to be given to the other three dinamics of change
if the organisation is to remain viable.
For example, a Headteacher's highest
priority is the education of the children under their care
and support for their parents
(outside-in
dynamic),.
They must also make the school work
effectively, maintain standards and satisfy the school's governors.
This requires clear vision and authority
(top-down
dynamic).
But the best performing schools adopt
a collaborative style which engages staff, stakeholders and
the local community (bottom-up
dynamic),. The
ability to be, think and do things in a consistent way requires
energy, commitment and learning from everyone (inside-out
dynamic).
"The biggest stumbling block
to strategic planning is that senior professionals want autonomy
not collaboration."
Cranfield Management School - Research
Top-Down Change is driven by managers
responsible for turning the vision and values of the service/organisation
into reality. They work to secure employee commitment right
down to the frontline, with the purpose of aligning strategic
objectives and operational requirements. This is admirable,
but the mecahnisms used to achieve it can often fail to get
ownership or commitment.
This top-down approach to change tends
to be driven through mechanisms such as: Business Planning,
Quality & Performance Management Schemes, Culture Change
Programmes, Employee Involvement, Citizen Consultation Initiatives,
an Internal Communication Strategy, Team Briefings, Policy
Frameworks, or Service Development Plans linked to Strategic
Objectives or Cabinet Priorities, etc.
As a result, top-down change processes
have a part to play, but, as all the evidence shows, when
applied in ways that have a negative impact on the other dynamics
- they fail.
"Over
60% of middle managers feel they are in the dark about their
organisation's strategies. 40% consider senior managers to
be poor communicators".
Institute of Management Report
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Core
Capabilities
for Top-Down Change
STRATEGIC PLANNING
to bring understanding and clarity to
change initiatives (we introduce
you to the latest tools and techniques)
CONTROLLING PROCESSES
to bring understanding and clarity to
change initiatives (we introduce
you to the latest tools and techniques)
MEASURING PERFORMANCE
to bring understanding and clarity to
change initiatives (we introduce
you to the latest tools and techniques)
CLARIFYING OBJECTIVES
to bring understanding and clarity to
change initiatives (we introduce
you to the latest tools and techniques)
SETTING TARGETS
to bring understanding and clarity to
change initiatives (we introduce
you to the latest tools and techniques)
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Top-Down
Change
Tools
& Techniques
To implement project
management use
PRINCE
2
To sequence work
activities use
PROCESS
MANAGEMENT
To document work
tasks use
ISO
9000
To measure strategy
against action use
PERFORM ASSESSMENT
To manage whole
service improvement use
EFQM
To focus action
on service
goals use
BALANCED
SCORECARD
To deliver high
quality business processes use
SIX
SIGMA
To ensure costed
benefits use
VALUE
MANAGEMENT
To clarify strategic
priorities use
SCENARIO
PLANNING
To reduce
service failures use
RISK
ASSESSMENTS
To transform
service structures use
RE-ENGINEERING
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"Always aim for achievement
and forget success".
Helen Hayes
new
thinking
around
top-down change
New approaches to top-down change can
be found in the complexity concepts of control, increasing
returns, lock-in, the game of life, dominant schema, single-loop
learning and fitness landscapes.
Short summaries of each are outlined
below.
Increasing returns and lock-in
In Complex Adaptive Systems (like brains,
teams, organisations and communities), the phenomena of increasing
returns is quite common. For example, when a message pattern
gets established it has the power to amplify and replicate
itself like cells in a growing body. You see this in the way
business objectives get embedded into project plans which
find their way into stage plans, then team plans and personal
development plans.
Fitness Landscapes
In a continuously changing world our
knowledge will always be partial and continuously shifting.
So when we think we know something, we don't because the change
has created further change. We need to scan all the time for
changes happening now (real time) and focus on the new things
that are emerging if we are to stay fit enough to survive.
Just to plan and direct from one point (top-down) using historical
data means that plans and strategies are effectively out of
date as soon as they are communicated. This need for immediacy
lies behind the trend towards the localisation of services
and democratic processes.
The Game of Life
The game of life demonstrates the importance
of iteration: making frequent and small changes and then observing
the effects, rather than adopting a 'big bang' approach. Getting
corporate policies to be meaningful at a local level they
have to control local interactions by controling the 'rules
of engagement'. As a result change can be encouraged at the
frontline by changing the rules operating centrally. It is
an example of how the top of the organisation can influence
local interactions with the minimum of intervention..
Control Systems
To be in control you need to know how
an objective will be achieved and then deliver it as predicted.
In reality this happens of course. But the characteristics
of control can be observed through self-organisation, such
as the patterns, connections and constraints you find in Service
Development Plans or Best Value Performance Plans. The rise
of Project Management reflects this thinking.
Dominant Schema
This is a set of rules that models how
people or a system will behave and what actually drives performance.
This is how a command and control style of management develops
in hierarchical and bureaucratic organisations. Uninspiring
visions and mechanistic Change Programmes are evidence of
this.
Single-Loop Learning
This is akin to conditioning, which
occurs when a system employs its schema and there is no attempt
to shift its pattern, even though the situation may require
it. This behaviour is displayed in the 'comfort zones' of
people who are reluctant if not resistance to engage in cultural
change.
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Top-Down
Case
Studies
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Top-Down
Publications
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Top-Down
Websites
Six Sigma
This site contains a wealth of information
about top-down approaches to change, not just Six Sigma.
http://www.isixsigma.com
Value Management
This site contains full information
about VM.
http://www.ivm.org.uk/vm_index.htm
BRINT
This site contains information on virtually
all the top-down tools and techniques listed above.
http://www.brint.com
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Top-Down
Articles
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