Creating organisational movements with ‘intent and purpose’

BY ANTHONY MITCHELL

Creating organisational movements are a wonderful way to fast-track change and re-invigorate organisations.  Managed well, they are an extremely efficient way to propel an organisation forward.

Like social movements (such as the so-called “Arab Spring”), organisational movements are similarly characterised by groups of people who want to experience change in their current situation.  Over time, people with a similar purpose aggregate together forming a groundswell that ultimately grows into a movement.

INTENT AND PURPOSE

That purpose (or “mission” as it is sometimes referred to) is the epicentre of the movement.  It is its heart and soul.  Its energy source.

In addition, the idea of “strategic intent”, first espoused by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad in their classic 1989 Harvard Business Review article, is also very important. 

When the strategic intent (or direction) of an organisation is inexorably intertwined with a passion and purpose that is wholly owned and ‘lived’ by many within it, the elements of a movement often start to ferment.

Being involved in that fermentation process by helping organisations to galvanise these elements together is a great privilege.  It’s fascinating to watch the ‘first sparks’ of a movement illuminate a room.   

HOW A MOVEMENT TURNED AROUND A COMPANY’S FORTUNES

An interesting case study is an organisation that was gridlocked by considerable employee frustration, low morale, and a poor culture.  As a result, its value proposition was significantly curbed as it was hampered by high levels of employee turnover and was not able to perform anywhere near its full potential.

But a movement turned all of that around.

As the external transformation specialist, I jointly led the overall process in collaboration with the senior management team.  Under their sponsorship, I researched the problems, crafted the vision, developed the strategy and project managed the overall journey of reinvigoration.

Interestingly, the group was thirsty for a new beginning.  But they didn’t really know “where to start”. And they were afraid to ‘make decisions that involved change’. All other attempts at change had failed and they didn’t want more of that.

[The words “change management” so easily roll of the tongue.  However with 70% of change initiatives either failing or not achieving expectations, the skill and discipline to actually pull it off is very much underrated.] 

However, with a clear plan, a structured process, a lot of energy and an ever-increasing groundswell, the process slowly built excitement and momentum until one day, it just took off.   

And when it did, there was no stopping it.  It just flew.  

People were excited and feverishly held onto every step forward, not wanting to slip back into the past.

The momentum, pace and excitement was, quite simply, exhilarating. 

The back-thrust behind it was something to behold.

And the energy was infectious.  

The movement making process wasn’t easy to develop, but all of the hard work leading up to the tipping-point where it catapulted forward was richly rewarded.  

From then on, the movement itself did all of the ‘heavy lifting’.  The role of the organisation’s leaders was to simply ‘steer it’ — and enjoy the process.   

WHAT THE MOVEMENT ACCOMPLISHED

The organisation’s performance, culture, level of engagement, degree of excellence, innovation, customer service, employee retention and overall operational practices were raised out of sight by comparison to their previous state.

Many reflected back and exclaimed, “why did we allow ourselves to wallow in a such a poor condition for so long?”

Of greatest significance was that it was able to attract a very large, long-sought after contract with the most prestigious company in its industry. This and other big wins made the financials “glow”.  This was proof-positive that they had turned around their organisation and that the sector had confidence in them once again.

Employees felt immensely proud of what they had accomplished.  They had achieved what many before them had only dreamed of.

People from affiliate organisations flew in from all over the world to see “how they did it”.  And high-calibre industry experts started knocking on their door, wanting to join them.  

This gave the team a robust sense of confidence in their collective ability that they had not experienced before.  And, along the way, not only had they fulfilled their organisation’s purpose, they had found their own calling.

Incredibly, the kind of change and “re-set” that they had been seeking for decades happened, quite literally, in less than a year.

But none of it would have happened had it not been for a clear focus on the organisation’s strategic intent and core purpose.  

The ownership of these by the vast majority in the organisation is what made it possible.

Anthony Mitchell is a Strategic Transformation Consultant who has worked with organsations globally for 20 years. He helps them to grow, develop and change — assisting them with their strategy, operations, structure, change and performance management programs. Holding an MBA (Exec) with a major in Strategy from Sydney University and being Oxford University educated in organisational leadership, he also coaches and trains executives in management development. He speaks regularly at industry events and can be reached at AMitchell@StrategicTransformation.com

 

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