Homepage

      Becoming a 'World Class' Organisation (3)  
     

 

 
   
The missing elements
 
Achieving these dramatic improvements is not easy. It requires time and commitment over a number of years to make the initial changes and sustained effort to maintain them. It's easier to make short-term changes which seem to get somewhere by cutting costs. Research indicates that successful companies achieve these results by becoming 'High performance, real commitment and extensive learning organisations', displaying the characteristics shown below.
Becoming a 'High Performance, High Commitment and Continuous Learning Organisation' requires a culture that recognises learning as fundamental to success
 

This means an environment that includes

  • Espoused values and beliefs, visible and delivered - not just a set of words on a wall
  • A positive mindset and attitude towards learning - its importance and value at every level
  • Behaviours that support, encourage and maximise every possible opportunity for learning and development

And fosters learning at each of three different levels

  • Individuals, who take responsibility for their own learning and development
  • Groups and/or teams of individuals who need to work and learn together
  • Organisations, who find ways of capturing learning so that it is widely available to add value and help the whole organisation move forwards
Do it this way .... over
Commit to becoming an organisation that wants to learn and develop its potential to succeed Personal change as the driver to success
 

Becoming a high performance, high commitment and continuous learning organisation isn't easy either. It needs everyone, especially the top team, to be seen to put 'developing the people and the organisation' as a high priority. It must not drop off the list because "we are busy".

Transition Partnerships works with many tools to facilitate change. At the top of the list, however, are the key characteristics of personal change, without which organisational change will not deliver lasting returns.

  • A willingness to change myself
  • Personal awareness
  • Having a coach/mentor
  • Seeking and acting on feedback
  • Working at relationships
  • Networking - making best use of all contacts
  • Active learning - developing the habit of listening and learning from our experiences

All these need regular measurement and review. A recent example from a director in a manufacturing organisation would not have been possible a few years ago.

"We undertake to measure progress in our agreed behaviours by meeting every Monday morning for 30 minutes with one agenda item only - 'how are we doing against our 6 critical behaviours'"

For the top team of an organisation to commit to focusing on their behaviours rather than the tasks in hand is what it takes to make a difference.

Transition Partnerships is continuing to develop its ideas and models round the subject of Learning at the individual, group and organisational level. We welcome any comments or suggestions that move this topic forwards.
References
 

Transition Partnerships Getting the best from IT-related change. 1995

COBRA report European Commission. The Responsive Organisation. Published by Policy Publications. 1995 (0171 240 3488)

DTI reports DTI/CBI. Competitiveness - How the best UK companies are winning. 1994 (0800 442001)

DTI. Manufacturing winners. Creating a world class manufacturing base in the UK. 1995

Information Systems Pre-conditions for BPR success. Bashien, Markus and Management Riley. Claremont University and UCLA. 1994
 
 
Back