Changing

I have been doing a few presentations of late on the subject of "Guerrilla Governance" which is about the application of guerrilla principles to the quest for good [corporate and data] governance.

The central theme is commitment founded on a vision and how to use that to create community, communication and credibility. Through it all, the message is that complaining, wishing and waiting has not produced results, is not producing result and will never produce results.

I learned that I already have what I need and now I'm working to get that message out. The raw material, the resource used to power the change we need is in plentiful supply. It's the pain, frustration, and lack of fulfillment encountered in everyday work life. Even if I do not feel it, others all around me express these feelings every day.

The norm of work life is approval-seeking. The rare business has created a system of standard processes and metrics that frees its employees from the need to seek approval. These are the CMMI Level 5 companies and the Malcolm Baldridge Award winners. The vast majority invest a handful of people with authority by virtue of a title and force everyone else to seek their approval in order to change anything.

If you get this, it's up to you to change it. Alignment is the grail sought by management. It is thought that alignment will produce the "well-oiled machine." The problem is that the "folk wisdom" of the executive suite and the board room seems to be that the basis of alignment--vision--is something best kept close. Rather, alignment springs from a common vision. A shared vision is the shortest path to alignment.

If the leader of the company isn't actively sharing their vision with each and every employee of the company, then it isn't happening. Reliance on staff meetings to promulgate the vision is very much like the old party game of telephone. Who knows what the person at the other end is really hearing? There are other visions out there--I have one myself. Whoever you are, whatever your job, I urge you to hold yourself accountable to the grandest vision within you until it is replaced by one even more grand. Be responsible for the change you need, but remember that the change IS you.