This is where you are, but… | THIS is where you WANT to be… |
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Participative Management
My experience with successful organizations has led me to focus on the dynamic tension between leaders’ ownership of the strategies for change and their key stakeholders’ acceptance and buy-in of the plan. (Key stakeholders here are those who are crucial to the successful implementation of the desired change.) Often, there is a dynamic gap between these two entities that must be bridged successfully if the desired change is to proceed effectively.
The process I recommend can be used with internal and/or external stakeholders, as well as for regular feedback on many topics from strategic planning to mergers and change management.
I will outline the eight parallel process steps necessary to bridge the gap between those who lead change and those who implement it. I will describe how this process includes vitally important real-time meetings held with leadership and key stakeholders.
The purpose of real-time meetings is twofold:
- to share information and provide feedback to the core leadership team in order to troubleshoot and improve the plans, and
- to gain understanding, acceptance (i.e., buy-in), and commitment to the overall direction and implementation of the plan.
One important factor to remember is: people support what they help create. Thus, it is crucial to involve key stakeholders early on in the planning and change process. If this crucial step is omitted or briefly touched on, long term organizational outcomes will pay the price. Poor stakeholder motivation or ambivalence later on is an expensive problem to fix. It is much more effective to alter a plan before it is put into place, rather than try to turn back time and re-work a process mid-stream.
Successful leaders plan ahead for their organizations strategic and human change needs. Even though change is inevitable, in order to be efficient and effective, managing successful change takes preparation and planning. Simply put: investing in and creating buy-in and ownership at all levels pays off.