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In a recent meeting our team was discussing the best method to roll out a new initiative. As we brainstormed we realized the rolling out will be a challenge no matter what approach we took. Every one agreed that the initiative had value, but we could not agree on a way operationalize it. The meeting quickly turned into a "pick your poison/who will tie the bell around the cat" discussion. But this was not the first time we had such a discussion. We had discussed similar things in prior meetings for other initiatives. It begged the question: why was it so difficult to roll out any initiative?
After much careful consideration it boiled down to one thing: Lack of trust.
Impact of Trust on an Organization While there are many factors that determine an organization's ability to implement a change, without trust it is difficult to accomplish anything. Collaboration is vital to an organization's success and trust is a key component of collaboration. Consider a scenario where the employees do not trust their manager. The manager rolls out a new process that will improve productivity. The employees will most likely tread cautiously and may even deliberately procrastinate to delay the implementation. The result is a failed implementation. Conversely, if the manager does not trust the employees, there is a tendency not to engage the employees and push initiatives through. The result more often than not is the same. In either case getting everyone on board is difficult to accomplish.
With a trust deficit what are the options available to roll out an initiative? There is a general propensity to change employees to "stir things up" and start afresh. But what if such a change is not possible. What are the options under such constraints? In fact, what are the options available when there is an abundance of trust?
This article will attempt to answer these questions in three steps:
Establish the various methods to roll out an initiative.Understand and classify the trust environment within an organization.Determine the method for rolling out an initiative given a certain trust level.1. Methods for rolling out initiatives There are several different methods for rolling out initiatives. These methods can be broadly categorized into bottom up or top down. Each allow for an initiative to be accomplished through either formal or informal channels. The following diagram summarizes the methods, and the channels with a few examples. Any combination of these methods/channels can be used. Given each method, the channels have some advantages and disadvantages that are noted below.
Advantages and disadvantages of informal channels: The main advantage of an informal channel is that it gives the participants an opportunity to prototype an initiative and test its validity on a smaller scale. Additionally, employees may be more comfortable with informal channels because there is less pressure to succeed and hence may be more motivated to participate. The major disadvantage of informal channel is that it is not a sanctioned activity by the organization. Some times informal approaches tend to become directionless and drawn out due to the lack of clear and formal leadership. If not carefully managed, it can lead to formation of close groups that may leave out other interested and impacted parties from participating.
Advantages and disadvantages of formal channels: The major advantage of a formal channel is that it is sanctioned activity by the organization. It has clear and defined leadership and a direction. The major disadvantage of a formal channel is that the pressure to succeed may cause participants to be conservative in their approach. Lack of trust can cause participants to sabotage or counter solutions even if the solutions are in the best interests of the organization.
2. Trust Environment Trust within an organiza tion can be classified into:
Horizontal or peer trust.Vertical or management trust.Based on these classifications, we can draw a trust quadrant to define the trust environment within an organization. The four quadrants have the following characteristics:
Low trust at horizontal and vertical levels (inertial culture). This is clearly an organization that is in trouble. Trust deficit is systemic and accomplishing a common goal may be very difficult.High trust at horizontal level and low trust at vertical level (word of mouth culture). Typically, this kind of organizational atmosphere points to management issues. In such an environment organization wide changes and best practices spread quickly due to high level of peer communication. Conversely, the same medium can also dissuade peers from supporting an initiative.
Low trust at horizontal levels and high trust at vertical levels (silos culture). This is an environment where silos is prevalent. The silos mentali ty generally leads to a "us against them" culture and unproductive interactions between teams.
High trust at horizontal and vertical levels (collaborative). This is a highly collaborative and synergistic organization.
3. Rolling out initiatives based on trust levels Initiatives typically are intra-departmental, inter-departmental or both. Depending on the participation and the trust levels, the appropriate channels should be chosen for implementation.
Low horizontal trust and vertical trust (inertial culture). In such an environment using informal channels (be it top down or bottom up) for inter-departmental and intra-departmental initiatives is the best way to accomplish a goal. The implementation should be carefully managed and monitored. The primary goal should be to establish trust. This is an expensive option in terms of time and effort. But, if successful, the long-term gains are high.High horizontal trust and low vertical trust (word of mouth cultur e). Since there is trust amongst peers, the formal bottom up channels can be used for inter-departmental and intra-departmental initiatives. This will give the employees a sense of empowerment and with careful management, can lead to better trust in management.
Low horizontal trust and high vertical trust (silos culture). This is a classic example of a silos culture. In this case inter-departmental initiatives should use bottom up/top down informal channels whereas the intra-departmental initiatives can be implemented using either bottom up/top down formal channels.
High horizontal and vertical trust (collaborative culture). This is an example of a collaborative and synergistic organization that is highly suited for use of formal channels. In such and environment, the disadvantages of informal channels are more prominent over its advantages and hence should be discouraged.
Conclusion Success of initiatives in organizations depend on many factors. One of the mo st critical factors is trust. Without trust it is very difficult for an organization to implement change. Even with a trust deficit the organization has to push initiatives through.
If an organization can determine the trust environment, initiatives can be pushed through accordingly. The tools available to an organization are the informal or formal channels either at the peer-to-peer level or at the hierarchical level to push initiatives through. While success is not always guaranteed, informal channels can be used to build trust within an organization. Formal channels have lesser success in an organization that lacks trust.
The following steps can be used to determine the best method for pushing an initiative.
Determine the trust environment.Determine the appropriate method/channel to use to push an initiative.Monitor the initiative, especially where informal channels are used, to ensure that trust is built.The key thing to remember is that trust is not bu ilt in a day. It might take several interactions before parties learn to trust each other.
Pankaj Sharma
Project Manager
http://www.sharmacloud.com/