Here's a simple question to ask yourselves, your co-workers, peers and bosses - "why...?" Change doesn't begin with a push. Driving change from the top of the organization doesn't always work. Driving change from the bottom doesn't always work either. Middle management isn't always to blame for failures.
If you are concerned about the direction that things are going in your department or company then just ask "why...?" For example, "why is most of our maintenance reactive?", "why do all of our major improvement programs fail to achieve their desired results?", "why doesn't management listen to our ideas?", "why do we have poor labor relations?", "why are we in this mess?"...
Change begins with asking the simple question, "why...?" In digging deeply for the answer - not just the obvious and superficial answer either, you discover what choices are truly being made by the organization. Those choices reflect the choices of the individuals within the organization - those who may be blocking progress due to their own fears and yours, for allowing them to get away with it. Asking "why?" however provides an opportunity to get introspective as individuals and as an organization. It allows us to discover what's really behind our choices. Once we know that, we can change to a new choice.
I'm just tossing this one out to the world here - ask yourself "why...?" and please share your answers with us all. Let's see what's really holding back the pace and direction of change in our companies. I invite you to participate in this discussion and to share. Your name, company and any identifying information will be witheld to protect confidentiality. Please join into this potentially important discussion.
