The Ultimate Warrior

The Ultimate Warrior and TJackson

Circa 1986

Hidden Power of Change

The prophet Isaiah put into words the truths we, like the Israelites, must remember when contemplating any aspect of life, and his words are very useful when we are specifically discussing how we should look at change. Isaiah, speaking to the Nation of Israel, gives the people assurances from God that He (God) will restore them to where they needed to be. Isaiah tells them to trust God through the changes that life has, and will, send their way,

Now this is what the Lord says— the One who created you, Jacob,

and the One who formed you, Israel — “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by your name; you are Mine. I will be with you

when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched

when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.

For I Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.

(Isaiah 43:1-3, HCSB).

The comparison of Dwight Bain with Isaiah would be foolish at best, but to understand how Bain’s approach to counseling fits into the Christian mold would be highly useful. Much like Isaiah, Bain paints a picture in his writing called, Hidden Power of Change that makes clear that change will happen and it will happen fast, it will involve discomfort, and often times it will be painful. However, Bain (2005) tells us, much like Isaiah does, that God is always there with what we need when we need it to make change a positive experience. The first step we make when embracing change is the hardest, but Bain (2005) states that God waits for us to take the step, and then He (God) steps in and guides us on our journey.

            Bain focuses, in this writing, on just about every aspect of change one might could think of, and many times he seems to be repeating himself. The overall theme of his work follows along the same idea as the writer of Hebrews,

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to

teach you the basic principles of God’s  revelation again.

You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is

inexperienced with the message about righteousness,

because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—

for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil

(Hebrews 5:12-14, HCSB).

Bain writes that change is necessary, and without it, “real life is lost” (Bain, 2005). Bain stresses that in order to grow, and experience a fulfilling life we must learn how to manage change in our life.

            In this writing Bain puts forth a litany of change related ideas. When reading this work it is easy to get caught up in almost a speed reading adventure. Like his description of change come at us fast, the layout of the article lends itself to fast reading. It is almost as if he planned it that way. Bain’s use of positive psychology is quite infectious. His ideas on how to change, why to change, what happens if we do not change, and everything in between are offered from a very positive perspective. Although Bain gives some of the downside related to change, or not changing when it is called for, he does it in a way that should make anyone ready to run out and meet the changes in their life head-on.

            Bain, in almost everything I have seen, uses a cyclical approach to engagement with the person of persons with whom he interacts. He will begin in such a way as to get the hearer excited about what he is going to say. He will have them on the proverbial edge of their seat with anticipation. Then he gives them the truth of the situation causing them to reflect on their own life sparking a little pessimism. However, Bain will bring things back into perspective with how things are not as bad as they seem. He concludes by offering a workable solution to the issue being addressed. In this work he gives us insight into the reality of handling change in a positive way,

I’ve studied what people say when they are facing the end of their life, and noticed that they find their greatest satisfaction from areas they took the positive action to change. Relationships that grew strong, houses or businesses they built, financial security they achieved and then wisely invested, health and happiness from doing something different to leave a positive legacy. Those were the things that people smiled about as they faced eighty years worth of life. (Bain, 2005)

In the final analysis concerning Bain’s writing about change, Apostle Paul gives a great word concerning temptation I believe is also applicable to how Bain counsels others about change, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, HCSB).

References

Bain, D. (2005). Hidden Power of Change. Retrieved June 2012, from Dwight Bain: http://www.dwightbain.com/docs/TheHiddenPowerOfChange.pdf

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

How an organization’s mission, vision, and values relate to its strategy

The simple answer is that an organization’s mission, vision, and values are answers to the questions, “What business are we in?” and “Why are we in this business?” There is no reference that corresponds to my opening sentence because after more than 25 years of reading books from Tom Peters, Mark McCormick, Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Andy Stanley, Stephen Covey, Lee Iacocca, Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, Al Reis, Harvey McKay, Ken Blanchard, John Kotter, Dale Carnegie, and many, many others this concept is so ingrained in my mind I could not begin to know if it is a synthesis of many ideas or something one of these men have written. Mission statements are very often platitude-like ideas such as this one from American Standard Company, "Be the best in the eyes of our customers, employees and shareholders" (Fortune 500 Companies, 2012). This company needs to invest heavily in their strategy while trying to fulfill this mission. Strategy, in their case for sure, is something that will hopefully take them from saying they want to “Be the best,” to actually formulating priorities and determining how to address each one to make sure they reach their “Ideal.” When they write the mission statement and express their goal in terms of the big picture, it is strategy that will specify the general directions and priorities (Kaplan, 2001). There is a great contrast to American Standard that comes from the Walt Disney Corporation,

 “The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world” (Fortune 500 Companies, 2012).

I really like the specificity of their statement, “one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information” because it seems to be a much better platform in which to launch a strategy. When forming a strategy to determine how an organization will achieve, or live up to, its mission statement, having one that already points to a tangible objective is helpful. I am not sure how someone might measure which organization is the “best” in their field. Is it through profits, shareholder dividends, market penetration, brand recognition, customer satisfaction, or employee relationships? I am not sure. Some might be stronger than others in different areas, and then it seems to leave us with a subjective decision as to who is really the “best.” However, measuring who “produces and provides the most entertainment,” could be measured in concrete ways. For example, which movie company delivered the most movies, most television programs, sold the most merchandise relating to their brand, or who has acquired a larger audience share are some of the tangible ways to measure.

Saying that to say this, when an organization is trying to develop a strategy it becomes immensely more relatable to the mission and vision of the organization if they offer some tangible goal to help the leadership determine concrete goals and outcomes (Kaplan, 2001).

2. What is meant by strategy as hypothesis?

The strategy that an organization follows is somewhat of an uncertain proposition, and this being the case traveling down the path is done through studied guess-work so to speak. What the organization does, as we would say in East Texas, is to plow new ground. Having not plowed the ground before, a farmer would be making an educated guess (hypothesis) about whether or not plowing the ground and planting (strategy) will produce a profitable harvest (outcome).

However, the key for the farmer would be to clearly understand, and make sure the hired hands understand what he is trying to accomplish. He would also need to align his resources with his strategy to work the new ground. It would not make much sense if the farmer bought the new field, formed a strategy to produce enough to make a profit, but only committed a small riding lawnmower to work the ground. He would need to align everything he had that would enable him to fulfill his goal. Finally, he would need to watch the production and make necessary changes at the time they need to be made. Once again, if he plants a crop requiring X amount of water to yield the best results, he would need to monitor the field and introduce water, or drain water away in order to reach the optimal production level of the field.

My whole scenario is based on the Kaplan idea that strategy implies the movement of an organization from its present position to a desirable but uncertain future position (Kaplan, 2001). The hypotheses occur because the organization has never been to this future place (Kaplan, 2001), and getting there requires making a decision about getting to this place, although based on somewhat on existing knowledge, is still an educated guess (hypothesis).

“A vivid image compels the whole body to follow” Aristotle

Many people would describe a leader as someone with “vision” or “a vision” as defined as an image of the preferred future position of an organization. I would agree that this is defiantly one aspect. I do think that of greater importance, when discussing a supportive culture, would be what John Maxwell calls the “Law of Solid Ground.”  To develop a supportive culture a leader must be someone of good character (Maxwell, 1998). Maxwell confirms that people are attracted by the character of the leader.  The second attribute on leadership I find important when discussing a supportive culture is the ability to lead. Maxwell, once again, has nailed this attribute in his 21 Irrefutable Laws with the “Law of Connection.” I refer to this attribute as building relationships. When people develop strong relationships it is more likely that they will align themselves to each other and to a strategy that contains common goals.

So, if a leader is of good character (trustworthy), and they have built strong relationships with those they lead the only missing element to the picture is how they lead, or their leadership style.

There is a range of leadership styles that run from being autocratic and making all of the decisions period to the leader who delegates all decisions. The leadership style that might be the most compatible with successful strategy execution would be the participative style fostered through a relational process that would include shareholders and those on playing field (so-to-speak). All decisions obviously cannot be participative, but the “how” questions of strategy implementation can be improved through inter-communication between leaders and subordinates who have built relationships on trust and good character.

(Side-bar) If you are a leader and don’t trust those who work for you, OR if you are someone working for a “leader” within an organization and you do not trust the leader, something NEEDS to CHANGE. Sounds obvious, but I have run into so many people over the years of pastoral counseling who work within this exact situation. I can tell you without any reservation that almost 100% of those who came for counseling were experiencing problems in their family life, church life, recreational activities, and friendships that somehow related back to this dynamic of untrustworthy working relationships.

Here is a great excerpt from an interview of Robert Kaplan done by Martha Lagace  with the Harvard Business School Newsletter concerning this very topic,

Q: What is the role of leadership in sound execution?

A: While not an explicit part of any of the six strategy execution stages (described below), executive leadership pervades every stage of the management system. Throughout The Execution Premium, we describe organizations that have successfully implemented their strategies. They operate in varied regions and industries, including manufacturing, financial services, consumer services, nonprofit, educational, and public sector. Their strategies differ; some produce low-cost commodity products and services, others deliver complete solutions to their customer, and still others innovate with high-technology products. About the only common element all these diverse successful strategy implementers have in common is exceptional and visionary leadership. In every example, the unit's CEO led the case for change and understood the importance of communicating the vision and strategy to every employee. Without such strong leadership at the top, even the comprehensive management system we introduce in this book cannot deliver breakthrough performance.

In fact, leadership is so important to the strategy management system that we make a rather bold claim that leadership is both necessary and sufficient for successful strategy execution. The necessary condition comes from our experience with the more than one hundred enterprises around the world who have become members of the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame. In every instance, the CEO of the organizational unit implementing the new strategy management system led the processes to develop the strategy and oversee its implementation. No organization reporting success with the strategy management system had an unengaged or passive leader. (Emphasis mine) (Lagace, 2008).

As a psychology grad student, I will address structure in a conceptual way versus a technical way. Sun Tzu said, “If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him” (Griffich & Tzu, 1971). Which loosely translated means, strategically speaking, that having organizational members who are better trained, equipped, and highly motivated should be able to come out on top when implementing organizational strategy.

Have you ever worked with someone you didn’t trust?

How do you think it affected your productivity?

Looking back, do you think it had an effect on your relationships outside of the working environment?

Any specific memories?

How can managers monitor the appropriateness of a strategy over time?

The most important way, in my opinion, is making sure that the goals are in harmony with what the organization is doing on all levels. Do their goals match their policies (financial, employee, vendor). Second in importance might be making sure the ongoing level of risk is appropriate, and do not over-commit or under-commit resources by finding the needed ROI. Third, the strategy needs to be flexible. For example, when a church puts into writing their by-laws, employee manuals, constitution, or whatever they have to keep the future in mind. So many organizations set up these documents in reaction to past issues. While I understand the reasoning, I absolutely believe that it is wrong. You cannot build an organization for the future while looking back. Ever tried driving your car using only the rear-view mirror? Driving this way seems kind of goofy. Churches are not alone, but they are my wheel-house, and they make the same mistakes other organizations make.

create a climate for change

To create a climate for change a leader needs to do several things, but the first thing they must do is to inspire the organization through the sharing of his vision (Kaplan & Norton, 2001). I believe that people are much more inclined to follow an idea much more quickly than a set of objectives. However, I have found that when a leader shares a compelling vision, it is amazing how those who follow buy into the processes that make up the strategy to carry out the vision.

Following my own method of empowering people to carry out the organizational strategy, the decentralization of power (Kaplan & Norton, 2001), with the right process measurements, can create a climate conducive to change.

A big key to creating and maintaining change is when the leadership paints a vivid picture of a preferable future, and does so respecting the value systems of those within the organization.

The setting of goals that almost seem unreachable tends to help keep people focused on the “Big Picture” to maintain the change climate (Kaplan & Norton, 2001).

Refusal to buy into strategies that are meant to align organizations could be the primary obstacle to actually achieving alignment. The refusal to buy in is often a symptom of poor communication between executive level people and those they lead. Even if the communication is good, not employing an adequate implementation strategy of measurement system can create road-blocks to successful alignment (Kaplan & Norton, 2006) and (Kaplan & Norton, 2001).  Measurements used when trying to implement change should focus on the process (how things are progressing) and not so much on outcomes (Kaplan & Norton, 2006) because in order to change there can be a need to make changes to the change strategy. Other obstacles could include poor leadership, uninspiring leadership, untrustworthy leadership, and many other negative aspects the leader might exhibit.

If a leader is suspect (not trustworthy, not likable, not whatever), but their vision is compelling, would you follow them?

Do you accept good ideas from people you really do not like?

Have you ever followed someone blindly and were pleased with the outcome?

Kaplan, R., & Norton, D. (2006). Alignment. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kaplan, R., & Norton, D. (2001). The Strategy-Focused Organization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.