“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” – Anonymous (see more Change quotes)
Change. It’s human nature to resist change in favor of the comfort and safety of our familiar routines and standard procedures. But the reality is that organizations must evolve continuously in order to survive — and healthy organizations actively seek out opportunities to do what they do more effectively and efficiently. For GRAVA’s June Roundtable, Alison Nassar-Jones and Julie Adams-Buchanan led a discussion on how volunteer engagement professionals can prepare for and lead change (read Energize Hot Topic June 2014) that will take their programs and organization to the next level.
Building off of Plum Cluverius’ presentation on Will Schutz’s Theory of Interpersonal Needs, Alison walked members through Kotter’s 8-STep Change Model:
- Establishing a sense of urgency
- Creating guiding coalitions
- Linking to/developing vision and strategies
- Communicating change vision and strategies
- Empowering others to act on the vision
- Planning for and creating short-term wins
- Consolidating improvements and produce more change
- Anchoring new approaches in culture
She also presented a Quadrants of Goup Functionality that focused on the dynamics between “getting things done” and “building strong teamwork relationships”. Alison stressed that the best quadrant to be in is “getting things done by working collaboratively” as opposed to “cautious and guarded — not acting unless forced”. She identified the two main paths as “getting things done no matter whose toes get stepped on” and “emphasis on team relationships even at the expense of productivity” and stressed how the latter path is the better route.
