So, How Does This Get Implemented?

This is the question that a member of my dissertation committee asked at the end of my dissertation defense after I had laid out a pretty lengthy argument for new ways of thinking about the field of organization development. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to the question.

On one hand, the question might have been his way of saying he was in full agreement with the main thesis of my dissertation. In that case, Great! On the other hand, the question could be a challenge to the practicality of my ideas (although practicality is rarely a high priority in academia – even in organization development!). I ended up dodging the question by saying that I thought “acceptance” might be the next hurdle. I was only beginning to think about ways of developing my ideas and putting them into wider circulation.

But the question made me think about how frequently I have observed a strong tendency for individuals and groups to go straight from the ideation stage right into implementation, sometimes called “ready, fire, aim.” And I wonder; Why does this happen so often? Where does this tendency come from?

One reason could be a type of MBA thinking that says implementation is what matters – it’s the most important thing so why not get on with it. What good is a plan if you don’t implement it, right? Another reason is how, for some people, processes associated with ideation and conceptualization are uncomfortable and ambiguous whereas implementation is more in their comfort zone with concrete action steps, timelines and deliverables.

Whatever the reasons, this rush to implementation can cause problems for organizations in a variety of ways.

• There can be an assumption that the implementation team shares a vision and has clear agreement as to the critical success factors of the implementation. Odds are they don’t.

• There is often a lack of understanding or failure to consider interdependencies; how changes in one area (e.g. work processes or systems) impact others and often necessitate changes in other areas.

• There is often a lack of coordination and misalignment resulting in multiple implementation plans that can be working at cross purposes or that fail to align with the overall strategic objectives or purpose of the organization.

If costly implementations with questionable results are happening with any regularity in an organization, it can drag down the culture and leave people feeling like they are “spinning their wheels” or worse yet, experiencing the Red Queen effect – running as fast as they can to stay in one place. “Ready fire aim” can become a death spiral, sending the organization in the opposite direction of sustainable, profitable growth.

From an organization development view, implementation must be preceded by direction setting and action planning with broad-based participation and inputs at the strategy formulation stage. It’s here that the obstacles to implementation are assessed and actions are coordinated across a broad array of “levers” that include frequent communications about critical success factors and alignment with the overall strategic objectives and purpose of the organization.

Organizations need strategic thinking and implementation skills, but importantly, they must build the capacity for both to be better integrated, coordinated and aligned with purpose. Ironically, following this formula would be “implementing” my dissertation. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad question after all.