Transitioning an organization requires building consensus across the entire workforce. Leaders must be willing to compromise their initial vision based on input from employees to develop a shared vision that has widespread understanding and support. Once consensus is reached, a strategic plan with short and long-term goals should be created with representative input and agreed upon metrics. Finally, leaders must implement a system to measure results, address employee concerns, and support the workforce to successfully drive culture change.

1. TransitioninganOrganizationbyConcenus
Transitiontosuccessis notan easytask. The underlyingtasksmayrequire aculture change. That
culture change iseasyif you are passionate,empowering,ethical,honest,andembrace youremployee’s
values. Manyleadersderive theirvisioninavacuum, forma strategicplanwitha few selectteam
members,androll outa planthat may or may not be appropriate. The flaw inthisleadershipstyle is
that itis exclusivetothemselvesandasmall part of the populationinthe company. If one wantsto
trulydrive an organizationforwardandchange a culture,theyneedeverypersoninthe organizationto
helpdevelopitandagree to itby consensus. Culturesneedthe buy-inof the entire workforce. Leaders
mustbe willingtocompromise theirinitialvisiontoaccommodate the paradigmsof the entire
workforce. Sitwithyourentire staff ingroupsandexplainwhatyouwantto accomplish. Take their
inputsandamendyour visiontoone thatmay not be your ideal visionbutitwill be one thathas
employeesunderstandingandsupport. Afteryoureacha consensus,presentittothe entire workforce
so theyall understandthe compromisesmet.
Nextyouneedtoforma strategicplanto supportthe vision. Itshouldhave adetailedshortrange plan,
followedbya two,five,andtenyearplan. The more distantthe timeline,the contentwill be more
philosophical andlessdetailed. Thiscanbe accomplishedwiththe same “visiongroups”orwith
representativesof those subgroups. The strategicplanisastep-by-stepplanwithmilestone datesand
agreeduponmethodsof verification. Whenthe planisagreedto withthe subgroups,youmustpresent
it to the entire population.
Finally,youmustputa systeminplace to measure the resultsandtake inputfromthe workforce. Itis
keythat youand your leaderspayattentiontothe workforce’squestionsandconcerns. Yourplanwill
onlysucceedif youcheerleadthe grouponandremove the barriersthat inhibittheirsuccess. Reward
and thankpeople againandagain. Realize thatwithoutthemyouwill notbe successful. Culture change
onlyoccurs whenpeople change. Youare responsible asaleadertoleadthe change and supportthe
entire workforce. Theyare the backbone toyoursuccess.