Traditional factors, problems, potential and implications
| Statements | Dimensions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change factor | Problem with change factor | Potential with change factor | Problem with change factor | Potential with change factor | Themes and implications |
| A shared vision | “The technology shift we are in… who maps out the future?” –Head of strategy, Parking Inc. “I would love to provide more hope to the organization through an aspirational vision - it´s just that I don´t know what the future will look like” – Editor in chief, Newsgroup | “We must not forget the reason we exist – why many of us wanted to work in this industry.” – Editor in chief, Newsgroup | The future is often unknown or blurry The foreseeable future might cause fear A distributed organization and blurry organizational boundaries | Need to evoke hope Need to evoke shared sense of meaning People inside and outside the organization need to be brought together | Hard to create clear direction but sense of shared meaning that brings people together seems important. • Vision could be framed as purpose |
| Process | “I think we need to create space to continuously learn – from progress as well as setbacks. That does not go only for the management team but for a larger part of the organization” – CEO, Newsgroup | “I think we need to create a process where people feel confident with creating the road together, as we move.” – Strategy “ambassador” Medshop (part of strategy process) “One thing that really works in when we celebrate our small successes. Every year at the top 200 conference, leaders of different initiatives are put on stage and the CEO sort of ends with aggregating those wins to our overall aspirations.” – Head of communication, Mo City | With a blurry future state, a process is hard to outline in advance Clarity of process might cause rigidity Radical steps are hard to plan | Need to allow future to emerge Need for a sense of shared progress Planning and execution need to happen simultaneously | Clear process hard to create and might harm needed flexibility, but sense of shard progress toward a common future seems important. • Process could be framed as progress |
| Urgency/ dissatisfaction | “We try to collectively raise our awareness that we need to move forward to stay relevant. And I do put pressure on the organizations to take part of that change. It works very well to speed up things. It is not working so well when we need to think out of the box, though, and collaborate across functions” – CEO, Parking Inc. | “I want the organization to feel the same excitement that I do about the future” – CEO, Go Energy “We are under so much pressure that we fear to try and to innovate” –Business development director | Dissatisfaction might cause stress or fear, which in turn limits creativity and innovativeness Urgency might not result in the needed activities | Need for promotional perspective on motivation Culture of trust rather than fear Desire to create the future rather than dissatisfaction as motivator | Dissatisfaction might harm creative work, but motivation from promotional perspective needed • The connection a meaningful purpose as motivator • Culture of trust rather that culture of fear |
| Costs of change | “Can we pay less attention to the people that do not want to go forward and more on creating a climate where we lift up people and ideas” – Head of communication, Mo City | “Since change seems to be a part of who we are, we as leaders need to build in the capabilities to handle that rather than accepting the resistance.” – CEO, Parking Inc. “How can we as leaders help them to become less afraid in a constant change journey” – Head of communication, Mo City | Resistance taken for granted in models, but as change becomes a natural state that will not do Emotions are seen as an obstacle, whereas the contemporary context needs positive emotions | Need to release capabilities such as creativity and learning Focus on creating positive emotions | To overcome resistance and negative emotions might not be enough. Organizations will need to create positive emotions to facilitate contributions from the organizational community. • Focus on costs could be complemented with focus on positive emotions |
| Statements | Dimensions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change factor | Problem with change factor | Potential with change factor | Problem with change factor | Potential with change factor | Themes and implications |
| A shared vision | “The technology shift we are in… who maps out the future?” –Head of strategy, Parking Inc. | “We must not forget the reason we exist – why many of us wanted to work in this industry.” – Editor in chief, Newsgroup | The future is often unknown or blurry | Need to evoke hope | Hard to create clear direction but sense of shared meaning that brings people together seems important. |
| Process | “I think we need to create space to continuously learn – from progress as well as setbacks. That does not go only for the management team but for a larger part of the organization” – CEO, Newsgroup | “I think we need to create a process where people feel confident with creating the road together, as we move.” – Strategy “ambassador” Medshop (part of strategy process) | With a blurry future state, a process is hard to outline in advance | Need to allow future to emerge | Clear process hard to create and might harm needed flexibility, but sense of shard progress toward a common future seems important. |
| Urgency/ dissatisfaction | “We try to collectively raise our awareness that we need to move forward to stay relevant. And I do put pressure on the organizations to take part of that change. It works very well to speed up things. It is not working so well when we need to think out of the box, though, and collaborate across functions” – CEO, Parking Inc. | “I want the organization to feel the same excitement that I do about the future” – CEO, Go Energy | Dissatisfaction might cause stress or fear, which in turn limits creativity and innovativeness | Need for promotional perspective on motivation | Dissatisfaction might harm creative work, but motivation from promotional perspective needed |
| Costs of change | “Can we pay less attention to the people that do not want to go forward and more on creating a climate where we lift up people and ideas” – Head of communication, Mo City | “Since change seems to be a part of who we are, we as leaders need to build in the capabilities to handle that rather than accepting the resistance.” – CEO, Parking Inc. | Resistance taken for granted in models, but as change becomes a natural state that will not do | Need to release capabilities such as creativity and learning | To overcome resistance and negative emotions might not be enough. Organizations will need to create positive emotions to facilitate contributions from the organizational community. |