There’s a great line in Admiral H. G. Rickover’s “Doing a Job” speech that reads,
In my organization, there are no formal job descriptions or organizational charts. Responsibilities are defined in a general way, so that people are not circumscribed. All are permitted to do as they think best and to go to anyone and anywhere for help. Each person then is limited only by his own ability.”
I keep this quote in the front of my mind and reference it regularly because it is an essential rule of operation for a network based change management system. You must create the free space for a person to be limited only by his own ability. Too often, even when we are attempting to free people from the confines of the old system and create the new, one of our first actions to design neat little boxes for people to shift to. “Here’s your small job. Now wedge yourself into it and follow the rules.” Blah!
Freedom to move, to talk, to connect, to think. Freedom is essential to change.
Let’s do our job this week. Let’s drive change.
