Embracing Change Fast, focused and fearless by Johm Cremer By the late 1990's automotive industry pioneer, General Motors, was losing out to major rivals. Business was stagnant and customers were becoming increasingly disenchanted. Major internal improvements, introduced under the company's GoFast! initiative, were designed to get things back on track Even the world's biggest companies sometimes need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. That's exactly what General Motors, one of the giants of the worldwide automotive industry, realised they had to do to remain competitive in an increasingly tough environment. For the best part of the last century GM had led the way in size, scope and profitability. They had built a presence in 200 countries, held a 15 percent share of the world vehicle market and employed over 370,000 workers - but not all was well. As they surveyed the design and production advances of major rivals it became clear they were losing ground. The new era called for change in management structures that had been used for 50 years and were too bureaucratic for an organisation where fewer employees would have to work longer hours and speed of action was now the key to progress. In 1999 GM set about an ambitious programme of revamping outdated business practices on the way to creating a brand new, more dynamic corporate culture under the title of GoFast! "Urgency was not a core competence. It was critical to shorten product cycles, learn faster decision-making and responsiveness and to regain competitiveness. We had to transform the whole culture" During a recent visit to Hong Kong, Nancy Bennett, GM's Director, Change Management, outlined why GoFast! had been created and how it was being used to drive change throughout the organisation and across regions. "Critics said GM had become big, slow and bureaucratic, " she explained. "We had taken our eye off the ball and were not delivering the product that the customer deserved." Identifying problems Change began at the top with the appointment of new CEO Rick Wagoner in 1998. Understanding the need for change, Mr Wagoner led the charge to assess GM's weaknesses. The findings showed that there were few areas in which the company could still claim true industry leadership and that the current culture did not reward risk taking or individual enterprise. "Urgency was not a core competence," recalled Ms Bennett. "It was critical to shorten product cycles, learn faster decision-making and responsiveness and to regain competitiveness. We had to transform the whole culture." With these ambitious goals GoFast! was born. The first step was a round of external benchmarking plus close study of cultural transformation initiatives already undertaken successfully by multinationals in other fields, such as GE and IBM. Next, pilot workshops were convened at GM to gauge employee reactions and collect practical recommendations prior to a global rollout. Full board level support was obtained for the project to ensure both financing and a guarantee to see it through. The pilot feedback revealed many areas of employee concern but also many ideas on how to improve. As Ms Bennett elaborated, "There were internal problems in communication. Sometimes we operated more like a government agency than a for-profit company. Employees did not feel empowered and did not know how to prioritise." In addition, GM was diagnosed with a severe case of 'meeting-itis', too many people wasted their days in unproductive meetings without agendas or outcome. Once the major problems were identified, GoFast! was shaped to break down barriers in the way work is accomplished. The process entails an on-going series of one-day workshops each for 20 to 50 people. Selected attendees are specifically not just managers but "those who do the work". In each workshop, employees are assigned a business problem to resolve. During the workshop, they generate ideas and propose solutions that can be implemented quickly. To guide each workshop, internally-trained coaches are on hand to make sure the voices of all participants are heard and that problems, small and large, are brought to light. The purpose is to question everything and, inevitably, some serious issues come to light. Once workshop participants craft the solutions to these problems, they present them to a "Decision Panel", consisting of top managers and executives who can make decisions related to the workshop issue. The panel makes decisions on the spot, and recommendations are approved or denied at the end of the day. The workshop participants are responsible for ensuring that all approved workshop recommendations are implemented within 30 to 60 days. Updated workshop information must be posted on GM's intranet site so that all employees can see what problems have been solved. Also, employees can share their personal GoFast! stories - good and bad - on the site. Maintaining momentum Overall direction comes from Ms Bennett and her team, whose responsibilities include: building coach capabilities through training and guidance; supporting GM business units to accelerate key business priorities with GoFast!; overseeing the GoFast! intranet site; creating new and utilising existing corporate-wide communications to promote GoFast!; and leading reward and recognition efforts. It is the goal of Ms Bennett's team to help create a "fast, focused and fearless" GM through GoFast! Ms Bennett acknowledges that "the business of cultural change takes a long time," but can see that GoFast! with its emphasis on speed, driving change, inventiveness and taking responsibility have already become part of the language of the whole company. BEFORE & AFRER Before * Outdated business practices and slow, bureaucratic, parochial management * Lost customer-needs from sight , did not deliver products that the customer deserved * Communications problems within the company leading to compromises, avoiding risks, deferring actions * 'Meeting-itis', meetings wasting time with no outcome * Top-down management * Management practices unchanged for years After * New and dynamic corporate culture, urgency as core competence: speed of action, fast decision taking, shorter product cycles * Enhanced product range and customer focus * Empower employees, channel employee suggestions and follow up by immediate action * Streamline decision-making process * Individual respect and responsibility * Continuous improvement Taken from Career Times 14 March 2003 Your comments are welcome at [email protected]