Managers as Change Leaders:
: Effective Models of Human Service Organizational Transformation
Tory Cox
Co Chair: Department of Community, Organization, Business & Innovation;
& Assistant Director of Field Education
Murali D. Nair
Clinical Professor
School of Social Work
University of Southern California
Network for Social Work Management’s
26th Annual Management Conference!
Howard University, Washington D.C.
June 4-5, 2015
Location: Blackburn 148/150
Theme: Strategic Management |
Presentation Type: Workshop
 For transformational change to take place,
innovations need to occur along two
dimensions simultaneously – technical and
organizational.
 Utilizing presented and real-time case studies
from attendees, participants will explore
technical and organizational innovations.
CHANGE
“Organization”
“Change”
“Organizational Change”
DISCUSS
What changes have you been a part of or have
witnessed take place in your organization?
Adaptive Challenge, Part 1:
Technical Innovation
 Product, technological, or structural changes
 Introduction of new technologies/products/services
 Changes how people interact with each other, reduces isolation
 Propels efficiency of communication or intervention
 Adopts evidence-based practice models, for ex.
 Restructuring lines of reporting and supervision
 Ex: flat hierarchy, erasing siloes, self-management, Holacracy
 Process/protocol changes
 Design to maximize efficiency of service delivery
INNOVATION
Technical Innovation
 Driven by market demands
 Works to fulfill market demands
DISCUSS
How can this type of innovation, which is usually
applicable to economic sectors and R&D, apply to
social service organizations?
Adaptive Challenge, Part 2:
Organizational Innovation
Organizational Innovation
Complex Division of Labor (diversify)
Organic Structure (decentralize)
High-Risk Strategy (dive in)
Organizational Innovation
Non-technical process innovation
 “Culture eats strategy for lunch” (Drucker)
 Reinventing organizations – Frederic Laloux
 Self-management – purpose, peer-importance, adults
 High complexity – hierarchy archaic (N. Korea/Cuba)
 Holacracy – distributes leadership throughout organization
 Book out June 2, 2015
 Wholeness – integrity of person
 Evolutionary purpose – let organization naturally go toward…
 Millennials – what can we learn from these catalysts?
 Replaces “how can we possibly manage them”
 Mixed methods – work space restructuring (open space)
Case Study
 “Culture is as important as the bottom line” (Zappos’ T.
Hsieh)
 Delivering happiness – focus of leadership
 Work-life integration (not balance, not boundary)
 “Be the same person at home or work”
 “Most people leave something of themselves at home when
they go to work each day”
 Self-organization, self-management
 Bought by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2014
Harvard U. Human Services Summit
 Change needed in human services orgs: efficient, effective, creative
 Business Models:
 Regulative – functional, audit-ready – reduces mission drift
 Collaborative – eliminates siloes within org, some sharing outside
 Integrative – seamless, customization, community as decision
makers, treatment regardless of organization
 Goal: Generative – adaptive, evolving & modular
 Flatter, leaner, network and ecosystem focused
 Systems-wide information sharing
 Conditions for predictive analysis / policy & program innovation
 Co-create solutions within community, other orgs, networks
 New client who wants to be part of the solution
Case Study
 Allegheny County, PA DHS (Integrative)
 Multi-need clients exhausting resources
 Technical innovation: Share data across organizations and align
silo departments under umbrella of DHS
 Organization Innovation: Case workers from multiple
organizations work together to solve problems, family-centric
outcomes occur through customization
 What if those work groups managed themselves?
Discuss: what might you learn from this example that will help you
guide change in your organization?
CHANGE
Organizational Change as a Process (Lewin)
Unfreezing, Changing, Refreezing
Bridges Model of Transition
Grieving, Time of Uncertainty, Acceptance
Horse Assisted Change Management
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj-QhF_i9VQ
• Discovery: What gives life? The best of what is.
• Dream: What might be? Imagine what the world is
calling for
• Design: How can it be? Determining the ideal
• Destiny: What will be? How to empower, share
leadership, create self-management, learn and adjust,
improvise, and innovate
Discuss:
How do these models change our plans to manage change in our
organizations?
CHANGE AGENTS
Steps Towards Stimulating and Implementing Change (Galpin, 1996)
1.
Define the Need to Change
2.
Develop a Vision
3.
Organize Teams – diverse skill sets (StrengthsFinders)
4.
Incorporate Cultural Aspects that will Sustain Changes
5.
Develop Skills Needed to Lead Change
Discuss – who does these in your organization?
CHANGE AGENTS
Guidelines to Understand the Change Process (Fullan, 2002)
1. Innovate Selectively but Coherently
2. Constantly Help Others Find Meaning and Commitment
3. Facilitate Collectivity
4. Address Resistance as an Opportunity
5. Re-culture
DISCUSS
As change agents, are you aware of these guidelines? Have you ever
followed these in your own change processes?
Case Study
 USC School of Social Work
 Technical innovation – curricular change, organizational
restructuring, new working groups and lines of leadership
 Organizational innovation – incubators, innovators-inresidence, curricular design teams
 En vivo experiment happening right in front of us
 Reflection on organizational innovation:
 Diversify, decentralize, & dive in
 Complexity of labor drives employee morale up
CHANGE AGENTS
Leadership (Northouse, 2013)
1.
4.
Leadership is a Process
2.
Leadership Involves Influence
3.
Leadership Occurs in Groups
Leadership Involves Common Goals
DISCUSS
Which components of leadership have you witnessed, either as a
leader yourself or in working under a supervisor?
LEADERSHIP THEORIES
Contingency theories of leadership
Institutional Leadership Theories
 Institutional Leadership Theory
 Core function is to protect institutional integrity
 Anthropological Leadership Model
 Core function is to improve employee evaluative knowledge
 Values, effects of actions, motives = organization unity
DISCUSS
Take us through the transformation from ILT to ALM and its
implication on transforming managers into effective leaders?
Change Agents
Strengths of Effective Organizational Leaders
 Ambition
 Architect
 Creativity
 Dedication
 Fairness
 Learning
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Openness
Perseverance
Realism
Self-Confidence
Steward
Teacher
DISCUSS
What can you add to this topic? What are some characteristics, skills, and
qualities of successful organizational change agents that aren’t listed here?
Lessons of Leadership
 The Way of the Owl (Rivers, 1997) lessons:
 Resistance is inevitable – handle with grace and skill
 A skilled enemy is a wonderful gift
 Adapting to one’s environment – letting go of control
 Dare Greatly (Brown, 2012)
 Vulnerability – What you admire in others but are ashamed
of in yourself
 Move toward it (don’t be afraid)
 How would we act if we had no fear?
Forget all you know
 Why do you follow someone?
Does it have to be a someone?
 When have you followed
something?
Which is more powerful?
SUMMARY
 Move toward employee ownership and empowerment
and let go of the need to control the change.
 Treat adults as adults.
 Use thoughts on resistance to move past it.
 Tackle large ideas and create idea-pooling
opportunities
 Spur innovation by changing interactions
 Notice: is anyone following?
DISCUSS
What other takeaways do you have from this discussion?