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Articles | Critical Interventions
Critical Interventions: A New Take on The Stages of Planned Change
Most organizational development literature has some version of the stages or steps of planned change. They go something like: contracting, data gathering, intervention, evaluation, and disengagement. I have problems with this framework. Each stage is an intervention in itself, yet intervention properly comes after data gathering. In addition, evaluation includes data gathering along with some analysis. Further, in real life, the sequence suggested in most literature does not account for various stages overlapping. For example, data gathering often leads to re-contracting as might any other intervention. This makes the framework both confusing and unwieldy.
I have designed an alternative approach I am calling “Critical Interventions.” This approach acknowledges that all of the stages are interventions. It does not suggest any particular ordering, although the order in which they are offered may have some value.
From the perspective of applied behavioral science, an intervention is an action within a human system that is intended to move that system toward some specific change goal. In organization development terms, our interventions are designed to move the support for a specified goal toward critical mass through engendering collaboration dynamics such as mutual understanding and the willingness to learn from differences.
Seven Critical Interventions
Data Gathering
Any planned change venture is triggered by some
event that offers data about a real or potential impact on the human
system at hand.
Often, more data must be gathered to verify, amplify, and flesh out
existing information.
Organization development practitioners begin gathering data at the
first meeting with a
potential client. This is a significant intervention, since the data
gathered can shift
the perspective of the practitioner significantly. A good initial data
gathering session
can be a very valuable intervention for both the client and the
practitioner.
Creating Possibility
The practitioner is charged with the special
task of broadening and deepening the client’s understanding of the
presenting situation
and of possible paths to resolution. Often the information shared by
the client in the
initial meeting includes data that indicate that s/he has limited
preconceived conclusions
about what is possible. One such erroneous conclusion is that the
situation can only be
remedied by a training intervention, when a systemic approach is needed
instead. Another
faulty notion is that the problem is not remedial at all, as many
believe “personality
conflicts” to be. Most of the time, the client simply wants an end to
the personal or
organizational pain. This makes a more vision-oriented approach useful.
In any of these cases, the organization development practitioner must create an expanded sense of what is possible. Educational conversation about root-cause, systemic problem solving, sharing past experiences of broader solutions, and inquiring how the situation is impacting movement toward an organizational or personal vision can all be useful interventions toward creating a greater sense of possibility for the client.
Contracting For Collaboration
Contracting is a critical
intervention that defines agreements about goals, collaborative
strategies, roles,
relationship behaviors, and next steps. Developing these
agreements—repeatedly—are core
interventions. They build the support needed for the accomplishment of
the goals. When
that support reaches critical mass, the goal will have been achieved.
Such support often
creates a deeper sense of relationship leading to greater effectiveness
and efficiency. It
all starts with the contracting process between the practitioner and
the client. It then
extends through any needed agreements for support between the client
and others members of
the system.
Implementation
Contracting defines the changes to be implemented.
These agreements mean nothing if no one takes action to implement them.
Organizations hold
many retreats that produce prodigious and much needed agreements that
are never
implemented. Returning to business as usual is too often much too easy.
To support
effective implementation, one of the last things I do at the end of a
meeting where there
has been significant contracting is to insist on a review of the
agreements. This allows
my client, his/her group, and me to achieve real consensus about
explicitness,
identification of individuals responsible for particular actions, and
the date by which
the actions must be accomplished.
Feedback As A Learning Process
Conducting an evaluation after the
deadline of an agreed upon implementation is crucial. The client and
the practitioner need
to know what impact has occurred from whatever actions have or have not
taken place.
Attention must be paid to how the system responded to the actions taken
or not taken.
Undertaken as a learning process rather than a blaming process,
feedback helps us refine
strategies and tactics as necessary until the change initiative goal
has been reached.
Feedback is also needed to discover what worked, and what could be improved. Collective feedback sessions allow the give and take of dialogue to increase and improve the database of all present. This results in a mutual understanding about effective action at all levels of human systems—personal, interpersonal, group, and organizational. This sharply contrasts with anonymous feedback processes, which allow no opportunity to work through differing connotations, misunderstandings, and conflicts. All of these need resolution for efficient goal accomplishment.
Clear Consequences
Consequences are motivational. We do what we believe will get us
pleasure. We also do what we believe will help us avoid what we think
might be painful.
Change in human systems is often driven by perceived consequences of
not changing, such as
potential loss of productivity, loss of revenue, loss of key employees,
loss of job, and
loss of the business itself. This holds true for individuals and
groups, though in many
systems such consequences are not clear. For the most effective goal
accomplishment, all
parties involved would be clear about the consequences of following
through or failing to
follow through with their agreements.
Occasionally, change is driven by a vision or a dream. For many, the consequences of accomplishing goals and fulfilling agreements are sufficient motivations. For others, further support is needed. This support could take the form of additional coaching, disapproval, loss of status, loss of position, and even loss of job. What works depends entirely on what motivates any individual. Many failed efforts at change have failed due to a notable absence of clear and motivating consequences.
Disengagement
When sufficient iterations of data gathering, possibility creation,
contracting, implementation, feedback, and consequences have occurred,
we are likely to
find the goals of the change initiative accomplished. This is the time
to acknowledge the
accomplishments of the individuals, team, and the organization. It is
time to celebrate
and let go of that project and its processes so that we can move on to
the next one. What
we do not let go of stays with us and makes us unable to move on. This
is true even when
we decide to cease putting energy into a process that is taking more
time and energy than
seems worthy. Again, whatever effort has been expended needs to be
acknowledged, lessons
learned need to be identified, and goodbyes must be said. Such is the
nature of letting
go, of disengagement, so that we might move on to our next project
where we will be better
prepared to succeed.
The nature of systems is that anything and everything we do or don’t do within that system has an impact to which the system responds. Accordingly, we can see that anything and everything we do is an intervention whether we plan it or not. To make the best of our human systems—whether for improved productivity or greater satisfaction and pleasure—we can grow more effective and empowered by using these seven critical interventions.