What is this book about?

Our book is about how you can level the playing field during organization-wide changes by understanding how to leverage the reality that many organizations are incapable of organization-wide change. Massive changes for the purpose of improvement generally fail to meet the intended outcome (improvement), not because the organization picked an unpopular change method, or the wrong consultant, or because leadership wasn’t committed enough. It can be bigger than that – it can be simpler than that. It can be that the organization’s culture digs in its heels, resisting, even sabotaging, change initiatives on every front. So, someone should find out if the organization is capable before spending time and money on enterprise-wide improvement efforts. If the organization is incapable of massive change, there are other ways to improve – for example we recommend the use of champions.

Where did you come up with the concept of organizational immaturity?

We think it would be more accurate to say we came to a “conclusion” rather than a concept; the indicators were everywhere from the subtle moments of self doubt to the other extreme like the Dilbert cartoon series, the TV show Office and the movie Office Space, we’ve all seen versions of organizational immaturity. Studies have shown that 50%-75% of all enterprise-wide change efforts fall short of their goals, and therefore, to various degrees, fail. We wondered whether there was a way to predict the likelihood of success, or some way of reducing the risk of failure. We concluded that it wasn’t because the wrong consultants were used or the wrong methodology was tried or even that management “wasn’t fully committed.” The failure occurs because the organization is incapable of coping with the change, just like a young child can be traumatized by too much instability in the family.

What was your purpose in writing it?

Each of us has benefited from the writings of other authors, so we wanted to return the favor and help well-meaning leaders who inadvertently harmed themselves and their organizations by ignoring the signs of Organizational Immaturity. We want to help others avoid the frustrations and failures that we’ve seen throughout corporate, military and academia. We hope organizations will look at our book before they waste enormous amounts of time and money trying to move a mountain with a teaspoon.

How might organizations use this book?

The most important feature of our book is that it can help organizations save enormous amounts of time and money by doing some self-assessment before bringing in high-powered consultants or change agents.

What in your backgrounds prepared you to do this level of organizational study?

Our resumes speak to this a bit. A masters degree in Human Relations Development with a concentration in Business, coupled with the three of us sharing over 75 years of experience in organizational improvement – in the military, corporate, and higher education arenas provided the necessary background.

How long did you work on this book?

The writing and editing took 3 years.

Who is the audience for this book?

We focused on the leaders, managers and staff of any organization larger than, say, 30 people, and especially the people we refer to as Champions, people who are interested in continual improvement. But, as the endorsements point out, any one at any level will experience a number of “oh yeah” moments.

How did you share the work load among 3 authors?

We found ourselves actually working in 3 connected offices, working on similar kinds of tasks, and the more we shared information, the more we developed a strong relationship. Our process for producing the book was a collaborative effort where we can’t tell where one author’s thought begins or another ends.