Transformational Strategies
The efforts Jim McIngvale made to turn around the drop in the housing market n 2008 and the $30 million fire that destroyed his warehouse took a strong sense of 'can do' and a belief in a strategy to get his company's culture shifted enough to adapt to a market that Gallery Furniture was not performing well in. It appears the series of unfortunate events was Jim's perfect stage to implement culture change. However, it took a specific technique that Jim utilized after reading "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything" from the Wall Street Journal. Had I been in Jim's shoes after these devastating events, I would have been reaching for straws. Jim took this opportunity to change a 30-year cultural behavior into one that placed the customer first and foremost.
It is easy to relate to Jim's decisions when placed in a crisis situation. A holistic look at his company when his company was threatened to no longer exist was the perfect opportunity to create organizational transformation. In Jim's case, the strategic changes he made were directly related to culture and therefore was able to manage the risk based on his vision.
Stanley McChrystal learned to integrate himself into a very dynamic culture that had literally changed overnight. The force he used to lead fell on the backbone of history's leaders and now McChrystal had to humble his perception and become open to subordinate's know-how in order to learn the ways of the force and adapt if he was to continue to be an effective leader in a new emerging landscape. Stanley soon realized he was dealing with a decentralized force spread out around the world consisting of young and old personnel bringing with them a whole new set of skills and understanding about their individual jobs. Stanley had to learn how to communicate, mentor, trust, support, gain trust, and motivate them via technology.
In his corporate environment, the military, corporate culture is strong; where members' commitment and sharing of values were tightly interwoven. In this environment, there is no opportunity to single-handedly change the culture. Stanley's strategy to adapt to the global environment in which he worked was by shifting hs perception. Due to the fact Stanley's leading style no longer was compatible with the new emerging culture, he had to manage his strategy of self-change around the culture. I can only imagine the difficulty of changing one's lifelong understanding and perception of interacting with their environment to an inverted way of thinking; listening and learning vice giving orders.
In both environments, the struggle to manage risk and employ strategy in and around culture can be a daunting one. Understanding how best to mitigate risk all the while employing a strategy that will effectively produce desired results in support of an organization's vision allows hope for organizational transformation to endure.
References:
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organizational development. 8th Ed. Upper Saddle River: NJ. Pearson.
McChrystal, S., TED2011 (2011, March). Listen, learn...then lead. Ted Talk. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal_listen_learn_then_lead#t-925407
Vitalsmarts (2012, Septemeber 17). Influencer: Gallery furniture case study. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=90&v=E20RW75Fhu4&feature=emb_logo
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