A new set of goals or rules to maximize accountability and outcome-based performance has to be balanced with a shift in an organization’s underlying values, personal networks or “rituals,” asserts Rockefeller Foundation’s Zia Khan in a column at Stanford SSIR.
Changing the status quo is never easy, and benefits can be realized only number of rituals that need to change is inventoried and balance between strategy and culture is more deeply thought of to make those changes, Khan adds.
Say No to Status QuoEasier Said Than Done
Community-based change initiatives or programs often have ambitious goals, and so planning specific on-the-ground strategies to those goals is difficult.
Likewise, the task of planning and carrying out evaluation research that can inform practice and surface broader lessons for the field in general is a challenge.
Programs founded on methodologies like Theory of change (ToC) and incorporated with rituals can help make the transformation process easier.
Shifting Sands
“A paradigm shift toward results-based funding is a major analytical breakthrough. But its benefits can be realized only if we look at the number of rituals – informal components of a system like values, personal networks, and sources of pride – that need to change and make sure we balance strategy with culture in thinking about how to make those changes. To achieve this balance, there are a few general factors that we should keep in mind.
The first factor is to gain a deeper understanding of the current situation and the change that’s necessary. It’s easy for innovators to dismiss how people currently do things. “Status quo,” “not-invented-here resistance,” and “silos” have a negative and dismissive connotation. But there are often good reasons why people do the things they do. No one shows up to work seeking to be old-fashioned, change-resistant, and inefficient.
For example, a results-based funding approach may require a government team to shift from funding long-standing partners toward a process where different partners are invited to submit bids to achieve a specific goal. This is generally one of the strategic benefits of results-based funding—a shift from funding activities to funding outcomes. However, you would want to deeply explore some questions before implementing such a strategy:
How strong are the personal relationships between the government team and the long-standing partners?
Are there benefits to the established relationship that haven’t been fully considered—for example, the ability to have trust-based conversations about what is or isn’t working?
Does the government team develop expertise and knowledge from the long-standing partner that is respected internally and that may be threatened with a change in partners? Will that threaten the team’s adoption of and commitment to a new partner?
You would need to ask similar questions of investors, solution implementers, and all the other actors who will need to change their own rituals to make the overall partnership work.”
Steve Jobs’ Example
See how Steve Jobs used the power of organization ritual and “ceremony” to transform Apple.
