Organizations
“Do no harm.”
Understand the system and the people before making changes. This old physicians maxim applies to all leaders, especially when we first take a new role. Most often we are promoted into a role with greater authority in an area of the organization that is not in crisis. Therefore, no immediate, drastic measures are necessary. Assuming this to be the case, we can profitably spend our early time in the role getting to know the people and the system. Chances are that we have been promoted to supervisor or manager in an area that we have already been working in and know the people and systems fairly well. In such cases our knowledge is not that of a supervisor or manager. Some of that comes from time on the job and from having a wealth of different experiences. Some needs to come from more careful, more in-depth study of the people and the processes in much the same was as preparing to teach a class. However familiar we may think we are with the material before hand, we never learn it as well as when we have to be prepared to teach it to others. In the same way, you never know the people and the processes the same, no matter how familiar you are with them before hand, as you do when you are responsible for them. When we start out in new roles of authority we need to spend more time trying to learn than trying to make changes. Any changes we do feel we need to make we must be very careful that they don’t do more harm than good! Changes should be made with caution, following from careful study, a depth of understanding of the people and the system, as well as from having sought input from people involved and/or impacted by a change. We should make changes when we can clearly describe the intended benefits. After making a change we need to monitor or study things to find out if our change did indeed secure our intended benefit. All changes must be made cautiously, especially when we are new to a position. First, do no harm.
16
Made with FlippingBook Annual report