Top-Down Change ?

"The biggest stumbling block to strategic planning is that senior professionals want autonomy not collaboration." Cranfield Management School  

Tools for Top-Down Change can be found in the 'Change Tools' Menu 

To whom or what do you feel accountable for your actions?

As human souls we look for guidance from a 'higher' source or from those we care about or whose opinions and beliefs we value. Because we so often fear our freedom to make the 'right' decision we look to 'someone else' to provide us with the distinctions and standards needed to help us. This is often represented as the 'father' figure, the wise, intelligent and all knowing voice that speaks to us.  We give authority and obedience to those we believe will deal with our anxiety that comes from the unknown and the unpredictable. The 'Father God' offers security in laws for living and demands for obedience. Interestingly, Dostoevky sees Christ representing the call to personal responsibility but his church seeking to delegate responsibility to a higher authority. 

"It should come as no great surprise that the freedom of conscious decision making gives us a good deal of anxiety. We look around us and see other species functioning on the whole the way our bodies do, untroubled by questions of whether what they are doing is right or wrong, good or bad.  Yet we are stuck with choice - making conscious minds that are an expeimental substitute fo the innate evolutionary knowing of other species, and we must use those minds as best we can decide to behave."  Elisabet Sahtouris in 'Earthdance'  (A free on-line book)

Some os us feel accountable to our visions of what we want t have or to be.  If we are not honest about what we want we are denying something that must be accepted.  Not facing the fact can create inner tensions that will eventually cause us sadness and possibly illness. To live a full and authentic life we must be able to create visions for ourselves some of which we may never achieve, but we nevertheless ho;ld ourselves accountable for achieving them.  The best way isto see the vision or dream as somethong that is separate from us, something that has its own identity and we have a strong loving relationship with. It becomes our 'god'. 

For some, bosses or parents are the source of experience and wisdom, others look to religion, science or nature to provide guidance for their decision making. These are all sources of authority to which we turn for guidance to help solve our individual and collective dilemmas. Without a moral or ethical code we can lose sight of a higher purpose for life on earth and lack a code for ethical living that is so urgently needed today if we are to sustain life on the planet. Strategic and global thinking are associated with 'top-down' because the 'why' questions neeed to be answered before the 'how' questions, but coherence is achived when 'how'we are doing something fit with 'why' we are doing it that way. This is a key prionciple in Value Engineering.

But this is just one of four major sources of energy for change or barriers for change. We must broaden our view of what influences the change process and must be aware of the impact each of the four critical perspectives affects our ability to achieve dynamic balance at a given point in time. There is an outside-in dimension that is the 'Earth Mother' providing an environment for self-learning, complemented by the 'Father God' that provides top-down guidance for our actions. The inside-out energy comes from the pursuit of self-improvement and  creating an authentic and unique life for ourselves, whilst the collective and cooperative forces for change impact on us from bottom-up.

Strategy emerges from the bottom-up but is then imposed with authority from the top-down. For example, a Headteacher's highest priority is the education of the children under their care is support for the parents (outside-in dynamic). But they must also make the school work effectively, maintain standards and satisfy the school's governors. This requires clear vision and authority (top-down dynamic). But the best performing schools adopt a collaborative style which engages staff, stakeholders and the local community (bottom-up dynami to make change happen in a coherent and predictable way. The ability to be, think and do things in a consistent way requires energy, commitment and learning from all staff and governors (inside-out dynamic). The mechanisms used to achieve it can often fail to get ownership or commitment.  This requires energy coming from the bottom-up.