Dear Kim,
I feel quite close to you, working also for a big, old company -
comparable age and size. I am responsible for marketing and strategy for
one of its product groups.
I have learnt that our company don't need to change in the way you
discribed, but to rejuvenate: Old branches are starting to become weak and
there is a need for new branches to grow. Don't try to rejuvenate old
branches, but the whole company! In order to evaluate whether an old
company is really old or still strong and healthy with the potential of
another hundred years, I would check 1.) whether senior management serves
more the company or more their own Ego, trying to repeat their success
history, and 2.) (as a check) whether and how they evaluate and
support/coach new ideas, ways of doing something, innovation in product
and processes.
A great reading, that I recommend to you, is "The Living Company" by Arie
de Geus.
In your case, I would make the following reminder visible in bold letters:
"Every improvement is a change, but not every change is an improvement."
How can you make sure in a way that you can also communicate, whether a
suggested change is really going to be an improvement or not? The best I
know in this field is the TOC (Theory of Constraints) Thinking Process. It
is much more than just another tool for problem solving. It is best
discribed in "Thinking for a Change - Putting the TOC Thinking Processes
to Use" by Lisa J. Scheinkopf (The St. Lucie Press / APICS Series on
Constraints Management).
As Mrs. Scheinkopf repeatedly wrote: "Put on your learning hat!"
Liebe Gruesse from Germany,
Winfried
--"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>
[Host's Note: In association with Amazon.com, these links...
The Living Company by Arie De Geus http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087584782X/learningorg
Thinking for a Change : Putting the TOC Thinking Processes to Use by Lisa J. Scheinkopf http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574441019/learningorg
...Rick]
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>