Excerpt from Whole Scale Change

Unleashing the Magic in Organizations

Tower Automotive
Case Study: Growing a Culture while Growing a Company

Tower Automotive was established in early 1993 after the purchase of the R.J. Tower Corporation by investors headed by Hidden Creek Industries. In late 1993, Dugald (Dug) Campbell became the formal leader of the "foundation" company of 2 locations, 400 colleagues producing $83 M of structural metal stampings for the automotive industry.

The strategy was to grow by balancing internal and external growth. New programs awards was targeted to be between 10-15% per year and a similar growth through the acquisition of other companies bringing new products, processes, and customers for 1997. After acquiring eight additional companies and forming two international partnerships, sales in 1998 will be in excess of $1.8 B, with 40 locations, and almost 9000 colleagues.

Dug has used the Whole-Scale^TM process to help develop the company's strategy and values and to align the new acquisitions around that strategy and those values. In 1994, Tower held four Whole-Scale^TM events, the first was two days long and the others were each one day. The purpose of the first event was to begin to develop the company strategy and culture. At the end of those four events about sixty leaders in the company had consensed on the company Mission, Vision, Values, and three-year Goals and had developed and implemented a short-term transition plan.

Beginning in 1995, Tower Automotive held one-day "reunions" about every six months. These reunions have included up to 300 salaried and hourly colleagues from across the company. The purpose of these has been to continue to strengthen the culture and to align more colleagues around the strategy. In each year these sessions were used to deepen the knowledge, understanding and practice of a key part of the culture, for example, in 1995 empowerment, in 1996 leadership, and in 1997 commitment.

A great part of the success of these sessions has been the work of design teams. Each design team session includes representatives from each location, both hourly and salaried. The design team has two one-day meetings: the first gathering about two weeks prior to the actual session and then another one week prior. The result has been lively, Whole-Scale^TM sessions with creative designs that are owned by the design team.

Many of the Business Units have begun to use (Whole-Scale^TM) events as part of their leadership processes. In 1995-96, one business unit held several Whole-Scale^TM meetings to develop its strategy and use that strategy to drive the annual budget. Throughout 1997 business units held one-day strategic planning sessions to set direction for their unit.

Based on the belief that a key to Tower Automotive's success is its being a values-based company, in the fall of 1997 all business unit leaders, mentors and the Tower Leadership Team met to begin a whole-system change effort to build commitment throughout the organization to being a values-based company. This session was followed in February 1998, by a meeting of the same leadership group plus all of the business unit leadership teams, about 225 participants. The purpose of this session was to speed the transition throughout the organization to moving to values-based leadership. Each business unit, mentor and the Tower Leadership Team left the session with immediate action steps and a process for speeding up the implementation of values-based leadership.

The Central Intelligence Agency, Department XYZ

Background

This division of the Agency consists of approximately 150 employees. Charged with providing products within the Agency and to others in government, this particular group found that it had not kept up with the changing times. Cycle times requirements had increased significantly and this group had lost touch with its customer base. Customer dissatisfaction was at an all time high and the Agency was seriously considering outsourcing much of the work of this group. A new leader was brought in to (1) reengineer the processes to make them fast, better and cheaper; and (2) to change the culture from a craftsperson, individual focus to a team based, customer sensitive organization.

Project

Dannemiller Tyson Associates worked with Leadership to develop a change plan that would involve the entire organization in:

• Understanding the challenges the organization faces
• Determining Customer Requirements
• Redesigning mission critical processes
• Recreating the organization's structure
• Launching a totally new way of doing business

The effort began in February 1996 with a Leadership retreat. Everyone was brought together in March to launch the effort; processes were redesigned in April and May; a new organization structure (with new roles and responsibilities) was created in June; and the new organization went "live" in October. Utilizing Whole-Scaleâ„¢ and Small-Scale techniques, DTA was able to move the organization to implemented solutions within 7 months.

Outcomes

Within 90 days of implementing the changes agreed upon:

• Cycle times were down 40 percent
• The organization was completing the same volume of work with 20% fewer people (mostly gone through attrition)
• Five new teams were started up (including a brand new leadership team)
• Customer Satisfaction was up 80% from pre-Launch measures

IMPLEMENTING MANAGED CARE RAPIDLY

Background

New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a nonprofit organization of 11 city-owned hospitals and 6 diagnostic and treatment centers, plus primary care, emergency, long-term care and home health services with approximately 45,000 employees. HHC has the mission of serving everyone who needs care within NYC, and derives much of its revenue from Medicaid patients. The state of New York has mandated that 50% of the Medicaid patients in the state will be covered by managed care programs by 1995, which has created a competitive market for Medicaid patients. HHC decided that to remain competitive it needed to find a way to accelerate its ability to provide a managed care system throughout all of HHC.

Projects

Dannemiller Tyson Associates worked with HHC to build understanding and commitment to managed care throughout a cross section of management, central staff and employees. We also began building a culture that would help HHC compete for Medicaid patients.

Three large-scale interactive events were designed and facilitated by DTA, working with a team including internal HHC staff. Each 3-day meeting was attended by over 400 HHC employees. The first session built awareness of the need for managed care; the following two sessions helped facilities move towards implementation. We also trained a cadre of internal facilitators who designed and facilitated over 40 large-scale sessions with HHC facilities to continue implementing managed care throughout the system.

Outcomes

As an internal follow-up to the Large Scale Events (LSE), Executive Directors were interviewed. Their consensus showed that:

• "Participants gained a common and clearer understanding of Managed Care throughout the facilities, at all levels."
• "Participants left the LSE with a strong motivation around Managed Care implementation, and understanding that behavioral changes were necessary."
• "The LSE alleviated the participants' fears and resistance to change around Managed Care implementation."

Non-Profit Case Study: METRO

Situation
In the early 1990's, METRO was a 40 year-old county-level government agency with responsibility for bus transportation and water treatment in the Seattle, Washington area. In this organization, minorities and women filed complaints with the government about racism, sexism and homophobism at the agency. Discrimination was seen to be endemic and traditional in the organizational culture.

These groups complained to the federal government that they were being discriminated against. As a result, traditional diversity training for all staff was mandated. This was thought to consist primarily of small group training. But, the leadership of the agency decided to engage the entire 4000 person organization in defining and implementing a new culture that would stamp out any acts based on racism, sexism, homophobism and paramilitarism. Dannemiller Tyson was engaged to lead the whole system change effort after leadership became convinced that the culture could only change with everyone represented in the room.

Whole System Change Effort Planning
A series of 10 meetings was planned. Each group of 400 participants formed a microcosm of the organization with representation from all levels and functions within each division. The sessions evolved with each succeeding event building on the work of the previous ones.

Each event was planned by a cross-section of actual participants who formed an "Event Planning Team". In the first event planning meeting for the first meeting, the team proved itself to be a true microcosm of the whole. Young, old, Blacks, Whites, Asians, Native Americans, men, women, heterosexuals and homosexuals all were represented and expressed feelings for each other that ranged from distrust to contempt to hatred. What they found they had in common was the desire to find a vision of the future they could all embrace. Changing values was not enough. The group, it was clear, needed to agree on a preferred future for METRO and a strategy for getting there.

The work of this team, and those that followed, was to develop a purpose statement and agenda for the event. The "purpose statement" describes what will be different in the world when the meeting is complete. All activities in an event are chosen and sequenced to move toward the purpose. In the early sessions, participants developed strategy and values. In later sessions they defined behaviors and plans that would support living in the new, preferred culture.

This progression is illustrated by the purpose statements adopted for each of the events which took place over a period of one year:

Session 1 Purpose Statement:
"To define the culture we want for all METRO employees and commit to actions we will take to live it". (Culture is defined as: customary beliefs, social norms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group.)

Session 3 Purpose Statement:
"To unite in a shared vision of our culture and commit to actions to make it happen."

Session 5 Purpose Statement:
"To unite in a shared preferred future of our culture and commit to actions that will allow us to sustain our values in a changing environment."

Session 7 Purpose Statement:
To empower ourselves to participate in a shared vision of METRO's future, thereby enhancing our work environment, enriching our appreciation of diversity, and improving our services to the community.

Whole-Scale Events
Each event seated participants at tables of eight with each table representing microcosm of the entire group as possible (max-mix seating). A series of activities helped participants get to know each other, build a common data base of information and work together as a team. While each event design was unique, these features were constant across all events.

The first large-group session was opened by a prominent person of color, the mayor of Seattle, and by an Asian-American woman who had served on city council. The group listened to what their leaders were seeing and to a panel from the Event Planning Team which described "Here's how I feel in this organization." They heard from a panel of possibilities who described efforts at affirming diversity in other cities. The group developed its own view of what METRO could look like in their preferred future. The group gave input to a draft strategy from the leadership that included a mission statement, a vision of the future, values of the organization and strategic goals for the organization. Then participants developed action plans to begin moving toward that future.

Outcomes
All ten events were held and the results were successful in the eyes of those in the METRO organization. Behaviors changed, language shifted and people "grew up" in that they came to see themselves and the world differently. Individual group egocentrism and narcissism began to be replaced by a sense of interdependence and mutual appreciation. The world was not made perfect, but the individuals had created a culture which allowed them all to find new and healthier ways of dealing with each other.

Dannemiller Tyson Associates, Inc.
Work with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
(March-December 1994)

Compiled September 1997

Kathy Dannemiller of Danemiller Tyson Associates (DTA) was asked by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) to work with executive and senior management in extending understanding of a new strategic vision for natural resource management throughout a large geographical dispersed organization. Executive managers and two internal consultants had between December 1993 and March 1994 taken the large scale interactive process (LSIP) training with DTA and felt it would be particularly useful in building a shared vision at MNDNR. The MNDNR with about 2,500 full time employees and 250 offices and management units around the state has responsibility for fish, forestry, wildlife, minerals, water, and recreation management in Minnesota, and also enforcement of natural resource laws and rules. The state is known nationally for the quality of its individual natural resource management programs. The challenge was to have the diverse parts of the department have a joint commitment to the following vision: We will work with people to manage natural resources for a sustainable quality of life . The vision implied an ecosystem-based (EBM) approach to natural resource management which included the integration of environmental, economic and community factors.

Dannemiller and an external local consultant (working with MNDNR already) consulted with executives and senior managers in two different leadership forums to briefly describe the process and to help them clarify their vision and their expectations for the use of the process. Dannemiller also worked in two different sessions with at 25-member design team made up of a max-mix group of employees representing the diversity of the organization that would be present in the event. She also worked with NDDNR's internal consultant and a logistics team of 18 persons to stage a very successful event in December 1994. Success at the time was measured by the degree of the vision's acceptance by the attending 300 participants, the energy with which they developed action plans to implement the new vision of sustainability and the EBM approach, and the extent to which mid-level managers committed to sharing information from the conference with folks "back home". This commitment to "back home" work groups resulted in 11 more large scale diffusion events between March and November 1995 to share the message, the learning and the excitement. The purpose of these 11 sessions was a combination of information sharing and training - 1 or 2 day sessions with 150 to 225 employees each. From December 1995 to date there have been annual conferences using techniques of the LSIP process. Other evidence of the success of introduction of the large-scale process has been its use as a whole or techniques from the process within individual units of the department. In December 1996, MNDNR included a small group of stakeholders in its annual conference and used the large-scale methods. In spring 1998 an event is being planned for one of MNDNR's management regions which will consist largely of stakeholders participating with field employees to determine methods for collaborating on natural resource management at the local community level.

Non-Profit Case Study: NY City TB Control

Situation
In the early 1990's, the City of New York was confronted with a potential tuberculosis epidemic. New strains of TB which were resistant to conventional treatment had appeared in the city. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta identified a danger that if the spread of these new strains was not interrupted, the disease might spread to the rest of the nation as AIDS did. Many of those contracting the disease were elderly, homeless, mentally ill or in trouble with the criminal justice system. Lack of coordination between government agencies frequently caused these people to be "lost" by the system as they moved between shelters, hospitals, mental health facilities, jails and prisons. These individuals were also the least likely to continue treatment programs. Successful control of this outbreak depended on the coordinated response of hundreds of people and cooperation between a number of service agencies.

Whole System Change Planning
The Public Health Commissioner had developed a strategy to deal with the problem but had no implementation plan as yet. Dannemiller Tyson was asked to design a large-scale event to bring together 400 participants ranging from the commissioner to front line workers in each of four key agencies responsible for the control of TB. Corrections officers, nurses, shelter directors, epidemiologists, primary care physicians, admissions clerks, budget analysts, building engineers, union officers, corrections officers and lawyers -- all of the people who make decisions on a daily basis that affect the success of TB control -- were to work together for three days to better understand a broader viewpoint than their own, and, based upon that understanding, make decisions to improve their individual and collective efforts.

The meeting was planned by a cross-section of actual participants who formed an "Event Planning Team". The work of this team was to develop a purpose statement and agenda for the event. The "purpose statement" describes what will be different in the world when the meeting is complete. All activities in an event are chosen and sequenced to move toward the purpose.

The Purpose Statement for this event reads: "To mobilize a coordinated city-wide effort to implement the TB control blueprint so that we can control the TB epidemic by working together to:

• Build a common picture of the current state of TB in the city;
• Understand how our current system works and doesn't work;
• Identify creative solutions needed to implement the blueprint, and;
• Commit to a collaborative effort to implement these solutions.

Large-Scale Event
Participants were at tables of eight with each table representing a microcosm of the entire group, as possible (max-mix seating). A series of activities helped participants get to know each other, build a common data base of information and work together as a team. While occasionally seated in other configurations (e.g., functional work groups) participants spent most of their time with their max-mix group.

The large-group session was opened by the health commissioner who described the urgency of the situation, the support of the mayor for this effort and the key role that each of the participants will play in dealing with this crisis. Participants learned about the history of TB in the city and what was currently known about how to control the present epidemic. Stakeholder views were presented from hospitals, city employees, homeless services providers, community mental health providers, unions and the view of actual patients using the system. The "blueprint" strategy developed by leadership was presented. Table groups developed recommendations for improving inter-agency connections. Inter-organizational conflict was addressed and the entire group participated in planning how the blueprint strategy should be implemented. Finally, each functional group did "Back Home Planning" to decide what next steps were needed for that group.

Outcomes
As a result of the event, inter-agency cooperation improved. Individuals and groups were able to gain a broader "big picture" view of the TB control effort and to understand the critical need for cooperation among all elements of the system. Just as important, personal connections were forged between agencies at the individual max-mix tables over the three days of the event. Knowing people well enough to call on them for assistance or information was a key outcome enabling implementation of the strategy.

The ultimate result was a dramatic improvement in the way the City of New York dealt with its tuberculosis epidemic. The outbreak was controlled and the lessons learned from the experience were able to be applied to other city-wide public health issues. Getting diverse professionals to be "one brain and one heart" even for a little while significantly altered their relationship to one another and how they went about their work well into the future.

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