FIVE YEARS OF ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION. RESULTS AND IMPACTS ACHIEVED, LESSONS LEARNED, AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

 

Five years ago, on July 15, 2020, we embarked on an organizational transformation at the Fundació el Maresme, based on self-management and self-organization. Our goal was to create a new organizational culture—a new leadership philosophy based on collective knowledge, shared decision-making, and listening to the different voices within the organization, all rooted in democratic governance. It was a culture that was more participatory and where power was also shared and redistributed.

We sought to unleash leadership from all levels of the organization, where the architecture (the organizational chart) wouldn't confine people but would instead facilitate the creation of spaces for participation and co-decision. These spaces were intended to generate new management and leadership dynamics.

At the same time, we wanted the technical perspective from the field of direct care for individuals—our mission as an organization—to be more present and carry more weight in the leadership team, and to strengthen this voice in the management of teams and the organization in general.

The objective at the time, in early 2019, was to design and implement an organizational model with the vision of contributing to the detection and response to new emerging needs. We wanted an organization that was more agile, flexible, and at the same time more resilient—an organization that recognized the diversity of people and the knowledge we all contribute, and how this can lead to more efficient and effective decisions.

To achieve all this, it was necessary to redesign the architecture, but above all, to pay special attention and provide support for the transformation of work dynamics.

The will for this organizational transformation was the result of a participatory strategic reflection carried out over 10 months in 2018, involving more than 500 people.

 

With this reflection, I want to explain some of the results and impacts obtained from this transformation to date, share the lessons learned from co-leading and supporting the transformation over the past few years, and point out some of the challenges I see today regarding the organizational transformation.

 

SOME RESULTS AND IMPACTS OBTAINED

A More Flexible Organization

This change of model has led to greater flexibility within the different work teams, as they question whether their current way of organizing and making decisions is the most suitable for good service management. When they identify a need for improvement, it's seen as a natural process for the team itself, with the support of external figures, to rethink its own organization and dynamics with the goal of improving both technical and managerial quality.

The current model also facilitates the rotation of functions and roles among the people who are part of the management teams[1]. Although changing functions and roles in organizations can be a sensitive issue, it is beginning to be seen as natural to hold a specific role for a certain period and then hand it over to another colleague on the team.

More Effective, and More Efficient, Decisions?

With the current model, the different teams have the authority to make decisions within their area of activity and management level[2]. Shared decision-making also involves, when necessary, people from outside the team who have complementary knowledge.

The results we're seeing are that decisions are being made with better knowledge because they are made by teams composed of people with multidisciplinary knowledge who are close to the area of focus. As we said from the start of the organizational model: "decisions are made where things happen." In most cases, this translates into more effective decisions.

Implementing a more participatory management model can be intimidating, as it may increase the time spent on collective debate and decision-making, potentially making the model less efficient. Our experience is that while in some cases it does mean an increase in management time, the decisions made are more effective: they are more robust, shared by more people, and richer for considering a diversity of perspectives and knowledge. Therefore, although this model may require more management time, the greater effectiveness of the decisions made compensates for this increase. I believe that the most efficient decisions aren't necessarily those made with the fewest possible resources, but rather that their effectiveness counteracts potential errors or subsequent resistance.

I've heard teams say more than once that "the decisions made are better understood."

Recognition from Clients and People Served. Impact on the Mission

In recent months, we have carried out an impact evaluation in one of the organization's services, with the support of an external consultant. We wanted to see if the new organizational model has impacted the quality of the service, its efficiency and effectiveness, and its contribution to the organization's mission.

After a few months of fieldwork collecting evidence, including interviews with employees, people served, families, and clients, we have concluded that: The organizational transformation has contributed to greater efficiency and effectiveness of the service, an improvement in the work environment, and a higher quality of care for people with intellectual disabilities, thus contributing to the organization's mission.

Another result obtained from the evaluation was that the new organizational model contributes to organizational sustainability, which is closely linked to the promotion of democratic governance that permeates the organizational culture, responsible leadership, continuous improvement, and active participation.

Increased Sense of Belonging

Being part of a team, actively participating in decision-making, and feeling heard and valued regardless of your position, function, or role, generates a greater sense of belonging, meaning, and purpose in the work.

Unblocking Stagnant Situations

Over the years, we've seen that as teams have truly embraced self-management and self-organization, they've been able to bring to light and solve problems that had been present for years.

These processes aren't easy and require external support for the teams themselves, but the fact that the teams take ownership of the management makes it easier to unblock situations that have been stalled for a long time.

A More Humanistic Leadership Style Is Promoted

This has been a literal statement that I have heard multiple times in recent years.

The current model promotes active listening, the recognition of the diversity of people and knowledge that make up the organization, collective knowledge, shared decision-making... for all this to happen, the leadership of the people also must be focused on this direction.

Therefore, this perspective is inseparable from a greater focus on caring for employees, and thus a more humanistic style of leading teams and the organization in general.

 

SOME LESSONS LEARNED

While it's not easy to summarize all the lessons from this experience, at this point I would highlight the following:

Time
Time is a very important variable. Carrying out a transformation of this magnitude, both due to the depth of it and the size of the organization itself, is not done in a few months or a couple of years.

It takes time to design the model, prepare the organization, start and start testing the new way of working.

Time to walk, to make mistakes, to rectify, to learn and consolidate learning.

Time to realize that the results we obtain are starting to be better.

Time to listen, understand and accompany.

Time is no longer a linear variable: there will be moments when we feel that we are taking steps back or that we are going slowly and therefore “wasting time”, steps and time necessary to then make a bigger or more robust leap forward.

Dedication, Recognition, and Support
Transforming work dynamics of many years is not easy no matter how much we want to. The inertia of old dynamics tends to be strong. Not for lack of desire or conviction, but because it will be necessary to unlearn to learn again.

It is important to try to understand what certain resistances are telling us. It is necessary to recognize the path taken that has led us to the moment we find ourselves. It is not about dismantling everything that has been built, but from where we are continuing to build differently.

It is worth paying attention to everything that we already know as an organization, what we cannot lose by embarking on the new path or new dynamics.

It is necessary to dedicate both internal and, occasionally, external resources to accompany the transformation.

Trust
Opening up the dynamics of management and direction to more people and teams means incorporating greater diversity into decision-making spaces. This greater diversity also brings differences in points of view, mental frameworks, experiences, knowledge... and therefore a difference with respect to a less participatory model. In the end, this is what we are looking for.

It is necessary to trust, to trust people and to trust that this greater diversity also provides richer knowledge in the way of managing and leading, even if it is not as one would have thought individually.

Listening to different voices can shake up our beliefs and mental frameworks: if we really want to build collectively, we must be willing to integrate uncomfortable reflections to think differently.

Silences

We need to generate silences to hear different voices. Without new silences, we won't hear new voices.

This will require inverting roles: we need to listen more and be quiet more often, especially those who usually speak the most, and for those who are typically more silent, it's their turn to speak up.

 It's not easy to sustain silence or uncertainty, but these are the moments that truly create transformation.

 

Care for People and Teams

This entire transformation is supported by every person and team that makes up the organization. It's important to be mindful of how people and teams are feeling and if there are obstacles that are preventing progress.

We must listen to, understand, and support any resistance that may arise. To begin working differently, people and teams must be ready. Before we can plant new ways of working, we must first properly till the soil.

What isn't visible, but still exists, can prevent new dynamics from taking root, no matter how good the seeds we plant are. It is worth dedicating time and external support to assist people and teams.

Difficult Conversations

To build something collectively, it will be necessary at some point to have difficult conversations—the ones that are often avoided. These conversations can happen between two people or within a team. Such conversations help us to understand, bring us closer to others, and help us grow.

Experiencing It

The last lesson I would highlight is that to truly understand the changes that are happening—to see that the decisions being made and the ways of working being implemented are better—you must live and experience it yourself.

To drive a transformation of this kind, you must be willing to experience and feel it firsthand: going through moments of uncertainty, unlearning and learning, dedicating time, feeling emotions, and being close to people and teams to experience this transformation with them.

It is then that you will realize the new way of working is beginning to take root and bear fruit.

 

FUTURE CHALLENGES

I would summarize the future challenges in three points:

Consolidation

It's important to continue consolidating the different models of self-management and self-organization of the various teams. Each team and each service are different, and therefore the models and dynamics they generate are also different.

While we share a common foundation and framework as an organization, it will be the individual teams that will need to consolidate their own models and dynamics.

Best Practices and Knowledge Transfer

As another element of consolidation, we will need to continue gathering best practices that are being generated throughout the organization. Best practices help to ground and objectify what works.

Therefore, they provide us with knowledge through our own experience. This knowledge is important for the teams that generate it and can also inspire other teams when they find themselves in similar situations.

It will be worth continuing to promote internal knowledge transfer within the organization, as well as beyond it if necessary.

Evaluation

We have carried out a first formal experience in impact evaluation based on the theory of change. The results and evidence obtained are very interesting and positive, both in the impact on our mission and on our organizational culture.

It will be important to continue advancing the evaluation to include more services, as well as more global aspects of the organization. The evaluation must also serve to consolidate, extract best practices, and guide the steps we will continue to take at an organizational level as an entity.

 

 

 

Picture from Tosifqu Barbhuiya in Pexels 

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[1] They are the teams responsible for leading a service, a group of services, or the organization as a whole. We have moved from single-person management to co-leadership teams.

[2] Currently, the organization has three levels of management: service-level management, service group management, and overall (or executive team) management.