FREE online courses on Great Managers - GREAT MANAGERS - STARTING A
REVOLUTION
The idea of starting alone, however, may be daunting to you;
you may not see yourself as a David against the Goliath of other peoples' (low)
expectations. The bad news is that you will meet resistance to change. Your
salvation lies in convincing your team (who are most effected) that what you are
doing can only do them good, and in convincing everyone else that it can do them
no harm. The good news is that soon others might follow you.
There is precedent for this. For instance, when a British
firm called Unipart wanted to introduce Japanese methods (Honda's to be precise)
into their Oxford plan (The Economist - 11th April 1992 - page 89) they
sent a small team to Japan to learn what exactly this meant. On their return,
they were mocked by their workmates who saw them as management pawns. So instead
they were formed into their own team and sent to work in a corner of the plant
where they applied their new knowledge in isolation. Slowly, but surely, their
example spread through the factory and changes followed. Now Unipart have opened
a new factory and the general manger of the first factory attributes the success
to "releasing talent already on the shop floor". Of course one can always find
case studies to support any management idea, but it does exemplify the potential
of a small cell of dedicated zealots - led by you.
