I have worked with many different kinds of organizations in both profit and nonprofit sectors of our society and economy. Across them all, I find that the three most difficult organizations within which to create successful change are health care, professional services firms and universities. Why? Because they all share a common characteristic that accounts for some of this difficulty. I call it the “layer cake” factor.[i]
Layer Cake Factor
What do I mean by layer cake? Specifically, I find that all three organizations resemble a three layer cake as they have three distinct “slices” in their organizations. One slice consists of the professionals, the intellectual capital of the organization, the doctors, lawyers/partners, and professors. Another slice is made of the administrators who manage the organization. This includes functional managers, finance, marketing, heads of internal services and so on. Finally, the third slice consists of support staff. This includes secretaries, nurses, software support, maintenance and so on.
This layered structure has certain similar characteristics across all three organizations. First, the members of each layer are likely to have relationships with their peers in other organizations that are as strong or stronger than their affiliation with others in their own organization. Second, there is little movement across the layers. Administrators do not become professionals and most support staff will not become administrators (with a few exceptions). Finally, different forms of power and influence reside in each of the layers while overall authority and responsibility for the organization may be shared in some way between professional and administrative representatives.
“Layer cake” organizations present some distinct challenges for any change effort. The professional layer often is more of a loose confederation of specialists with only a very loose tie to the overall organization. The other two layers each operate in their own realm as well. Across all, there are different views of what is important to the organization and the implications of any change. The result is that there is less coordination and communication across levels as a whole. The different levels simply don’t see the world in the same way.
Making Change Succeed
I believe that it is crucial for a successful change effort to engage the whole organization in various ways, right from the beginning. While this is true in many organizations, it is particularly true in layer-cake organizations. Cascade-style change efforts are unlikely to create lasting change.
There are three approaches that I have found helpful in these types of organizations:
- Building an inclusive case for change. Most organizations craft a description of the need for a given change. But, will it pull everyone in? In a layered organization it is critical that one argument for change is relevant across all layers. In effect, the case for change can be an opportunity to help the organization realize a common vision for becoming a stronger and more effective entity. In one professional services firm we worked hard to develop such a case, and to engage all layers and all functions in discussions about what this change meant for them. The message stayed the same, but the design of the meeting to discuss the implications varied across participants/layers.[ii]
- Initiating multiple change initiatives, each important to different layers. Within the overall change effort, it becomes important to create multiple opportunities to implement multiple improvement efforts. These efforts should be aligned with the overall case or vision for change, but with specific significance to each layer. At the professional services firm mentioned above, this meant launching distinctly different improvement efforts that had benefits for lawyers, as well as administrative and support staff.
- Leading change with cross layer teams. Many change efforts are based upon the use of cross-functional teams. But cross-functional teams may not be enough in a layer-cake organization. You need cross layer involvement as well. Using the example of the law firm again, we created teams that had representatives from at least two, and sometimes all three layers. The teams also looked to the professional layer as sponsors and the administrative layer as process owners of their various efforts. Different teams were led by representatives from different layers as well.
Did this approach work? A number of years after the change effort, we found that the client had taken the principles behind this change and made it part of their performance culture across functions and layers.
You can find additional information on the professional services case referred to here, and other change initiatives at Brownfield & Lent under building the stickability of new initiatives.
[i] Marvin Weisbord first pointed out aspects of this challenge in working with hospitals.
[ii] I worked with John Haskell on this effort
