dispatches from the new world of work

Changing Organizations-Getting Amazing Things Done

Counterinsurgency book cover You perhaps remember that in my Charlie Wilson post I recommended Saul Alinsky's community organizing bible, Rules For Radicals, calling it the best book I know on project management and user buy-in. Now, I'm examining another uber-text on community organizing-big scale change-project management. Namely, The U. S. Army-Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, by GEN David Petraeus, LTGEN James Amos and LTC John Nagl.

By following the manual, I'd say that one of the reasons the surge seems to be working is getting the troops out of the central, visibly protected compounds and into the neighborhoods to provide visible, local security and related services in tandem with the local folks. (The big idea is that "winning hearts and minds" is less about guns and bullets and more about on-the-ground local nurturing of confident and vital communities.)

Not to overstate your and my typical day, isn't that what we try to do, if we're wise, to get organizational buy-in to our projects? And if we fail, isn't it mostly because we hide in our central compounds, guarded by cubicle walls and executive assistants and departmental de facto "do not enter" signs—and toss "brilliant" software, our guns and bullets, over the wall?

I'll let you know what I think.

Tom Peters posted this on 01/08/08.

Comments

Tom,

If you like the change that's happening at the conventional level (i.e COIN manual), you need to hear a brief on change that is occurring within the Special Operations Forces (SOF) community. It has a lot of implications for your world and I would be happy to set up an UNCLASSIFIED brief for you by responsible parties within the community. Send a note if you have time to hear what the change is and how it applies both to SOF and world at large.

Regards,

Michael

Posted by Michael Pittman at January 8, 2008 4:59 PM

I did a lot of community development work in my healthcare career. One of the key lessons we learned is that we have to go to where people are and not expect them to come to services. If we want to introduce change in healthy living we have to get alongside folks where they are now and not impose things from our 'ivory towers.' It really is that simple and yet we still mess it up by crazy systems and processes and unnecessary complexity. Many leaders like to quote Lao Tsu (700 BC) SECOND verse as follows

"When the work is done
The task accomplished
The people will say
We have done this ourselves."

I however believe the most important of his words come in the FIRST verse as follows;

"Go to the people
Live with them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build with what they have"

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 8, 2008 7:36 PM

I think "We" is the answer to a lot of questions, from Marketing to insurgency - "We" as in Steve Yastrow's latest book "We - The Ideal Customer Relationship"

Real change always begins with mindset, and the Paradigm Shift from "Us and Them" to "We" can help not only businesses, but communities and countries as well.

Sadly, all too often the exercises that should be leading to "we" often ends up in a more entrenched "Us and them" - Iraq, for instance.

Jay, from Bangalore
http://ideaburger.blogspot.com

Posted by Jayakumar Hariharan at January 8, 2008 10:12 PM

You can get this document free here: http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24.pdf

Posted by Terry Rock at January 9, 2008 12:26 AM

Only up to page 14.
One sentence worth contemplating:
"Counter-insurgents seeking to preserve
legitimacy must stick to the truth and
make sure that words are backed up by
deeds. . . ."

Politics is a substantial part of
counter-insurgency. In election campaigns
politicians learn to speak well but learn
propaganda works better than truth. During the
campaigns they, of course, need not produce
any results on the policies they claim they
will implement once elected.
So when elected it seems they are all-too-likely
to stray from the truth and fail to keep their
campaign promises. Could this be giving rise to
dissatisfaction in wealthy countries and
revolution is poorer ones?

Yet as Will Durant said:
"There are few things in the world so unpopular
as truth, and the backbone of men and states is a
concatenation of romance."

John

Posted by Shakespeare's Fool at January 9, 2008 1:32 AM

IF the surge is working it's for two reasons, the insurgents are going to ground, re-organizing and re-grouping, and we are buying support from the Sunnis. Remember the Sunnis? Remember why why went in?

Posted by Gerry at January 9, 2008 3:35 PM