In the last half century, Americans have traveled a long distance in our attitudes toward government, business and society. With the election of President Kennedy in 1960, there was a widespread belief that anything was possible, that we could make everything work and that public service was an honorable calling. In the reactionary age that began in the mid-1960s, a set of messages emerged: Only the private sector works, government definitely does not work, and public service was an embarrassment, a refuge for losers. This second period ended with the Bush-Cheney Administration and the current crisis. However, because of what has happened, rather than a new perspective, we now have an emerging fear: maybe nothing works.
President-elect Obama won because he understood that there was a hunger for change in the United States. Gov. deJongh won for the same reasons in the Virgin Islands, as did Gov.-elect Fortuno in Puerto Rico. In every case, change means repairing things that don't work. These deficiencies are the results of wrong approaches and policies, and of institutions that have been undermined and hollowed out over a long period of time. Promising change is important, but it is by far the easiest part. Delivering is the hard part.
We usually don't have the time to address "root causes" on the way to fixing what is broken, but it is important to understand what these causes were. Understanding is the first step in the process of not digging the hole that we are in any deeper. Even though the scope of the problems faced by the mainland United States and the Virgin Islands is vastly different, it is useful to compare "root causes."
Judgments about root causes are inherently political, and depending on where you are on the political spectrum, different people will come to different conclusions. My sense of the current U.S. crisis is that its roots lie in reactionary political, economic and social policies, arrogance ("We're No. 1"), false pride ("USA! USA!"), greed and our now extreme inequality. All of these have been fed and sustained over the years by a mainstream media that presented these policies as unarguable truths.
These are not the root causes of what doesn't work in the Virgin Islands. In the territory, the root causes would appear to be pessimism, cynicism and indifference. These have been shaped, in part, by an inherently fragile economy and, importantly, by restrictive labor laws. Rather than instability, the result has been extreme rigidity and an unhealthy stability. The result: a pattern of long-term, uninterrupted decline.
Is this decline reversible? Of course. But, as on the mainland, it took a long time to get to this point. It will take a long time to make things work well.
We know enough about how change takes place to be able to lay out a set of basic approaches or principles. These principles apply to groups, organizations and societies of all sizes. Here are some of the most important:
Crises are essential: Stability is generally a good thing, but it is also the enemy of change. Change requires an environment that is destabilized, one in which the forces of the status quo are on the defensive. If money is the mother's milk of politics, crisis is the mother's milk of change. Our dire financial and economic situation presents President-elect Obama with his greatest opportunity. The ideal situation is to use a problem that is serious but not desperate as a "hook" to further shake the environment. We want enough people to say, "We can't go on like this," without the problems being so deep-seated that they seem almost insoluble.
Leaders drive change: The demand for change can bubble up from below, but it takes leaders to define the challenge in a way that reaches people emotionally, to spell out a vision of a better future that they can believe in, to assemble a team to push it forward, and to understand the hard work of getting from here to there. In his book The Heart of Change, John Kotter describes in case after case the difference that individuals can make in bringing about fundamental change.
Build a team: Leaders have followers. In taking on big issues and fixing things that don't work, they also need a team. This team must share a vision and core values, speak with a single voice and have a single shared commitment to getting things done. No big talkers need apply.
Have a vision: The vision isn't the kind of grandiose statement about heaven on earth to which Virgin Islanders and many others have become accustomed and immediately tune out. It is a realistic description of what our future can look like and how it will be different from the present. It is also the description of the path that we will take to get there. It gets people beyond the point of "we can't go on like this" and to the point of "we can make this better."
In the territory, because of the nature of the economy and the many uncontrollable issues, a powerful and achievable vision could be built around a set of core issues: community life, education, the environment, poverty alleviation, and improving performance and standards in business, government, and the non-profit community.
Be realistic: It is always better to fix three things 100 percent than 10 things 50 percent. Over time, the 50 percent recedes back toward zero, and the cynicism and pessimism that we worked so hard to overcome return with a vengeance. In almost every case, it took a long time for us to get into this mess, whatever the mess is. It will also take a long-time to get out. We need to set clear priorities and, at least for now, be prepared to say "no" to some worthy goals.
Communication and messages are critical: Change is about processes, planning and execution. It is also about people's emotions. In the end, large numbers of people have to want change and internalize it.
They also have to understand that it is not cost-free, and that they will have to give something up. At a minimum, they will have to get used to tomorrow not always being the same as today. For example, the rude and indifferent person in the St. Thomas Airport parking kiosk would have to be polite and conscientious. The cost: zero. The benefit to fellow Virgin Islanders and visitors: priceless.
To keep people from drifting away and falling by the wayside, clear communication and consistent messages that reach them emotionally are an essential ingredient.
Achieve small, visible victories: In most cases, basic changes take a long time. To sustain progress, there is a need to achieve small and visible victories if we are going to build the belief that this time the promise is real.
Focus on execution: Everybody has great ideas, and lots of people have "strategies." None of them mean much in the absence of effective execution. Larry Bossidy and Ram Sharan, the authors of the book Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, have summarized the requirements of effective execution in a simple equation: execution equals a solid strategy, plus the right people in the right jobs, plus operations (systems, processes, implementation tools).
In the Virgin Islands, fixing what doesn't work means paying a lot of attention to the "right people," improving core work- and service-delivery processes, information management and accountability for results. It also means aggressively focusing on changing behaviors that stand in the way of positive change.
Isolate and move opponents out of the way: As in many other places, opposition to change is the default position in the Virgin Islands. It is typically cost-free for the opponents. It shouldn't be. The Democrats in the U.S. Senate have just made a mistake by not punishing Sen. Lieberman for his support of John McCain in the presidential race. They have lowered the price for opposing change when they should have been raising it.
The challenge here
is to remove the obstacles to change without compromising our basic values. At the same time, we want to bring along the big uncommitted middle rather than become obsessed with defeating the negative fringe. It is a tricky problem, but standing in the way of change cannot be cost-free for the opponents. Sometimes, to send a message, the cost should be high, like a lost job or a public humiliation.
This series began with a burned-out bulb in a desk lamp and an exploration of why things don't work. It ends up where many such discussions do, with the question of how we can bring about change in organizations and society to make things work better and improve lives. The principles just outlined are a formula for planned, realistic and non-destructive change. They involve hard work, take time and don't always succeed. On the other hand, all of the alternatives — especially the status quo — are a lot less attractive.
Editor's note: We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to visource@gmail.com.
