How to Create a Wave of Change

In our work to support the Police Service in the UK, we are seeing first-hand what it looks like when people get fully engaged. This particular Police Service has spent the time to discover their Why, which has served as the starting point to engage with their people in new ways. They are embarking on an unprecedented journey to transform the way they deliver their services to the community.

As a result of discovering their Why, everyone’s job will change, and they will define and prove a new, more efficient model for policing. Rather than downloading the message from the top down through the ranks, they are learning how to touch, move and inspire people – to engage them fully in the things that matter most.

They are painting a picture of a future where everyone inside the Service will be enabled to do more of what is important to them, less of what doesn’t matter, and all in fulfilment of the Service’s Why. The work is about “serving everyone in the community to ensure they are free from harm, so that they can lead fulfilling lives.” Who wouldn’t want to get behind that?

The amount of energy that is being released, in terms of support, ideas, creativity and innovation is unbelievable as people engage with this vision, take action, solve problems and contribute to bringing these new ways of working into existence. With higher engagement, there is a release of discretionary effort, where people choose to bring more of themselves to the work they do. This does not look like a normal change process where ‘resistance’ has to be overcome, and programs are ‘rolled out’ from the top. It is more like a tidal wave of human potential energy released in service of a higher purpose.

Engaging Everyone, is a way that we ‘see’ and ‘feel’ how our work contributes to enabling our organisation to fulfil on its higher purpose, its Why, and gives real meaning to our work. Recall the story of the NASA toilet cleaner, who when asked by President Kennedy what he was doing, replied, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” Like this gentleman, we believe it is possible for each of us to find meaning in what we do when we feel it is in service of something we care about.

In my own experience, I have observed three keys that give access to a fulfilling work life: