Implementation

Explaining how she integrated The Management Shift into the core of operations at Innovation Norway, Anita said: “When you work for the government, with a mandate to develop and grow new and established industries and businesses, there is a fundamental purpose and passion for the task. But the Level 3 to Level 4 (of TMS Model) shift challenges common beliefs in the public sector which are related to the words and the semantics connected to understand Level 4 and 5; enthusiasm, leadership, unlimited”.

These are words that do not resonate so easy in the somewhat conservative, publicly owned culture and anyone using them can easily be defined as pompous and be ridiculed by the media. In Norway, it’s all about pragmatism, the results, the excel sheets and to keep away from media and public debates, not to draw too much attention in case it will be negative.

Management is important to run any businesses, but in transformations, of a country, an organisation or a company, we need a stronger leadership focus. Then it is time to ask the big questions such as “Why are we doing this?” and open up for new voices and perspectives in forming the way forward. This can really stir up and be perceived as a threat to the existing power holders.

The key to courageous (Level 4) leadership is trust and transparency. Using this new method, the organisation’s directions changed from a more standard bureaucratic language and behaviour to being defined by both the colleagues and customers and followed up by milestone plans and active communication. Anita found that leaders often act as facilitators, or advocates for the customer, especially in the early stages of a shift to Level 4 leadership. “It is an effective and honest way of guiding a new culture into another culture, it reminds us of why we’re here; not for ourselves, but by being relevant for the needs of our customers” she commented.