Montenegro and Change Management

January and February have been months of international travel for me and my wife. My most recent assignment took me to Montenegro formerly part of the old Yugoslavia. Montenegro is an interesting country and I had the privilege to work with a young team of entrepreneurs who's new business venture, in part, is to promote tourism of this beautiful country along with the rest of  southern Europe. You can see more of their focus by going to www.meanderbug.com
My primary task was dealing with the Paradigma management team. Focused on strategic planning, along with development of individual team members in clarifying roles and responsibilities. The facilitation for on going communication in this context proved rewarding for me.

 

A quick history reminder. For many years, Yugoslavia was under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito who was a Yogoslav revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1943 until his death in 1980. Tito was seen, by most, as a benevolent dictator due to his successful economic and diplomatic policies and was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad. Viewed as a unifying symbol, his internal policies successfully maintained the peaceful coexistence of the nations of the Yugoslav federation. Tito was the chief architect of the 2nd Yugoslavia and socialist federation that lasted from 1943 to 1991–92. However, since the fall of the iron curtain and the turf and cultural wars in the region, many of the break away countries are struggling to find their way in the new world order. 70 years of socialist influence is still apparent through out the country and "the good ole days" are described by the hard line communist past.

The "thinking process" in Montenegro was particularly interesting to me as I have given much thought lately to the suppression of "thinking" by organizations, institutions and governments and in contrast, the efforts by some to unleash the greatest potential, the human mind.

 

The challenge for Montenegro is shared for many other countries and companies around the world i.e. thinking differently about business and dealing with change management. I met a enthusiastic marketing executive in Podgorica who described to me her frustration with other top executives in her firm. Her frustration centered around those who were more interested in maintaining status quo and conducting business as usual rather than even considering a new or different approach for on going growth. I know of her frustrations because that is the world I live in. Dealing with the process of change and helping others "get it" can be an exhausting endeavor. 

Most companies are more interested in "following programs" than they are in leading the way for long lasting improvement. As an example, the trendy thing in Europe is a program leading to a certification called "Investors in People."   While in Cyprus recently, I was astounded by the number of firms who were trying to qualify for the accreditation primarily because everyone else was doing it.  Without going too deep in the weeds of the program, it's like an ISO certification but in the field of Human Resource Management.  The part that really rubs me raw (and this is because I'm a small independent consultant) is the large amount of money firms are willing to pay to consulting firms like Deloitte, PWC and others to "consult" them thru the certification process. The discouraging part is, many have the head knowledge, along with the plaque they now display, but lack the heart application for the intended purpose.

 

This program thinking is universal through our schools with standards set by "Common Core." Universities around the world with a predominately  liberal staff are creating more academics and writing papers to be published rather than producing real world practitioners. Carl Icahn, who is an American businessman and investor, and the majority shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a diversified holding company, recently said that many organizations are being run by "fraternity brother MBA's instead of true leaders."  He went on to talk about the lack of "risk taking" and lack of the ability to THINK.

In my own country, the trend to socialism and the ever increasing dependence on government rather than hard work threatens what made America the exceptional country it has been for so long. 

So what can YOU do?  There are several areas.

1. Teach your kids and grandkids history  and the different economic systems from different regions of the world.

2. Describe and teach the free market system and capitalism to your employees. Student's don't get this information in schools and have little knowledge of how business operates in a free market economy. I sincerely believe that training and development efforts in the business setting should include basics not delivered as it once was by our education systems. Tell them why it was a "good thing" that the UAW was defeated in the TN Volkswagon assembly plant this past week. Talk with them about NLRB and the role of labor,management and government.

3. Become involved in young people at some level by instructing them in ethics and business principles. I have a friend in Greece who is weary of trying to drag older Greek business people into a different way of doing business, even though he is head of the Harvard Institute. He is now excited about working with 9th graders and young people hoping to stimulate their thinking process before they are jaded by business tradition. 

4. Become a "risk taker" your self in some way in your job. 

5. Get away from the TV and read!  Then THINK about how you view business, government systems, religion, etc. 

Get to know entrepreneurs like those I worked with in Montenegro. With high risk comes the possibility of high rewards. I have confidence the team at Paradigma will be successful in their strategy and may possibly change the thinking in Southern Europe.