The Keys to Transition

he experience of the I Bureau in implementing team-based management contains many important lessons for organizations considering the move to teams.

Communication. "I thought I was doing a good job of communicating, but in retrospect, I should have done more," says Barry Fulton, who organized the I Bureau's transition to the new system and now serves as its director. "More meetings, more messages. You can't ever do enough communicating about a major change."

Taking Time. "I wish we had had more time for designing the change and planning the transition," says Mike Hoffman, Deputy Associate Director of the I Bureau. "I would have liked to have had more done before our Oct. 1 start date."

Installing Infrastructure. "The financial, logistical, and computer systems were not in place to support a team-based environment," says Fulton.

Top Management Support. "This is essential," says Judy Siegel, director of the Office of Information Resources. "Barry Fulton and his top management team really had a vision. They were believers and committed to a new way of management in the I Bureau."

Valuing the Entire Organization. "There was some feeling that the individuals who were members of the planning committee for the new organization received more attention and appreciation than those individuals not involved in the design effort, but who were working hard to keep turning out I Bureau products during the transition," says an I Bureau staff member.