backpocket constitutions as change management
Imagine, at an extremely high level, a major change in your organization, like Netflix going from mail order DVDs to streaming.
Often on the cusp of a change like this, leaders have written a very detailed proposal for themselves that encapsulates exactly what they're passionate about and the specs they want this new version of the organization or product to have. They have a clear picture of what they want the org to look like on the other side of the change and what needs to happen to make that so.
The most effective leaders I’ve seen steer their organization, particularly their next level leaders, through a process that allows those next level folks to co-create and co-own this change. They do this more time-consuming and difficult process instead of simply sharing their original proposal and saying some version of “you all good?”
A metaphor I’ve heard for this approach is James Madison’s Back Pocket Constitution.
In this likely apocryphal story, James Madison, the primary architect of the Constitution, arrived at the Constitutional Convention having already written out the whole thing.
He had a decision to make as he approached the convention:
Do I lay this complete draft down and have everybody give feedback on it and improve it? or
Do I roll it up, put it in my back pocket, and then try to guide everybody towards what I have back there, as if we created it from scratch together?
Madison opted for the latter approach.
As a result, the Constitution was the work of multiple people who really believed in it as co-authors of it, and were therefore galvanized to bring it to life and see it succeed in a much deeper way than they would have if they were simply editors of a pre-existing, pre-determined draft.
I like this story because it reflects the best of what I’ve seen from leaders who micro to macro, create organizational change in a way that doesn't feel aversive, feels right and exciting and good. Their people feel pulled, not pushed to bring a new strategy to life.
-Ben
