The State of the Union: sustaining strategic change efforts in military organizations

Daniel E. Fredberg, Matthew D. Welch and Michael W. Byrnes

Chapter 18 in Cases in Organization Development and Change, 2026, pp 171-185 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Major Focus of the Case: Military unit commanders face the acute challenge of sustaining organizational improvement efforts despite command assignments only lasting 24 months. The authors adapted a strategic change leadership framework called State of the Union (or State of the Unit) from a high-performing organization within the U.S. Air Force and developed it further within the squadrons they commanded. They discuss their observations and lessons learned, and highlight which features of their implementation efforts proved most effective. The methodology focuses on teaching teams within an organization to differentiate routine tasks from focused, long-term improvement efforts, coaching them to ascertain and prioritize which improvement efforts will be of greatest strategic value, empowering them to pursue those projects, and holding them accountable to deliver on their commitments and communicate risks to completing their objectives. The authors detail how this evolving framework, built around a recurring annual cycle, helps balance continuity of effort despite two-year commander changeouts versus freedom of action for each successive commander by providing orderly processes for revising the unit vision, ensuring strategic alignment of the organization with internal and external stakeholders and environmental demands, and executing projects to improve the organization.

Keywords: Command; Military; Leading change; Improving organizations; Strategic change; Develop change agents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035340965
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