Change Management (The Pixar Story)

STEP #

STEP

ANALYSIS

1

Establishing a Sense of Urgency

Kept a student mindset, understanding that what they were on pace to do something that was unheard of in terms of having hit after hit and continuing to work just as hard as they did when they first started. In their field they were first to do things in many situations like bringing 3D films as well as feature animations.

2

Forming a Powerful Guiding Coalition

Pixar expressed that they wanted unexpected collaborations to occur and an open field for creativity. An example is where they brought the animators together in one room and each showed how they made the seen and got feedback on each other while respecting the perspective of where each person was coming from. An important factor that was reaffirmed throughout the film was the idea that everyone at Pixar was in love with film and the process they went through even while it was hard.

3

Creating a Vision

Pixar started off with a group of people on a small budget but constantly pushed each other to not give up and told themselves they can achieve the goal of creating the world’s first animated computer film although it was unheard of and looked at as “impossible”.

4

Communicating a Vision

A message that was communicated often by leaders like John was the idea of “why can’t we” whenever they were met with certain limitations like time or technological ones like having 50 ants in a scene. The energy in the teams showed that everyone was focused on their short term goals but it was something big for them personally because it was part of their dream to see their own work become a nice piece of film.

5

Empowering colleagues to act on the Vision

A great example is John sacrificing his own life and family to perfect his work and the work of his peers. More specifically, when he was sleeping in his car and at the office, he would have coworkers wake him up, which showed his dedication. The work environment was filled with creative minds that all had enthusiasm for their work, which helped shape a culture of what is expected or what the job is like.

6

Planning for and creating short-term Wins

Pixar had goals to be the first to do things like making a feature length movie with computers and the worlds first world computer animation. These short terms wins began to pile up and led them to where they are today. The short-term goals and planning helped keep the workers motivated as they wanted to make sure they didn’t lose focus of the big picture.

7

Consolidating improvements & Producing still more Change

The Pixar team improved on many aspects and an example was the Toy Story first animation test, which they took to another level by adding a whole new character Buzz. They could have settled with the set they had, but they kept an open mind to possibilities others would not think of. It’s a constant mindset of “what can make this better”.

8

Institutionalizing New Approaches

Pixar did something that was odd for a successful company to do and that is bringing in new directors and animators to make a new film that had a lot of pressure as it was being followed by big previous hits. What Pixar did was in a team of animators and directors that haven’t faced a big tasks but they believed that they had the talent and creativity to face the challenges and create a masterpiece.