Tag Archive for: Change Management

The Final Countdown… are we Ready for this Change?

/0 Comments/in , /by

You have prepared for weeks, months, or maybe even years.  Now you are ready to implement the BIG THING that you’ve been working on.  The THING that promises to transform your business – the way you deal with customers, the way you sell your products or services, the way your processes work, your enterprise applications, etc…

But you start to get nervous just before you flip the switch from the old ways to the new ways.  You start to wonder, “Are we REALLY ready?”  You will likely think to ensure the basic process and system elements of the change are in place, but don’t forget to take one last look at the people elements of the change.  More than one organization we know has remembered to make sure that all of the new PC’s had been set up, but then forgto to make sure that people knew how or had incentives to use them!

For the implementation of a change to be successful, you and your team should be able to affirm that all of these items have been completed:

  • We have communicated to all employees the reasons and goals for the project
  • We have communicated to all impacted employees any individual job impacts and related changes in skills and / or performance expectations
  • We have clearly articulated to all employees what is and what is not changing in the their areas
  • We have communicated what success looks like for the employees (i.e. our expectations of them)
  • We have communicated the details of implementation / change preparation activities and the support available before, during and after project implementation to directly and indirectly impacted employees
  • All impacted employees have attended the recommended training classes
  • Where there are competing priorities, we have clarified what employees need to do support the change objectives
  • We have established a functioning feedback process so employee issues / concerns related to the project can be identified and addressed
  • We have communicated required changes in goals and performance measures to support attainment of the project benefit goals
  • We have created / reinforced key accountability for staff to demonstrate leadership support for the project
  • Staffing plans have been developed to account for absent employees while at training
  • Supervisors of impacted areas understand the increase / decrease in staff necessary to support project implementation (e.g. new systems, lower individual productivity)
  • Cut-over schedule(s) have been communicated to all impacted employees and their supervisors
  • A site-wide communication process has been developed to collect and manage issues during project implementation
  • Leaders have reviewed and approved vacation schedules (i.e. critical employees cannot go on vacation during project implementation or during training).

When you can emphatic agree with each of these statements, you are well on your way to building a successful sustainable change in your organization! You can also check read more… here  Go make that BIG THING happen!

The Impact of Culture on Organizational Change

/0 Comments/in , , /by

You may have heard it before… “Culture eats Strategy for breakfast.”

An organization with the best strategy in the world, but a culture that won’t allow it to make that strategy happen is doomed from the outset.  Want to be the first to market with the most innovative products, but live in an organization that is full of bureaucracy and afraid to take risks?  Fat chance you’ll be the first one anywhere.   Want to have the highest quality, lowest failure rate of anyone but live in an organization where rules are lax and people make decisions quickly without much data?  Chances are you will be chasing initiative after initiative trying to make your goals happen to no avail.

Culture is the sum of the beliefs and values that shape norms of behavior and dictate the ways things get done.  There are several continuums that help define an organization’s culture.  Is the organization driven by results and achievement, or relationships and people?  Does the organization have an internal focus, or an external focus?  Is the organization adaptive and flexible, or is it structured and stable?

Culture tells you a lot about an organization.  What messages do leaders send with their words and actions?  What type of behavior is being reinforced?  Is conflict and risk encouraged or hindered?  How do people communicate?  How do people learn and share company knowledge?  Is the organization open to change?

Some think that it’s too hard to change culture… that we can’t change it even if we know what gaps we have between our current state and our desired culture.  Not true.  There are real, tactical activities and leadership actions that can shape a new culture.

For example, if the organization lacks the needed focus on customers, then insist that every manager and above spend at least one day a quarter out in the field with customers.  Or if your organization makes decisions on the fly and doesn’t us import data (not a good thing for, say, a pharmaceutical company), then insist that all projects use Six Sigma or similar tools.  Or if your organization is too cautious and can’t move quickly enough to respond to new demands (not a good thing for, say, a software company), verbally encourage teams to make decisions faster and try new things… and then throw a big party the first time one fails as visible demonstration that we appreciate and value risk-taking and new ideas.

If we are serious about change in an organization, we can’t ignore the organization’s culture.  If that culture is not consistent with the change that needs to come about, then the culture needs to be addressed head on.  If we as leaders decide that we don’t want to do our part to change the culture, then we will live with the consequences of failure.

Leading the Change and Smiling for the Cameras

/0 Comments/in , /by

Leadership comes in all shapes and sizes.  Some of it is innate, some of it is learned; some of it is clearly definable, some of it is more esoteric; some of it is easy to recognize, some of it sneaks up on you. 

Studies have consistently confirmed that the greatest contributor to successful organizational change is leadership.  In repeated studies of hundreds of companies and their change efforts, “Strong Executive Sponsorship” was cited three times more frequently than any other contributing factor to successful change. 

Why does leadership have such a huge impact on change?  Because people support what they think their leaders support. If they don’t think their leaders are really going to make a change happen, they figure they shouldn’t waste too much time or effort thinking about it.  They figure they have an “out” to just ignore.  If they duck down in their cube long enough, all of this change stuff will blow over.   For organizations that have tried to change in the past and failed, people feel even more justification in believing they can wait it out and nothing will come of it in the end.

But how do people really know what a leader supports?  Certainly anyone in a leadership position is going to be telling their people that the big new thing is going to be great for the organization and the people.  But people develop their perceptions about what leaders support not only through leaders’ words. Leadership action is even more important.  Acting in ways that are consistent with words is the magic combination that moves people to act in new ways that leaders define.     

It is like the leader is the celebrity and the employees are the paparazzi.  People are watching what leaders do and say, and they are filtering all of that information to figure out if they should be on board with a change or not.  Talking the talk is useless if walking the walk doesn’t follow.

Sponsored by: www.amcrest.com/ip-cameras/wifi-cameras.html

Being a Rebel Isn’t all Bad

/0 Comments/in , /by

I always knew that being a rebel had an upside… Are you are Rebel or a Leader? Hopefully both! http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/01/are_you_a_rebel_or_a_leader.html

Mergers… Hold on to Your Hats

/0 Comments/in , , /by

We have a client that is in the throes of a merger.  One of the decisions the new combined leadership team made was the realign all of their offices under a new leadership structure.  It makes sense given thier new size and scope of services.   Now each location will report to a new boss. 

In the Denver office, people were eager to meet the new boss on the day of his first visit.  Well, maybe not “eager” so much as…. “anxious”.  There was talk that this new boss had a track record of closing low performing offices.   “We’ve been having a rough quarter.  I bet he’s going to tell us they’re closing our office.”  “I heard from someone at another office that he is a real jerk and will shoot first and ask questions later.” 

Why on earth would people assume the worst without even meeting this guy or learning of what the ultimate plans are?  Simply because they are scared of the unknown.

When people are uncertain about the future, they instinctively seek out greater control, better understanding, and human support.  Rumors are a completely natural human response to help fill those needs for control, understanding, and support in a time of uncertainty and change.  

The act of speculating and commiserating with peers is a real way to feel more control by talking through a situation and discussing alternatives.  Studies show that, in the absence of information, people just make stuff up… and they most often assume a far worse outcome than reality.  It is interesting that we don’t really care if the information is correct.  We just want to know something to make us feel like we understand what is going on. 

And those same discussions help people feel supported by others.  Time spent sharing gossip or conjecture with peers helps people feel as if they are not alone in their fears. 

If people don’t have a constructive way to channel their drive for control, understanding and support, they will fill those needs themselves, in ways that are sometimes not advantageous to the organization.  People are talking, whether leaders are a part of the conversations or not. 

To effectively manage uncertainty and change, be proactive about connecting people and encouraging them to share their thoughts and fears in controlled, rational forums.  We are not talking about free-for-alls where everyone moans and complains about management.  What is needed is the chance to share ideas and fears, and a forum for the transparent flow of questions and answers. 

When a merger happens, some productivity dip is natural.  But leaders need to guide people through change in order to minimize that dip.  By guiding the conversations that people have about uncertainties, leaders can keep people motivated and focused on the right targets without unnecessarily taking their eye off the ball.

The Eight Constants of Change

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

If you are experiencing or leading change in your organization, you should know the Eight Constants of Change.  A change manager who doesn’t have a good grasp of these incontrovertible facts about organizational change will face an uphill battle making change happen.  

The good news is that learning about the Eight Constants is easy – and free!  Listen to this podcast on iTunes featuring Stacy Aaron and you will get a sense of the basics of organizational change in a jiffy.   http://tinyurl.com/stacypodcast

If you are inspired, you can learn even more by reading the Eight Constants of Change – What Leaders Need to Know to Drive Change and Win (Aaron and Nelson, Change Guides, 2008).  Happy New Year and Happy Changing!

Build the Management Team, and Propel the Change Forward

/0 Comments/in , /by

Groups of management peers with similar titles and similar levels of responsibilities can be hotbeds of dysfunction.  These people often competes for resources, promotions and attention.  But unfortunately for organizations trying to transform, this group is integral to effectively changing the way an organization works.  Management teams need to work together to achieve goals but sometimes the environment encourages the opposite. 

If the leaders don’t create the right environment, managers focus solely on their individual fiefdoms, their silos.  If resources and attention are scarce, this group can become a cesspool of finger pointing, competing, back stabbing and ganging up.

To prevent this limited focus, leaders need to set the right tone and stage for this group to work effectively and successfully. A few things can be done to encourage these managers to work together, tackle problems as a team and leverage opportunities cross functionally:

  • The manager group needs common cross functional and organizational goals
  • Managers need to be recognized for team efforts
  • Leaders need to handle the troublemakers
  • Managers need tools and training on how to work together

As employees and managers, we work within the limitations of our work environment. We work within the rules and expectations that surround us. We respond to signals about what is important and what is valued. When that environment encourages unproductive behavior, new signals need to be sent, new rules and expectations delivered.

A Simple Word – “Thanks”

/0 Comments/in , /by

When many of us in the US are getting ready to hunker down with family and friends to enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday, it is a great time to think about giving thanks at work. 

It’s so easy to forget to say thanks.  We are all busy.  There are a million things going on.  We expect people to do their job and get on with it.  But just showing someone a little appreciation now and then can mean the difference between a “punch the clock” mentality and a committed and engaged co-worker.   

Leaders are often trying to figure out the best ways to incent people to do their best.  Of course they talk a lot about money.  And money is certainly nice.  But when leaders just take the time to show some true and honest appreciation for the work people do, the sacrifices they make, and the extra effort they spend…. they are always surprised by what a difference it makes in the outputs they see. 

And saying thanks is not just on the shoulders of the boss.  We should all thank our peers for their support, their ideas, and their companionship.  And we should even thank our boss for what they do. 

You likely spend more waking hours with your co-workers than you do with your family and friends.  These people are like your family.  Like it or not, you are in this together.  You are a team.  You are there to catch each other if someone falls.  You are there to catapult each other over the wall.  If any one person in your organization fails, the entire organization suffers.

Be grateful for each other.  And tell each other “thanks”.  People will appreciate it.  And so will you when they thanks back.

Just Treat People with Respect

/0 Comments/in , /by

I was in a situation this week with a client where I witnessed a “higher up” treating someone who worked for him in a way that was completely and totally appalling.  He was rude, he was condescending, he was just down-right nasty.  Sadly, this is not totally new behavior for this guy.  I have seen it a few times – this was just the time that it really seemed “over the top.” 

This guy doesn’t walk around exuding “mean”.  In fact, he very adeptly hides his nastiness with a veil of a “fun guy” persona.  He is always quick with a witty story, a funny joke, or comfortable banter about weekend plans.  But when push comes to shove, he can just be mean. 

As the nastiness was unfolding before my shocked eyes, it was clear that the root of this guys bad behavior was firmly planted in his own transition through this change.  While he is a leader of the change we are working on, he is also affected by it. 

If I look at his behavior through the lens of an observer of organizational change, I see a person who is struggling to maintain control and a sense of purpose… not just a rude guy.  

He is not a project management guy, but he was put in a project management role… a highly visible project management role.  He is trying to control the you-know-what out of every element of this change.  Unfortunately, his efforts are backfiring.  Every time he clamps down and treats someone like doo-doo, his team members check out even more (several are already looking for the exits).  “Why should I bust my hump putting together a 20 page strategy or a detailed plan if I know you are going to dump all over it and basically start from scratch anyway?”  They have a point. 

It must also occur to him on occasion that there is not job “waiting” for him when this project is over.  If this project goes well and happens quickly, there might not be a place for him.  And if it goes poorly, there might not be a place for him either!  Not an enviable situation.  But he is not doing himself any favors by chasing team members away and behaving poorly.  A highly visible role is a double edged sword… the executives he is interfacing with are not dense.  They see the nastiness and are not digging it. 

I don’t believe he is a bad guy.  But there are lots of other people who experience change and uncertainly without getting mean about it.  All he needs to do is treat people with a little respect.  It’s not that complicated.   I hope he makes it.

Can Gossip at Work Really be Good?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A recent study from University of Kentucky indicates that gossip in the workplace might actually be good for people and for the workplace.   

http://uknow.uky.edu/content/uk-study-shows-gossip-work-not-all-bad

The September 2010 Harvard Business Review does a good job of challenging the researchers to defend thier findings. 

http://hbr.org/2010/09/defend-your-research-its-not-unprofessional-to-gossip-at-work/ar/1 

What do you think?

CONTACT

CHANGE GUIDES LLC
100 E RIVERCENTER BLVD.
SUITE 100
COVINGTON, KY 41011

[email protected]
PH: +1 (859) 415-1000
FX: +1 (253) 369-8884

PARTNERS

KATE NELSON
STACY AARON

© 2024 CHANGE GUIDES, LLC
PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS & CONDITIONS