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Plan ahead for levels of growth by structuring your organization with a change component.
Each layer of growth in a firm typically adds a layer of titles; each new title has the potential to create a new silo. Eventually it becomes difficult to move the organization fast enough to grow again.
If from the first stage of growth someone is responsible for horizontal connections (collaboration, communication, training across functions, diagonal mentoring etc) your culture will build around working together on the companies business objectives.
This is a preview of Planning for Change from the Beginning- Change Management for fast growth companies . Read the full post (225 words, 1 image, estimated 54 secs reading time)
Trends I am seeing that will influence change management’s future-
- Stakeholders get it- often more so than their leaders
- Executives are trying to establish control over the various organic change movements within their organizations
- External consultants are endlessly debating the definitions of project management (PM) and Organizational Change Management (OCM)
- The Big 3+ firms are subbing independents for strategy and high level change work
- PMO’s are being used less and less as the placement area for change agents and change management consultants
This is a preview of One future of Change Management- Up high, partly inside and boutique . Read the full post (253 words, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)
You do have one?
Placing an external change management resource high in an organization is incredibly powerful. Leveraging that power in a way that is honest and effective is an approach few C-level executives choose to use. I will make the assumption that this is a tool at the bottom of the box that you did not know you had.
This is what has happened when I have lived this role for a client-
The employees are shocked and surprised like a kid who gets two pieces of candy at the store instead of one.
This is a preview of C-level leverage of your Change Management Trusted Advisor . Read the full post (287 words, 1 image, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)
Trying to standardize the practice of Change Management.
There are plenty of things that are consistent enough from practitioner to practitioner to agree on a set of approaches. But…
Feeling the need to standardize- for the consultants to sell their services and for the client to have clarity on value- is a symptom of a greater problem. Change Management needs to connect directly to strategic direction and to individual work effort.
You could say the needed change is away from a project management focus and toward an ongoing corporate structure that can leverage people and then roll out projects.
Historical approaches and a vertical perspectives are not working.
The resulting trend is horizontal change management. Horizontal is the positions of equal "rank" within verticals- like VP sales to VP IT. So there are up eight horizontals depending on the size of the organization.
The next trend is to place work in context with the whole. The whole being org. strategy, big picture, end state, direction of growth etc. Once a stakeholder knows how their work fits (which motivates them to participate) then they need to know when and with what effort that participation is needed.
This is a preview of Change Management Trends – Horizontal Change Management . Read the full post (360 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)
There is a hidden account for every organization in the bank of change management.
In that account is the accumulation, or lack thereof, of goodwill and morale.
It holds the energy you will need as an executive for any change you envision. It is entirely possible to fill that account full to use later. It is also easy to withdraw it faster than a shopper at an ATM.
Past failure (even if only perceived), broken promises, forced change and more, all withdraw from the account.
Transparency, smart decisions well communicated, empathetic leadership, well guided change processes add deposits.
Seeds can sprout from the concrete of the previous year.
Every year at this time I am both elated and hesitant. I am one of those people who makes Jan 1 a new start every year. Change management has taught me to be practical enough to know what is a pipe dream and what is reality/possibility. I find myself wondering, at about 2:00 pm on the first whether this day is any different than yesterday (you know LAST year).
It amazes me how difficult it is for clients (and most of the consultants I have observed) to put themselves at the end of an initiative or project and look back toward the present. Doing so is an entirely different perspective-which feeds an entirely different approach. It surprises those clients and consultants to see that this simple change of viewpoint can reveal many of the human obstacles, illustrate gaps in the fabric of the organization and pave the way to a much straighter path to success.
This is a preview of Change Management From the Horizon- looking back from the end state . Read the full post (357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)
 Standing on the shore looking out over an empty expanse it is often hard to envision an end state to change. It is easy to know as a leader what you want to happen, how you might want it to change the direction of the company or what business objectives you might want to accomplish.
It is much more difficult to place yourself in the blur of the horizon and imagine how things are different. That takes time; time that is not often budgeted into a business day. It also takes skill and competency in that you have to put yourself in your own shoes with a changed perspective and environment.
This is a preview of It is OK to dream- Change Management from the shore . Read the full post (405 words, 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)
Dandelions in a lawn can be beautiful, but is that what you intended? Change Management sprouting up all over your organization can be invigorating, but is that what you are looking for? An over-fertilized lawn looks lush and green, but is it healthy?
I have seen and heard, lately, of quite a lot of organizations who have change management processes, teams and mini-functions springing up like weeds on a spring day. Like dandelions that can be a beautiful sight to see, until you realize the competing perspectives and approaches are effecting your operations (that thick green lawn you should have been looking for).
This is a preview of Dandelions in the Lawn-Organic Change Management Design . Read the full post (341 words, 1 image, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)
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