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Something like 4 million people have looked at this video http://tinyurl.com/2rzrn9. In case it takes more views than that to saturate the You Tube market I give you the link. It is about education, the future (told in 2006) and a whole bunch of fun and intriguing facts. You will also quickly see it is about how things around us change- our environment, our resources, our tools and our capabilities.
And, I have to give this plug, it is an awesome, simple, clear use of black and color.
This is one of the best media presentations I have seen in the way it rolls out information, is fun, has no fluff and uses all of the screen wisely (which to me means lots of space). It uses the space with movement, stillness, appearance of important items at the right time (and not too fast and not too glaring) and, again, color.
Now for the editorial comment-
Juxtapose this video with the way change management is presented and rolled out.
Certainly I will give up the black (not truly a color anyway) but not color in general. Color can be used to categorize communications, illustrate emotion (the whole red is fire, blue is cool strength thing), differentiate timelines, place things in an exact spot (with a relation to things around it) and just plain make things more interesting. Which introduces another aspect of the word color- the commentator kind. CM is typically colorless (maybe due to the automatic assumption that people say no before yes). Start out with a clean lack of color (white) or all color (black) slate and add or take away to build interest, increase attention and make business and change a little more like real life. Yes I mean that metaphorically, but as you can see in the video it works literally for presentations too.
Technorati Tags: Big Picture, change communications, communicate, Communications, engagement, Examples, Garrett Gitchell, vision to work
“Beware of losing trust by blaming others (i.e. making internal attributions about them). Also beware of making excuses (external attributions) that lead you to repeat mistakes and leads to Cognitive Dissonance in others when they are making internal attributions about you. “http://tinyurl.com/24acxdd (from Changing Minds.org one of my favorite dig deep reading sites). The Attribution Theory.
Some change management connections-
- Internal attributions are often silent and shared- CM practitioners must learn to draw them out and attach new behavior/perspective.
- External attributions spread fast and can become mythical- They are best illuminated and stopped as quick as possible.
- Empathy is a powerful tool here- Despite the silliness of many of these attributions we all do it, it is human, acknowledge that.
- Cognitive Dissonance is uncomfortable- stakeholders are often thrilled to have a CM help them clear the fog.
- See previous bullet point for speeding up and making decisive, decisions.
- Much like negative attitudes these attributions are easily reinforced- hence the ability to overcome the reinforcement, and to teach how, is a key competency for CM’s.
Keep the Attribution Theory in mind early in your change efforts (and throughout since it takes awhile to change the behavior). Your goal as a CM/leader should scrape away anything that points fingers, clouds perspective and influences others to not participate or worse leads others to sabotage the initiative.
Technorati Tags: Communication, stakeholders
An easy change scenario-
The organization will at some point move a performance system from paper based to online access (say into an SAP module). The money and energy is not there for the technical transfer (and the change that goes with it). There is the ability to address the system itself. There are grumblings from stakeholders about the ties between measures, performance and rating (especially against others in similar but different functions). The icing on the cake is a sudden realization from executives that there is both room and need for “enhancement” (yesterdays blog word for change http://horizontalchange.com/2010/08/the-adult-bad-word/).
The approach is straight forward. The components-
- An understanding of the framework for the future software
- An explanation of what the performance system is for and what it should accomplish
- A deep and broad swath of data, perspective (good and not so) and idea gathering
- Potentially benchmarking of other companies
- A clear end state description of the system in action from the stakeholders perspective
To be able to run through these components well ahead of the software implementation is a dream come true for a change agent. It gives a very real chance to construct (or tweak or reconstruct) a system that feeds the objectives of the business, supports core values and makes it clear what works to be rewarded and what does not. With the right kind of feedback from stakeholders the solution can be the best of the current turned into an efficient and fair system and process.
You, no doubt, see many ways this will not be easy…
Odds are good that functions have fertilized the daisies (http://tinyurl.com/2cgbkpz for my organic change blog post) to the point where cross functional comparisons are apples to oranges. They are most likely attached to their way.
An inherent difficulty with performance rewards is the fact that one pool is divided in some way. Across the board pay raises are not common. In short not everyone can get an “A” no matter how hard they try. In every rating meeting I have attended there is also the edge from one level to the next, say high potential to not. Each of the leaders want their people to make the cut above the edge. In their justifications they often stray from fair comparisons (which can be remedied in the re-tweak of the process and measures).
They key for this type of “easy” change is to understand how the current system is viewed, and reacted to, by the stakeholders and then fashion a structure and process that has measures that will be acceptable. If there is also clarity about the reason for the performance system in the first place (that’s not flippant, it is amazing how much time is spent in this area with negligible effect).
Make it make sense and make it work- Easy Change.
Technorati Tags: business objectives, change excercise, Examples, Garrett Gitchell, stakeholders, vision to work
“it’s very easy to get addicted to the change pattern by not getting the change right in the first place, not making the tough calls or bold decisions up-front, maybe going for something half-way, and then allowing things to slip back.” BP’s Fiona MacLeod (maybe not timely to quote BP, but every organization has a silver lining within) http://tinyurl.com/mewr9p
Change and addiction strung together seems a contradiction to me. It insinuates change is a bad thing. I suppose serial change makes little sense if it is not rooted in reality and sustainability. There, I admitted it might be possible (the first step in conquering addiction- ha).
Take a look at the above link. It is a great example of a realistic change perspective, illustrates a little nitty gritty of the engagement Fiona sponsored, has nothing negative (but talks about how to address potential negatives) was human and business oriented at the same time and, we assume, ended at the end state with sustainability. RARE (note the capital letters).
We will let the link, the project and the content stand on its own and address the “addiction” part.
Here are the ways I see this manifested-
External Consulting Firms
Here you find the most likely culprits. They must be addicted to “change” because that is how they make their money. The more change, the more confusion, the more need for them, the more revenue. My dig here would be the more they are part of the picture the more the whole cycle perpetuates itself. The bigger the firm the more perpetual the endless (and stationary) change.
But aren’t we shooting our own foot here?
Ah, I said firms.
Independent consultants with few or no employees, while probably being addicted to change in their own way, are not in the habit of useless change perpetuation. Maybe they are weekend change fanatics- to extend our metaphor. Their revenue comes from value and perhaps the small teams that they create (and work with and mentor). Their future revenue comes from referrals, testimonials and success.
They can help ease you out of the addiction into a reasonable, moderate level of change intake.
Internal Grass Roots Change
Culprit number two. This tends to sprout and spread because the internal change practitioners (or worse someone who is newly pretending to be one) want their approach, their method and them to win over the organization. With our current dead career ladders this is becoming all too common (to the tune of 27 different approaches at one Fortune 50 firm I can think of).
The second version of this is a partnership of our first category and our second (I can hear the fingernails on the chalkboard now). An outside firm (not always the big ones in this case, more often the (one)s who heavily market their own specific approach) feeds the internal power grabber some content sure to start the addiction and away they go together on an evangelical crusade to convert the entire organization.
Executives with Grand Vision(s)
I am the last one to take the grand visions away from the executives, but there is a translation to reality for some. If they do not have a right hand person, or a trusted external advisor/consultant to make the translation the visions are just fancy dreams. When it becomes serial in an organization is either one executive with many visions (and eager followers) or many executives all over the organization each with their own version of the dream.
Staffing Firms
My pet peeve. They are in the business of getting bodies on the ground (not unlike the huge consulting organizations). Since competition (thankfully) is becoming brutal for them the chance of being picked for the next engagement is slim. So the “bodies” mentality is to get the first win as big as possible and do whatever you can to keep the pattern going. Notice I mentioned nothing about the work or the results.
It is just too easy to ask them to go find people (like using a real estate agent for free for all the house hunting- in fact compare the two…). They convince you as they are pouring the Kool Aid that they find the best long before any other method.
Scapegoating
Let’s face it everyone thinks change “fails 70% of the time” (the dumbest stat I think I have ever seen and certainly not the least bit helpful to anyone). So just in case failure is a possibility why not wrap the whole thing up as a change imitative, then you will have built in blame- not your own.
This has gotten extreme enough that regular operational projects, the kind that happen all the time, are labeled as change initiatives. Hey if it works for the one of tweaks why not use the scapegoat for Everything!
Change is here to stay as they say. And it is necessary to stay ahead and to improve. It is the basis of growing and adapting business. But like wine on the weekend it is best taken at an enjoyable manageable level.
Technorati Tags: Big Picture, business objectives, change awareness, change management, vision
Change Management is a constantly customizable and necessarily adaptive pursuit, but the more exposure you get the more you see that in some ways “people are people”. For the weekend I give you generalizations (sorry friends who say I do this too much- it does stimulate conversation though) about stakeholder types.
The Peacock
This is the person who struts around with feathers spread looking for attention. They are colorful in attitude and dress. Typically they range from happy to really happy. Once in a while their displays are of the jilted lover type- everyone feel sorry for me now.
Best used for-
Party planning, organizing needed celebration and the addition of cheer when the going gets tough.
The Shark
Mostly swimming alone this stakeholder circles the periphery waiting to attack. They are visible, but inconspicuous enough to seem harmless. When it comes to work and change they are in it for themselves- rarely a good approach for the path to the end state. To make matters worse they will swim with the pack, at times displaying a gregarious nature, only to shred everything in their path (including pack members who get in the way of the kill) when the attack begins.
Best used for-
Competitive rallying of the troops at the appropriate time. Be careful to build into the process a way to relegate them to single fish in the school status.
The Naysayer
This is Glum of Gulliver’s Travels who said, “we’re all going to die, we’ll never make it” in a deep monotone voice. The problem with this stakeholder is that they are almost always right. If you are a naysayer you read everything, up to and including actual statistics, as doom and gloom. In fact these people go out of their way to justify the end of the world perspective. The closer it gets the more comfortable they seem to be. There is a complete blog post coming for this category- they are the show stoppers.
Best used for-
I am tempted to say not sure…but they are great for layering careful and safe into processes. Also can be leveraged to balance out the eternal optimists (although the numbers are heavily skewed in Glums direction).
The Worrywart
This is a different version of the Naysayer. They seem to want things to turn out right, it is just that they know SOMETHING will happen to get in the way of success.
My kids and I love to play the “ worrywart game”. Start a story of, say a guy walking down the street, and then have the craziest of things happen as the story goes on (cars in the way, stones that trip in strange ways, things that jump out, natural disasters at just the right time… you get the idea). You can’t help but giggle at the possibilities. Too add a twist play this game in the presence of a worrywart. They will be puzzled about why you think it is funny. Hey it could happen, right?
The interesting thing about this category is that they get so overwhelmed by worry that they cannot envision or create paths that address potential problems. It would be a nightmare to have this person in charge of your change process.
Best used for-
Use them to help call out (not communicate or disseminate in any way though) potential issues, stumbling blocks and show stoppers. They will, most likely, give you something early you hadn’t or never would think of.
The Tardy One
Hang on a second… I am not quite ready to do this one.
How many times do you have to be late for a meeting before people either stop trusting you or lie about the start time? And how quickly does tardiness turn into a lack of urgency about anything? What happens then when no one can trust this stakeholder with deadlines?
Best used for-
Well…slowing things down a little. As you know I am not one for “creating a sense of urgency”. If the organization insists on senses of things (rather than actual energetic persistence) then the Tardy One is my ally!
The Eternal Optimist
I saved this one for the last, wanting desperately, of course, to make them first. Since this is often me I will take the baton. These people are few and far between. Because eternal pessimists abound the optimist moves around a lot. It is just not comfortable being in toxic pessimistic environments (and note to all- not healthy either). So they will most likely be your external resources.
The caution for this group is that the eternal and the optimist part can get a little ridiculous. This stakeholder can take the ugliest of situations and put a bright spin on it (they make great marketers). There are times in life where you have to fess up to the doom and the mistakes- there I said it.
Best used for-
Everything. Grab them, monitor them, but set them free and trust that the other groups will damper unnecessary enthusiasm (just control the damper- remember it is probably one against many).
From “it will all work out fine” because we are so good to “despite us it will fail” it takes the full range of stakeholders to move the change process to the end state.
Technorati Tags: stakeholders
Shhh. Don’t let your competition in on this- Organizational Development (OD) can be done at the same time as Change Management. Top Secret tip number two- it can be one in the same person (or small team). If you are a smart executive you will work with consultants who see this as part of their role (if you know my writings this is where the hint comes in- we are not talking Big 3 here [it is still 3 isn’t it?]).
Executive Development
No matter the intensity of the change role for an external consultant there are always stray hours in between that can be used to coach and guide executive development. On one of my recent engagements I let Director and Senior Director leaders know I was available for my hour and a quarter drive in the morning and evening to the client site. On a long engagement (in this case 9 months) there is a lot of that time. Enough so that I was able to develop simple coaching plans around the leaders role in change and guide them through skill and competency development. I personally consider this a stealth value add for my own clients.
Training
Design is a very important part of communicating change. With a little extra effort (and the ability, competencies and knowledge to teach) the CM can build skills for Manager level team leads around the design, organization and dissemination of information. The same goes for project management. There are countless one on one sessions in every large change between the external CM and internal stakeholders and line level leaders. Well thought out (by you the client and the external) these interchanges can have components of skill development- the skills which you, of course, uncovered in your initial data gathering and development of the end state description.
Process
A good trusted advisor high level CM can be your executive eyes and ears (as well as right hand) to the organization. Unless the current initiative is specifically addressing process you may not want to, under cover, change it. You can however cull helpful tidbits from the change exchange that happens quickly and through less layers with your external agent. Given the chance to be an “undisclosed source” most stakeholders will readily give ideas, perspective and input that no amount of organizational suggestion boxes will ever uncover.
Structure
Repeat above surveillance for structure. Process is how tasks play out and how people interact. Structure is the support, tools and reporting. The two together always have a treasure trove of secrets that can be gleaned.
Your own development and introspection
This one is the trickiest and usually requires a 007 level external. They are your trusted advisor. Trust can come from transparency and honesty. What better way to develop that than to trade suggestions back and forth for improvement and enhancement. You have a chance to be each others consultant. Unlike the real spy game you should both stay on the same side (no double agents in this relationship).
As an executive do not miss the chance to build organizational development into your change process and interactions. The current environment looks to be external resource heavy for quite some time. Make sure the transition to a better balance of internal and external is part of your change strategy.
Technorati Tags: Big Picture, business objectives, Buyer, CEO, change awareness, change management consultant, Executive, Garrett Gitchell, Value, vision to work
Companies have hoarded cash. They are lean and trim. The foot is on the throttle; the hand at the gearshift. Fear is about to switch to anticipation. Once the accelerator is pushed and the up shifting begins there will be BIG change.
Are you an executive in the drivers seat?
That little space there between the twitching fingers and the gearshift is the most appropriate place to insert high level change management. That space, from the stirrings I have seen in the last couple of months, is now.
What do you need to consider and act on to jump start the change process?
Readiness
Not my favorite term as you know if you have read previous posts. This time it fits. Because this time you will want to gauge the overall feeling of your culture. Are they ready for tires burning? Or have they been so ground down and made to be scared from the last year or so that you have some executive communicating to do? You want to look at readiness in general not for any specific initiative. And by readiness I mean the capacity to strap in for the ride. If it is not there then some core parts of the change process need to be done well and communicated to the individual level.
Strategy
If it was strong and well communicated throughout the economic turmoil then Kudos. Odds are it was a an exercise in trimming, reducing, stopping and stalling. Not a good foundation for the change process. And not a foundation for trust with new strategy to move forward. Make sure the redo makes sense, communicate and re-communicate with individual stakeholders in mind. This is the spot to build trust, calm the culture and transition from fear to anticipation.
End States
Leverage your strategy into clear, attainable, but innovative end states. Don’t apologize for the trimming, but don’t ignore it either. If the reason you have the cash stockpiles to change is your cost cutting strategy then let the change come from that. And make sure your organization knows you are moving forward because of the previous strategy.
Development
Who did you lose? Who did you keep? How much time and money do you need to now invest to build back competency and capability? You can use the change from first gear on to help with the development (a core ingredient to our approach at Vision to Work- change and develop at the same time).
Resources
Consulting will grow next year. Transitioning from fear to anticipation and action will require intense energy and motivation to get work done. That will come much faster from hungry consultants. Just make sure as the leader with the wallet you pick firms that enjoy and feel ethically that they should be teaching and developing your people for the eventual exit of the consultant (hint small firms to independent- NOT big firms).
Those consulting firms, or individuals who build a team, should be assessing your competency and leadership gaps, temporarily filling them in and guiding you to replacement (or using their peer network to actually find them for you).
You can’t gun the engine just yet. You must turn fear into action. In this environment you have change within change- call it recovery to change.
Technorati Tags: business objectives, C level, CEO, change awareness, change management consultant, stakeholders, strategy, vision to work
A peer of mine asked me the other day what is the best way to save a CM initiative put on hold. The question fits well as a sum up of the last two years- at least here on the US west coast. I have had time set for contracts that were then reneged, had conversations and “interviews” that were obviously fishes for approach and information with no intention of going forward, been asked in and then waited and then asked in for the same role and then had the role disappear.
Blame it on the economy maybe, but, I think, stalls, restarts, delays and “on holds” are always going to happen with projects in general and especially with the change component. Except for the fishing (if you are a client who does this shame on you- Our time is less valuable than yours?) these things will happen.
The peer scenario to him seemed like bad news. Things were going great then the brakes were put on with no definitive start back up time. Ah, but this is good in a lot of ways. First he was not asked to leave or let go (happens all the time- the reason at Vision to Work we have an expectation of upfront invoicing). And second he was not given another role, simply told to “wait”. Perfect.
Assess
Now would be the time in this scenario to asses the change process up to this point. I tend to question the value (partly because of validity) of questionnaires, this is when they are valuable. Assess whether or not there is a better understanding of the change process and the role of change management within initiatives and the organization as a whole. Assess stakeholders reaction to you in general as the person in the change role.
Lay the Framework for Sustainability
Use the assessment information and a new chance to dialogue, with the time to get it right, to build a structure that can make pieces of the change process repeatable. Look at where you are with the current change and see if you can get what has been done so far to stick. Continue the dialogue by illustrating change management’s influence in sustaining the change.
Develop Leadership
Part of the foundation for change that sticks is leadership. Leadership is needed to make the transition to the new and continues to be necessary to carry on the positive effects of the change. If you had good leaders to start this initiative, lucky you. If not you are now responsible for helping to build them so that your restart is “locked and loaded” with leadership resources. Now then is the time for seminars around change and the ability to influence and guide others through the process.
Build Collateral
Like any good consultant take “beach time” and build tools and collateral for this time or the next time around. Booklets, presentations, PDF’s, eBooks can all come in handy for both the restart and the current potential development environment.
As I have said in previous posts Change Management on a grand scale is not just about guiding individual projects. It is about the overall connection between the work of individuals and ideas/strategy. With this assumption and perspective CM becomes tightly connected to and at times responsible for OD, training, executive development, communications and collaboration.
My peer friend above was given a gift.
When you are given time to build these areas separate from the pressure and constraints of tight timelines, by all means, use the time!
Technorati Tags: Buyer, Change Design, change excercise, Fees, Garrett Gitchell, horizontal change management
Having worked under six methodologies not including my own approach I am beginning to wonder why the heavy emphasis on deliverables? Not solutions, results and goal attainment but paperwork (literally or electronic). Budgets typically fall well short of the needed expenditure for CM/external resources. To use those expensive, under-budgeted for resources for paperwork makes no sense.
My fly on the wall perspective of both those internal and other consulting firms trying to be noticed is this-
Deliverables are consulting firms justification. The more paperwork, the more report outs, presumably (in their minds), the better they look.
Deliverables are the internal path to covering tracks. The more you record, the easier it is to pass the buck later. The more you report out on the more it looks like you worked your tail off (in truth it was on the creation of the deliverable, but no one seems to bring that up). Internally deliverables are also a way to police and micro manage.
And so who are the deliverables for?
Sometimes they are used to report to executives- who I know for a fact prefer dialogue to PowerPoint. Sometimes they are a requirement of a methodology or process. Sometimes they are created to try to prove a point or sell a new idea. I am not sure this answers who they are for though… I tend to think the answer is the person who created them (which makes the expenditure of time even more senseless).
What Should deliverables be for?
As a map to the next steps. Methodologies heavy on paperwork usually have assessments and then recommendations in two separate documents. In my own approach I gather information, find areas unseen by the client (or difficult to see as an internal) and layer that over the path to the end state. Recommendations are ongoing. Assessments are a constant dialogue. The deliverable is a living, breathing, malleable guide to tasks, process and “be aware of’s”.
Just ask yourself this- Is your change process always ahead of your deliverables? Which is easier slowing the change or reducing deliverables? One of them has to give, because organizations do not have the money or the patience for both.
Technorati Tags: Big Picture, business objectives, Garrett Gitchell
Change can be a fantastic renewal, a look in a different direction, an “I knew it could be this way” enlightenment. Or it can be a disruptive, unproductive, uncomfortable twisting of what felt fine (thank you). And it can be a time and money drain of already vulnerable systems and cultures.
Let’s start with a Good List
- It is a great way to get rid of all that slows things down
- It is an excellent way to reinvent
- Change does feel good when it makes sense
- For business change can radically increase productivity (after a transition period)
- Change can create energy that was not there before
- Change is good for competition- internally and externally
and Follow with the Bad
- Change can happen simply for the sake of change (bad)
- Change often brings out nasty behaviors
- It shines a light on individual and organizational deficiencies (actually that can be good)
- Change can feel really bad
- Change can grind productivity to a halt (and hang in the transition period forever)
- It can create fortresses around silos thick to impenetrable
The Ugly
- Since change and change management are typically misunderstood and based on some questionable historical approaches it is EXPENSIVE
- Change management done wrong is time consuming (see last bullet)
- The change process rarely brings in revenue or instant cost savings (The change might but you have to get to the end state first)
- It can bring out the worst in people
and some more GOOD
so as to finish on a light note
- Change Management as a broad process can improve operations
- can provide for unique development opportunities
- can build camaraderie
- same for loyalty
- can spur innovation
- can be an excellent investment in the future (if the process is set up to be repeatable or at least reusable)
- biased I might be, but change is Fun! (as is any challenge and growth in life and business)
Technorati Tags: Garrett Gitchell, vision to work
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