Site blog: Change Management Toolbook

Are You Bold?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:20:03 CST

by Holly G. Green.

What does it mean to be bold?

The dictionary defines it as “showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous.” But I like the thesaurus description much better: daring, intrepid, brave, valiant, valorous, fearless, dauntless, audacious, adventurous, heroic, plucky, spirited, confident, assured, swashbuckling…

I love the word “swashbuckling,” as it evokes images of pirates and sleek clipper ships running fast with the wind. Just imagine if we dressed up as pirates when describing our vision of winning to employees and stakeholders! Think it might change how they hear the message?

Bold can also be a word to describe your actions, your drive, your efforts, and your organization. But only if you’ve created habits and behaviors that constantly progress you and your team towards your vision of winning and excellence.

People are attracted to bold. Employees want to believe in something big. They want to pursue goals that push the limits, and they yearn to achieve something that has never been done before. They want to take bold steps to achieve their dreams and have a significant impact on their customers and the world.

The opposite approach is to be timid. And who wants to be known as bashful, fearful, apprehensive, timorous, trepid, intimidated, mousy, cowardly, faint-hearted, pusillanimous, or wimpy – especially by their customers?

Timid takes the safe course of action when the riskier one would yield much bigger rewards. Timid operates with a fear of failure mindset rather than a ”we play to win!” attitude. Timid settles for the field goal rather than going for the touchdown when it’s fourth and goal on the one-yard line. Timid may protect you from the pain of failure, but it won’t put you in a position of market leadership.

How do you get bold?

Pause and get clear on winning. But make sure it’s a big win. In football, teams want to win their divisions. But what they (and their fans) really want is to win the Super Bowl. Define what the Super Bowl looks like for your business or industry and then go out and win it!

Push the envelope. Bold doesn’t involve doing the same things over and over again. Remember the old Star Trek theme: to boldly go where no man has gone before. Fire up your Starship Enterprise and lead your company, your market, or your entire industry to a place it’s never been before. Keep in mind that what made you successful today will not necessarily make you successful tomorrow.

Project a bold image. For example, Starbucks currently has its baristas wearing red stickers about Bold. Of course, it refers to a new coffee they’re promoting. But no matter the context, the word “bold” reaches out and grabs your attention.

Think about some of the memorable tag lines or slogans that project bold. Nike’s ageless “Just do it!” Gatorade’s new slogan, “Win from within.” Apple’s “Think different.” Fed-X’s “When it positively, absolutely has to be there overnight.” Or even the Olympic phrase, “Go for the gold!” These exude bold. They draw a line in the sand and dare you to cross it. They make you want to get off the couch and achieve something big.

Act decisively. One disadvantage of today’s thoroughly wired world is that we can easily get paralyzed by information overload. The tendency to wait until we have gathered all the data before moving forward with a new project or product offering can be hard to overcome. Except that we will never have all the data.

Instead, we need to gather what we can from diverse sources and make sure we have considered as many different perspectives as possible. Then move forward boldly and aggressively, knowing that our plans will change along the way.

Most of all, position yourself as a winner by your thoughts, words, actions, and deeds. People want to align with a winner. And in today’s markets, it takes boldness to win.

If you’re not bold, what are you waiting for? Things to slow down? Fewer emails to distract you from winning? The light at the end of the tunnel (which is really a train coming at you full speed)?

The time to be bold is now! Being timid is not a goal or desired state, it is a default when we don’t pause and get it right, make it big, and stay focused on achieving something!

Are Your Employees Getting Happy Feet?

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:21:20 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Here’s some interesting news.

According to the Department of Labor, unemployment fell for a fourth month in a row. The current rate of 8.5% represents its lowest point at any time in the past three years.

Leading indicators also show that the economy continues to grow. Granted, it isn’t creating jobs as quickly as we would like. But economists expect that to improve during the second half of 2012. Also, employers are laying off fewer workers than they have in the past few years – another sign that bodes well for employees.

But here’s a fact that really caught my eye: the number of Americans quitting their jobs has begun to increase for the first time since well before the recession.

Generally speaking, people don’t voluntarily leave their jobs unless they already have another one lined up. Or, they have confidence that they can find a new job in a reasonable period of time. Combine an improving economy with this leading indicator and the employment pendulum appears to be swinging back to the employee side.

What does this mean to business leaders?

At the present moment, the majority of American workers are not happy campers! They’ve been let go, laid off, and cast aside. They feel mistreated, over-worked, and underappreciated. And they see banks and some large corporations raking in record profits while wages stagnate or decline.

Those who do have jobs have been stretched painfully thin to make up for understaffed organizations. They’re constantly being asked to do more with less. And they’ve all been running too fast for too long to feel much (if any) loyalty to the companies they work for.

Today’s workers appreciate having a job, but they don’t necessarily appreciate their employers. And with more employment options becoming available, don’t be surprised if your employees start migrating to other employers who will show them a bit more TLC.

One thing I have learned as a leader and manager is that inspired and employees rarely leave their jobs. If you want to avoid a mass exodus (or even the loss of a few key players) as more jobs become available, make inspiring and engaging your employees a top priority.

To inspire people:

Get clear on winning.

I realize I’m beginning to sound like a broken record on this one. But if there’s one record that deserves to be broken, this is it. No matter what your business or industry, people want to work for a winner! In order to win, they have to know what winning looks like for your organization. So get clear on winning, and then get going on communicating your vision of winning. And not just how you will win, but why.

Share your passion.

People understand why winning is important to the organization. They also want to know what it means to you. Talk frequently about why you feel so passionate about where the organization is going and how it will benefit customers, employees, and other key stakeholders when you get there.

Connect the dots.

Even when employees understand your vision of winning, they often have a hard time seeing their roles in it. Let people know -- specifically -- how their jobs contribute to winning and why it’s so important for them to perform at a high level. Also let them know how they will win on a personal level when the organization wins as a whole.

To engage your employees:

Give frequent feedback.

When employees don’t know where they stand performance-wise, they think you don’t care about it. When they think you don’t care, their interest in winning wanes. That’s when they start looking for people and/or companies that do care.

Listen up!

Actively solicit ideas and opinions from your employees and then pay close attention. Nothing makes people feel more engaged than having leaders and managers who take the time to hear what they have to say.

Pat their backs.

I have yet to run across a quicker, easier, and more effective way to engage employees than simple recognition for a job well done. A “thank you” here. A “nice job” there. The occasional small reward, such as a handwritten thank you, Starbucks card, dinner coupon, or gift certificate can go a long way. The return you receive from these small but sincere gestures will far exceed the investment of time and/or money.

Recognition, both public and private, feeds that very deep human need to be acknowledged and appreciated for our contributions. Feed it often and individuals in your organization will be far less inclined to seek out greener pastures.

Don’t wait until you have a turnover problem. Get ahead of the curve and begin re-recruiting your best team members through some of the simple behaviors and sincere appreciation noted above!

Solar Quotes – Benefiting From Australian Solar Power Rebate Plan

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:38:17 CST

by Federic kin.

http://astawerks.net/solar-power-rebate-what-is-solar-panel-rebate-and-what-are-the-eligibility-requirements/

The Winning Attitude Tipping Point

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:38:18 CST

by Holly G. Green.

As business leaders, everything we do should focus on setting our organizations up to win. But we can’t do it all ourselves. Which means we also need to get our employees obsessive and relentless about winning - a task much easier said than done.

If you’re struggling to build a winning attitude in your organization, I have some encouraging news. Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.

Not some of the time, but always. Which has huge implications for business leaders trying to shape attitudes and opinions in their organizations.

According to the scientists, when the percentage of a population committed to a certain idea or opinion is less than 10 percent, that idea or opinion will spread very slowly, if at all. However, once that percentage climbs above 10 percent, the idea will spread like wildfire. As long as proponents of the idea hold firm to their belief, once they begin to talk about it, opinions about that belief will begin to gradually change and then at some point suddenly shift.

As an example, the scientists point to last year’s tumultuous events in Tunisia and Egypt, where dictators who held complete power for decades were toppled in just a few weeks.

Clearly, the uprisings benefited from the use of social networking tools, which made it easier to connect with others in the population. But the scientists assert that the type of network does not influence the 10 percent tipping point. As long as the percentage of committed opinion holders remains at 10 percent or higher, it will eventually become the majority opinion, regardless of how or where it got started or spread throughout the society.

For business leaders, this means we can leverage our efforts to build a winning culture by engaging informal thought leaders throughout the organization. And once we get that critical 10% to care as passionately about winning as we do, the majority of employees will soon adopt the same point of view.

How do you engage those thought leaders?

Start by sharing your compelling vision of what winning looks like for your organization. Not just how the company will win financially, but how it will improve the lives of customers, employees, and all key stakeholders. Talk about how you positively impact others and the world.

In meetings and in one-to-ones with direct reports, share why you feel so passionate about winning. What is it about where the company is going that gets you fired up to come into work every day? Ask employees what your vision of winning means to them. How does it motivate them to produce the results your organization needs? How does it impact the way they feel about how they earn a living?

To give people reasons to feel good about what the company does, share positive customer feedback. Relate stories of how your product or service solves problems for your customers or improves their lives.

Celebrate the achievement of milestones, both big and small. Nothing reinforces the positive aspects of winning like recognizing the progress and success people make along the way to the company’s goals.

During meetings, place visual cues around the room to remind people of the importance of winning. Eliminate language that supports outdated ideas and old ways of thinking (i.e., “good idea, but it will never work; we already tried that; the customer would never go for that”...).

Ask future, active, past tense questions to help people understand what winning looks like. For example, when we have won:

• What will we have achieved from a financial and market-share perspective?
• How will customers perceive our brand?
• How will our competitors view us?
• What will our workplace culture (attitudes, beliefs, values and operating principles) be like?
• What will be our greatest competitive advantage?
• What will we be doing to continually innovate to stay ahead of the game?
• How will working in this organization be even better than it is today?

Future, past tense questions open the brain to figuring out how to get it done versus what is getting in the way. When these questions focus on winning, it gets people thinking about playing to win rather than playing not to lose. It opens the brain to explore possibilities and alternative ways of achieving that we don’t even know we can ponder.

Ten percent is all it takes. If we can’t get one of out ten people to believe as passionately about winning as we do, then we either have a lousy vision of winning or else we’re in the wrong business!

Play to Win!

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:51:21 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Did you catch the New Orleans Saints/Detroit Lions game last Saturday?

What an exciting game between two high-powered offenses! And once again, the sports world offered a powerful lesson for business leaders. Specifically, I’m referring to Saints coach Sean Payton and how he approaches the game of football. Now there’s a coach who plays to win!

If you follow pro football, you know it’s nothing new for Payton. In the Super Bowl a few years ago, he shocked the Colts (and just about everyone else) by doing an onside kick-off to start the second half.

Conventional wisdom says that you just don’t do that in the Super Bowl. Especially against an explosive offense like the Colts had at the time. Give them the ball at midfield and they’ll score in no time at all. But Payton plays to win (as opposed to playing not to lose), and his calculated risk served as the turning point in a hotly contested game.

In Saturday’s game against the Lions, Payton again demonstrated this philosophy going for it on fourth down. Not once, but several times. Conventional football wisdom says to punt and play it safe when your team has the lead. But Payton knew that holding onto the ball gave his team the best chance to win. So he took a few calculated risks, and they paid off.

Of course, it helps to have a quarterback like Drew Brees and plenty of offensive weapons, as the Saints do. But Payton’s “play to win” attitude clearly rubs off on his players. No matter the opponent or the situation, they don’t just believe they can win, they expect to win.

Why is playing to win so important?

People want to be on the winning side, and playing not to lose sends a subtle message that changes their thinking and their behavior. People become a little less focused on the small things that lead to winning. When faced with adversity, they get discouraged and disheartened a little more easily. And when major setbacks occur, they have doubts about whether the company can still win. When you play not to lose, you’re playing for second best (or worse).

What does playing to win look like in the business world?

Dare to take risks.
This doesn’t mean to call a fake punt on 4th down at your own 10-yard line. Risks should be calculated, not foolhardy. Look for opportunities that offer huge upsides with minimal downside if they don’t pan out. Or outline the risks and mitigate or minimize them beforehand.

Get comfortable with failure.
When you take risks, you will fail much of the time. They key is to make it safe for people to fail, and to learn from your mistakes. Even Tom Brady throws an interception every now and then, for gosh sakes. His coach puts him back out there every time. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough and you are probably falling behind.

Shake up the status quo.
This is hard for most business leaders to get comfortable with. In the U.S., we tend to have a real short-term mentality, especially in large public companies. We’re so worried about the quarterly numbers that we play not to lose rather than to win. When we innovate, we usually do it incrementally, which yields a safe but minimal return.

In today’s markets, becoming a market leader requires shaking up the status quo; going for the long bomb rather than the 3-yard run up the middle. Easier said than done. But if you don’t at least aim for it, you’ll never hit it.

Change your thinking.
Most of all, get rid of the idea that what made you successful today will continue to make you successful tomorrow. In football, the players keep getting bigger, faster and stronger. Coaches know they can’t stand pat, so they continually develop new offensive and defensive schemes to stay ahead of the game. In business, your competitors are also getting bigger, faster and stronger. To stay ahead, your products, services, and ways of doing business must continually evolve.

When it comes to winning, there’s one big difference between pro football and business. In football, the rules of the game are imposed on every team by the NFL. In business, when you play to win, you get to impose a lot of the rules.

When you change the way customers perceive value, they have to play by your rules. When you come up with a new product or service that transforms your industry, competitors have to play by your rules. And when you build an organization that is so passionate about winning that the top performers clamor to work for you, other employers have to play by your rules.

Doesn’t that sound like more fun than playing not to lose?

Are You Focused on Winning in 2012?

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:58:31 CST

by Holly G. Green.

2012 (being a Leap Year) contains 366 days, 8,784 hours, 527,040 minutes, and 31,622,400 seconds. How will you spend them?

Will you be focused on winning and moving towards it each day, celebrating milestones along the way? Or will you be playing to not lose, worrying about the past, talking constantly about what went wrong, stewing about how tough markets are these days, why you can’t do something, or why customers just won’t X, Y, Z, etc., etc.?

A new year is all about possibilities, promise and potential. But making all those dazzling possibilities turn into a reality requires a real focus on, and a commitment to, winning.

When an organization lacks a clear destination, it usually has many ill-defined ones. Employees feel unmotivated and uncommitted. Time, talent, and resources get wasted on products and projects that go nowhere. And people end up working on their own personal agendas rather than doing what’s best for the company. They think they are doing the right thing, but directions changed and someone forgot to realign them.

Having a clear definition of winning provides focus and clarity at the individual, team, and organizational level. It gets everyone aligned and moving in the same direction. And it motivates and inspires people to perform at their best. When employees know where they’re going and what they need to do to get there, it becomes much easier to reach your destination.

That’s why your #1 job in 2012 is to create a compelling vision of winning, then keep yourself and everyone else in the organization focused on it with laser-like intensity.

Start by getting clear on your vision of winning. Pause to think about what really matters: what does winning look like for you? What do you need to do - as individuals and as an organization - to win? What will it look like when you have won?

Answer these questions with as much specificity as possible. For example, identify the key operational and financial metrics that you will have achieved. Paint a picture of what your workplace and culture will look and feel like when you have won - what attitudes, beliefs, and core values will the organization be living by?

Identify the skills, knowledge, tools, technologies, and abilities you will have acquired or enhanced in order to win. What organizational structures will be in place? What new products or services will you have brought to market? What new customers will you have acquired? How will you have leveraged the customer relationships you already have?

Once you have this crystal clear picture of winning, share it with everyone in your ecosystem. Not just employees, but customers, vendors, suppliers, partners, alliances - anyone that has a stake in helping you win.

Don’t share your vision of winning like you’re giving a quarterly financial report. Use it to inspire people. Talk about why winning is important to you personally, and why you feel so passionate about where the organization is going. Link your vision of winning to the bigger picture by letting people know how they will have made a difference in the world when you have won. At the same time, point out what’s in it for them when the organization wins.

To stay focused on winning, also get clear on what you will not do. Then make sure those things don’t sap your time, energy, and attention. Make a list of all the major initiatives and big projects that no longer fit your definition of winning and shut them down.

Most leaders know intuitively when a project no longer makes sense because the goals have gotten out of sync with changing market realities. Yet they still cling to the belief that they can somehow squeeze some mileage out of a dead horse. Don’t let outdated assumptions and thought bubbles prevent you from getting those obstacles to winning out of the way!

Help your organization stay focused by setting clear individual goals that link directly to the organization’s key strategies for winning. Then give ongoing feedback on how they and the organization are doing. You’ll know you’re communicating enough when every employee can answer these questions without hesitation:

• What are my top priorities?
• What are the three primary objectives I need to achieve this week/this quarter/this year?
• How will I know I have been successful after I have worked so hard this week/month/quarter?
• How will we know when we have won – as a team, as an organization?

As the leader, you set the tone for your entire organization. Does your language and behavior reflect a relentless approach to winning? Or does it reflect a willingness to settle for just not losing, being second best….or less?

Christmas Dinner Conversation Starters

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:55:39 CST

by Holly G. Green.

My Thanksgiving “fun facts” blog was a big hit with readers, generating a lot of buzz (who doesn’t want something that makes life, especially those large family gatherings, easier?). So with the annual visit from the dude in the red suit almost upon us, I thought it would be fun to do another round of dinner conversation starters and brain stretchers.

Keep in mind as you read these that exposing yourself to diverse sources of information -- even those that seem to have nothing to do with your business -- is a great way to stimulate the brain and spur innovation.

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite dinner table subject: body parts.

• The blue whale’s tongue weighs about as much as an adult elephant.

• After circumcision, human foreskins are sold to biomedical companies and used as an ingredient in anti-wrinkle gels. (Think about that the next time you try to take a few years off your look!)

• A single square inch of skin on the human hand contains 72 feet of nerves.

• The human ear contains about 4,000 wax glands.

• In one hour, your heart burns enough energy to raise a ton of lead three feet off the ground. A pumping human heart can squirt blood as far as 30 feet.

• One to two percent of Americans have an extra nipple somewhere on their body.

Next we move on to the amazing world we live in, which is part of an even more awe-inspiring universe:

• Need to stock up for your New Year’s Eve party? According to scientists, the largest supply of alcohol resides in a vast alcohol cloud in the Milky Way that measures 288 billion miles across.

• Saturn has such a low density, that if placed in water, it would float.

• If there was no air between its atoms, the Earth would be about the size of a baseball.

• Nearly three-fourths of all the fresh water in the world is in Canada.

• What do Eric Clapton and all four of the Beatles have in common (besides a boatload of musical talent)? All have an asteroid named after them.

• At a steady pace of 6 mph, it would take a jogger 173 days to circle the earth.

• You can tell the temperature (in Fahrenheit degrees) by listening to a cricket chirp. Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds and then add 37.

• Siberia gets so cold that boiling water poured from a pot can freeze before it hits the ground.

• The state of Alaska has 40 active volcanoes, more than any other state in the U.S.

And wrapping up again with some more totally random facts:

• Before making it big, Jimi Hendrix played as the opening act for The Monkees on several occasions.

• Christopher Columbus’ ship, the Santa Maria, weighed less than the rudder on the Titanic.

• One out of five American meals is eaten in a car.

• It’s about 10 times easier to shoot a hole-in-one-while golfing than it is to bowl a perfect 300 game.

• Every day, 500 Americans are injured in their bathtub.

• Keeping mothballs in your tool chest will help to prevent rust.

• A single ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 65 miles long.

• Pope John Paul II was an honorary Harlem Globetrotter. (But could he dunk?)

• Party on! Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence while drinking beer in a tavern.

Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a prosperous New Year!

Three Strategies for Winning in 2012

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:28:21 CST

by Holly G. Green.

2012 is almost upon us. And I have some good news and some bad news in regards to the year ahead.

The bad news? If you think you’re running fast now, get yourself some new track shoes, because the world isn’t slowing down. In fact, it will continue to go faster and get more complex as time goes by. The good news is that we can turn this challenge into an opportunity by embracing three simple leadership strategies.

1. Get clear about winning.

I don’t mean partially clear, or sort of clear. I mean crystal clear on what winning looks like for your organization.

Become obsessive about winning, defining it with as much specificity as possible. Talk about it all the time with employees and other key stakeholders. Put visual reminders around you. Prompt yourself via your smart phone. Make sure every meeting starts out talking about winning. Embed your definition of winning into all your ways of working.

The hard part is that we can no longer define winning once, and then let it go. We now have to constantly revise and update our picture of winning as the world changes around us. We need to continually think about winning, continually fine-tune our version of winning, and continually move towards it while bringing our employees along with us.

2. Shed your outdated ways of looking at the world.

What gets in the way of winning?

More often than not, it’s our old ideas about what we “know to be true” about our customers, markets, and industries. It’s our brain’s natural tendency to screen in information that agrees with our view of the world and screen out data that contradicts it. And it’s our thought bubbles (unspoken thoughts and assumptions) that tell us what made us successful in the past will continue to make us successful in the future.

I’m not saying all old ideas are bad. But when our world changes so quickly, we need to make a habit of checking our ideas, assumptions, and beliefs on a regular basis. And by regular, I mean every few months, at minimum. Once a year will not cut it!

Start by gathering information on what you know to be true. Not what you assume, speculate or hope, but what you know to be true through verifiable data. For example, aging populations, changing employee demographics, shifting customer communication channels, etc. Then compare this data with what you think you know to be true.

Put the two data sets together and begin to explore:

• Of what we know to be true, what is no longer true? Why?
• What has changed with our customers? Our industry?
• What new wants or needs do our customers have?
• What new services or products can we come up with to meet those needs?
• How could we redefine value in our market?

3. Slow down to go fast.

I’ve been talking about this concept for several years, and it becomes even more important in 2012.

Slowing down to go fast requires pausing from time to time, challenging your beliefs and assumptions, learning to think differently, and focusing on opportunities to add value to customers in ways that nobody else is doing. It also involves setting yourself up to win by creating space for your brain to ponder, wonder, explore, and connect.

For example, start meetings by asking, “When we have done this incredibly well, how will we have done it?” This will prompt your brain to look for solutions rather than what’s in the way. Winning is about subtle shifts in language and behavior each and every day. Ultimately, it comes down to whether you’re looking for solutions or talking about, and focusing on, roadblocks.

Spotting the winners

It’s easy to tell the companies that have a clear picture of winning versus those that don’t. For example, Southwest Airlines is really clear on their mission as the low-cost provider. No baggage fees. No change fees. Constantly fine-tuning faster ways to load the airplane. They get it, their employees get it, and so do their loyal customers.

Counter this with American Airlines, which recently filed for bankruptcy. I frequently fly American because I live in San Diego and have limited options. I have no clue how their leadership defines winning, but I am guessing it varies dramatically from their flight attendants and gate personnel. I often wonder if their idea of winning is to see how badly they can tick off their passengers every day.

When it comes to winning, make sure everyone in your ecosystem gets it. Not just employees, but suppliers, vendors, partners, alliances, and even (and especially) your customers. When you’re a winner, it’s obvious to those who meet you and work with you.

Get clear on winning in 2012. Start looking at the world differently. And slow down to go fast so that you can focus on solutions rather than what’s getting in the way. Winning is not only good for your business, it’s a lot more fun!

Phases of Innovation

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:19:02 CST

by Holly G. Green.

When I ask business leaders to identify which part of the innovation process their organizations struggle with the most, I typically get one of three answers:

1. We have a lot of ideas but most of them get judged as impossible or too hard to implement based on changing the way things currently are
2. We have a hard time deciding which idea or opportunity to pursue
3. We come up with a lot of good ideas but can’t seem to execute on them

Interestingly, these align exactly with the phases of innovation: discovery, evaluation, and execution.

In business, innovation is the act of applying knowledge to the creation of new processes, products, and services that have value for at least one of your stakeholder groups. Obviously, this requires more than just generating a slew of creative ideas.

In order to produce true innovation, you have to actually do something different that has value. In other words, follow through on the good ideas. This requires a very different set of skills and resources than idea generation. If you’re not getting any traction with your innovation efforts, it may be that your organization lacks the skills and competencies to complete one or more of the following phases.

Phase I - Discovery

Phase I has two basic objectives: developing core innovation competencies and generating new and creative ideas, which often includes gathering customer insights and translating them into workable ideas.

Everyone has the ability to think creatively, but most people need some training and coaching in order to bring out those latent abilities. Key activities during this phase include providing learning sessions, workshops, collaboration fairs, ideation boot camps, and other tools that teach people how to think differently.

Innovation enablers during this phase include:

• Encouraging and rewarding idea generation
• Awareness of the brain’s processing and potential hurdles
• Defining winning/excellence
• Balancing big picture and details
• Challenging assumptions
• “What if?” thinking
• Changing perspectives
• Considering the right answer
• Influencing others effectively

Key players during this phase: individual contributors and managers who encourage and support them.

Phase II - Evaluation

This phase separates the wheat from the chaff, as potential ideas and opportunities undergo a rigorous screening process. New ideas are discussed, tested, evaluated, and compared for their potential to add value to customers, generate new revenue streams, or accomplish a specific innovation goal. The primary objective is to identify the highest-value opportunities and determine the feasibility of turning them into reality.

Innovation enablers during this phase include:

• Creating and supporting an idea evaluation framework
• Taking risks
• Balancing day-to-day versus longer term
• Accepting ideas (remain open)
• Looking for “and” versus “but” solutions
• Encouraging some failure (within boundaries)
• Thinking cross-functionally/organizationally

Key players during this phase: managers and leaders who have set clear strategic direction and guidance.

Phase III - Execution

This phase involves making sure that the high-value opportunities identified during the evaluation phase align with your organizational capabilities. Then senior management has to commit the time, money, and resources to make the innovation happen. This is followed by close tracking of the business performance of the new product or service, as well as measuring the process used to develop the innovation and looking for ways to improve it.

Innovation enablers during this phase include:

• Continually communicating the need for innovation as a business focus/strategic mandate
• Linking innovation to key strategies
• Sponsoring innovation projects
• Incorporating innovation reports into the business review processes
• Funding innovation
• Developing risk management strategies and approaches
• Capturing and sharing innovation learnings
• Learning from failures

Key players during this phase: senior management/leaders.

The added benefits of innovation

When innovation becomes a way of life in your organization, you get a lot more than just new products and services.

The organizational mindset shifts to one of relentless improvement, with an increased awareness of opportunities and possibilities for products and efficiencies. There is more listening, less knee-jerk defending of old ideas, and a greater understanding of, and interest in, unmet customer needs.

As individuals begin to understand their roles in the innovation process, you get more clarity on what success looks like and how to achieve it. Standards of performance increase, along with an increased willingness and ability to hold each other accountable for meeting them.

Most important, as you begin to develop a sustainable innovation approach, the emphasis tends to shift from maintaining old successes to considering new opportunities and products – a key element in staying ahead of changing customer needs rather than always trying to catch up.

If you struggle to get new products to market, ask yourself, “Where are we getting stuck? What skills and competencies do we need to develop to move forward?” When you have all the pieces in place to successfully complete all stages, innovation becomes your way of working, not a project or initiative that goes away when the next business buzzword gains prominence!

Test Your Innovation IQ

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:04:41 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Everyone knows that innovation means coming up with the next great idea in your industry, right? Actually, there’s a lot more to it than that. Test your ability to separate innovation fact from fiction by answering the following questions true or false:

1. Innovation is the act of coming up with new and creative ideas.

2. Innovation is a random process.

3. Innovation is the exclusive realm of a few naturally talented people.

4. The biggest obstacle to innovation is a lack of organizational resources and know-how.

5. The most important type of innovation involves bringing new products and services to market.

6. Teaching employees to think creatively will guarantee innovation.

7. The most powerful way to trigger your brain is to simply ask it a question.

8. Most companies pursue incremental rather than disruptive innovation.

9. Most companies are not structured to innovate.

10. Listening to your customers is a great way to innovate.

Answers:

1. False. In business, innovation is the act of applying knowledge, new or old, to the creation of new processes, products, and services that have value for at least one of your stakeholder groups. The key word here is applying. Generating creative ideas is certainly part of the process. But in order to produce true innovation, you have to actually do something different that has value.

2. False. Innovation is a discipline that can (and should) be planned, measured, and managed. If left to chance, it won’t happen.

3. False. Everyone has the power to innovate by letting their brain wander, explore, connect, and see the world differently. The problem is that we’re all running so fast that we fail to make time for the activities that allow our brains to see patterns and make connections. Such as pausing and wondering….what if?

4. False. In most organizations, the biggest obstacle to innovation is what people already know to be true about their customers, markets, and business. Whenever you’re absolutely, positively sure you’re right, any chance at meaningful innovation goes out the window.

5. False. It’s certainly important to bring new products and services to market. But the most important form of innovation, and the #1 challenge for today’s business leaders may really be reinventing the way we manage ourselves and our companies.

6. False. New ideas are a dime a dozen. The hard part is turning those ideas into new products and services that customers value and are willing to pay for -- a process that requires knowledge about what your customers want and need, coupled with implementation.

7. True. Ask a question and the brain responds instinctually to get closure. The key with innovation is to ask questions that open people to possibilities, new ways of looking at the same data, and new interpretations of the same old thing.

8. True. Most companies focus on using internally generated ideas to produce slightly better products (incremental innovation). Then they strive to get those slightly better products to market as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible. This approach is quicker and cheaper than disruptive innovation. But it rarely generates the results that lead to sustainable market leadership.

9. True. Most organizations are physically set up with accounting in one area, marketing in another, and management off by itself. Employees rarely interact with other departments unless they need something to get their jobs done. And leaders and departments often withhold information, believing that it puts them in a position of power. Innovation requires teamwork, communication and collaboration, not isolated silos.

10. Trick question! The answer is “it depends.” Research shows that customers can be a good source of ideas for improving existing products and services -- if you’re looking to achieve incremental innovation. However, by itself, customer research is not sufficient for generating disruptive innovation because it only uncovers expressed, or known, customer needs. Disruptive innovation solves problems that customers didn’t even know they had or were unable to clearly articulate to themselves or their vendors. It redefines the market at a very fundamental level or, in many cases, creates a new market.

If you got 8 or more correct answers, give yourself a pat on the back. If you scored between 4 and 7, I recommend some more research and work on these critical leadership skills. If you scored less than 4, wake up and smell the burnt coffee! Get some help.

If you’re not constantly looking to improve your products, services, systems, and managerial processes, you will fall behind. And once you fall behind, it can be very difficult and often impossible to catch up!

Putting On A New Pair of Goggles

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:08:06 CST

by Holly G. Green.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a stodgy safety products manufacturer that dramatically increased sales of its goggles by studying fashion trends. I’m not suggesting we all start subscribing to Vogue, Glamour or Elle (although maybe that is not a bad idea). What we do need to do is start looking beyond the walls of our businesses on a regular basis.

Innovation doesn’t always require pulling groundbreaking ideas out of thin air. In fact, in today’s markets innovation increasingly comes from two sources: learning to see patterns where others don’t, and finding ways to adapt what others are already doing to our business models. For most of us, this requires expanding our sources of information, as well as stretching our brains to get us thinking differently and looking at the world in new ways.

Expand your sources of information
Over the course of a single year, the typical American reads 100 newspapers and 36 magazines, and watches almost 2,500 hours of television. We also listen to more than 700 hours of radio, buy three books and 20 CDs, and talk on the phone for more than 500 hours. And that doesn’t include texts, tweets, updates, pokes, and all the other social media stuff many of us now do on a daily basis.

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Maybe so, but for most people it comes from the same sources over and over again, especially in business. As leaders, we tend to gather data about our customers, markets, and industries from similar sources while paying scant attention to what goes on outside our companies or industry.

To expand your data-gathering horizons, make a list of all your information sources according to the percentage of data they provide. Then ask questions like: How much time do we spend collecting information? What are our primary sources of data? Are these still reliable sources for our business or industry? Where else can we look?

Conduct a cold-eye review
Another technique for gaining fresh perspectives is to have non-experts research various aspects of your business. For example, have your CFO look at customer data, your head of manufacturing look at customer info, and so on. When done well, this “cold eye review” often finds the obvious (things previously missed because everyone is used to them) and occasionally finds the unique.

Cold eye reviewers can uncover unsafe conditions in a plant because workers stopped seeing the situation a long time ago. They can identify new applications for a current product because they don’t know what it’s supposed to do or not do. They can also uncover significant opportunities to reduce costs, cut cycle time, and/or dramatically shift processes because they don’t know about the way things “are supposed to be.”

Have your cold eye reviewer give a presentation that communicates their general approach to the review, the data found, a summary of key points, and any recommendations. Follow that up with any questions you might have, and a discussion of what is possible based on the data presented.

Stimulate your brain
In order to adapt ideas from other areas, it helps to loosen up our brains with the following techniques:

• Go outside. Go outside your office, take off your shoes, and walk barefoot in the grass. Breathe deeply and just listen to the sounds. You’ll be amazed how these simple tactile sensations can take your brain in a whole different direction.

• Stretch. I mean really stretch - first your body and then your mind. Stand up and lift your arms above your head. Roll your shoulders. Inhale and exhale slowly. Now pause and think about something from a different perspective. Ask yourself, “What if it could be different? What if there is a better way? Who have I met this week and what did I learn from them? How can I apply what I learned?”

• Do a “walking sponge” session. Take a walk and try to absorb as many new ideas as you can. Turn off your thinker and focus on seeing, hearing, feeling and smelling.

• Daydream. Let your mind wander. Instead of trying to think of an idea or solution, don’t try. Let your subconscious work on it for a while.

If these don’t grab you, just try something different. If you’re right-handed, use your left. Drive home from work a different way. If you bring a sandwich for lunch every day, bring a salad. Or better still, try a kind of food you’ve never had before.

Trying something familiar in a different way just might loosen up your thinking and let you see the world in a different way. You’ll be amazed at what putting on a new pair of goggles can reveal to you (and you’ll look really fashionable doing it)!

Conversation Starters for Your Thanksgiving!

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:09:22 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Thanksgiving is almost upon us.

And while I have much to be thankful for, both personally and professionally, I’m “thinking outside the turkey” and doing something different for this year’s Thanksgiving blog.

As business leaders, I believe it’s important that we expand our sources of information beyond the walls of our businesses and industries. This allows us to identify patterns and make connections that we might not otherwise see. I also believe it’s important to pause from time to time and ask “What if….?”

But sometimes it’s just as important to pause and have some fun. In fact, that’s a large part of what holidays are for. So this year, I’m serving up some “fun facts” that I have discovered in my personal quest for off-the-wall data sources. These come courtesy of “That’s A Fact Jack” and “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader” -- two of my favorite sources for random information.

Food plays a major role in this holiday, so I’m starting off with some fun food facts:

• The world’s oldest surviving recipe is a formula for making beer. It was discovered outside Baghdad in 1850 on a 3,800 year-old Sumerian clay tablet. Two other tablets contain what are believed to be drinking songs.

• 25% of all the vegetables consumed in the U.S. are French fries.

• 17% of all American restaurants are pizzerias.

• The busiest McDonald’s in the world sits in Pushkin Square in Moscow.

• Soda accounts for 25 percent of all the beverages consumed in the U.S.

• Starbucks spends more on employee health insurance than it does on coffee beans.

• There are more Subway sandwich shops in Manhattan than there are actual subway stations.

• It takes a Twinkie about 45 seconds to explode when cooked in a microwave.

Now, here are some people/lifestyle facts that say a lot about our current society:

• Twelve percent of American males have shaved while driving.

• A single day’s trash from New York City would fill the Empire State Building.

• The Bible is the most shoplifted book in the world.

• During their lifetime, the average person spends 5.5 weeks brushing their teeth.

• Eighty percent of American men say that if given the chance, they would marry the same woman again. Only 50 percent of women say they would marry the same man.

• More blond hair dye is sold in Dallas than any other city in the U.S.

• One in 10 Americans abstains from sex. Only one in 50 abstains from television.

And closing, here are some totally random but interesting facts:

• In Bangkok, there exists a 240-foot temple made entirely of broken dishes.

• Charlie Chaplin once lost a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. (He didn’t even make the finals).

• In 1994, a man escaped from a West Virginia prison using a “rope” made of dental floss.

• During their lifetime, the average person sheds over 98 feet of eyelashes.

• Washington D.C. has more psychiatrists per capita than any other city in the U.S.

I hope you enjoyed these and they take your brain in some new and interesting directions when you share them over your holiday dinner table. Happy Thanksgiving!

Stop Distracting Me!

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:13:21 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Are you finding it harder to stay focused at work these days?

Welcome to the club! It’s been estimated that distractions and interruptions steal up to two hours per day of productive time for the average worker. And as new technologies make the world increasingly interconnected, it looks like it will only get worse – if we let it.

What’s stealing our time and attention away from the activities that matter most?
The usual stuff: phone calls, voice mail, email, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, Blackberries, interruptions from co-workers. We’re all familiar with these. But there’s a subtler and even more pervasive time-stealer in the workplace -- our own thoughts.

The fact is, our own mental distractions drain huge amounts of creative energy. They keep us entranced and prevent us from tapping into our creative resources. When some of our attention is occupied by the past or future, we prevent ourselves from focusing on the present. When we’re distracted and mentally agonizing over the next thing that pops up on our lists, any chance of meaningful innovation goes right out the window.

What keeps us distracted? See if you recognize these common innovation dousers:

• Single thought. Relying on a single idea or plan to see your project through.

• Getting really worried. Worry is misdirected creative energy. Anxiety makes the creative flame burn in all the wrong places.

• Not having fun. When you stop having fun, the task becomes burdensome.

• Getting easily frustrated. The harder you work at being frustrated, the better you’ll get at it.

• Exaggerated importance. Making your challenge so important or all-consuming that you allow it to ruin the rest of your life.

• Knowing the right answers. You’re so convinced that you have all the answers that you stop entertaining or looking for alternatives.

• Running it through a committee. Nothing destroys individual initiative like a committee. Relying on a committee often denies personal responsibility, which eliminates the thrill of taking the risk. Having too many meetings to “discuss it” (which really means “listening to individual agendas”) wastes time and doubles the cost.

• Setting inappropriate deadlines. Make them too short and the task becomes impossible. Too long, and you lose interest in the project.

Relax and refocus
Fortunately, reclaiming your mental focus doesn’t require major surgery. Simply relax your muscles and concentrate on your breathing to center your attention. Then take a piece of paper and, as quickly as you can, write down any issues that come to mind. It doesn’t matter how pressing or trivial the concern. If it comes to mind, write it down.

Keep writing until you have nothing more to write. When you’re done, step back, look at your list, and acknowledge that you will deal with each concern at the appropriate time. This undermines the power of those issues to distract you, and makes it possible to give your full attention to the activity at hand.

Another great approach to dealing with distractions is to get clear on what inspires your innovative side. Identify what keeps you really focused and intensely determined, and build more of this into your day. For example:

• Necessity. Nothing sharpens the attention better than demands.

• Fun. Having a great time makes the juices flow.

• Boldness. Jumping right into a situation with both feet.

• Speed. Doing it as fast as you can.

• Shooting from the hip. Starting without a plan and applying ideas as they come to you.

• Taking risk. A real risk, without a safety net. Feeling the crisp bite of fear and dread, but going ahead with it anyway. The threat of failure lights a fire like no other!

• Pride. Taking pleasure in success and accomplishment.

• Time pressure. Feeling the rush of the deadline.

• Mental sparks. Feeling bold, standing out in the crowd, and getting noticed.

• Trust in last-minute inspiration. Having faith in your ability to pull the project out of the fire.

• Relaxing. Loosening your grip of life’s worries.

• Reflection. Having a private time and space to contemplate your navel.

The emails, Tweets and constant barrage of interruptions aren’t going away any time soon. And neither are our internal distractions. So identify the ones that hinder you the most and take appropriate action to defuse them. You’ll get a lot more done throughout the day. And you’ll be surprised at what your innovative side comes up with.

I f you want help, try and lift heavier and bigger loads

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:41:15 CST

by Samuel Kennedy AGYEI TAKYI.

There are lot of help available in life for you and me. Though it is available for everyone, not everyone can have it or obtain it. The truth is, help is often for those that need it most. It is like medicine; it is made for those who need some strength or aid in one area of their body. So, to get help one must fulfil the conditions required for obtaining help.

One day whilst travelling, I met a lady who was dragging two heavy bags on the ground to enter into a train which was about to depart. Looking at her, I discovered that she needed a helping hand, and I volunteered to help her out of the hurdles. This lady had bags that she was carrying, but had no strength to do it conveniently and met me who have lots of strength, and got help from me. In fact, my strength did the work without pain.

Very often in life, lots of people do abandon their dreams because they think that the dream is too big to handle. What we often fail to remember is, providence always comes before vision; and, that is the reason why the word provision came by. For example, before creating Adam and Eve, God made sure to provide all their needs before their existence. This means that before a vision comes to you, most of that which you will need to fulfil the vision does exist somewhere—all that is required is to seek and search to obtain it by knocking and asking.

Another thing we often forget is, though we are small in stature, God created us to manage this world and create things bigger than the sizes of our bodies. Look around you and you would see the mighty things that mankind have done using their abilities and strengths.

If you go to the nearby forest in your area, you will find that on the strong trees are plants in the form of rope and thread. The secret is these tiny plants had vision of growing tall and becoming great. Their vision was to get to the top; however they lack the ability to stand up. Instead of crawling, these plants devised a strategy—affiliating to the stronger trees.

Knowing that they have not got the strength, these plants positioned themselves among the stronger plants, and these stronger plants helped them to get the top. In fact, some of these plants are taller than the plants that helped them.

This is a lesson to us as people. The lesson is, to achieve some of our great dreams; it is good to position ourselves among the good, the right and strong people. If we do this, we will get help that will help us to achieve our wildest dreams. For example, if you are poor and desire to be rich; the best thing to do is to get some friends that are rich, and the will help you. To do this is simple—the best requirements are good character and humility.

Look, if for example you are financially poor and have friends who are rich, these people will help shape your thoughts and worldview, and programme you for higher achievements. If for example, you have friends who are stronger than you and you intend doing something greater, these friends will give you a helping hand. For example, if your desire is to do a business, some of them will give you the financial contacts and all the needed advice to help you to get to where you want to go.

The plain truth is, we are all where we are because of helps and would be where we want to be because of it. So, do not be afraid to move on to higher heights. Do it, and when you get to the point where you need help, you will get it if you sincerely seek for help.

Prefer to have bigger “no” instead of smaller “no”; and prefer bigger “yes” to smaller “yes”

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:44:17 CST

by Samuel Kennedy AGYEI TAKYI.

I want to my bank to seek for a loan and they gave the loan to me. In fact, I requested little because I was bit shaky. What I later got to know was that, if I had asked for a bigger loan, they would have given it to me because I was more than qualified.

Often times in life, many of us do ask for little instead of asking for big. This attitude has reduced many Kings to Princes and many Princes to Servants. Look, if you want to eat, eat what you want and to your satisfaction. To sit down to eat and eat little is similar as not eating at all.

There is one thing I have seen in life. It is that, that created us to create things bigger than our bodies. That is the reason why you are seeing the big things around you. Another truth is, no matter how big a thing is, it cannot be bigger than you. Inside you and me is a great spirit and soul that is bigger than what the eyes can see. That bigger you in you is the spark of God who created the wonderful universe.

My dear, it is what we ask that we often obtain in life. If you think good, what you are doing is you are asking for good. It is also making agreement with nature to help you with good. If you act goodly and Godly, that is what you are asking. My request is, in your entire good asking, try and ask for greater and bigger things and you would obtain them as God will for us is for good.

Take challenges

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:41:45 CST

by Samuel Kennedy AGYEI TAKYI.

“To refuse to take great challenges and leaps is settling for the less.”

“If challenges do not come our way, it will be hard for us to see God’s glory.”

“He that does not take risks will never know how strong he is.”

“If what we do is not bringing us satisfaction, then that thing is empty. It is better to take challenges and have satisfaction than not to.”

My dear, always try to encourage yourself to take challenges that stretches you. Taking great challenges and striving to materialise them in life, does bring great relief, freedom and excitement at last. Taking up great challenges and fulfilling them helps us to know how strong we are in life. Besides, it builds us to take other great challenges in the future. Think about the examinations you once took. Some of them were tough, yet you studied hard and passed. The teacher who brought the questions did test to see how stronger you are prepared after periods of learning.

My personal research reveals that, many people who retired from the military did not sit down to relax. They rather went in for greater things. Think about Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump and the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). I believe that, it was the discipline they obtained in the service that has help to propel them into the places they are today.

Not taking risks and challenges will surely make us to settle for lesser things in life. Besides, doing such will also not make us to see or know how strong we are in life. Think about women. They do take up the challenge of getting pregnant to have babies though they know that it entails lots of pains and inconveniences. Though they know that it is painful, knowing that the pains will bring forth a human into the world makes them to do that with joy and ease, though it is not easy. In fact, the satisfactions of having their own babies boost them to take the challenges and leap.

When we were little, there were many things we thought were unattainable. Now, we do laugh at ourselves, because we have attained beyond these things.

The truth is, most of the things we know we can do, but have failed to do them because we think we cannot do them are not done, because of our own mindsets. If we make our minds, prepare ourselves and take the leap, we would discover that we were only kidding ourselves. So, let us remain us dreamers; instead we should move on to become actors of our dreams in all wisdom and there will be great joy, soon.

Implement successful change - Changefirst's Public Programme can help

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:56:51 CST

by Jennifer Kreger.

Are you struggling to achieve full business case benefits for major changes in your organisation? Are you hitting barriers such as poor sponsorship, lack of commitment and low employee engagement on your projects? If your answer is yes, then Changefirst’s upcoming Public Programme can help.

The PCI Practitioner programme is a 3 day programme for project and change managers who are looking to successfully implement major change. The programme prepares you to plan and implement change initiatives in your organisation by using Changefirst’s PCI methodology and e-change application.

Over the course of the programme you will:
•Work on a live change project from your own organisation
•Apply the PCI tools, research and methodology to the project
•Immediately apply the change implementation plans when you return to work

Programme dates: 13 -15 December & into 2012
Location: Near Gatwick airport

The programme is attended by individuals from a wide range of organisations across the public and private sectors. Due to the participative nature of the programme, you can expect and benefit from input, feedback and coaching from experienced change executives and fellow participants.

For more information and to register visit - http://www.changefirst.com/pci-practitioners-programme

About Changefirst:

Since 1995, Changefirst has been helping people and organisations implement change successfully. By using our own proven change management methodology, People Centred Implementation (PCI), we help enterprises and project managers to be successful in change by focusing on the effective engagement of people.

We have worked with over 12,000 individuals across 35 countries, and many of our clients include organisations in the Fortune top 500 global companies.

Are You Making the Right Connections?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:24:14 CST

by Holly G. Green.

What do Velcro, barbed wire, and chainsaws have in common? They were all patterned after structures found in nature.

Velcro was invented in 1941 by Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral. After returning home from a hunting trip, he noticed a large amount of cockleburs stuck to his clothes and his dog’s fur. Out of curiosity, he stuck a few under a microscope and saw that each bur consisted of hundreds of little hooks that caught on anything with a loop, such as clothing or animal fur. He surmised that if he could duplicate the hooks and loops with other materials, he could bind them together in a similar fashion.

When ranchers first began raising cattle on the wide-open plains, they used the Osage orange as fencing material. But the thorny bush took a lot of time and effort to transplant and grow. Eventually, someone hit on the idea of fashioning wire fences patterned after the Osage’s sharp thorns. This innovation made it affordable to fence vast areas of land, and led to the practice of animal husbandry on a much larger scale.

Nature also provided the inspiration for the modern chainsaw. In 1946, a man chopping wood in Oregon noticed several timber beetle larvae chewing through the logs around him. A short while later, he developed a chain with interlocking links that mimicked the chewing action of their teeth. This led to the development of the first chainsaw that could cut with, or against, the grain of the wood.

These three innovative products have something else in common. They were developed using one of the most important parts of human intelligence -- our ability to form patterns.

The human brain has an amazing capacity to take in large amounts of data, sift and analyze it, and then form patterns. In our caveman days, this kind of pattern recognition coupled with instant and consistent response was a good thing. It allowed us to quickly identify predators, remember the location of food and water sources, and engage in other activities that supported our survival.

Humans also excel at forming patterns and making connections because the subconscious mind likes closure. When faced with an incomplete picture, the brain works to complete the mental image by inferring the missing information. The brain works the same way on an unsolved problem or challenge; it loves to dive right in and get the job done. Our minds fill in shapes and patterns based on our expectations and assumptions.

Connections can be based on differences as well as similarities. For example, our minds easily connect chair and table, ham and eggs, brother and sister. To enhance your ability to see patterns and make connections, start looking for them in everyday things:

• Junk mail. Scan your mail before you throw it out. What new trends do you see in advertising and marketing? What new products and values catch your eye? Let your junk mail accumulate for a month and take note of what you see when you pause and go through it.

• Popular music. What are the trends in music? Is it getting louder or softer? More intimate or more intimidating? Is it more culturally diverse? Have the instruments changed? Do radio stations play more or less variety than five years ago?

• Bookstores. Are there any consistent topics among best-sellers? What about magazine covers? What values does popular culture display? Why are they portrayed as such?

• TV shows. What are the trends in prime-time television? What kinds of characters are portrayed on family shows now? Why are there plenty of shows about doctors, lawyers, and police, and so few about scientists, politicians, and engineers?

• TV commercials. What products or services do you see advertised the most? Are there new production techniques, or are old ones being revived? What time of day are the best commercials on? The worst? Who is the intended audience for a particular commercial?

Original ideas come from recognizing new connections between familiar things and transforming them into something new. So the next time you see a pattern -- whether it comes from a beetle grub chewing through a log, or the pile of junk mail sitting on your countertop -- pause for a moment and ask yourself, “How can I relate this to something I already know well?” You’ll be amazed at what you can come up with!

What three monkeys told us about culture

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:21:15 CST

by Jennifer Kreger.

There is a supposedly true story about the results of some research into animal behaviour that perfectly illustrates the primary challenge we face with cultural change.

In the study the monkeys show that culture is made up of three elements:

1. behaviour
2. known rules
3. hidden rules

In organisational culture, these same three elements are found.

To learn more about this study and how it relates to organisational culture and cultural change see the attached article.

Think Outside the Goggles!

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:01:10 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Fashion and safety goggles.

You won’t see these words used very often in the same sentence. Unless you happen to be a $2 billion manufacturer of personal safety apparel. In which case, they go together quite nicely.

When I worked for the world’s most valuable brand, every year the chief marketing officer would fly to Paris to attend one of the major fashion shows. His goal was to pick up on all the different colors, styles, and looks on display. When I asked what those things had to do with our product, he replied, “It all depends on how you look at it.”

I often pondered and finally learned to adapt his approach. In today’s world, one of the best ways to foster innovation in our organizations is to pick up on trends in other spaces and apply them to our own. I sometimes call it looking at things with a ‘cold eye’. The less you know about something, the more likely you are to see new ideas.

For example, a few years ago I worked with a $2 billion personal protection company to help create their strategic plan. This company made safety goggles, respiratory masks, earplugs, and other safety products worn by individuals at work. Their goggles were strong and durable, but ugly as sin and uncomfortable to wear (think about those clear plastic, one size does not fit anyone goggles worn in many factories). Sales had recently gone flat, and management called me in to see if we could determine innovative new approaches and products in their markets.

This company had a long track record of success. Managers were very set in their ways. And they were certain they knew what their customers wanted. Clearly the time had come to think outside the goggles!

During the planning process I asked them to do two things: take a look at the fashion industry, and learn more about their customers. They agreed to both, although with a fair amount of skepticism, and began researching the fashion industry to come up with some ideas on how to improve their goggles.

In doing so, they found that the majority of people wearing safety goggles at work were women. More important, they found that their customers wanted more than just to protect their eyes. They also wanted to look good and feel comfortable while wearing the goggles.

Keep in mind that this was a stodgy, male-oriented company whose leaders had been in manufacturing forever. They knew how to build quality goggles to protect the eyes. But they never dreamed that something else might matter to their customers -- until they asked.

To their credit, they took what they learned and embedded it into a new line of fashionable safety goggles. To their surprise, sales increased dramatically the following year.

Had this company looked only within their industry, they might have never discovered those unmet customer needs. By changing their perspective and looking for ideas in other places, those needs became obvious. And by looking at an industry that seemingly had no connection with theirs, they came up with several good ideas for improving their products and adding more value to their customers.

The moral of this story is two-fold. One, never (and I mean never!) assume that we know everything about our customers or deeply understand them just because we have been successful selling them the same thing for decades. And two, as our world grows ever more complex and interconnected, we need to develop the habit of looking at new sources of information to prompt our own brains to consider innovative possibilities. Specifically, we need to:

• Broaden the scope of where we look for ideas, information, and opportunities
• Let go of old “truths” and see the world from a fresh perspective
• Learn to see patterns where others don’t (or at least spot them before anyone else does)
• Find ways to take what others are already doing (in seemingly disparate sectors) and adapt it to our way of doing business

No problem, right?

Actually it is a problem. Otherwise we would all be featured on the cover of Time Magazine as the next Steve Jobs. The former head of Apple was certainly an innovative thinker in his own right. But what he did better than anyone else was to look at what already existed in the world and put things together in ways that no one else had considered. He also excelled at figuring out what customers wanted before they knew it themselves.

Jobs had an intuitive gift for seeing what others didn’t see. But this ability to “look outside the goggles” is a skill that all business leaders can (and should) learn. Stay tuned next week for some tools and techniques to help you develop this critical leadership skill.

Bursting My Own Thought Bubbles

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:36:59 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

I just returned from one of my longer road trips of the year, and it’s great to be home!

Believe it or not, I used to enjoy business travel. But now, with all the airport security, flight delays, baggage fees, and surly attitudes of airline employees, it has become the least favorite part of what I do for a living. I still love working with different clients around the country. But the ‘getting there’ has become a wearisome task I would gladly eliminate if I could.

I did, however, have a real eye-opener on this latest trip.

I always caution my clients about the importance of not falling victim to our thought bubbles (the unspoken attitudes, assumptions and beliefs that govern how we think and act in the world). While sitting in yet another airport waiting for my flight to board, I experienced a vivid reminder of just how powerful they can be.

One of my pet peeves with air travel has always been how long it takes to board the airplane. Apparently I’m not alone, because while reading The Week magazine I came across an article about an astrophysicist who thinks he’s devised a better way. In fact, he believes his method, which he has tested using computer modeling and real people, would cut boarding times in half.

His approach goes like this: first seat families and anyone else needing assistance. Then, instead of seating groups of passengers from back to front as airlines currently do, fill all the window seats first. Start at the back of the plane and move forward by odd or even rows (30A, 28A, 26A, etc.) - but only on one side of the plane. When that side is full, repeat this process on the other side. When all the window seats are filled, use the same pattern to fill the middle seats and then the aisles.

The astrophysicist calculates that his method could save airlines hundreds of millions of dollars per year, not to mention a bushel of time for passengers. But so far he hasn’t heard from a single airline.

Here’s where the thought bubbles come in.

You might think that my initial response would have been, “What a great idea!” Or that I would have rushed up to the counter and asked the airline employees to give it a try. But no. The first thought that came into my head was one that has been repeated countless times in corporate boardrooms around the world: that will never work!

And then, to reinforce my not-so-original thought, my brain immediately began filling in all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. The airlines would have to retrain employees and change all their procedures. Passengers would have to show up on time and have their boarding passes ready. Frequent flyers would have to give up their priority boarding positions. Everyone would have to pay close attention to which seat was boarding at what time. People will never change their behavior in airports. That’s just the way it is.

You might also think that as the reigning “guru of thought bubbles” I would have immediately caught myself and said, “Holly, you silly! Stop indulging in your thought bubbles. You know better than that!” Instead, when my brain ran out of thought bubbles about why the idea wouldn’t work, I merely turned the page of the magazine and moved on to the next article. And sat there waiting while the plane boarded very slowly.

It wasn’t until I got home several hours later and mentioned it to my husband that the lights came on. Here was an idea that could potentially save millions of dollars while streamlining a major time-wasting activity. Yet I rejected it out of hand based on unproven assumptions bubbling up from my subconscious.

I don’t know if this idea will work or not. After all, it would require major behavioral change on the part of the airlines and passengers. But 9/11 sure changed our behavior in terms of the security measures we’re willing to put up with. And so far we have no hard data that this boarding method won’t work. So who knows?

The real issue for business leaders is how many times in our companies do we kill a good idea or overlook a potential opportunity because “it will never work”? And that’s the real danger of thought bubbles. When we’re buying into ours (because they reinforce what we want to believe), someone else might be challenging theirs and looking at things very differently. And that someone could be the next competitor that puts us out of business.

United, Delta, American, Southwest – there’s a guy out there who doesn’t buy into the thought bubble that we can’t board your airplanes more efficiently. Are you listening?

Eliminate Your But!

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:03:57 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

I would love to see the following sign outside every strategic planning conference room:

Strategic Planning Session in Progress
No Thought Bubbles Allowed!

Of course, it will never happen because we can’t get rid of our thought bubbles. What we can do is take a careful inventory of them and update those that no longer align with current market conditions. That way, our thought bubbles won’t derail our strategic planning processes by causing us to make decisions that have no foundation in reality.

Thought bubbles are the deeply held beliefs and assumptions we have about every aspect of ourselves, others, our organizations, and our lives. Operating just below the conscious level, they determine how and what we perceive, and guide how we think and act.

Thought bubbles tend to be self-reinforcing. They are always incomplete. They can limit our ability to achieve results. And they require constant updating to remain current.

During strategic planning, thought bubbles typically manifest themselves through hidden biases that affect how we analyze data and make (or don’t make) important decisions. Here are some examples of common strategic planning biases and the thought bubbles that might accompany them:

Bias: Status quo comfort.
Description: The tendency for people to like things to stay relatively the same.
Thought bubble: “We’ve always set goals at 5% higher than last year. Why should we change now?”

Bias: The bandwagon effect.
Description: The tendency to do or believe things because others do the same.
Thought bubble: “Nobody else in our industry is doing that. Why should we?”

Bias: Hindsight bias.
Description: The inclination to see past events as being predictable.
Thought bubble: “I knew that was going to happen! Why didn’t anyone listen?”

Bias: Information bias.
Description: The tendency to seek information even when it can’t affect action.
Thought bubble: “We can’t make a decision now, we need more data!”

Bias: Projection bias.
Description: Unconsciously assuming that others share the same or similar thoughts, beliefs, values, or positions.
Thought bubble: “I’m glad everyone’s with me on this one” (without checking for validation).

I could list dozens more. But the real issue is not just identifying our thought bubbles. It’s what we do with them.

For many, the biggest challenge with thought bubbles is simply becoming aware of them. Here’s the #1 clue: if an issue triggers an instantaneous emotional reaction, you’re in the grips of a thought bubble. And the more intense the emotion, the more powerful the thought bubble and the stronger your belief in its validity.

Other ways to recognize when thought bubbles come bubbling to the surface include:

• Any time you find yourself saying “clearly…, it’s obvious….”
• Getting defensive when people challenge you
• Feeling threatened by a statement, idea, or issue
• Feeling like others are stupid for having a different point of view
• Refusing to even consider an idea because “you know it isn’t true”

One of the most common thought bubble signals is using the word “but.” As in, “That’s a good idea, but…..” As soon as you say “but,” it negates everything that came before it. Your “but” thoughts shut down your brain from processing other possibilities while it works to validate whatever opinion or belief you currently have. It also puts the other person on the defensive and shuts down the conversation rather than opening the issue up for exploration. So one of the first rules in thought bubble bursting is to eliminate your “but”.

To avoid letting other thought bubbles dominate your decision-making, become more aware of how you react to issues. Any time you have a strong, instantaneous emotional reaction, pause and ask yourself:

• Why am I reacting so strongly to this issue?
• What is my underlying assumption or belief that is being challenged?
• Is this assumption or belief still true?
• Is it time for me to update my bubble?
• What do I stand to lose by having this assumption challenged?

When we pause to examine a thought bubble, we can use our brain to layer logic on top of the emotion. We can recognize the thought bubble as an unspoken assumption and seek new data to test it for validity. The problem is we don’t take the time to pause because we’re running so fast from the time we wake up until we put our head on the pillow at night.

We can’t get rid of our thought bubbles; that’s just the way the human brain works and they are important to us in many very positive ways. We can periodically stop responding to them in knee-jerk fashion by becoming aware of when they occur, pausing to check our reaction, and then responding in a more rational manner.

Monitor your emotional responses, eliminate your “but,” and you’ll start making much better decisions during your next strategic planning meeting!

Innovating Your Own Management: Are You Up to the Challenge?

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:11:50 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Seems like everyone is talking about innovation these days.

Most of the discussion centers on the need to add value to customers through innovative products and services. But according to Gary Hamel, a leading expert on business strategy, there’s more to innovation than just bringing new products to market.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article entitled, “The Management 2.0 Challenge: How Will YOU Reinvent Management in Your Organization?” Hamel identifies five different levels of innovation, including (from least to most important):

· Operational. Improvements in areas like supply chains or customer support systems.

· Product. Bringing new products and services to market.

· Strategy. Reshaping business models by reinventing how value gets delivered to customers.

· Ecosystem. Revolutionizing entire industries. For example, digital downloads have changed the entire music industry.

· Management. Reinventing the way we manage ourselves and our companies.

In his article, Hamel addresses management innovation primarily from a structural standpoint. He recommends eliminating the traditional management hierarchy and moving to small, flexible teams that allow people to come together around ideas they are passionate about.

I agree that today’s markets require nimble organizational structures that allow people to respond quickly to sudden market changes. I also think we need to address the process side of management as well. Specifically, we need to reinvent how we gather and analyze information, how we make decisions, and how we think about our customers, our markets and the world in general.

What do we need to do differently?

Stop looking only at information that aligns with your view of the world.

Typically, management looks primarily at industry information. Who are our competitors? What are they doing that we need to pay attention to? What changes are happening in our industry? But in today’s world, the competitor that puts us out of business often comes from outside our industry.

Make it a habit to seek out information beyond your normal boundaries. Subscribe to one or two magazines that have nothing to do with your business or industry. Visit web sites and watch news programs with different political views than yours. One of my favorite web sites is www.ted.com, which contains short video clips from thought leaders in a wide variety of unrelated areas.

In addition, constantly review how you seek out new data. Ask: What sources of information beyond the walls of our industry do we regularly scan? Who is looking at these sources and how often? What are we learning from this outside information? How is this information disseminated to others in the organization?

Review your decision-making processes in real time.

Don’t wait until after making a major decision or launching a new product to analyze your decision-making progress. Instead, review decisions in real time by making your thinking processes visible to others.

Before making a major decision, expose your thinking process and invite others to expose their thinking as well. “Here’s what I’m thinking about this issue and here’s why. Does anyone see it differently?” When everyone identifies the assumptions behind their thinking, you’ll be amazed at how people can see the same data and come up with very different conclusions.

Review the team process for reaching the decision. Ask: Did we thoroughly consider the issue or did we rush to consensus? Did the CEO or team leader unduly influence the decision? Were alternative points of view encouraged or shut down? Is there more than one “right” answer to this problem? What have we overlooked in our discussion?

Constantly challenge your thought bubbles.

Thought bubbles are the unconscious assumptions we make about our customers, our industry, and the world at large. We know them to be true because “they’ve always been that way” or “it’s obvious.” The problem is most of our assumptions stopped “being that way” a long time ago. Unless we examine them on a regular basis, we end up making key strategic decisions based on a world that may no longer exist.

Ask: What has changed with our customers, our markets, and our industry within the past six months to a year? What assumptions are we continuing to make simply because we “know them to be true”? When was the last time we did something in this organization that went completely against the status quo?

To overcome the brain’s natural tendency to see only what we expect to see, have a “non-expert” research your fundamental truths. For example, have your CFO look at customer data. Have your sales manager look at purchasing practices. Or have your marketing VP look at operations.

Today’s world moves unbelievably fast. To gain a sustainable competitive advantage, leaders need to become more self-aware of what we do and how we do it -- and then continually improve that process.

Are you up to the challenge?

Tweet Leads to an Electric Experience

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:36:25 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Still think Twitter is a silly fad?

A month ago, I posted a blog that included a negative comment about the new Chevy Volt and our cash-strapped government’s plan to support the vehicle through incentives and outright purchases.

The very next day, the Volt product manager tweeted me to ask if I would give him an opportunity to change my opinion of the car. He offered to deliver a new Volt to my front door for a free weeklong test drive. All he asked was that I keep an open mind and give the car a fair shot. I agreed, and soon found myself behind the wheel of a new Volt.

We’ll get to my opinion of the car in a minute. The bigger issue here is how Twitter has rapidly become a powerful tool for monitoring and managing public conversations about our products and services.

We can’t control what people think and say about our products and services. But we can influence them by following social media conversations and, when appropriate, becoming a part of them. Prior to our exchange of tweets, the Volt product manager and I did not know each other. Someone retweeted my blog to him, and he saw an opportunity to join in the conversation about his product.

If you’re not using Twitter and other social media to monitor what people are saying about your company and your products, you risk losing control of your brand. I applaud the Volt product manager for his quick and tactful use of social media in response to a very public negative message.

Now, back to the Chevy Volt.

Overall, it’s not a bad car. It looks good and drives well. It offers smooth handling and a quiet ride, and includes many of the latest features like a touch screen, keyless entry, Bose speakers, etc.

The Volt only goes up to 40 miles on a full charge, which requires leaving it plugged in overnight. After the charge is depleted, the gas motor kicks in to create electricity, which will take you another 250 to 300 miles. Since the gas engine does not directly power the car, the Volt can be classified as a 100% electric vehicle. It still uses gas, just (in theory) less of it.

Driving the Volt requires changing some habits. I forgot to plug the car in one night, and had no power other than gas to drive the next morning. You need to have a plug close to your driveway, which rules out parking on the street. And you have to trust that no one will mess with your plug - not necessarily true in some areas of town.

Despite all this, my issue is not so much with the car as with the thought bubbles (unspoken assumptions and beliefs) surrounding its development and production.

My home state (California) has rolling electricity brownouts during the summer. And last week we experienced an almost 100% black out for a day – no electricity at all. On a national level, the federal government has enacted hundreds of new regulations that are forcing many coal-fired electricity plants to shut down. About half of our electricity comes from burning coal, and we’re not building any new nuclear powered electric plants or dams, are we?

So I have to ask, why are we focusing on electric vehicles? What are the underlying assumptions and beliefs driving this push for electric vehicles (versus other fuel sources)? And why is our government so actively supporting this by purchasing large numbers of Volts?

At $40,000+ dollars, the Volt is clearly designed for high-end customers who want to feel like they’re making a big difference for our planet. I have no problem with that. I’m generally pretty eco-friendly. But are people making decisions about the Volt (and other electric cars) based on real data or on their misinformed thought bubbles?

For example, the Volt comes with an “Eco Cooling” feature that saves electricity by gradually powering up the air conditioning on a hot day. Instead of instantly cooling the car, you get to sweat through 10 minutes or so of sweltering heat until the AC fully cools the car. Is cooling down my car more slowly by a matter of a few minutes on a 90-degree day going to make a real difference to the environment? I have a hard time believing that. But I do get that someone might truly believe that is their contribution to a healthy planet – never mind whether it is accurate.

The people at Chevrolet were gracious and helpful. I just don’t think there’s enough change in this vehicle to make any real difference. And I really can find no reason to justify the cost. Coal fired and nuclear plants will take up more resources and produce more waste to generate the electricity necessary to run the car (it’s not like people are going to use less electricity on other things if they have an electric car). And I would love to have data on what to do with the lithium battery once it is used up, and how much waste is created in producing the vehicle, or how much energy is consumed…could not get my hands on that.

It’s easy to get swept up and want to move forward quickly on something that seems like a good idea. It has never been more critical to pause and really think through the details and the big picture…to consider consequences and the entire ecosystem of a challenge. I wish Chevy and our government were making real progress on alternative fuels rather than a sort of repackaging of the same old thing.

I will restate my blog comments though- the Volt itself is not an inferior vehicle. The concept sure is.

Now wish me luck while I tweet something critical about the new Ferrari and hope I get to drive one of those for a week!

Leadership: Then and Now

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:46:24 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Think your job has changed significantly over the past decade or two? Compound that with the complexity of leading an entire organization!

Previous generations of leaders could at least count on a reasonably stable world, where change unfolded at a much slower pace. These days, the past is increasingly less predictive, the future is almost unimaginable, and the present exists for about a nano-second.

From an employee perspective, today’s leaders have to manage multiple generations of workers with values, interests, and needs that often conflict. From a customer perspective, today’s leaders face great expectations and less certainty than ever. “Good enough” doesn’t even come close anymore. We have an enormous number of choices, less tolerance, more self-interest, and a dramatically different definition of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Put these all together and you get a huge chasm between the old leadership style of administrating and directing versus the new model of guiding and inspiring.

Not too long ago, leaders basically had to figure out what to do and then tell people what, when, where, and how to do it. Today’s managers and leaders face a whole new set of expectations in the way they motivate the people who work with or follow them.

People not only don’t want to be managed, in most cases, they simply won’t be managed. Today’s employees want to be led. They want to participate and engage in every aspect of their job. Creating a two-way relationship is critical, especially considering that many knowledge workers today know more about what they are doing than their boss does.

To develop the skill sets necessary for today’s “guide and inspire” environment, leaders need to focus on:

Continual learning and unlearning
There are almost no jobs left that will remain the same over time, which means that the demands of leaders and managers are continually evolving. The great ones are constantly learning and developing themselves. They’re internally driven to constantly get better, knowing full well that they will not, and should not, be perfect.

Broadening their perspectives
Today’s leaders are highly observant and flexible. They can consider multiple perspectives to create general guidelines that help to make sense of what’s going on around them. They’re open to receiving information for conflicting sources, and can distill complexity.

Problem solving
Taking names and kicking butt is a thing of the past. Today’s leaders consider current issues from the perspective of making things better versus blaming or worrying. Their thinking balances the ability to visualize what might or could be with an effective day-to-day approach to getting the right things done.

Developing self-awareness
Great leadership comes from within. Today’s leaders constantly strive to become more aware of their own intentions as well as their impact on others. They also have the ability to admit mistakes and learn from them. They know that a lot of what got them to their role won’t carry them to continuing success.

Improving their communication skills
Specific, direct, and candid with others, today’s leaders expose their agendas and use good listening skills to really hear what others have to say rather than simply planning their next response.

Thinking strategically
When dealing with today’s issues, leaders need to operate from a broad, long-term perspective balanced with the intense pressures of producing short-term results. They need to understand and appreciate the current state as well as see possibilities.

Thinking globally
As our world becomes increasingly smaller, leaders need to appreciate and leverage diversity. They also need to become more innovative and proactive, anticipating problems and opportunities as well as entirely new markets and products. They need to consider whole new ways of communicating and connecting.

It is a hyper-changing world. If you don’t feel confused and challenged each and every day as a leader, you clearly don’t have a firm grasp of the new reality!

Breaking Out of Your Internet Filter Bubble

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:01:54 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

In today’s business world, leaders need to get ideas, opinions, and perspectives from diverse sources. In particular, there are times when we need to tune in to people and sources of information that contradict our prevailing view of the world.

Unfortunately, many of the online sources we turn to for information are surreptitiously moving us in the opposite direction.

According to political activist and former executive director of moveon.org, Eli Pariser, Internet giants like Google, Yahoo, and Facebook have begun using algorithms to determine what we see and hear online. He discovered this when he realized that Facebook had removed all the links to conservative people from his Facebook page - without his permission or knowledge.

Is some evil conspiracy afoot?

Probably not. What these companies want to do is maximize advertising revenue while making it easier for all of us to access the content we want. Only now they have taken it upon themselves to decide what we want to see, and that’s not a good thing.

As Pariser explains it, when Google uses complicated algorithms to determine the results of online searches, it creates a “filter bubble” that screens out everything the search engine thinks we don’t want to see. Or at least buries it so deep in the search results that we don’t bother clicking on it.

Put together all the algorithms (which deliver information to your Internet doorstep based on what you click on most often) from all the prominent online information sources and you end up with your own unique online universe of information. The information that populates your universe depends on your filter bubble, which, in turn, depends on who you are and what you do online.

The problem is that we don’t get to decide what gets through our filter. Yahoo, Google, and Facebook are now doing that for us. More important, we don’t see what gets edited out, so we don’t even know what we’re missing. This moves us all to a world where the Internet shows us what it thinks we want to see, and not necessarily what we need to see.

The solution, suggests Pariser, does not require eliminating the filters. After all, we need some tools for sorting through everything on the Internet. The answer is for Google, Yahoo, and others to give us a healthy degree of control over the filters, so that we determine what gets screened in and what gets screened out.

Why do we need many diverse sources of information?

From a practical standpoint, it just might keep us from going out of business. These days the new product or service that turns our industry upside down often comes from way out in left field. We need to continually scan the world beyond the walls of our business to detect these kinds of threats.

At a deeper level, it has to do with the way our brain works.

The human brain is an amazing organ, especially the newer areas with their higher-level reasoning abilities. Yet we’re still stuck with the “old” brain that helped us survive back when we had to quickly recognize and respond to predators and other threats.

The old brain is a superb pattern-recognizer. Consequently, it tends to look for information that supports what we already know to be true about the world. In doing so, it actively rejects information that contradicts our view of the world. So we get caught in a double-whammy of seeing things the same old way while actively avoiding new information that doesn’t align with what we already believe to be true.

That’s how we can get caught totally off guard when our best customer defects to a competitor. And that’s how we never see the outsider who sweeps into our market and steals our market share with a new product or service we never even imagined.

As business leaders, we need to make a habit of exposing ourselves to divergent points of view. We need to set up systems and processes that expose our employees to new and different ways of thinking. And we especially need to make sure that we don’t let others dictate or control our sources of information. To do so limits our ability to make informed decisions and puts us at risk of letting others control our destinies rather than making our own.

Google, Yahoo, Facebook – are you listening?

P.S. - To hear Pariso’s 9-minute talk on this subject click on http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html

Ted.com is one of my favorite sources for hearing thoughtful, informed and divergent points of view!

WOW Your Way to Better Results!

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:59:40 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

How many times have you had this happen within the past year?

You attend a seminar or workshop led by a brilliant speaker. You take copious notes and receive excellent handout materials that reinforce the speaker’s key points. You return to the office brimming with a plethora of ideas and the best intentions for putting them to work on the job.

And nothing happens. You get so caught up in the day-to-day that you quickly forget most of what you learned, and all your best intentions go out the window. Frustrating, isn’t it? Yet these days, it seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

We could all use more WOW (different WAYS OF WORKING) in our companies. The problem is we’re all running so fast and getting hit with more information than we can effectively process at one time. When we encounter new ideas on how to work more effectively, we find it hard to integrate those learnings into our daily routines.

In fact, this struggle to incorporate knowledge into newer and better ways of working has become one of today’s leading workplace challenges. When we already have more to do in the day than we can possibly accomplish, how do we carve out the time to try new and better ways of getting work done?

Here are a few suggestions:

Pause to unlearn.

Start by unlearning some of the thought and behavior patterns that keep you in a continuous “doing” loop, but not necessarily doing the right things. In particular, let go of thoughts like, “I don’t have time to plan because I have too much to do.” Or, “I have to get to all those emails immediately rather than think about what I can do new or different today.” Just try a more logical approach every now and then. You might be shocked at how slowing down to do it right will save you a lot of time in doing it over.

Make it part of ongoing business unit reviews.

The types of questions that get asked during regular business unit reviews require people to think, prepare and focus. If you want them to focus on better ways of working, incorporate the right questions into your business unit reviews. For example, if you’re trying to build an innovative culture, ask questions like, within the past month:
What new actions or behaviors have you engaged in that went beyond your comfort zone? What “we’ve always done it this way” unwritten rule have you broken? How many small failures did you have on new ideas you tried? What new idea are you most excited about advancing?

Make it part of how you hire, promote, manage other people.

Make focusing on different ways of working part of new job descriptions and promotion criteria. Incorporate it into job reviews and performance appraisals. When something becomes part of these systems and processes, it becomes part of how you work. It helps to force focus (at least a few times a year).

Use “neuroprompts.”

These are questions, statements, or visuals that trigger the brain to pause and think. They can range from the simple, such as “Am I clear on where I’m going?”, to the complex, such as templates for presentation and meeting agendas. Triggering yourself one or more times a day with neuroprompts will help to create new habits and behaviors.

Stage your field of vision. Surround yourself with visuals that support the development of WOW. Put them on your computer screen, carry them in your notebook, and set up task reminders to ping you. Keep the visual reminders in front of you, and shake things up every 30 days by changing them around a bit. We are mostly visual creatures – we respond to what we see, so make sure your field of vision is prompting you to make progress towards your destination.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. We typically come back from seminars and workshops with loads of good ideas that we want to work on all at the same time. Not going to happen! Instead, pick ONE new way of working and focus on it for 30 days, using some of the techniques listed above.

Aim for steady, measurable progress rather than instant mastery of the new behavior. And don’t beat yourself up if you temporarily regress into old ways of thinking or behaving. Instead, dust yourself off and jump right back into practicing the new way of working. It will soon become part of your daily routine, and you can move on to incorporating your next WOW.

Get Clear On Winning: It’s Personal!

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:16:19 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Last month I had the opportunity to speak at Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference. As one of the featured business session speakers, I addressed a lively audience on two of my favorite subjects: the importance of getting clear on winning, and engaging employees in reaching the organization’s destination.

At the end of my presentation, we had an open-mike session for people to ask questions. Most of the questions revolved around how to take the ideas I had presented and put them to work on a day-to-day basis at work. This came as no surprise, as these days people get hit with so much information that they often struggle to implement it in a meaningful way. The #1 question on everyone’s mind seems to be, “How do we incorporate what we learn into new and better ways of working?”

What did surprise me was the number of people who asked about implementing some of these principles in their personal lives. I don’t claim to be a life coach or personal development guru. But the concept of getting clear on winning can certainly be applied beyond the workplace.

In the business world, one tool for painting a vivid picture of where an organization needs to go is called “destination modeling.” This consists of establishing destination statements in different areas of the business that make the picture of winning more tangible and real.

Designed to create powerful visions in the minds of employees, destination statements provide cohesion, direction, and behavioral guidance. They tell employees what the organization is doing now, what it isn’t doing, and what it will be doing when the destination is reached.

To adapt this process to your personal life, I suggest establishing destination points in five categories to serve as a good starting point - family, health, finances, personal development, and professional development. Feel free to add others that work for you.

Start by deciding where you want to go (your destination) in each of the areas. Choose a timeframe (and I recommend no further out than 18 to 24 months based on the pace of change in today’s world). Determine what it looks like when you get to it. For example, family: I will have deeper, more meaningful relationships. Finances: I will have set aside $X for retirement each quarter. I will be paying myself first by making a deposit into my savings account before anything else each month. I will have paid off my credit card debt and have a system in place for tracking all my debt to better manage it.

Next, divide a sheet of paper with a vertical line down the middle. On the left side, write down the category. On the right side, describe what it will look like when you have reached your destination in that category. For example, when we have achieved our “family” destination:

How much time are we spending together?
What activities are we engaging in as a family? How often?
How are we communicating with each other in a more loving, respectful way?
How are we resolving problems and conflicts more effectively than we do now?
What new relationships have we formed with extended family?

Health:

What numbers have I attained in terms of weight, cholesterol, etc., to achieve optimum health?
What kind of exercise and diet changes have I made to achieve those numbers?
How am I managing stress more effectively?

Finances:

What specific financial goals have we set, and why?
What tools are we using to achieve those goals?
What are the biggest obstacles to achieving our goals and what strategies are we using to overcome them?

Personal development:

What am I doing to grow as a person?
What new hobbies or interests have I developed?
What community activities am I involved in?
How am I contributing to making the world a better place to live?
Where do I get energy and how am I incorporating more activities that align with that into my life?

Professional development:

What are my career objectives?
What new knowledge or skills have I acquired to achieve them?
What am I doing to obtain that knowledge or skills?
Who am I using as a mentor or coach to help me get where I want to go?

Once you have identified your destination points, measure each one against the following criteria: Is it easy to understand? Does it tell you what you need to do and not do? Does it provide enough details to be tangible and measurable? Is it flexible enough to adapt to evolving circumstances?

Most of all, does it compel you to want to go there? If your destination doesn’t excite and inspire you, chances are you won’t do what it takes to achieve it.

Whether in business or sports, the top performers all have a clear vision of what winning looks like. The same holds true for our personal lives. I saw the perfect t-shirt to go with this blog the other day: No one practices to lose! You are practicing each and every day in life, so get clear on where you want to go in life (what is winning to you?), set your destination points, and enjoy the journey!

It’s Time For Our Leaders to Start Acting Like Leaders, Part II

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:41:59 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

I rarely stray into the realm of politics in this blog, but I am really ticked off!

I’m angry with political leaders who continue to put their own interests ahead of those of our nation. And I’m angry with politicians and the media for getting trapped in their own thought bubbles and constantly making stuff up (MSU).

Thought bubbles (picture the dialog bubble above the head of a comic strip character) are the unspoken attitudes, assumptions and beliefs that color our view of the world. They operate just below the level of consciousness, so that most of the time we make decisions and take actions based on thought bubbles we’re not aware of.

MSU happens when we don’t pause to question the validity of our thought bubbles. As a result, we make critical decisions based on outdated information and/or strongly held (but often erroneous) beliefs. Then we wonder why our best-laid plans go awry.

Thought bubbles and MSUs permeate the business world at all levels of leadership. But they run just as rampant (and probably even more so) in the public arena. Especially in regards to many of today’s front-burner political issues.

What bothers me is how the discussion around these issues never seems to get past the thought-bubble level. Until our leaders pause to look at the data and their assumptions underlying these issues, we will never get to the root of the problems or opportunities facing us. Which makes it highly unlikely that we will come up with workable solutions.

Here are some prime examples of thought bubbles clouding our nation’s most pressing issues:

Thought bubble: The debt limit must be raised.

Reality check: With all the discussion around when the debt ceiling should be raised and by how much, no one is looking at the bigger picture. The thought bubble here is that raising the debt ceiling will magically solve our nation’s financial problems. WTH??? (H = heck. I was raised not to say wtf.) We need to be talking about debt reduction and balancing the budget, NOT figuring out ways to spend more money!

Thought bubble: Continued government spending will help our economy.

Reality check: We can’t continue to run huge budget deficits because we will eventually outstrip our ability to pay back our loans. Just because we still have checks doesn’t mean we have money in the account. Continuing to ask the bank for loans when we can’t pay for the ones we already have is the height of fiscal irresponsibility.

Thought bubble: The wealthy don’t pay their fare share of taxes.

Reality check: The numbers don’t lie. The top one percent of income earners paid 38% of all federal income taxes in 2008, while the bottom 50% paid only 3%. Forty-nine percent of U.S. households paid no federal income tax at all. Don’t believe me? Check it out at:

http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/top10-percent-income-earners.

Thought bubble: U.S. foreign aid goes to developing nations to fight hunger and cure disease.

Reality check: Since when? More than one-third of all U.S. foreign aid goes to Israel and Egypt. Neither is classified in any way as a developing nation.

Thought bubble: Unions protect the working class from their “evil” bosses.

Reality check: Right. That’s like saying today’s overpaid professional athletes care about their fans. Fifty-seven Teamster Union officials earn more than $200,000 per year. The president of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees earns $480K. The head of the American Federation of Teachers receives more than $400K in salary and benefits. More than half of all union members are public employees, meaning they get paid from tax revenues. What evil bosses are we paying to protect them from…ourselves?

Thought bubble: The TSA has the right to search us at airports.

Reality check: The United States Constitution, Amendment 4: Search and Seizure (ratified 12/15/1791), says otherwise. I quote: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

You may not subscribe to my political views (and you might be surprised what many of them are, so hold on to your thought bubbles on that). But I hope we can all agree that our nation’s most pressing problems would benefit greatly if our leaders (and the media):

Paused to look for real data
Stopped jumping to unfounded conclusions
Held themselves accountable to be accurate without MSU’ing to scare us into bending to their view
Exposed the underlying meanings and assumptions they’re working from so that we can have quality dialogue and discussion.

My thought bubbles tell me that until we slow down just enough to do this, we’re in for a continuing deep divide in our country, and that serves no one well!

Successful Change – focussing firmly on the positive aspects of organisational change

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:13:10 CDT

by Jennifer Kreger.

When David Miller, founder and Managing Director of specialist change management provider Changefirst, www.changefirst.com, began to plan his new book Successful Change he was adamant he didn’t want to write just another book on the 70% of change projects that fail. Miller wanted to “shine a light on the more positive aspects of change – and do it in a way that was practically useful to people tasked with delivering change.”

The result? An easy to apply guide that shows you how to deliver successful change within your organisation – and more specifically how you can do this through a focus on people.

In Successful Change Miller draws on the unrivalled experience that he and his team have amassed over the past 16 years through working with large, global companies to help them build their own internal change capability using the Changefirst methodology, processes, research and IP. In this time Miller and his colleagues have trained and worked with over 10,000 people in 35 different countries. This experience is expertly articulated and shared by Miller in Successful Change in a way that is practical and easy to digest and, perhaps more importantly, apply. The book manages the difficult balancing act of being strategic in its coverage but also being full of useful takeaways and step-by-step “how to’s” that change management practitioners can apply immediately in their everyday work.

Craig Dinsell, EVP Human Resources at Oppenheimerfunds Inc puts it succinctly when he says “This is the kind of book you carry around with you. In a sea of sameness and ‘consultant speak’ Miller cuts through the theory and presents insightful, business savvy solutions centered on people.... it is essential reading for anyone confronted by change and in today’s business environment that means everyone!”

Successful Change will benefit anyone who is faced with delivering major change and facing key challenges that range from securing senior management buy-in and sponsorship for change right through to overcoming resistance from those often impacted most heavily by it – the people on the frontline. It has proven techniques that have been successfully applied to a wide range of change challenges including strategy implementation, technology implementation, business process changes, restructuring and quality management initiatives.

To find out more:

• Hear what David has to say about Successful Change in this introductory video - http://www.changefirst.com/videos/book/intro.html

• Visit the Changefirst website for your free chapter download -
http://www.changefirst.com/papers_register

• Or order your copy direct from Amazon or other major retailers -
http://amzn.to/r92Spv

*Successful change is available both in paperback and ebook format.

Since 70% of change initiatives fail why do we keep repeating the same mistakes?

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:30:29 CDT

by Mike Kennedy.

Change is constant yet a staggering 70% of change initiatives fail. How can consultants avoid the 70% failure statistic and increase the likelihood that a strategy that sounds great will also be great during implementation? Why do some teams respond positively to change while others balk? Is a one-size-fits-all change approach the best way to roll out implementation? Change consultants have an exclusive opportunity on August 3rd at 12pm EST to learn why change initiatives are so fraught with failure and how consultants can avoid these common pitfalls. Differentiate your firm from the rest by forecasting conflicts before they occur, effortlessly expand your projects with high-impact, focused communication efforts, and retain higher percentages of your clientele. All attendees will receive the free Executive Primer: Visualize Multiple Teams to Make More Effective Business Decisions. Learn more & register; http://bit.ly/changemgtwebinar

Our Leaders Need to Start Acting Like Leaders!

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:05:16 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

The ability to inspire trust is an essential leadership trait.

According to a recent survey conducted by the marketing research firm, Maritz Research, our current crop of leaders has a lot of work to do in this area. Conducted in March of this year, the survey reported that:

25 percent of U.S. employees have less trust in management this year than they did last year.

Fourteen percent believe their company’s leaders are ethical and honest. Yet only 10 percent trust management to make the right decision in times of uncertainty.

Only 12 percent of employees believe their employers genuinely listen to and care about them.

Only 7 percent believe that senior management’s actions are completely consistent with their words.

What a sad and disturbing picture of the people who are supposed to serve as role models for the rest of us! But if you look at the behavior of our public leaders, it comes as no surprise.

Everywhere we turn, our leaders continually make headlines for all the wrong reasons. From congressmen texting pictures of their private parts to the insane partisan politics that pervades our government at all levels, it seems our leaders have engaged in a contest to see who can outdo the other in terms of untrustworthy behavior.

Take the current debt-ceiling crisis.

Here we stand on the brink of a financial meltdown that could make the recent recession look like a walk in the park. Yet, rather than sitting down together and hammering out a workable solution, leaders from both parties continue to engage in ideological demagoguery. Instead of putting the nation’s interests ahead of their own, they’re acting like five-year olds fighting over the toys in a sandbox.

Is it any wonder that trust in our leaders has sunk so low?

And it’s not just our political leaders. The head of General Motors proudly proclaimed that GM has repaid their government loans. Upon further examination, however, it turns out they repaid those loans with a government grant. Technically speaking, his statement is true. But it’s still a deliberate and cheesy distortion of the truth.

And don’t get me started on the Chevy Volt. I’m all in favor of alternative fuel sources when they make sense economically. But here we have an inferior car with very limited driving distance between recharges. Our cash-strapped government not only plans to buy large numbers of these very expensive vehicles, it will also extend tax credits of up to $7,500 for all who purchase the “electric” car. (That’s what GM is calling it, but it’s clearly a hybrid.) And fully charging the battery requires 10 to 12 hours of household electrical current—in most cases generated by coal or gas power. So much for going green.

As long as our leaders continue to pull these types of shenanigans, trust levels will continue to erode. Unfortunately, our leaders seem to have lost sight of the fact that trust doesn’t get created through clever sound bites. It gets built slowly, one behavior at a time, by acting with integrity and alignment with the values that leaders espouse.

What can leaders do to restore our trust in them?

Develop a clear and compelling mission and vision. Tell people, “This is why we exist. This is why (and how) we do what we do. And this is the difference it makes in the world.”

Walk the talk. Define the organizational values and then follow through. Don’t just talk about the values. Live them! Even (and especially) when it’s hard to do.

Treat people with respect. Respect doesn’t mean just being polite. It means honesty and integrity in word and in deed. It means following through on your commitments and doing what you say you’re going to do.

Provide ongoing, honest feedback. Let employees know what you expect from them and tell them how they’re doing on a regular basis. Don’t sugarcoat your feedback just because it’s negative. Telling the truth goes a long way toward building trust.

Develop a culture of accountability. Reward high performance and hold people accountable for improving poor performance.

Easy to say, not so easy to do.

When senior executives get paid six-figure bonuses while their companies receive billions in government bailout money, it destroys any semblance of trust or credibility. When university presidents receive hefty pay raises in the face of billion-dollar budget cuts and 10 percent tuition hikes, one can only wonder, “What are they thinking?!”

Leadership involves considering the greater good and personal interests. Sadly, many of today’s leaders seem unwilling or unable to do so. Perhaps there is hope that with enough constructive criticism and insistence on accountability between word and deed, they will start acting like leaders once again. My fingers and toes are all crossed!

Did Cookie Monster Mislead Us?

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:49:08 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

What? Cookie Monster mislead us? That’s like questioning mom, apple pie and the 4^th of July!

But he did. If you don’t believe me, just watch this very short (one-minute) video clip <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WhuikFY1Pg>.

Where’s the fib? In his implication that there’s only one right answer to the question.

From a very early age we‘re taught by authority figures to think in rigid ways. In particular, we’re taught that there is one, and ONLY one, right answer to every problem or question. As evidenced by the video clip, even Cookie Monster gets in on the act. And he’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Did you take the SAT or ACT exams in high school? Or maybe the LSATs on the way to law school? Remember how many of the multiple-choice questions had several likely answers? I can remember constantly fighting the urge to fill in more than one bubble.

If I had, not only would I have gotten the question wrong, they would probably have put me in the “special” class. That’s how strong our bias is for seeking THE right answer. And it gets baked into our impressionable brains from the time we start watching Cookie Monster until the time we can no longer eat cookies without dentures.

Here’s the problem: that’s not the way the world works! Especially in business.

Almost all problems have multiple solutions. Some are better, easier, cheaper, more feasible, etc. than others. But very rarely do we encounter situations where only one option is the only right one.

Our job as leaders isn’t to find THE right answer. It’s to identify as many possible answers as we can and choose the best one, or combination of ones, meaning the solution that most supports reaching our desired destination.

Why is this flexible approach to problem solving and decision making so important?

Because in today’s chaotic markets the development of strategic agility -- which I define as the ability to move fast with flexibility and focus -- needs to become management’s #1 strategic priority. When entire markets can change overnight, organizations need to respond quickly without losing focus on their vision of winning.

This kind of agility sometimes requires adjusting our definitions of what winning looks like. But far too often companies react to change in panic mode and respond in ways that don’t necessarily support reaching their desired destinations.

Developing strategic agility starts with rearranging how we think about the world. First we have to let go of the notion that we need to constantly find THE right answer. Then we need to make a habit of considering multiple possibilities, especially when we know we have the right answer.

This is no easy task for brains that have received lifelong training in right-answer finding, but it can be done. The following techniques will help to shake up your brain and get it used to considering new possibilities on a regular basis:

Ask a lot of “What if…?” questions. For example, “What if our ‘right’ answer is wrong? Is there another way we should be looking at this?”
Consider second best. Ask, “If we had to choose the second-best answer to this question, what would we look at?”
Put on different stakeholder hats. “If our customers were considering this question, how would they answer it? Our employees? Our vendors? Someone outside our industry?”
Solicit alternative viewpoints. “It sounds like we’re all in agreement on the solution here. I’m wondering if anyone sees it differently.”
Have people come up with the worst possible solution to a problem. Have fun with it.
Trade problems. If marketing is struggling to resolve an issue, let purchasing take a stab at solving it.
Challenge your assumptions. Ask, “What underlying attitudes and beliefs are causing us to see this as the best or only solution?”
Have a contest to see who can come up with the most answers or solutions. Give a fun prize to the winner.
Don’t settle for the first good answer. Good often gets in the way of great.

Perhaps most important, learn to look at things differently. One of the most successful products of the past decade, the iPod, was invented by putting together readily available, off-the-shelf components. No new intellectual property. No technological breakthroughs. Just looking at what already existed and putting the pieces together in different ways.

Cookie Monster meant well and so did all of your teachers who graded you on getting the ‘right’ answer along the way, but the lesson they taught does not serve us well in today’s business world. Stop looking for THE right answer and who knows what you might come up with!

What if we could start doing things differently?

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:54:27 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

Typical definitions of “organisational change management” refer to the processes, methods, techniques, and tools that are used to bring about change, with a particular focus on the human element. In the organisational context, change management is often used in support of the implementation of change that originates from senior management decisions – to merge, unbundle, downsize, optimise, systematise, implement new technology, etc. Change management in this context would then typically emphasise persuasion – change has to be “sold” to stakeholders to get their “buy in”, there are concerns about “resistance to change” and change management practitioners have to dig deep to come up with answers to the “what’s in it for me?” question that employees are bound to ask.

But is this the best way to bring about change in organisations? What if you lived your life this way? What if, on your way home tonight, you stop off at the local pizzeria and order pizzas for your loved ones without checking with them whether they felt like pizza, and what toppings they wanted? On arriving home, you announce that while waiting for the pizza to be made, you’ve decided to downsize the number of family pets, sell off the front garden to the neighbour and implement a new shift system for watching TV? My prediction is that you will encounter significant resistance – you may even have to think about engaging a change manager to help you…

You may think that this is a silly example – after all, family life is (or at least should be) a lot more democratic and participative than what one could reasonably expect from a large organisation, where different rules apply. The rules are certainly different, but many of the deep underlying human dynamics remain exactly the same. We all want our opinion to be heard, to be consulted, to be respected, to have a say in influencing our own destiny. And we all dig in our heels when this doesn’t happen, regardless of the context. The organisational outcomes of this include poor adoption of change, lots of people in compliance rather than commitment, and a gradual erosion of engagement. The outcomes in family life are not all that different.

There is a better way than simply “doing change” to people. We already know this intuitively at a personal level (“what do you feel like eating tonight, how about Pizza?”) and collectively – there are well-established patterns of collaborative social interaction going back through the ages (in Southern Africa examples include the Indaba, Imbizo, Lekgotla and Padare).

But truly collaborative, fully participative change seems to be the rare exception rather than the norm in large organisations. It may be that the fundamental nature of large organisations - particularly those with a profit motive - may constrain the extent to which true collaboration is possible. Certainly the “us and them” (management and “workers”) dynamic will tend to limit the extent to which truly collaborative processes are employed. For me, working as a change practitioner in the organisational context, the view from the “trenches” over the past decade suggests that there is an ever-widening gap between senior management and employees, and I know from experience that managing change across this gap can be extremely difficult. Change practitioners throughout the world have done well to advance the “processes, methods, techniques, and tools that are used to bring about change” in this challenging context. But there is just so much that can be done when you “do” change to people, rather than embarking on change with them. I believe that there is huge potential waiting to be realised in making this shift, to (in the words of one of my colleagues) invite people into the kitchen to cook with you rather than to have them wait in the dining room to eat whatever you serve up. The value of collaborative change processes extends far beyond the obvious positive implications for change acceptance and stakeholder commitment – the quality of solutions is also radically improved through the engagement of a diverse range of perspectives and the harnessing of the experience and creativity of a much larger population of stakeholders.

There are several methods that have been developed to enable better collaboration and participation among large groups of people – these are collectively known as whole system change methods. The first whole system change conference (Nexus4change) was hosted by the Bowling Green State University, Ohio in 2007 and created a platform for people from across the world to share what they knew about whole systems and participative change. The conference has since been hosted yearly, and today Nexus for Change remains one of the leading ways for change practitioners to connect and share their learning regarding whole system change. This year, NEXUS4change convenes in South Africa - NEXUS4africa - and provides an unprecedented opportunity for practitioners from around the world to attend a conference of this magnitude, focussing exclusively on whole system change, on African soil. You can read more about NEXUS4africa at http://www.nexus4africa.org/.

Is There A Gorilla In Your Market?

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:17:30 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Is there a gorilla in your market?

I’m not talking about the proverbial “800-lb. gorilla” that dominates a market. Almost every industry has one of those. I’m talking about the gorilla we don’t see.

There’s a well-known experiment in which a researcher shows a videotape of six college students standing on a basketball court. Three students are wearing white shirts, three are wearing dark. A coach gives one basketball to the white shirts, one to the darks, and instructs them to randomly pass the balls amongst themselves. The researcher then instructs the audience watching the video to count only the number of passes between the white-shirted students in a one-minute time frame.

The researcher gives detailed instructions for counting, and also suggests that one gender typically performs better than the other in this type of exercise. The students begin passing the balls, and audience members focus intently on counting the number of passes.

About halfway through the exercise something very unusual happens. A man in a gorilla suit slowly walks through the group of students, who ignore him and continue passing the balls. At one point the gorilla turns to face the camera and vigorously pounds his chest. He then turns away and walks out of the circle.

Here’s what’s amazing about this exercise: in study after study, 60+ percent of the audience DOES NOT see the gorilla! They’re so intent on counting the passes correctly that the image of the gorilla walking through the group of students simply doesn’t register on their brains.

The researcher then shows the video a second time, instructing the audience to forget about counting the passes and just watch the scene. Of course, almost everyone sees the gorilla the second time around, an awareness usually accompanied by much laughter. Interestingly, of those who do see gorilla the first time around, only about half count the number of passes correctly.

The moral of the story?

Our brains have an amazing ability to overlook the obvious. Especially when we have been primed to focus on something else.

In this case, the researcher primed the audience’s brains by setting a clear objective and giving detailed instructions about how to count. He then stirred the competitive juices by suggesting that one gender typically outperforms the other (not true). As a result, even when presented with strong visual and auditory cues (people who spot the gorilla the first time around usually laugh out loud), 60+ percent still don’t see the gorilla.

This begs the question: if we can’t see a gorilla on a basketball court, what are we missing in our businesses because we’re paying attention to something else or so busy focusing on our to do list that we never left our head up?

In business, the “invisible” gorilla shows up as changing demographics, evolving industry trends, new technologies, and new ways of communicating (social media). It’s the new competitor that comes out of nowhere. It’s the unexpected event that turns the entire market upside down because “that will never happen in our industry!” Then we look back and wonder, “How did we miss that?”

We miss it because that’s the way our brain works. When we focus on one thing, the brain actively filters out information that might distract from the task at hand. In business, we miss the gorilla because we’re too busy running fast, answering emails, and hurrying to meetings to pay attention to anything else.

The solution lies in learning to balance the big picture with the details. Every now and then, pause to ask, “Is there a gorilla in my market?” “What am I missing?” “What is going on in the world that I should pay attention to?” Then look for ways to build space into your life for balancing the big picture and details.

For example:

At weekly management meetings, talk about an idea or technique from another industry and how it might apply to your business.

Visit www.ted.com to hear short presentations from some of the world’s best minds. Once a week, have someone watch a TED video and present a lunch-and-learn session for the rest of your staff.

Spend 30 minutes a day studying news from several different sources.

Take a day off from your business. No cell phones, no PDAs, no checking in to see what’s going on. You’ll be amazed at how this invigorates your thinking.

Invite a business associate to lunch and talk about their business. This will force you to think about your own business in new and different ways.

We can’t change our propensity for screening out gorillas. That’s what the brain is hard-wired to do. What we can do is stay aware of this tendency and build in habits that allow us to pause and balance the big picture with the details on a regular basis.

What gorilla are you currently overlooking?

Not enough hours in your day? Start making better choices.

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:17:37 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Feeling a little pressed for time these days? (Who isn’t!) It turns out you have more time than you think.

In fact, that’s the title of a great book new book by journalist Laura Vanderkam -- “168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.” (168 = the number of hours in a week.)

According to Vanderkam, the issue isn’t too few hours in the day; it’s how we choose to use those hours. In fact, her #1 time management tip is this: minutes and hours are choices. If we don’t like how we’re spending our time, we need to change our choices and priorities. Granted, choices bring consequences. But it all starts with recognizing that time does not dictate our daily agendas. We choose how we spend our time.

Vanderkam believes that trying to find more time in the day represents an exercise in futility. Suppose you could magically make each day 15 minutes longer. At the end of the week you would have gained a grand total of 1.75 hours.

Instead of trying to “find” time by rearranging busy work or trying to multitask, Vanderkam suggests a different approach. Start by filling your weekly allotment of 168 hours with the things you care most about in life. Instead of squeezing the activities that nurture your family, health, and career in between all the “busy stuff,” put them first!

This may require some difficult choices. It may also require saying “no” to some people and activities that are hard to turn down. But as Vanderkam points out, our options are to continue complaining about our busyness or get busy building the lives we want in the time we’ve got.

Which brings us to one of my favorite business leadership topics - staying focused on the destination.

Today’s work world moves so fast that I sometimes think the new business attire should consist of running shorts and track shoes. With so much on our plates, it’s hard not to get caught up in all the “to doing” each day: the meetings, the voice mails, the emails, the twitters, the juggling of multiple tasks and activities, the Internet, and all the information that comes our way. It’s no wonder that we tend to lose focus on where we’re going and what winning looks like.

It’s also easy to get caught up in the fantasy of “if only I had more time!” instead of taking responsibility for how we spend our time. So we run as fast as we can from one task to another, and we constantly yearn for more hours in the day when none are forthcoming.

The solution? Slow down to go fast.

What if you started each day by pausing to review your destination, which includes your definition of what winning looks like for your organization? And what if you then organized your day around the tasks and activities that truly help you reach that destination rather than whatever happens to jump out and land on your plate? Think that might produce a dramatic change in the choices you make about how to use your time?

I’m not talking about a lengthy process. Just five or 10 minutes each morning to review the most important things you can (and should) be doing and making sure they’re first on your to-do list. (Hint: it helps to have visual reminders of your destination and definition of winning all over your place of business.)

When you slow down to go fast, good things happen.

You develop criteria for making better decisions about where to spend your time. It becomes much easier to prioritize, based on what gets you closer to your destination versus what does not. And you progress much more quickly towards where you want to go.

When you focus on the activities that move you closer to your destination, you also spend less time trying to solve other people’s problems, which benefits you and the organization as a whole. When you do for others what they should be doing for themselves, it inhibits their professional development while distracting you from essential activities.

“Slow down to go fast” doesn’t seem to make sense. But neither does wearing track shoes to work. Stop trying to “find” more time and start making better choices about where you spend your time. You’ll be amazed at how much faster it gets you to your destination!

Want to influence others? Stop being so rational!

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:30:44 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Salespeople have known it for years.

People buy on emotion and then justify their decision with facts and logic. That’s why the best salespeople always lead with an emotional “hook” before presenting the facts and features about their product or service.

So why, as business leaders, do we usually get it bass-ackwards when trying to sell our ideas or initiatives to the people we need to make them happen?

The simple answer is that we cling to the misguided belief that humans are rational creatures. In doing so we lead with facts and figures, thinking that the beauty of our logic will be enough to persuade people to see our point of view.

Not so!

Ongoing discoveries in psychology and neuroscience increasingly support the notion that human reasoning is rife with emotion. In fact, our preexisting beliefs often have far more influence over our logical conclusions than facts or hard data. Turns out that despite our neocortex and higher level reasoning abilities, we’re not so rational after all. Especially when it comes to ideas or information that threatens our deeply held views of the world.

Scientists have also discovered that humans apply our fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators but to data itself! When we encounter ideas or information that contradict what we believe to be true, the brain perceives it as a threat and instantly shifts into fight-or-flight mode. We either reject the information out of hand (flight) or argue vociferously against it (fight).

This leads to two common behavioral phenomena. The confirmation bias, in which we give much greater credence to evidence and data that bolster our beliefs. And the disconfirmation bias, in which we vigorously dispute arguments, information, and points of view that contradict our own. It also helps to explain why some people continue to hold on to their beliefs even in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence.

The bottom line is that we all wear blinders in certain situations. If we want to persuade someone or get them to accept new evidence, we need to set the stage by appealing to emotion first, facts and logic second. The key is presenting the evidence in a context that doesn’t trigger a defensive emotional reaction.

To influence others in this context:

Start by developing rapport.

Forget about doing a fact-based data dump and find something in common with the other person. This is especially true in situations where you expect defensiveness or strong resistance to your ideas. For example, “I know we have some differences about how to proceed, but we both want this project to succeed, right?”

Expose your thinking.

Instead of focusing solely on the “what” and “how,” explain the assumptions and thought processes that led to your current position. From time to time ask, “Is there anything I have missed or am looking at in a way that is different than you?” Or, “Can you see where I’m coming from?” This helps to build the emotional connection by demonstrating vulnerability on your part.

Explore the other person’s thinking.

Ask them to explain their assumptions and thought processes. What leads them to see the situation the way they do? What causes them to feel that way about the issue? Look for some point of agreement that can put you in a partnership rather than an adversarial relationship.

Play the bias card.

Appealing to biases -- points or beliefs where you obviously agree -- will enhance your credibility and make the person more open to exploring where you disagree. However, avoid emotionally charged issues such as sex, politics, and religion (what your mom and dad told you all those years was right!), as these highly volatile biases can quickly shut down a conversation.

Watch for fight-or-flight behavior.

If you notice any flight-or-fight behavior (pulling away, checking the PDA, raised voice), stop the meeting and work to reset the brain. Once the fight-or-flight instinct gets triggered, all higher-level thinking processes shut down. Take a quick break of 3 or 4 minutes and try again.

Save the data until after you make the emotional connection.

This doesn’t mean that facts and logic have no place in a persuasive argument. But regardless of how many spreadsheets you have or how logical your proposal, once the fight-or-flight instinct gets triggered no amount of logic or reasoning will convince the person to see your point of view.

Next time you have an idea or initiative to sell or others to influence, put on your sales hat. Lead with positive emotion and save the facts and logic until the end. According to modern science, it’s the only “logical” approach!

Protect yourself from the dangers of conventional wisdom!

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:47:19 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Recently I wrote about the dangers of relying on conventional wisdom to make critical business decisions. I thought it would be fun to look at some actual examples from over the years.

This “telephone” has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.

- Western Union Internal Memo, 1876 (after Alex Graham Bell offered to sell them the rights to the telephone)

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible!

- Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society, 1895

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

- Charles Duell, U.S. Office of Patents Commissioner, 1899

Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.

- Marechal Foch, French military strategist, 1911

The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?

- Associates of NBC president David Sarnoff (responding to his recommendation in the 1920’s that they invest in radio)

Novelty is always welcome, but talking pictures are just a fad.

- Irving Thalberg, MGM movie producer, 1927

Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of the atom is talking moonshine.

- Lord Rutherford, scientist and Nobel Laureate, 1933

I think there might be a world market for maybe five computers.

- Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943

It will be gone by June.

- Variety magazine, 1955 (referring to rock ‘n roll)

A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft, chewy cookies like you make.

- Banker’s comment to Debbi Fields (seeking startup capital in the ‘80s)

We all make mistakes. And nobody has a perfect crystal ball into the future. But these examples of conventional wisdom gone bad have two things in common.

One, they’re all based on deeply held assumptions and beliefs about how the world works. Two, they were all put forth by people or institutions that had achieved high levels of fame, fortune, and recognition in their respective fields or industries, “experts.”

Business success is one of the biggest contributors to conventional wisdom. Like a superstitious baseball player who wears the same pair of socks on a long hitting streak, we tend to do the same things over and over in our businesses. And the longer our winning streak goes on, the more tightly we hold on to the beliefs and assumptions that originally contributed to our success.

To avoid falling prey to conventional wisdom:

Conduct an assumption inventory.

Gather your management team and ask, “What has changed with our customers, our markets, our industry and the world at large since our last inventory? What assumptions are we continuing to make simply because we “know them to be true”? Of these, which are no longer valid? How do we know that?”

Evaluate all work flows.

Look at all processes, systems and ways of behaving that you continue to hold onto because “we’ve always done it this way,” “that’s what the customer wants,” or “nobody has come up with a better way to do it.” Consider what has changed in the world around you and determine which processes probably need to be updated because of these changes.

Conduct a “premortem” for all projects and major decisions.

Before giving the go-ahead for any major initiative, assess the quality of the information and the decision-making process. Is the data coming from multiple independent sources or one source saying the same thing in different ways? Did the team engage in honest, open debate, or did it engage in “groupthink” in order to speed the decision-making process? Did the leader’s opinion unduly influence others in a certain direction? Did the group accept the data without challenging it? The answers to these could be signs of conventional wisdoms that nobody wants to challenge because of the time involved or the need to avoid conflict.

Make your thinking transparent.

Make your thinking visible to others by stating your assumptions and describing the data that led to them. Publicly test your conclusions by encouraging people to give feedback. Identify where you feel your reasoning is the most tentative, and encourage your team to openly explore your data and assumptions. Ask others on your team to make their thinking visible as well. Asking questions like, “What leads you to conclude that?” or “Where did those assumptions come from?” will help to uncover any conventional wisdoms lurking beneath the surface.

It takes courage to challenge the ideas and practices that make us successful. But in a world that moves so fast, holding on to outdated practices is not an option.

On that note, I’ll leave you with my two favorite conventional wisdoms:

640K ought to be enough for anybody.

- Bill Gates 1981

We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.

- Decca Recording Company 1962 (rejecting the Beatles)

Do you get your customers? Empathize if you want to strengthen the bond

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:43:12 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Has this ever happened to you?

You’re experiencing unknown aches and pains in part of your body, so you schedule an appointment to see your doctor. During the examination, the doctor doesn’t ask any questions or conduct any tests. Instead, she says, “Here’s what I think is wrong with you” and then prescribes a medicine that has nothing to do with your ailments.

I hope that’s never happened to you. But when you think about it, we often treat our customers in much this manner. When we don’t pause to try to understand our customer’s world, they perceive us much like the imaginary doctor who asks no questions yet has all the answers.

Good leaders know the importance of building empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of others) with employees. But we sometimes forget that we need to practice empathy with our customers as well. Especially in B2B and professional services firms, where the relationship itself is an integral part of the product or service we sell.

How can you build empathy with your customers?

Put aside your assumptions.

By far, the biggest obstacle to developing empathy with customers is what you think you already know about what they want and need. Customer needs change frequently. What you knew to be true a year or even six months ago may already have changed. The next time you talk with a customer, consciously tell yourself, “For the moment, I’m going to forget about everything I think I know about this customer and just listen.”

Ask questions.

They say that the best salespeople listen at least 70 percent of the time during a sales call. You can put this principle to good use by casting aside your assumptions and asking a lot of questions.

What are we not doing well that you would like us to improve on?
What else can we offer you that would make your job even easier/your company even more successful?
Suppose you ran my company. What would you do differently to serve a business like yours?
What are we doing well that we should keep doing?
When we are a trusted business advisor, what are the core things we are doing for you?

Get inside their world.

Given how quickly market conditions can change these days, understanding your customer’s world requires more than just a current assessment of the relationship. It also involves taking a peek at the future. Ask questions like:

What has changed in your business/market/industry since the last time we talked?
What worries you about where your market or industry is headed?
Where are the biggest opportunities for your business in the next year or two?
What is the biggest threat to your business? How can we help?
What could we be doing now to help you adjust to new market realities?

Spend time to look for data on industry trends and shifts that are happening in your customers’ world including with their competitors. Share information with them.

Ask your customer to expose their thinking.

As customers respond to your questions, they will likely give you “what” and “how” answers. To gain a deeper understanding of their world, ask them to explain the “why” behind the “what” and the “how.” Ask them to identify the assumptions that lead them to see the world the way they do. This will provide greater insight into your customer’s needs while also strengthening the relationship.

Change your perspective to meet their needs.

Depending on what customers say, you may have to do a lot more than temporarily set aside your assumptions. You may have to discard them completely. Don’t allow yourself to get caught in the trap of thinking, “Well, that was interesting but we’ve been doing this a long time so we know what’s best for our customers.” Or, “We hear what our customers are saying, but it doesn’t apply to the way we do business.”

Instead, look closely at how you define the value of your product or service and whether it truly aligns with your customer’s perception of value. The wider the gap between the two, the more you need to shift your way of thinking. Ask, “What if we shifted our perspective to match that of our customers? How would that change the way we serve our target market? What would we need to do differently in order to deliver maximum value?” Once you’ve adjusted your perspective, keep your new definition of value visible at all times so that it guides organizational behaviors.

We all want to feel respected and heard, including customers. Building empathy will go a long way towards meeting that most basic human need.

Do you get me?

Fri, 27 May 2011 11:00:21 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

A while back I wrote a blog about resilience being one of the most important qualities for today’s leaders. A number of readers agreed with me, and one went on to point out another very important leadership trait that often gets overlooked – empathy.

Most people don’t associate the word “empathy” with effective leadership. Business leaders are supposed to be tough, hard-driving visionaries who set a firm course for the company and then lead people in that direction with their charisma and force of personality, right?

Maybe in the old “command and control” leadership model. Not so much in the new.

Today’s leaders need a slightly different approach if they want to inspire and engage their followers. They still need the visionary and strategic direction setting skills. And they need empathy if they want to enlist others in achieving objectives.

So what is empathy and why is it so important?

Many people confuse empathy with sympathy. They see it as feelings of concern, pity, or sorrow for someone going through a loss or traumatic experience. In reality, empathy is simply the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Note that this does not say that you have to like or agree with those feelings. Only that you have the ability to relate to others on an emotional level.

Today’s workers don’t blindly follow leaders as they might have in the past. Leadership requires building trust and rapport with others. If people don’t believe you can understand or see things the way they do, you will not earn their trust.

Fortunately most leaders, and in fact most people, have a healthy supply of empathy to draw from. Except for sociopaths, it’s hard to be human and not have at least some degree of empathy. The challenge for leaders involves taking the time to pause and use their empathy to build relationships.

Interestingly, one of the best ways leaders can demonstrate empathy is by exposing their thinking. I recently blogged about how exposing our thinking leads to better results (http://www.morethanaminute.com/2011/05/03/expose-yourself-get-better-results-by-making-your-thinking-visible/), and it plays a very important role in building relationships and earning the trust of others.

When we introduce a new plan, initiative, or change in the way people do things, we’ve already gone through it many times. We’ve had plenty of time to noodle it, discuss it with our management team, work out all the possible scenarios, and thoroughly debate the pros and cons. By the time we announce it, we’re fully committed to the plan and convinced it’s the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, we tend to forget that others might be hearing it for the first time. We get so caught up in explaining the “what” and the “how” that we forget about the “why” and the “how we got to this point.” Explaining the assumptions and thought processes that led to our decision helps people understand the “why,” which makes them more open to the new course of action. People also appreciate others just taking the time to expose our thinking, which contributes to building trust as well.

What works even better at building trust is asking employees to expose their thinking. After laying out your plan or initiative, ask for their feedback. For example, “I understand this is new to all of you, and I’d really like to know what you think about it.” As they give their feedback, don’t defend or argue your position. Instead, delve deeper into their thinking by asking, “What leads you to conclude that? Can you help me understand your thinking here? Where did those assumptions come from?”

As leaders, one of the most powerful and empowering things we can do for our employees is to actively solicit their ideas and input and then listen carefully. Today’s employees have a strong need to be respected and heard. Few things do more to fulfill that need than asking people to explain their point of view and how they arrived at it. When people feel respected and heard, trust grows in the relationship.

Asking people to expose their thinking takes time. It may feel like you’re moving through quicksand when you need to be running fast on solid ground. But getting people’s buy-in, trust, and commitment in this manner always saves time and energy in the long run.

In a world moving so fast, pausing to more deeply connect with others by demonstrating empathy is critical for achieving our goals. It’s also a sign of an effective leader.

Help Buyers Choose the Buying Decision Team: a case study

Wed, 18 May 2011 21:02:37 CDT

by Sharon Drew Morgen.

Would you buy a house without discussing it with your wife or family? Would you even know all of the buying criteria without their input?

Would you bring in a leadership training without getting the buy-in from the people who would be trained? Or know their criteria without their voices?

Would you choose a web designer without getting the buy-in from the current design team and the techies? Would you know what they would want included until they offered their opinions or knew what parts they wanted to do themselves?

Why not?

I recently had a coaching call with a SVP at a well-known CRM Management company. The man had a Harvard MBA, had been a partner at Accenture, and now was running the Texas sales operation for this CRM company. This is not a stupid man, obviously, but a man steeped in the ‘sales’ thinking modality.

During his session he wanted to put together a set of Facilitative Questions that would help his prospect (a hardware company with a sales force of 1500) buy his solution during his ‘big meeting’ that he finally got. Who was going to be in the meeting? I asked.

SS: There will be 10 people there: the head of sales and her team, and the head of marketing and her team.

SDM: So you’ve got 2 people.

SS: No! Ten! And it took me 2 months and 3 meetings with the head of sales to have her set up this meeting.

SDM: But there are only 2 members of the Buying Decision Team who will be present. Who else would need to be on the Buying Decision Team?

SS: Well, the head of technology, obviously, but he’s on board. He loves our solution. Besides, he’s only an influencer.

SDM: So if he doesn’t want a CRM system, the company will ignore him?

SS: No. They wouldn’t buy. I guess that makes him a decision maker.

SDM: And there won’t be a problem with him working together with the heads of sales and marketing? They have no relationship issues?

SS: Oh. I guess I wouldn’t want to be there while they decided on stuff together. Hm. Who else do they have to get on their Buying Decision Team?

SDM: Not only do you not know, but they don’t know yet either. Let’s start with users. There must be user groups with 15oo sales people.

SS: There are 6 user groups. I guess we’d need their buy in.

SDM: I’m curious about the tech group. Your solution has a complicated implementation process and takes quite a bit of collaboration with the in-house folks. Does the tech team know they will need to free up folks for the implementation? Or are they going to outsource all of this? Or some combination?

SS: I have no way of knowing that.

SDM: That’s correct. And neither do they. And until they figure that out, they cannot buy your solution. In fact, until they have the entire Buying Decision Team on board, they can’t buy. There are too many people who need to have a voice, too many unknown decisions to make, too many buying and implementation criteria to take into account. And you can’t understand any of this – or be directly involved in doing it for the prospect. But you can lead them through their decisions so they have a path to follow. Otherwise you can wait until they figure it out themselves.

SS: So this meeting tomorrow is too early, with too few of the Buying Decision Team members, and giving them a big presentation right now is wasting my time and theirs because we don’t have all of the right people and they don’t have all of their buying criteria. This is why my sales take years to close. What do I do tomorrow? I bet you’re going to tell me not to make a presentation.

SDM: Let’s put together a list of Facilitative Questions that will help them figure out how to manage all of the issues we just discussed. And, at the end, if they still want a bit of your presentation, it’s fine. So long as you understand that their needs might change once all of the Buying Decision Team members have a say in the outcome. Obviously the tech folks will have different purchasing criteria than the sales folks, and the users won’t want anything new. And now, no one knows any of this.

Until or unless all of the members of the Buying Decision Team are on board, the buyer can not know their full set of buying criteria – or even the full definition of their need. When sellers go in and first attempt to ‘understand need’ or even ‘know who is on the Buying Decision Team [useless data as an outsider is not an influencer on the Team]‘ or offer solution data, they are wasting a lot of time and delaying the buying decision.

Facilitate buy-in, manage change, and help gather the correct Buying Decision Team members first. Then help them all figure out their buying, buy-in, and change criteria. And THEN you can focus on the need and your solution. And close a lot more sales a whole lot faster.

Make the vendor an active partner from early in the buyer’s decision path

Wed, 18 May 2011 20:53:08 CDT

by Sharon Drew Morgen.

Because choosing a solution is the last thing a buyer does, the vendor isn’t an active partner at the point the most important decisions get made. We like to think that because we gather good data, deeply understand pain, and have a relevant solution, we’ll be considered an ‘active partner.’

SELLERS ENTER TOO EARLY

We fail to realize that we are only being brought in when they have all of their internal ducks in a row and are ready to bring in a change. When buyers are

considering all options and face confusion and internal politics,
recognizing a problem and the timing on fixing it,
doing research into possible vendors or solutions,
figuring out which problems to resolve in which order,
understanding how a new solution will create shifts in their culture and technology,
figuring out who needs to be on the Buying Decision Team, the prospect isn’t ready to buy.

As sellers, we don’t realize that buyers have an incomplete understanding who to invite on the Buying Decision Team when they begin their process (I write about this in my latest book Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it). The entire buying path is largely unknown up until close to the end of their decision – and until it is, they cannot make a purchase.

In fact, there are so many human issues that rear their ugly heads that a buyer really has no idea at the start who to involve, what the buy-in problems will be, nor what personal, corporate, or market issues will have to be resolved prior to making a purchase. And until they figure this out, they cannot buy, regardless of the efficacy of our solution.

SALES IGNORES THE BACK-END, NON-SOLUTION-RELATED DECISION PATH

Sales gives us no skills to help with those back end decisions as they are not needs/solution-related. And we sit and wait while buyers figure it out. But Buying Facilitation® does: it’s a change management/decision facilitation model that gives you an additional skill set to lead buyers through their private issues that we’ve always sat and waited for them to complete.

No, it’s not sales, and it’s not solution-placement or needs-assessment — sales does a wonderful job of doing that. But add Buying Facilitation® to your sales skills, and enter the buyer’s decision path early and become a very active partner. You will:

close 8x more sales;
halve the close time;
understand who is not a prospect on the first call;
only go to meetings when the entire Buying Decision Team is involved (and you’ll help get all of the members included);
rarely need a proposal, or be in a competitive situation.

Would you rather sell? or have someone buy? They are two different activities. Sales will only help you place your solution. Buying Facilitation® can lead the buyer through their decisions.

9 Sales Steps that Influence a Buying Decision

Wed, 18 May 2011 20:50:58 CDT

by Sharon Drew Morgen.

The steps of a buying decision differ from the steps of a sale. The sales model has no way to influence the private decisions and buy-in issues that buyers must address before they can buy.

Buyers live in a ‘system’ that maintains their Identified Problem (or ‘pain’) over time, creating work-arounds that become part of the system and, well, comfortable. Indeed, if the buyer really needed to make a change, they would have done so already. It’s only when a group of dedicated, internal change agents are willing to push the river, that a purchase is even considered.

Before buyers can buy, there must be buy-in to the proposed change, a plan that minimizes disruption, and a way to foster agreement between the people, policies and relationships that touch a new solution. A buying decision is far more complex than just fixing a problem.

I’ve developed Buying Facilitation® – a decision navigation model that is an add-on to sales and helps buyers bring together the right people and issues - to enable agreement and ensure change procedures are in place to make a purchase. Here are a few Buying Facilitation® skills to use with sales:

9 STEPS

Help the gatekeeper discover who your best point of contact would be.

Don’t try to ‘get through’ the gatekeeper. She knows the best person to connect you with. And don’t attempt to ‘go to the top.’ The top person usually delegates to the appropriate people. Ask for the CEO’s assistant, and she’ll get you to the right people. Question: who is in control of the conversation – you? or the Gatekeeper?

Use Facilitative Questions to get into rapport and have buyers begin to examine how/if/why they would consider changing their status quo.

Until or unless prospects determine to make a change and get all appropriate folks on board to buy-in to change and ensure there is minimal disruption, it doesn’t matter whether

you can see their need,
your solution is perfect,
they think they need you/your solution,
they love your solution, price, personality, etc.

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. Do you need to be working out more? It’s not about the gym.

Here is a Facilitative Question I use to start conversations: How would you know if it were time to add new sales skills to the ones you’re already offering your sales folks? This question helps them think about necessary steps and new choices they must consider.

Remember: discussing solutions and needs assessment are irrelevant at this early stage. Facilitative Questions help the BUYER see the whole picture of what is going on strategically and tactically. Until or unless they know how to manage their system first, they will take no action. This is where buyers go when you’re sitting and waiting.

Lead prospects/buyers through the systems issues they must consider in order to determine how any proposed change will disrupt their status quo.

Facilitative Questions and Presumptive Summaries are used to help buyers look at their status quo with an unbiased eye. No matter what their ‘need’ or ‘problem’ if they don’t think they can change in a way that maintains systems congruence, they will do nothing. Remember: the buyer’s environment/culture/system has lived with the Identified Problem until now, and can continue to do so. If they had known how to resolve it differently, they would have.

Facilitate prospect’s discovery of what sorts of strategic issues they must manage to get folks on board with potential change.

There are 3 levels of decisions necessary: systems, strategic, and tactical. Addressing them in this order is optimal although it’s usually an iterative process.

Lead prospects/buyers through tactical issues they must manage before they can choose a solution.

Once they determine that

their system would be willing to shift to add something/change/resolve something,
their rules, relationships, people, are willing to change,
they know how to shift congruently to minimize disruption,

they will then be willing to bring in a new solution. Until or unless their status quo is reconfigured in a way that the insiders are willing to support, they will do nothing: the risk to their functioning is too high. Hence the longer-than-necessary sales cycle.

Buyers must do this with you or without you – so it might as well be with you.

Help the prospect choose the members of the Buying Decision Team.

Help buyers recognize the right people to include. Usually they don’t know who it will be until way down the road, much like you don’t know all the trials you’ll face before you start a move.

Discuss how your solution fits with the internal issues that they must manage.

This step is about melding your solution with the entire range of issues they have to manage internally, including the people, policies, and relationships.

Discuss/present your solution and show the prospect/buyer how it would fit with their need/problem.

Once they do all of the above and get appropriate buy-in to manage change, they will know how and when to buy, and you can discuss needs/solutions according to their buy-in issues.

Follow up to see if there is anything you can do to help the prospect/buyer decide to purchase.

This is part of a good sales job, of course.

SALES TACTICS THAT ARE NO LONGER NECESSARY

Make an appointment to get in front of the prospect

This is a hold-over from another era. Until buyers put together their decision team and figure out how to change without disruption, your bright shiny face and the efficacy of your solution is irrelevant. You can do all of the above without meeting a client. And then, when you get there, the entire Buying Decision Team will be there and you wouldn’t have wasted any time/visits.

Manage objections and differentiate yourself from the competition.

The sales model creates objections because it pushes data/solution info against a ‘closed system.’ When you hear an objection, it’s merely the system defending itself against change and nothing whatsoever about your solution. Once you teach the system how to manage buy-in without disruption, there are no objections.

80% of your prospects will buy within 2 years – but not from you. The time it takes them to manage the buying decision to ensure there will be no disruption is the length of the sales cycle. You can either sit and wait for them to do it, or you can learn Buying Facilitation® and become the GPS system to help them navigate. Would you rather sell? or help someone buy?

What’s Your Conventional Wisdom (and how is it keeping you from winning)?

Tue, 17 May 2011 13:12:34 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

It’s hard to beat experience, strength and knowledge, right? Try telling that to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Conventional wisdom said the Lakers were primed to win their third consecutive NBA title this year. They had a tall, dominating front line with Gasol, Bynum and Odom. Their coach had won more championships than any other NBA coach. They had the most battle-tested team in the playoffs. And of course they had Kobe Bryant, rated by many as the game’s best closer.

But as so often happens in sports, conventional wisdom got taken to the woodshed. The Lakers got swept in four games by the Dallas Mavericks. And they looked old, slow and disinterested in the process.

One reason I enjoy watching sports is that it affords the opportunity to see conventional wisdom get turned on its ears. In fact, the most memorable sports moments often occur when a heavy underdog defies all predictions and upsets a more skilled and experienced opponent. (Remember the U.S. Olympic hockey win over the Russians in 1980?)

In sports, following conventional wisdom pays off more often than not (at least according to the bookies in Vegas). In business and real life, following conventional wisdom in a hyper-changing world can have serious consequences. Take the recent example of the CIA and their hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Conventional wisdom had bin Laden living somewhere in a cave in the remotest areas of Pakistan or Afghanistan. Apparently the CIA bought into this conventional wisdom because it took them nearly 10 years to track down their man. Turns out he was hiding in plain sight in an affluent town only 35 miles from Pakistan’s capital.

In another example, General Motors went bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the federal government because they bought into the conventional wisdom that Americans would always want big, gas-guzzling cars (among other outdated beliefs).

Conventional wisdom also said that we don’t need to properly fund Medicare because people don’t live that long after they retire. Look how long we’ve been holding on to that one, and look at the consequences.

Conventional wisdom led many to believe that home ownership is good for everyone no matter what and that we should make it available to as many people as possible. Three years after the worst economic meltdown since the depression, Americans continue to lose their homes or remain trapped in untenable mortgage situations.

The problem isn’t so much with conventional wisdom. After all, it’s a product of very old brain patterns that helped the human race survive by recognizing and making sense of patterns in the world. To this day it allows us to process information and make decisions much more efficiently. Problems occur when we don’t take the time to question or validate the assumptions that underlie all conventional wisdoms. Especially those that have been around a while.

The CIA’s belief that bin Laden would hide out somewhere on the Pakistani frontier relied on two fundamental assumptions – that he would surround himself with al-Quada followers for protection, and that he would be easily recognized in cities or other populated areas. We don’t know whether the CIA had any hard data to support these assumptions. But had the agency paused to question their assumptions, bin Laden’s time on the run might have been much shorter.

What does conventional wisdom look like in a business?

Our biggest competitive threat will come from someone inside our industry. Our customers have always wanted it this way; they’ll never change. We don’t have to worry about our service getting commoditized because we’re different and special. We can’t do it that way; nobody’s ever done it that way before. Don’t mess with our cash cow; the products and services that made us successful in the past will continue to do so in the future.

The real danger with conventional wisdom is that it shuts down creativity and different ways of thinking. It intimidates people from bringing up new ideas and expressing opinions that run counter to prevailing attitudes. It’s the little voice in our head that whispers, “Don’t be ridiculous, that idea couldn’t possibly work.” Or, “Don’t say that, people will laugh at you!” Any time a business fails, loses market share, or makes a costly blunder, it’s usually because conventional wisdom had the upper hand.

When conventional wisdom fails in sports, the team gets a chance to start over the next year with faster, better players. In today’s business environment, however, we often don’t get a second chance. What conventional wisdoms are operating in your business, and how are they preventing you from winning?

Job Hunting in a Social Media World: Are You Keeping Up?

Mon, 16 May 2011 14:52:24 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

A colleague sent me an interesting report the other day – 125 Linked-In Job Search Tips. It’s a great read that got me thinking about how much things have changed in the employment landscape since I started my career. It also reminded me of how critical it is to keep up to date on changing trends, practices, and approaches.

Remember how we all cringed when e-mail burst upon the scene in 1999? Just when everyone was getting tired of voicemail, along came this new technology that made it even easier for others to intrude upon our attention. Nowadays we can’t imagine living without e-mail, although I suspect most of us would love to. Which reinforces the point that unless we keep up with evolving employment trends and technologies, we may find ourselves perennially un- or under-employed.

In the “old days,” getting a job depended upon three things: the people you knew from face-to-face relationships, newspaper ads, and (if the first two failed) the willingness to knock on a lot of doors with resume in hand.

I found my first job through a newspaper ad, which is like saying my first TV was black-and-white. Today’s younger workers can’t even imagine it! I hand-delivered my resume, printed on “nice” paper, and sent a handwritten thank-you note after the interview (a tool that still works well today). No online applications. No resumes in .pdf format to upload. No emails to send.

I didn’t know much about the company I applied to, and had no real way to find out. These days we spend a few minutes online and learn just about everything we need to know about the job and the company. I remember proudly including on my resume that I had basic computer proficiency. Today that would equate to boasting about my ability to walk and chew gum at the same time.

The biggest difference between then and now?

Rather than waiting for your resume to drop into their in-boxes, today’s employers are actively looking for you. Landing the ideal job requires networking through as many channels as possible, including face-to-face, to make it easy for employers to find you. If you don’t show up on their radar screen (which includes their “priends,” or pretend friends) you get lost with all the other old-fashioned needles in the haystack.

That’s where the LinkedIn report (http://www.positionignition.com/100-linkedin-job-search-tips/) comes in handy. It talks about how to create an appealing profile, how to use the various LinkedIn applications, how to build connections through the site, and how to get good recommendations. It also lists a series of e-books (http://www.positionignition.com/free-resources) containing more job search and career change information.

In the meantime, here are some of my thoughts on how to enhance your job search efforts.

Customize your resume.

If you had one resume in the past, you were good to go. Today’s highly specialized job markets require customizing your resume so that it speaks directly to each position you apply for and the company offering it.

Protect your brand.

If you’re active in social media, your personal brand is available to anyone online. Potential employers will google you to see whether your brand aligns with who you say you are. Be careful about what you make available to the public on Facebook and other social media forums. Many younger job seekers are learning the hard way that employers pay attention to their online behavior.

Job movement is good.

Not too long ago, employers looked for job stability and longevity. Today, five years or more in the same position could indicate a lack of ambition, out of date job skills, or both. Don’t be afraid to list multiple jobs and employers, especially if they indicate upward movement. If you’ve stayed in one place for a while, show growth through promotions, new projects, and the acquisition of new job skills.

Sell your ability to produce results.

Employers used to look for people who had done exactly what they wanted to hire, as evidenced through job titles, skills sets, and experience. However, many of today’s jobs are so new that no one has done them before. As a result, companies are starting to value talent and ability over similar job experience. If you have a track record of producing results, don’t avoid a promising position just because you don’t have any direct experience with it.

Why waste time sending your resume in response to want ads? In many cases, the jobs don’t even exist. Instead, focus on creating a personal brand that will attract employers who need what you have. And get comfortable using social media. Because when it comes to finding a job, the times have definitely changed and continue to keep changing!

Re-Recruiting: Your Best Defense Against Restless Feet

Mon, 16 May 2011 14:50:28 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Suppose one-third of your employees suddenly walked off the job. Think it might impact your ability to serve your customers and achieve your strategic goals?

Granted, the odds of every third employee taking a hike all at once are slim. But according to a recent survey conducted by MetLife, 36 percent of employees hope to leave their job within the next 12 months.

Some turnover can be healthy for a business. Especially when it’s the low performers exiting the organization. But 36 percent of your workforce? I don’t think so!

The survey, which polled more than 1,500 employers and 1,400 full-time workers, also reported a significant decline in employee loyalty. Less than half (47 percent) of the respondents said they felt “very strong loyalty” to their employers. Interestingly, a slightly larger number (51 percent) felt their employers had very strong loyalty to them.

More ominous for business leaders is the downward trend in employee loyalty. In 2008, the MetLife survey reported that 59 percent of employees felt strong loyalty toward their employers. This year’s survey represents a decline of 12 percentage points.

With the economy slowly turning around and unemployment falling into single digits in many areas of the country, look for headhunter and recruiter activity to pick up. Which means now is a good time to go into defensive mode in regards to your people. So that when the recruiters come calling, your best performers won’t have an interest in listening.

One of the best ways to keep your top talent (and even your medium talent) is to re-recruit them. In other words, invest a little extra time in making them feel wanted and appreciated, as if you were attempting to bring them on board for the first time.

Here’s how:

Pause and take note of your top performers.

Sometimes we get running so fast in our own jobs that we take our best performers for granted. We all need people who can get the job done without requiring much attention from us. And we also need to pause from time to time and acknowledge their efforts.

Take a moment to thank them.

Often, the best acknowledgements are spontaneous. The next time you find yourself alone with a top performer, say something like, “I probably don’t tell you this enough, but I really appreciate having you on our team. You set a great example for other employees with your work ethic. And I know that when you say you’re going to do something, I can count on it to get done.” Be specific about why you value their contributions, and be sincere.

Spend time with them.

Top performers understand how busy you are because they’re running just as fast to get their jobs done. That’s why your time and attention are so valuable to them. Schedule regular one-to-one meetings with your stars, ideally once a month, but once a quarter at minimum. Make the meetings their time, not yours.

During the meetings, ask what they need from you to produce the results you expect. Talk about their career development and what you can do to help them advance. If this sounds time consuming, consider how much time you would have to spend in interviewing and selecting a replacement. Invest a small percentage of that and you might be amazed at how far it goes in retention.

Offer developmental opportunities.

Pause and consider whether there might be a desirable project the person would want to participate in or that would help to advance their careers. If so, make it happen, even if it might cause a few minor disruptions. The small amount of time away from their regular job to do a project they consider a real benefit is nothing compared to the time and knowledge you will lose if they leave.

From a logical perspective, investing in re-recruiting offers a tremendous return on investment. So why don’t we do it more often?

Because we’re so busy running that we don’t pause to consider the consequences of not doing it. Or, we’re so used to getting things wrong and having to do them over that we fail to see how much time and effort it would save by slowing down just a little to get it right the first time.

Leadership is all about doing what it takes to help the organization win. And in today’s environment, winning requires a team of talented individuals who feel appreciated and get recognized and rewarded for their efforts.

What are you doing to re-recruit your best people?

Re-Recruiting: Your Best Defense Against Restless Feet

Mon, 16 May 2011 14:50:25 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Suppose one-third of your employees suddenly walked off the job. Think it might impact your ability to serve your customers and achieve your strategic goals?

Some turnover can be healthy for a business. Especially when it’s the low performers exiting the organization. But 36 percent of your workforce? I don’t think so!

Here’s how:

Pause and take note of your top performers.

Take a moment to thank them.

Spend time with them.

Offer developmental opportunities.

From a logical perspective, investing in re-recruiting offers a tremendous return on investment. So why don’t we do it more often?

What are you doing to re-recruit your best people?

Get Better Results by Making Your Thinking Visible

Wed, 04 May 2011 14:17:01 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Expose yourself?

No, I’m not talking about trench coats or the number two activity on the web (porn is BEHIND social media these days!).

I’m referring to common communication challenges that can be easily overcome by pausing to bring others along in your thinking process.

When we present ideas to other people, especially new ideas, we tend to focus on the recommendations rather than the thinking processes that led to our current position. We push hard on the “what, when and how” while often overlooking the importance of “why.” We’re also usually in a hurry to get to the end of our presentation so we can jump right into overcoming objections and ensure that people see things the way we do.

The only problem is that people often don’t see things the same way, even after we finish talking. That’s why pausing to bring others along in our thinking process can be very helpful for several reasons.

As human beings, we unconsciously assume that others think and see the world the same way we do. On the conscious level we know it’s not true. But it’s such an ingrained belief, and we’re all running so fast constantly, that we hold on to it with amazing tenacity. Exposing our thinking process to others reminds us that people don’t see the world the same way. And until we understand how they see it and why (and vice versa) our communications with them will often get muddled.

The human brain also has a natural tendency to fill in voids when information is not readily available. When we don’t share our thinking process with others, they fill in the blanks on their own, usually with negative information. Exposing our thinking minimizes the stuff people make up to fill in the gaps and ensures that they have the right information. More important, it eliminates having to go back and talk about the same things over and over or correct actions taken when we thought we agreed, but just under the surface were miles apart.

To expose your thinking process, make it visible to others using a simple three-step process. Begin by stating your assumptions and describing the data that led to them. For example, “Here’s what I think and here’s the supporting evidence that led me to this position.”

Next, provide more detail for the reasoning behind your assumptions. “Based on my knowledge of this area, I assumed X, Y or Z.” Or, “Based on our previous experience in this area, I assumed…..” Finally, explain the consequences or outcomes of your thinking. “I came to this conclusion because….and here’s what it means to this team.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it? What could be more fun than exposing how you think to a room full of people who don’t see the world the same as you?

Actually, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. It may feel uncomfortable the first time or two. But once you see the light bulbs come on as people start to understand where you’re coming from and why, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before.

If you really want to improve communications with your team, don’t stop there. After communicating your thinking process, publicly test your conclusions and assumptions by encouraging people to give feedback.

Start by identifying where you feel your reasoning is the most tentative. Then encourage your team to openly explore your data and assumptions. Avoid getting defensive (no easy task!) by refraining from commenting until everyone has had a chance to express their opinion. Make sure all viewpoints get put out on the table, especially when they contradict your train of thought.

If you really want to take the conversation to another level, ask others on your team to make their thinking processes visible. Ask questions like: What leads you to conclude that? Can you help me understand your thinking here? Where did those assumptions come from? I want to make sure I’m hearing you correctly, are you saying that….?

Engaging in these types of conversations will produce some amazing results!

The process draws out ideas and opinions from people who might otherwise hesitate to speak up. It helps people learn how to listen to feedback without automatically going into a defensive mode. And it leads to critical issues getting explored at a much deeper level.

Perhaps most important, it reminds us in a very tangible way that we don’t always see things the same way. That alone makes the process worth the price of admission.

So get out there and expose your thinking! You have nothing to lose but the errors, mistakes and bad decisions that occur when team members misunderstand and misinterpret each other.

Measuring What Matters: How to Stop Wasting Time, Talent, and Resources on Projects that Don’t Go Anywhere

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:04:42 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Remember the old adage, “what gets measured, gets done?”

Well, what does not get measured may still be getting done in your organization as well. Unfortunately, it may not be what you want done or what gets you to your destination.

In today’s volatile markets, goals set in January can easily become out of date by March if significant internal or external forces have impacted your operating environment. Just because a project was announced as a top priority in February doesn’t mean it will remain that way for the entire year. To ensure that employees retain clarity on what they should be working on, I recommend periodically conducting the “Plate Exercise.”

Three months after the strategic planning framework has been completed and communicated, review all significant ongoing projects and initiatives (what is on the plate). Then determine which ones should stay on the plate and which should fall off. This helps you make tough choices about what to start, stop and continue doing. It ensures that your limited resources get allocated to the highest-value activities. And it forces you to refocus on the right things.

To conduct the Plate Exercise, rank each major project or initiative according to its strategic value, understanding that your definition of strategic value will be unique to your organization.

For business initiatives (including product/service enhancements), rank each project according to its link to your core strategies:

Direct support of key strategy vs. indirect/no clear link to current strategy
Necessary for long-term growth vs. nice to have but not critical for ongoing growth
Necessary for short-term revenue capture vs. nice to have but not critical in short term
Clarity of project requirements (outputs, costs & revenue impact) vs. fuzzy project requirements
Known impact to revenue vs. unknown or unclear impact on revenue
Clear owner/sponsor vs. unclear owner/sponsor
Delay in project has immediate and significant revenue impact vs. delay in project has no immediate or significant revenue impact
Confirmed customer/consumer need vs. speculative customer/consumer need

Next, determine customer impact/satisfaction:

Transparent to customer vs. disruption/inconvenience to customer
Directly addresses immediate, high-impact customer issue vs. addresses longer-term customer concern

Then weigh prioritization considerations:

Annual operating plan is dependent on revenue production in near term vs. longer-term revenue impact
Critical to core business operations vs. important but not immediately necessary
Resources in place/project under way vs. new/additional resources required/project not started

This format can also be used to evaluate projects involving operational improvements or daily operations as well.

Another approach uses numeric or qualitative ratings, such as one through five, critical, important or unknown, or even a simple high, medium, and low rating. For example, using one of these rating methods, rank each initiative according to the impact it will have on achieving key strategic objectives, including:

Market penetration
Market share capture/retention
Customer acquisition/retention
Confirmed customer need is addressed
Direct support of a key strategy for current year
Necessity for long-term growth

Initiative will contribute directly to revenue, including:

Known timeframe
Known direct link between initiative and revenue
Delay in initiative will have significant revenue impact

Initiative will contribute directly to profit margin, including:

Known timeframe
Known direct link between initiative and revenue
Delay in initiative will have significant profit implications

You can also measure areas such as resource availability, talent constraints, and priority level. The key is to use scales/measurements that work in your organization and rate each project accordingly. Then decide if you have the resources to do them all well.

If you have enough resources, link each initiative or project to your strategies and make sure you’re making progress across all strategies. If sufficient resources are lacking, lower-value initiatives should be halted or abandoned.

Identifying projects that we need to shut down is the easy part. The hard part involves actually letting them go. Too often our thought bubbles get in the way by whispering things in our ear like, “We can’t stop now, we’ve invested too much time and money.” Or, “If we just stay the course, things will work out.” Or, “I’ll lose face with my peers if I admit defeat on this one.” Or, “Nobody told me this project wasn’t important anymore.” Be aware of your thought bubbles, and don’t let them stop you from doing what you know you should do.

When resources get stretched too thin from chasing too many opportunities, the highest value projects may not get the attention they need. Measuring what matters will keep your employees focused on the tasks and activities that give your organization the best chance of getting where you want to go.

Pause every now and then to evaluate what is on the plate and to take things off the plate. Today’s organizations are typically full of ideas and possibilities. It is often harder to decide what to stop doing. It is the focus on the right things that will contribute significantly to your success!

How to Build Trust Through Better Listening

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 11:02:36 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

I ran across a quote the other day that resonated with me:

The organization of today will require leadership that can operate on the edge of chaos by relinquishing command and control and creating an environment of mutual trust and respect.

Two things struck me about this quote. One, just how much today’s leadership model differs from traditional leadership models. And two, how difficult it is for many leaders to do.

Look at all the challenges today’s leaders face: more information to analyze; four generations of workers to engage and lead; highly volatile markets due to the increasingly rapid rate of change; new technologies that make it cheaper and easier to knock off successful products; increased competitive threats, many of which can’t be foreseen or predicted… The list goes on and on.

Most leaders understand logically that the old “command and control” leadership paradigm fits the new business environment about as well as a manual typewriter. Yet, it seems that most are uncertain about how to create a culture that supports mutual trust and respect and many struggle with the day to day behaviors that are required for success.

Many of us don’t know how to act with transparency and clarity on winning. We don’t know how to provide candid and respectful feedback. And since most of us were taught early on that information is power, we tend to withhold it rather than sharing it openly and easily with others in the organization. Not a good formula for operating on the edge of chaos!

How can we raise trust levels among the people who work with us? Often, it starts with the “small” things.

Behavioral scientists tell us that trust accrues according to a specific hierarchy. Picture a series of concentric circles, like an archery target. At the center is our own experience, which we trust over anything else. The next circle outward consists of what friends and family tell us. The next circle includes reliable experts and journalists (although this one is changing rapidly). Farthest away are corporations, politicians, and other entities that we generally believe put their own best interests ahead of ours.

Based on this model, leaders and managers should fall into the “reliable experts” category. However, don’t assume that your position automatically makes you an expert in the eyes of employees. In terms of building trust, the way you treat people has just as much impact as your knowledge and expertise. You may be a whiz in your specific area, but treat people poorly and their trust in you will plunge.

One of the “small” things you can do to respect people is become a better listener, which is not as easy as it sounds.

Listening is an art, a skill, and a discipline. Like all skills, it needs self-control to be effective. Becoming a better listener requires understanding what is involved in listening and developing the necessary techniques to be silent and listen. In particular, it involves ignoring your own needs and focusing your attention on the person speaking, a task made much more difficult by the way our brain works.

When someone starts talking to us, our minds instantly get activated as we begin processing the words and meanings. So now, instead of hearing one “noise,” we’re hearing two - the “noise” the other person is making and the “noise” in our own heads. Unless we remain vigilant, we usually end up paying attention to the “noise” in our own heads.

You can’t stop this process and you don’t want to. Just remember that hearing becomes listening only when you pay attention to what is said and follow it very closely. So always be aware of which of the two noises you’re listening to.

Another way to improve your listening skills is to conduct a quick mental audit after important conversations. Ask yourself:

Did I still the chatter in my head?
Did I let the other person speak without interruption?
Did I try to see things from the other person’s point of view?
Did I convey interest in what the person was saying?
Did I “listen between the lines” to notice connotations and implicit meanings?
Did I resist the temptation to jump in with evaluative or disparaging comments?
Did I rephrase what the other person said so as to better understand it?
When I responded, did I speak clearly?
Was I honest? Did I show empathy?
Did I treat the other person with respect?

A few other small things: do what you say you are going to do; thank others who deserve it; expose your thinking process (how did you get to your conclusions?). Pause and fill in the blanks when others may not know what led you to a decision.

Operating on the edge of chaos goes a lot smoother when people respect and trust you. Make a commitment to better understand and build trust. Practice some of the small stuff. Become a better listener. Your trust levels will definitely rise.

Have You Done Your 1st Quarter Checkup?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:11:53 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

Spring has sprung (according to the calendar, anyway) and April is upon us. For those who operate according to the calendar year, that means its time for an end-of-quarter checkup in regards to the strategic plan.

More specifically, it means we should begin asking questions like: Are we making progress towards the goal? Is it still visible? What are we doing to stay focused on the most important initiatives? What (if anything) has changed in our markets? How do we need to respond to those changes and by when? Who is responsible for implementing these changes?

I know what you’re thinking. “I don’t have time to pause and ask these questions because I’m already running as fast as I can. Why can’t we just let the plan unfold at its own pace?”

The simple answer is that in today’s chaotic markets, strategic plans can get off track faster than a speeding bullet train. If you don’t constantly monitor and measure your plan’s progress, you may end up at a very different destination than originally planned.

For a simple, practical way to measure and report your plan’s progress, I recommend creating a quarterly scorecard. This helps to clarify the strategy and goals while managing alignment across individuals, departments, and initiatives. It also provides a variety of views into the business and helps to maintain focus across all the important indicators.

A scorecard makes the elements of your destination points very real by noting them in tangible, near-term, measurable ways. It also helps to further refine expectations and standards of excellence. Most important, a scorecard answers the question: “How will we know if we’re moving towards our destination?”

What should your scorecard measure?

Start with three or four key financial metrics, such as revenue, profit margin, or operating expenses as a percentage of revenue. Then add in any others that are especially important to your business. Next, throw in a few leading indicators, such as number of proposals submitted, new customers signed up, or new employees hired. These forecast your future performance and provide insight into what is to come.

Next, measure what your key stakeholders (customers, employees, vendors, etc.) most care about. For example, what do your customers place the most value on: Product quality? On-time delivery? Your responsiveness to fixing problems? Find ways to quantify these measurements, and make sure they match up with what your stakeholders truly care about. Don’t just guess.

Another approach uses the following table to outline, by strategy, what your scorecard looks like. Answer the questions in each section to see how the pieces fit together.

Strategy

Are we focused on the right thing?

Key Initiatives & Commitments

· What will we do by when?

· Who is on the hook for results?

Key Measures (including targets and/or destination points)

· How will we know if we are making progress?

Risks & Mitigating Actions

· What are our risks?

· How can we minimize them?

This approach makes it easy to see the links between the strategies, initiatives and measures, and the risks or barriers. It also clarifies who needs to do what by when. It encourages accountability throughout the organization. And it develops a more proactive view by forcing you to consider and manage the risks before they become serious problems.

Once you’ve created the scorecard, communicate it to employees. Not just once, but over and over again until everyone knows it well. You can’t over-communicate about your strategic planning framework and objectives, and your ongoing behavior in this regard will make it evident that you are steadfast in getting the company to where it needs to go.

Report progress as broadly as possible each month, including any challenges or barriers that may arise, and note how you are adjusting timelines or other elements. If you don’t communicate in these areas, people will MSU (make stuff up) and create much worse scenarios about why you’re not getting to where you need to go. The less made- up thought bubbles, the better!

I used to tell clients that “you can do it right the first time or you can do it over.” I don’t say that anymore because today’s markets change so quickly that if you don’t get it right the first time, you may not get the chance for a do-over.

So get going on that scorecard, and make sure you’re still on track to reach your destination!

Tear Down These Walls!

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:04:05 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

In 1987, president Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech in which he implored Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!”

I’m going to paraphrase his history-altering quote and urge today’s business leaders to tear down these walls!

Which walls?

The ones that get in the way of cross-communication within organizations and prevent innovation from taking place. Unlike the Berlin Wall, you can’t see these walls because they’re invisible. But they exist, and they represent major impediments to creating meaningful innovation, especially in large companies.

Just look at the way most organizations are physically set up. Accounting in one area, marketing in another, management on the top floor with the nicest offices and best views out the window. Employees rarely interact with other departments unless they need something to get their jobs done.

In addition, many leaders and managers hesitate to share information with other departments, believing that controlling the data puts them in a position of power. In situations where team or departmental goals don’t align with organizational goals, they can actually get rewarded for withholding information.

So the invisible walls go up, communication goes down, and the ability to innovate goes out the door.

How do you tear down these walls?

Communicate using a variety of channels and methods.

Think of all the different ways you communicate with customers, including web sites, blogs, white papers, surveys, social media, and more. Now start using them to communicate with employees. In particular, social media makes an excellent tool for encouraging employees to connect with each other and learn what other teams, departments, or locations are up to. Also, consider offering weekly or monthly breakfasts or lunches where people from different areas of the company get together to update each other on their activities. Sounds easy but it rarely happens!

Encourage intra-company collaboration.

In many cases, successful innovation comes from company-wide efforts. Use appropriate incentives to encourage data sharing and cross-unit cooperation. Make sure performance objectives are aligned across departments. Use internal competition to encourage entrepreneurial thinking. Apply “survival of the fittest/free market” models throughout the organization so that the best ideas win out, regardless of where they come from, and reward all ideas.

Form diverse, cross-functional innovation teams.

Fill your innovation teams with people who think and see the world the same way and you’ll get the same old tired ideas. Instead, develop teams with diverse backgrounds, thinking skills and analytical styles, and make sure all those styles get heard in meetings and conversations.

Expand your sources of information.

The information we put into our brains plays a large role in determining the quality of ideas that come out. Select a balanced and varied diet and your intellect will have the necessary resources to generate better ideas. Ask: How much time do we spend collecting data and from what sources? Could we look somewhere else? Should we consider information from competitive sources, other industries, the world at large? Study successful companies outside your industry to see what could be applied to your business.

Actively encourage opposite points of view.

Too often, employees defer to the person leading the meeting or the one with the most positional power. If people don’t offer differing points of view, ask for them! For example, “We all seem to be thinking along the same lines here. I’d like to hear from someone who sees it differently.” People also tend to feel threatened by opposing viewpoints. Teach people how to present their opinions without putting down others, and how to hear opposing opinions without automatically going to a place of defending their own.

Collaborate with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

In addition to tearing down internal walls, get rid of those that block communication with the outside world. Ask questions like: Are we customer focused, designing from the outside in? Do we create customer needs rather than just respond to them? Do we outsource non-critical capabilities to free up more resources for innovation? Do we get suppliers and intermediaries involved in our innovation efforts? Is our organization easy to do business with?

Most of all don’t allow people to ridicule new ideas, no matter how outlandish they may seem. And don’t tolerate finger pointing or blaming between individuals, teams, or departments when things go wrong. Teach people how to resolve conflict around issues rather than personalities, and make sure all viewpoints are represented. People don’t always have to agree on everything, but they do need to feel respected and heard.

Tear down the invisible walls in your organization and give your people the freedom to innovate. You’ll be amazed at what they come up with!

Who’s In Charge Here Anyway?

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:18:39 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

How many times has this happened in your organization?

A sudden change in your market (or as often happens these days, a sudden change in the world outside your industry) dictates a major mid-course correction to the strategic plan. So you gather the management team, strategize the issue, and end the meeting with several decisions that will take the plan in a new direction.

A month later, you gather the team to review progress on the new direction and nothing much has happened. As you go around the table, you begin to hear things like, “Well, that’s more of a marketing issue, so I thought Sally was in charge of that one.” Or, “I never got the go-ahead from Dustin, so I couldn’t order the parts to begin production.” Or, “I only got approval from a couple of people. I couldn’t possibly move ahead without everyone on board.”

Sound familiar?

Nothing frustrates leaders more than lack of alignment around key strategic initiatives. And nothing impedes a plan more than important decisions that don’t get implemented. These plan killers occur for many reasons. One of the most common is the failure to clarify who has responsibility when changes get made to the plan.

In today’s chaotic markets, strategic plans frequently get knocked off course. Too often, teams spend so much time figuring out what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and when it needs to be done, that they neglect to assign specific responsibility for making sure it gets done. When people don’t have clarity around who’s in charge on a particular action item, and what excellence really looks like when that action is taken, they unconsciously default to, “It isn’t me, so it must be someone else.”

To avoid this situation, I recommend a process called “responsibility charting,” a simple tool that helps to reduce ambiguity, wasted energy, and discord between individuals or groups, and ensures that all actions get implemented in a timely manner. The process was originally created by Edgar Schein and over the years it has been modified to fit today’s challenges.

Here’s how it works.

When significant changes to the plan are indicated, the team formulates a list of actions, decisions, or activities and records the list on the left-hand side of the responsibility chart. The team then identifies the people involved in each action or decision and lists those individuals on the right-hand side of the chart. These can include people directly involved in a decision, supervisors and managers, project teams, internal resources and people outside the organization.

For each decision or activity, assign one or more of the following letters to each person based on their required behavior in regard to the particular action or decision:

R - Has responsibility for a particular action AND the authority
A - Must approve; has power to veto the action
S - Must support/provide resources for the action (but not necessarily agree)
I - Has input into the action but cannot veto
U - Must update regularly on the action

The team must first reach agreement on where responsibility for the action or decision resides. If they can’t agree, the team should break the problem into parts, move the responsibility up one level in the organization, or move the decision about the location of the responsibility up one level.

Once responsibility has been appropriately placed, the team assigns the other letters, keeping the following in mind:

No box can contain more than one letter
No more than one “R” can exist for an activity
Avoid assigning too many “A’s”, as it can lead to difficulty in obtaining a decision

The benefit of responsibility charting lies not only in the end product but also in the new understanding and appreciation of people’s roles and required behavior that grows out of the charting process. Not only do people fully understand their individual roles and responsibilities, they also understand everyone else’s. There’s no ambiguity, no second-guessing, and no passing the buck.

Never again will you have to hear, “Gee, I thought Bob was supposed to handle that one.”

Getting clear on where you are going AND who needs to do what to get there is critical to winning in today’s world!

Are You Engaging? Funny, smart, and easy to dance with is not enough these days

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:48:19 CDT

by Holly G. Green.

You may be funny, smart, and easy to dance with, but if you are not engaging employees on an ongoing basis, all of your work in developing a strategic plan will be for naught. In my last two blogs, we talked about informing and inspiring employees during implementation of the strategic plan. The last piece of the puzzle involves engaging people so that they fully commit continuously to achieving the plan.

When we inform people by clearly communicating the company’s destination, they develop a sense of direction and focus. When we inspire people by explaining why the destination is important, they develop the motivation and determination to see the race through. When we engage them in reaching that destination, they become more willing to make decisions, take appropriate risks, and act in the best interests of the organization.

To engage your employees:

Clearly define what winning looks like.

It seems like I mention this principle in almost every blog I write. Probably because nothing is more important that creating a picture of what winning looks like for your organization, your team, and yourself. Everything flows from this critical starting point. Without a clear destination, who knows where you’ll end up?

Measure what matters AND what people can relate to.

Many strategic plans focus solely on financial metrics. However, many employees don’t connect on a day to day basis with metrics like operating margins, net profit, and EBITDA. They don’t see how making a decision about how to handle a customer leads to achieving a desired profit margin. And on those rare occasions when employees actually get to see the company financials, the gap between when their performance occurred and the numbers is far too great to have any real meaning.

What kinds of metrics help people feel engaged? Things like improving customer satisfaction and/or retention, speeding up response or delivery times, reducing scrap, developing a new product or service -- just about anything that ties directly to the tasks and activities people perform on a daily basis. When employees can see what winning looks in ways they can relate to, they make better decisions in support of the plan.

Set your employees up for success.

This sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how many organizations neglect this key point. Especially during tough times when resources get stretched and the demands on everyone’s time continue to increase. To set your people up for success, make sure they have:

Clarity on what they are expected to produce/accomplish
The appropriate equipment and resources (tools, money, people, etc.)
The information needed to master their position
The skills, knowledge, and aptitudes to get the job done
A good fit between their personality/style and how you expect them to get the job done
The internal motivation, desire, and drive to complete the task
Training/coaching to leverage strengths, minimize or eliminate deficiencies, and enhance professional development

Give plenty of feedback and recognition.

As leaders, we all know we should do this on a regular basis. Unfortunately, this “important but not urgent” activity often gets lost in the day-to-day pressures of getting the product out the door. Yet few things do more to engage employees than providing feedback on their performance and acknowledging their efforts. To ensure this activity doesn’t get lost in the shuffle, schedule monthly one-to-ones with your direct reports regularly. These meetings should cover the employee’s progress toward the goals, any performance issues they may be experiencing, identification of additional information, support or resources they need to get the job done, and any issues they need to bring up with you. And don’t forget plenty of “thank you’s” for a job well done.

Build an atmosphere of trust.

To build trust, start by defining the organizational values that determine how you will behave with each other. Then live those values on a daily basis. Your behavior as a leader or manager speaks much louder than your words. Communicate constantly with employees, not just about the decisions being made but why they are being made. Encourage people to express their ideas and opinions, and listen when they do. Hold people accountable for adhering to the organizational values and for performing at a high level. Nothing erodes trust and a sense of engagement like tolerating poor performance and/or behavior that violates organizational norms.

Companies that get the most out of their people don't take employee engagement for granted. They plan it, monitor it, and manage it so that people feel connected to and aligned with the company’s vision of winning. When you get everyone in the organization running in the same direction with passion and purpose, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish!

How to Avoid “Hitting the Wall” in Your Strategic Plan

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:13:02 CST

by Holly G. Green.

I focus a lot of my time and energy on helping clients remember the importance of ongoing communications as their strategic plan unfolds. Keeping employees informed on a regular basis helps to keep the finish line in sight and ensures that everyone runs the same race.

But getting from where you are now to where the organization needs to go can often feel like running a marathon. How do you keep people motivated and inspired when the finish line seems miles away, and when some days, it is unclear what race you are in?

At the beginning of a marathon race, the runners are pumped and ready to go. Muscles are loose, the adrenaline is flowing, and everyone envisions themselves crossing the finish line in front of cheering crowds. But as the miles add up, the mind weakens and the body tires. As each step grows more difficult, some people begin to question whether they can reach the finish line.

Similarly, when you first unveil the strategic plan, you inspire employees by sharing a compelling vision of what tomorrow will look like when your organization wins. But once people go back to the daily grind, their spirits can sag and their focus wanes as the initial excitement wears off.

As a leader or manager, this is the time to shift your focus from informing to helping employees stay excited and energized about achieving the goals. To keep your people inspired day in and day out:

Focus on the aspirational components of your goal. Most people want more than just a paycheck. They want to feel like they’re helping to improve the lives of others. They also want to know that management feels the same way. From time to time, share why you believe in what the company does and why you find the destination so compelling. Articulate how the destination reflects the unique characteristics the company has to offer and how it benefits everyone who works for it. Ask your people why they want to go there with you and what ideas they have for getting there.

Share your passion.

When discussing the goals, don’t be afraid to let your passion shine through. Talk about what the goals mean to you personally and what excites you about achieving them. Solicit similar input from others and share it via emails, the company intranet or in quarterly staff meetings. The more you get people talking about what the goals mean to them individually, the more likely you are to attain buy-in and commitment.

Show people how they are making a difference.

Bring the value of your company to life by sharing customer feedback. Note how you have made a difference with your customers, your community, and the world at large. If possible, create a video of customer interviews and share it with all employees. Invite a customer to present at a company meeting. Present samples of written testimonials you have received. Make it real by sharing stories and information about the individuals affected.

Celebrate milestones.

Nothing keeps the passion and energy flowing like recognizing people for a job well done. When individuals or teams achieve interim goals, take the time to recognize those involved. Send thank you notes to employees. Host a celebration event that brings people together in a fun way. Use music, visuals, handouts and give-aways to maintain momentum and enthusiasm.

Regularly assess your communications efforts.

From time to time, pause for a moment and ask yourself, “Am I telling employees everything they need to know? Am I honest and forthright when presenting negative news? Are my communications strictly one-way or do I give people a chance to voice their opinions? When others talk, do I really listen?” Most important, “Are my messages inspirational and compelling?”

Strive for a balance of focus.

People can easily get lost in the day-to-day and lose sight of the big picture. Your role as a leader or manager is to ensure a balance of focus between day-to-day tasks and long-term achievements -- a task made increasingly difficult by today’s time-deprived, do-more-with-less, just run fast continuously work environments. Keeping the destination and other components of your strategic framework on everyone’s radar screen will go a long way towards maintaining the inspiration needed to achieve your goals.

There will be days when inspiring employees seems like just another task on your already lengthy to-do list. However, few tasks are as important as this one, even though it does not always appear as urgent. When individuals and teams remain focused and moving in the right direction, they can accomplish great things. And, you just might be surprised at what falls off your own to-do list!

Is Everyone In Your Organization Running the Same Race?

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 10:51:46 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Picture the following scenario.

A thousand people stand bunched up at the starting line, poised to run a marathon. The runners nervously jog in place and stretch their limbs to stay loose. You can feel the excitement and anticipation in the air as the race is about to start. Slowly the starter raises his pistol, the gun goes off, and the tightly packed group of runners explodes into motion.

But instead of heading down the narrow marked course, the runners scatter in all directions like pent-up school kids just released by the final bell. Some runners sprint straight down the course. Some hop the curb and veer off to the left or right. Others reverse course and start running in the opposite direction. And a small group of really confused marathoners begin running in circles.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it. But that’s exactly what happens when organizations fail to properly communicate and communicate and communicate their strategic plans. Instead of everyone working towards the same clearly defined destination, people end up going in all directions with no sense of purpose or shared outcome.

Too often companies invest a lot of time and energy in creating their strategic plan, but then make almost no effort to help people understand it, buy into it, and support it. To ensure that everyone in the organization runs the same race, we need to inform, engage and inspire people -– not just once when the plan is introduced, but continually throughout the year.

To facilitate this “informing” process:

Get vocal.

Today’s leaders have a wide choice of communication tools -- email, meetings, intranets, letters/mailers, social media, etc. During the initial stages of informing, however, verbal communication works best. Surveys show that employees place much greater value on face-to-face communication, especially when it comes from the person they work for. So as much as possible, communicate the why, what, and how of your plan in face-to-face meetings. If you have a geographically dispersed workforce, try to meet directly with the largest groups and then conduct audio or video conferences to connect with others. Or, use webinars or other technologies that simulate face-to-face interactions.

Follow up with visuals.

Follow up all verbal communications with written communications that combine pictures or graphics with the written word. Humans are visual creatures, and having something visual in front of us provides a powerful tool for staying focused. Construct a one-page visual that notes the key elements of your strategic plan, including the destination points (specifics on what it looks like when you arrive at where you are going). In addition, write down your core values and behaviors, so that people have visual reminders of what is expected of them from a behavioral standpoint.

Some companies create a full color, tri-fold brochure to visually remind people of what they need to do and why. These brochures include:

· Company purpose and mission statement

· Destination statements

· What and how strategies, with timelines

· What the plan means to individual employees and their teams

· Guiding principles, organizational values, and attributes

· Who to contact for more information or to ask questions

These brochures send an important message to employees about management’s commitment to implementing the plan.

Update as you go along.

When changes occur that impact goals, measures, and how you will get things done, communicate again. Don’t hesitate for fear of distracting employees with too much information. I have yet to see an organization over-communicate about its goals. When employees are not informed about obvious changes, they will fill the void with their own negative thoughts and assumptions. Pausing to communicate frequently will save hours in addressing myths, half-truths, and inaccurate information.

When significant change occurs, provide details on how transitions will unfold. Let people know how client interactions will be handled, what types of discussions should happen with other employees, and what support (people, technology, coaching) will be provided. In particular, identify who is responsible for what, and provide information on who to go to with questions, ideas, or concerns.

To ease the transition, take a few moments to honor the past while creating the future. Over-emphasizing all the changes can feel like an insult to people who have worked in the organization for years and contributed to its success. Acknowledging the positive things people have done to get the organization where it is today can soothe ruffled feathers and encourage those who are reluctant to change.

Study after study confirms that productivity and employee commitment reach their highest when people are kept fully and regularly informed. The more you communicate, the better your return on investment. And what better return can you ask for than reaching the final destination as outlined in your plan?

change

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:43:19 CST

by Ron Brown.

society

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:41:36 CST

by Ron Brown.

simple

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:41:14 CST

by Ron Brown.

Five Steps to Breaking the Multitasking Cycle

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:53:15 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Is constant multitasking wearing you down and eroding your effectiveness as a business leader? Here are five steps for recapturing your time, attention and productivity:

1. Focus. Focus starts with having a very clear definition of what winning looks like for your organization. Be as specific as possible. What will it look like at the end of 2011 when you have been insanely successful? What key operating achievements will you have accomplished? Who will your customers be and how will you serve them? What products will you have in the market and in the development pipeline? Who will your competitors be and how will they compete against you? What will your brand represent?

To help you stay focused, stage your field of vision by keeping your goals and objectives in front of you throughout the day. Put them on your computer screen and carry them with you. Set up task reminders to ping you, or write them on your whiteboard. Post them in the lobby of your office, or on your mirror at home. Do whatever it takes to keep your goals visible as you move through the day. When you get distracted or interrupted, these visual cues will serve as powerful reminders to refocus on what’s really important.

2. Stop trying to know it all. With so much information available, we can’t possibly stay current with everything going on in our businesses, markets, and industries. In past generations, business leaders had to learn to delegate tasks and responsibilities. Now we have to get comfortable delegating information management. It’s okay to know a little about a lot of things. We need to restrict our in-depth information gathering and analysis to those areas where we have the most impact.

3. Schedule alone time. Here’s where most business leaders struggle. We get results through other people, so we’re supposed to constantly be in meetings, on the phone, texting, solving problems, and giving feedback, right? It just doesn’t feel right to shut our office door, turn off the cell phone, and work by ourselves without interruption for any length of time.

Yet, research shows time and again that business leaders need long periods of uninterrupted time in order to perform at peak levels. Alone time allows us to slow down and look at things differently. It reduces stress and gets the creative juices flowing. Most important, it enables us to refocus on the high-level activities we should be doing that move us closer to our strategic goals.

4. Manage your information/interruption flow. Develop a system and structure for managing the tidal wave of information that comes to you each day, starting with taking control of your email inbox. Instead of answering emails as they arrive, pick one or two (maybe three) times of the day to review and respond to email. Make it a policy to respond only to those emails that require action or a decision from you. If something needs your immediate attention, have people contact you in person, or by phone.

The same goes for voice and text messages on your cell phone or PDA. Shut them down, turn them off, and focus on the task at hand! And no, turning them to vibrate doesn’t count. Coach your direct reports on what kind of information and issues they should bring to you and what you expect them to handle on their own. When you schedule alone time, work to truly minimize interruptions by setting expectations on what you consider an ‘emergency’ or ‘urgent’ so that others are clear on when it might be OK.

5. Get in the habit of pausing. As business leaders, we thrive on solving problems and getting things done. When we respond quickly to a request or nip a small problem in the bud, it yields instant satisfaction. But that feel-good moment often comes at the expense of more important activities that don’t have to be handled right now, but have severe long-term consequences if they don’t get done.

To counteract this tendency to do what makes us feel good versus what we should be doing, get in the habit of pausing several times a day. Stop what you’re doing, pause for a moment, and ask yourself, “Is this task something I should be doing, or am I responding to someone else’s sense of urgency? Does this activity represent the best and highest use of my time? Will what I am now engaged in help us to win? Will this make a difference a year from now?”

Multitasking is more than just a bad habit. It’s a threat to your effectiveness as a leader and the success of your organization. Integrate these five principles into your daily routine and you’ll become more focused and productive while setting an example that everyone in your organization would do well to follow.

Multitasking: Hit or Myth?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:29:18 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Have you ever watched someone attempting to do several things at once in the workplace?

Their energy level is high, they’re constantly in motion, and they look like the kind of worker every organization wants to have. But if you look closer you can see they’re not accomplishing much. Or else they’re getting it done slower and with more mistakes than people who focus on one activity at a time.

We have a word for this behavior. It’s called multitasking. More than just a popular buzzword, multitasking has become a workplace badge of honor that many proudly wear. But current research shows that multitasking does not serve us well, and that we engage in the behavior at our own peril.

In a recent study, researchers at Vanderbilt University used MRI imaging to monitor brain functioning in people engaged in more than one activity at a time. They summarized their findings as follows:

“When humans attempt to perform two tasks at once, execution of the first task usually leads to postponement of the second one. This task delay is thought to result from a bottleneck occurring at a central, amodal stage of information processing that precludes two response selection or decision-making operations from being concurrently executed…. Our results suggest that a neural network of frontal lobe areas acts as a central bottleneck of information processing that severely limits our ability to multitask.”

Or in plain English, humans suck at multitasking.

The problem isn’t so much that we don’t do well at multitasking. It’s that we think we do. In today’s time-deprived, more-on-our-plates-than-we-can-handle-at-one-time workplace, multitasking seems like a sensible approach to the incessant demands on our time and attention. So we continue to engage in the behavior, even in the face of increasing evidence that suggests we do so to our own detriment.

How does multitasking keep us from performing at our best?

It makes us less efficient. A million years of evolution has designed the human brain to focus on one task at a time. When chasing prey or fleeing a predator, suddenly shifting our attention to some other activity did not enhance the odds that we would live to chase or flee another day. The same holds true in today’s office environment. In one study, participants who engaged in several tasks at once took nearly 1/3 longer to complete those tasks. They also made twice as many errors as those who did the same tasks one at a time.

Our brains aren’t hardwired to perform two actions concurrently. When we attempt to juggle multiple tasks, our brains have to turn off the cognitive rules for the old task and turn on a different set of rules for the new one. Sort of like early PCs, when we had to insert one disk to word process and then eject it and insert another disk in order to run a database program (not that I am old enough to remember such things first hand!). This cognitive switching takes time, which reduces productivity, especially among those who multitask on a frequent basis.

It inhibits creativity. One might assume that working on several different activities at once would get the brain synapses firing and the creative juices flowing. But research shows the opposite. A Harvard Business School study evaluated the daily work patterns of several thousand people working on projects that required creativity and innovation. They found that those who focused on one activity for long periods of time exhibited higher levels of creative thinking. Those who experienced highly fragmented days, with ongoing interruptions and constant interaction with others, showed significantly lower levels of creative thinking.

It causes stress. No big surprise here. Multiple studies have shown that multitaskers exhibit higher levels of stress hormones. In addition, surveys have found that a large majority of people believe that struggling to keep up with information overload has lowered job satisfaction and caused conflict in their personal relationships. Some even reported that it damaged their health.

It’s addictive. Again, the research supports the anecdotal evidence. We all know at least one person who can’t go five minutes without checking their cell phone for text or voice messages, no matter what else they’re doing. So it’s no surprise that another Harvard study found that multitaskers often report feeling the equivalent of a “dopamine squirt” (dopamine is one of the feel-good brain chemicals) when engaged in a multitasking episode.

Clearly, multitasking does not produce the results we hope for or intend. Instead, it actually works against the goals we’re trying to achieve. Tune in to next week’s blog for tips on how to break this inefficient and ineffective cycle.

Are We Short-Changing our Middle Managers?

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:45:39 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Every once in a while you run across a statistic or bit of information that really makes you sit up and take notice. Here’s the latest one for me.

According to the ASTD (American Society for Training & Development), the ranks of middle managers have significantly declined over the past two years while their responsibilities have continued to grow. No surprise there, since we’re all being asked to do more with less.

But here’s the eye-opener: a recent survey by ASTD of 2,000 mid-level managers found that only 11% felt well prepared to handle their increased responsibilities and challenges over the next two years. That means that almost nine out of every 10 mid-level managers lack confidence in their own ability to fulfill their job responsibilities! It’s no wonder that many of today’s senior executives worry that the next generation of business leaders lacks the ability to think strategically, lead change, create a vision, and rally others around that vision.

These are all critical ingredients of senior leadership. But the one that really stands out for me is the inability to think strategically, which I define as “the ability to look ahead and anticipate opportunities and threats while successfully managing the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities.” In today’s complex world, this critical skill needs to be taught at all levels of the organization, and especially at the mid-manager level.

Middle managers occupy a unique rung on the corporate ladder. They must have the big-picture skills to understand what senior management is trying to accomplish so they can help translate those strategies into realistic action plans. Their position also requires a strong focus on the day-to-day stuff that needs to happen in order to achieve the high-level objectives. When middle managers lack the ability to think strategically, the organization may get better and more efficient at what it currently does, but it won’t be able to quickly adapt to or stay ahead of changing market conditions.

Here’s where the Inform, Inspire, and Engage™ process that I teach can help.

Informing middle managers starts with sharing the why, what, and how of your strategic plan. Then discuss and get clear on individual roles in meeting the goals necessary to achieve the plan. In particular, make sure your managers have clarity around the organization’s destination points (where you’re going), strategic priorities (areas of
focus for the organization), and key initiatives (what you will do to get there). Your managers must not only understand these areas, but also be able to clearly communicate them to the people on their teams, departments and projects.

Inspiring involves making sure employees feel like they’re making a difference in their individual jobs and through the organization as a whole. This becomes easier when employees understand and buy in to the mission, direction, and destination of the organization. Ask yourself questions like:

Have I connected our mission to a better future for our organization?
What customer (internal/ external) feedback can I share that supports what we are doing and why?
Do we regularly ask our midlevel managers for feedback on our strategic goals and objectives?
Are we clear on what’s in it for them if we achieve those goals and objectives?
What ongoing management processes can I create to keep our middle managers informed and inspired?

Engaging consists of the actions (not just words) you take that encourage people to invest all their skills and abilities in their jobs. This is especially critical for today’s mid-level managers who often feel overwhelmed, overworked, and under-appreciated for what they get done.

To engage your middle managers:

Keep them focused on your definition of winning by constantly communicating why you will win. This is especially important when unexpected change throws your strategy or your market for a loop.
Get great at giving (and receiving) feedback. Nothing makes people feel more engaged than having one-on-one time with their boss so that they can hear what they need to hear and be heard on what they need to say.
Check in with your managers on a regular basis to monitor their progress. Make sure all individual goals remain aligned with company goals.
Give plenty of recognition, both public and private, for outstanding performance.

Having middle managers who lack confidence in their own abilities is no way to run a business. Help your next generation of senior executives gain the confidence and skill sets they need to succeed by teaching them to think strategically and by informing, inspiring, and engaging at every step of the way.

Using drama to enhance practice

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:29:49 CST

by Geof Cox.

Change management practitioners often use drama techniques such as forum theatre and role play to enhance their workshops, conferences and interventions. With this in mind, all are welcome at a professional development workshop being run in Bristol, UK on 24 March 2011.

Investigate the use of professional actors in creating interest, excitement and realism to conferences and workshops through the use of forum theatre, role play and real play.
Use drama techniques to develop your own technique and presence.
Consider using plays such as Henry V (and as we will see in the workshop, King Lear) as a demonstration and source of inspiration and learning.

In this workshop you can experience, try out and learn from leaders in the field, including Mark Huggins and his team from Corporate Drama and Erik de Haan, Director of the Centre for Coaching at Ashridge Management College. There will also be opportunities to share experiences and develop applications for yourself through discussion with the facilitators and other participants.

The event is being hosted at the Brewery Theatre in Bristol, using its theatre space to add atmosphere and reality to the subject matter, and its foyer, studio space and Green Room as more intimate discussion areas.

As a CPD event run by practitioners for practitioners, it is being run on a cost recovery, not for profit, basis. Hence the highly accessible price of £125.00 plus VAT, including lunch and refreshments during the day.

Download details from the attachment to this post, go to www.newdirections.uk.com or call on +44 117 968 1451

Time to Test Your Strategy?

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:12:44 CST

by Holly G. Green.

If you have an interest in strategy, I highly recommend subscribing to the “McKinsey Quarterly” e-newsletter. It doesn’t cost anything to sign up, and the well-researched articles keep you up to date on the latest in strategic planning trends and thought leadership. The research tends to be conducted with, and geared toward, larger company CEOs and executives. But the information has real application for anyone trying to lead a business of any size through today’s uncertain markets.

The January edition contains a great article, entitled “Have You Tested Your Strategy Lately?” that outlines 10 tests for evaluating your strategy. It also provides some very interesting feedback from senior executives who rated how their strategies match up against the tests.

In its survey of 2,100 executives, McKinsey reports that 65% said their strategies passed three or fewer of the tests listed in the article. Twenty-five percent said their strategies passed four to six of the tests, and only 10% said that their strategies passed seven to 10.

The article acknowledges that there’s no magic number for how many tests your strategy should pass. Passing most of them doesn’t guarantee success. And passing only a few doesn’t mean your strategy is doomed to failure. But applying the tests to your strategy accomplishes two very important goals. One, it provides a framework and a measuring stick for several key strategy metrics that often get overlooked. Two, it serves as an excellent starting point for raising the level of discussion around your firm’s strategy.

Too often, once a strategy gets written the discussion tends to taper off as people go back to business as usual. Applying these tests to your strategy helps to keep the plan alive and relevant while bringing up several key points that might otherwise never see the light of day.

All 10 of the tests are sure to generate worthwhile discussion. But four in particular align with topics that I frequently address in this blog.

Test #4: Does your strategy put you ahead of trends?

In many companies, strategic planning involves little more than incrementally ratcheting up the goals from the previous year. In other words, doing the same things as last year, only doing a little more of them and doing them a little better. But in today’s markets, the big winners are those companies that successfully create disruptive (rather than incremental) change. Doing so requires getting ahead of the curve rather than following just behind it. If your strategy puts you in the middle of emerging trends in your industry, you could be vulnerable to competitors creating change and innovation at the leading edge.

Test #6: Does your strategy embrace uncertainty?

Change occurs at a frightening pace these days, which means every strategy should be crafted with an uncertain, rather than static or predictable, world in mind. To embrace uncertainty, start by shortening your time frame. Today’s strategic plans should look out 12 to 18 months at maximum. Anything further and you’re just guessing. At the same time, don’t assume your strategy will unfold exactly as written. Plan for changes to occur, both expected and unexpected, by considering multiple scenarios when crafting your strategy.

Test #8: Is your strategy contaminated by bias?

The biggest danger to most strategies consists of lack of awareness regarding your own attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions about how the world works. What do you know to be true about your customers? Your markets? Your industry? What are you constantly telling yourself and each other that “must be so” about how to add value to your customers? Unless you check these “thought bubbles” on a regular basis, your entire strategy may well rest on outdated or worse – false – facts and opinions. When a strategy no longer aligns with the wants and needs of its customers, it has already become obsolete.

Test #10: Have you translated your strategy into an action plan?

I call this the “Marine barracks inspection test.” If a drill sergeant ran his white-gloved finger across your strategic plan, would it come away clean or would there be a thick residue of dust from sitting on the shelf? Strategies don’t unfold by themselves. They need detailed action plans that translate high-level goals into specific actions, behaviors, and incremental objectives for the people who will implement the plan. Good strategies almost always ask people to do things differently. Unless you provide clear action steps, people tend to get stuck in doing things the way they have always done them. You shouldn’t use the “and then a miracle occurs” approach for turning your strategic plan into reality!

In today’s markets, you may not get the chance for a do-over if your strategy misses the mark. Putting your strategy to these tests will definitely improve your chances of getting it right the first time.

Mark Your Calendars for Wear Red Day February 4th

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:00:50 CST

by Holly G. Green.

In the time it takes you to read halfway through this blog, someone’s mother, daughter, sister, aunt or grandmother will die from heart disease.

Not quite two years ago, I nearly became one of those victims, suffering a major heart attack while on a business trip. Fortunately, I survived with no significant scar tissue and everything still in good working order. I do have three stents in my heart and I serve actively as the best example of how to do it all wrong when you have symptoms that may be heart related. I only wish I had paid more attention to The American Heart Association and their annual “Go Red Day”!

An annual campaign that takes place on the first Friday in February, Wear Red Day serves to increase awareness of heart disease in the workplace, promote prevention of heart disease, and raise funds for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Movement. You and your organization can participate by hosting your own Wear Red Day.

Why should you support Wear Red Day? Here are some sobering statistics:

Coronary heart disease and stroke represent the #1 and #3 killers of women over age 25 in America. Although one in 30 women die of breast cancer, more than one in three die from cardiovascular disease. Every year, nearly half a million women lose their lives to this terrible, treatable, and often preventable, disease.

But supporting Wear Red Day can also be good for your business. Research has shown that 80% of consumers are likely to switch brands that are similar in price and quality when one of those brands supports a cause. Three-fourths of Americans consider a company’s commitment to social issues when deciding where to work. And of the 220,000 incidences of sudden cardiac arrest per year in the United States, about 10,000 occur at work. Learning more about the disease could save the life of a valued employee.

How can you support Wear Read Day?

First, note that your event doesn’t have to take place on February 4^th. You can host a Wear Red Day event on any day during February that works for you. Also, your Wear Red Day event can be as simple or elaborate as you choose. For example:

· Ask employees to donate $5 to the Go Red For Women movement. Those who contribute can wear jeans/dress down/take a longer lunch on your Wear Red Day.

· Invite an employee with a personal or family experience with heart disease to speak at an educational lunch session, and include educational handouts.

· Provide a heart healthy snack break and have employees donate $5 to participate.

The official Wear Red Day Tool Kit has all of the resources you need to make your event a success, including instructions, downloadable templates to help you get the message out, posters, fact sheets, newsletters and helpful tips. To download the kit, visit the Go Red for Women website at www.goredforwomen.org/wearredday.

Perhaps the most important part for all of us is learning to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack. Mine started with shortness of breath and a sharp pain in my chest, which I attributed to walking up a long flight of stairs with a 30 pound backpack on my back. It wasn’t until I was up all night throwing up with intense pain in my back that I drove an hour and a half home to seek medical help. Even then, I thought the urgent care doctor was overreacting a bit when he did an EKG, put me in an ambulance and sent me directly to the hospital! Fortunately, I was properly diagnosed and received excellent care from the emergency room team.

To learn more about the warning signs of a heart attack or stroke, visit the American Heart Association website at www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Conditions_UCM_305346_SubHomePage.jsp. If you even think you might be having a heart attack, get to a doctor or emergency room as quickly as possible! And don’t do what I did (drive yourself), call an ambulance!

Since that rude awakening nearly two years ago, I have been exercising more and learning how to meditate – both of which help to reduce the heart rate, normalize blood pressure, enhance breathing, reduce stress hormones, and strengthen the body’s immune system. The experience has also given me a renewed focus on supporting clients in winning due to greater clarity of how precious our time and energy is.

With your support of Wear Red Day we can raise awareness of this important issue, create a passionate call-to-action, and generate funds to support education and research. I thank you from the bottom (and stents) of my heart for helping to make a difference in this important effort!

Shifting From Strategic Planning to Strategic Agility

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:23:26 CST

by Holly G. Green.

At the end of last year, I wrote about the need to put the old strategic planning model out to pasture and embrace a new method that focuses on developing strategic agility.

Here’s why this is so critical.

At its core, strategic planning involves a process of analysis. You do some research into what is and what isn’t possible. You define a goal, break that goal down into manageable steps, and determine how to implement them while identifying the expected consequences of each step. It’s a logical, straightforward process designed to sequentially move the organization from where you are now to where you want to go.

The huge flaw in this process is the assumption that the world is reasonably stable and somewhat predictable. Maybe a few generations ago. But anyone who has been paying attention the last few years knows that today’s world is neither.

The traditional planning model also assumes that products and markets move through their life cycles in a sequential, orderly manner. Again, maybe a few generations ago, but certainly not any more. When you can’t forecast what your market will look like in a year or even six months, engaging in a lengthy planning process only wastes time and resources. Worse, it gives competitors who have already embraced strategic thinking a distinct advantage.

What’s the difference between strategic planning and strategic thinking?

Strategic planning is a seemingly logical, linear, step-by-step process that focuses on analysis. Strategic thinking engages other parts of our brain in synthesizing in addition to analyzing. It uses intuition, creativity and “what if?” questioning to pull together an integrated perspective from a wide variety of data sources and creates a vision of where the organization needs to go.

Strategic planning has a beginning and an end. It is typically conducted by senior management, and usually results in a formal written plan. Strategic thinking never ends. It becomes an integral part of how the organization conducts its business, and needs to be practiced by employees at all levels.

To develop the skill of strategic thinking in your organization:

Focus on a target. Start by getting very clear on what winning looks like for your organization (division, team, project, etc.). Then communicate your picture of winning over and over until everyone gets it.

Ask the right questions. When you can’t have all the data, the only alternative is to ask the right questions. Good questions get people to look at the same data differently, so that you get many different perspectives on any given issue. They also shift the energy so that people look to find what will instead of what won’t.

Balance the big picture and the details along the way. Here’s where strategic thinking really diverges from strategic planning. With strategic planning, you set a firm course and stick to it as much as possible, making some allowances for deviation from the plan. Strategic thinking remains focused on the target (big picture) while staying open and flexible to changing what it takes to get there (the details).

Explore new channels. Strategic thinking also requires broadening your horizons and expanding your data gathering efforts beyond traditional sources. What’s happening beyond the walls of your business and your industry? Where else can you look to learn? How can you develop new ways of communicating and connecting with key stakeholders?

Teach strategic thinking skills. Teach people at all levels to anticipate opportunities and threats while managing their day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Give them the training, coaching, and mentoring to become more responsive to changing customer needs. Develop their creative problem solving skills, and help them understand how their decisions and actions impact the business in the future as well as today.

Stage your field of vision. Most of all, strategic thinking requires a daily focus on your vision of winning. How will you keep the right things in front of you to direct your attention, energy, and thoughts on winning? How can you get them in front of others? How will you stay clear on winning when major challenges and obstacles arise?

Strategic thinking requires a delicate balancing act between holding fast to your vision of winning while adjusting to the constant upheavals in the world around us. It also requires the development of new skills and ways of thinking. The ultimate goal is to develop strategic agility, or the ability to respond quickly to changing market conditions without losing focus on your vision of winning.

If you’re still doing strategic planning the old way, when the next big change hits your market or industry, don’t be surprised to find that you’re the one who gets left behind.

Self Funding Leadership Development for Successful Change

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:36:49 CST

by andy radka.

Self Funding Leadership Development – A New Delivery Model

In difficult times leadership is even more important to sustain and improve organisational performance. Development programmes are expensive so why not make these self funding with participants learning as they deliver to maximise the outcomes?

What Can Happen Now?

Traditional leadership development can be a ‘sheep dip’ with everyone receiving exactly the same content, or a ‘tick box’ approach against a generic framework - whether this is relevant to their learning styles, personal needs, or the organisation’s needs - or not. Any payback on this substantial investment is often seen as being much further ‘downstream’ - to be measured later, if at all. Participants are ‘provided’ with leadership training packed with all the latest concepts believed to be appropriate. This means they rarely feel obliged to take responsibility for their own learning and improved performance. There can also be a ‘disconnect’ between the development programme and the ‘proper jobs’ of the participants. Participants find it almost impossible to apply their learning in practice. The overall result is that they are criticised for lack of motivation while the training provider can also be criticised for not having a live stake in ensuring new skill deployment or sustainable behaviour change.

What Should Happen

It is very difficult if not impossible to ‘create’ a leader in a classroom. Leadership is not a theory to be taught - it is a practice which must be learned and appreciated through experience of actually ‘leading’. Leadership development is about taking action, learning from this and gaining useful insights. Development needs to be more immediate, measurable and linked to a real return for the organisation and the individuals. Commissioning should begin by asking which change projects requiring leadership are priorities and then asking how leaders can be developed while they are delivering these. The content of a leadership programme should be driven by both the needs and learning preferences of the participants, taking responsibility for their learning, and their business projects. This would be embedded in formal contracts of learning and project delivery before the programme commences. People are then part of a dynamic ‘win win’ development programme - learning as they deliver. The connection between the programme and the business is then highly visible - which increases the focus on delivery by the participant group. There should be project and programme sponsorship at the highest level to ensure both generative learning and action take place with steering group meetings regularly checking progress on projects and learning.

The Big Idea

The philosophy of this more dynamic model for self funding leadership development is simple and powerful. Using Action Learning principles the participants in each group bring their experience and skills to the table to address a real business challenge and the facilitator helps them to tackle this by providing leading edge thinking, concepts and tools on demand to encourage learning. Where this potent mixture meets lies the opportunity for reflective insight, leadership learning and measured, added value for the organisation and the individual. This helps to address the challenge of difficult times by linking leadership development programmes directly to measurable positive outcomes and value for money.

What are the differences then?

Existing Model?

Self Funding Leadership Model

Participants are scheduled to attend or it is an option for their personal development plan. Their leadership competence is expected to improve, but often without a direct clear route back into outcomes for the organisation. Programme objectives covering learning and action are not fully embedded in personal performance objectives with line managers or within the strategic plans of the organisation.

Participants sign a contract which recognises the 'win win' nature of the deal. They get personal development and the opportunity to enhance their cv. The return to the company is spelled out – delivery of the project to pay for the programme in either cost reduction and/or service improvement. Project objectives and learning objectives are integrated within the line manager appraisal process. Project is part of the organisational strategic plan.

Participants are provided with leadership modules and expected to ‘learn’ during these days and then deploy in the workplace. However there is no ‘vehicle’ or process to provide a focussed starting point for taking action and applying their individual and group learning inside the organisation.

A suitable project is selected which will demand leadership and also ‘pay’ for the programme. Each cohort will collaborate on this to encourage team work and cross departmental working. The project must have real impact and the group will be able to deliver it while developing themselves as leaders.

The facilitator ‘delivers’ the programme content. There is little scope to vary the content to allow the participants to take responsibility for deciding relevant content. Everyone gets the same ‘treatment’ whether they require it or not.

The facilitator becomes more of a coach to help overcome ‘learning anxieties’ and provide a gateway to learning new concepts and theories. The ‘learning’ input is driven by the learning preferences and requirements of the group and the project. The facilitator is a catalyst within the group.

Existing resources and capabilities are neglected in favour of the latest approach. The organisation has a long wish list of the latest concepts, tools and approaches to be included. People are expected to ‘learn’ these inside the programme and deploy outside it.

Previous organisational learning resources are factored in. New virtual learning and collaboration approaches are used which can involve others inside and outside the programme. Participants take responsibility to seek out or request appropriate learning resources.

The provider ‘delivers’ the agreed programme content without a full commercial focus on the impact within the Client organisation - in terms of behaviour change and new skills deployment.

The provider contract includes a clear role as collaborator to assure delivery. The fee is split to reflect this to ensure the Client only pays for completion when happy with delivery of the agreed outputs. This will maintain a focus on the delivery of outcomes.

Works on a supply side approach. The organisation supplies the generic specification for participants and the provider supplies the materials, content and the delivery.

Works on a demand side approach by firstly identifying which challenging project the organisation needs delivered. Participants then identify the learning support they need to develop their leadership skills to enable delivery.

E mail: andy.radka@creative-partners.com

Website: www.creative-partners.com

Declutter Your Business (and Your Life) in 2011!

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:39:34 CST

by Holly G. Green.

If you could do ONE thing to make 2011 your best year ever, what would it be?

According to three out of every four respondents in a recent Better Homes and Gardens survey, it would consist of “decluttering” their lives. In other words, getting rid of all the stuff that seems important (but really isn’t) so they can focus on what is important.

I heartily agree!

If you read my blog or have heard me give a keynote presentation, you know that I constantly stress the importance of defining what winning looks like for your organization. In fact, the most important task of the leader involves painting a picture of what winning looks like, getting everyone headed in that direction, and keeping them aligned.

But getting clear on winning requires more than just figuring out what you need to do and how you will do it. It also includes getting clear on what you will not do and then making sure those things don’t sap your time, energy, and attention.

When I work with clients on strategic planning, one of the first things we do is a “clearing the plate” exercise. This consists of identifying everything that looks important but does not actually contribute to reaching the destination. In particular, it involves taking an inventory of all the major initiatives and big projects started in the past that no longer fit the organization’s definition of winning.

Most leaders have no trouble identifying these projects. In fact, we seem to know intuitively when a project no longer makes sense because the goals have gotten out of sync with changing market realities. Even so, we often struggle with letting those projects go, for two basic reasons.

The first has to do with Newton’s first law, which states that a body in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an opposing force. (Does this apply to the business world, or what?) Anyone who has spent any time in management knows that the longer a project hangs around, the more momentum it gains and the harder it is to kill. Even when it becomes clear that the original objectives may no longer be desirable or that the project will never achieve its stated goals, it’s own momentum will often keep it alive long after it should get put to sleep.

The second reason has to do with another of my favorite subjects – thought bubbles, or the things we tells ourselves about what we know to be true in the world. In this case, the more time, energy and money we invest in a particular project, the more numerous and powerful our thought bubbles about why we shouldn’t shut it down.

I’ve already mentioned the #1 thought bubble, “We’ve invested too much time and energy in this, so we can’t stop now.” Here’s what some others might sound like:

To stop now would be admitting defeat.
The whole team will look bad if we don’t see this project through.
We can’t shut this one down; it’s the boss’s pet project.
If we stop doing this our customers will never forgive us.

The list of thought bubbles could go on and on, but they all have one thing in common. They’re all based on assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs rather than hard data. And the worst thing we can do with any business decision is to make it on outdated ideas and beliefs rather than up-to-date information. So a large part of decluttering involves examining our thought bubbles about what we’re doing and why, and then determining whether our beliefs and assumptions are actually true.

I’m not saying that all ongoing projects should get the axe. Just those that are getting in the way of reaching your destination for 2011. Once you remove them from your line of sight, you’ll be amazed at how much better you can focus on what you need to get done.

The same principle holds true away from the office.

Decluttering our personal lives will go a long way toward helping us achieve any personal goals we may have set for the new year. That means taking a serious look at how we spend our personal time and which activities contribute to achieving our goals and which ones don’t. Then we need to identify and examine the thought bubbles that tell us to hold on to those activities, and determine just how valid they really are.

I propose we make 2011 the official “Year of the Declutter.” Anyone care to join me?

Five Leadership Strategies That Can Make or Break Your Business in 2011

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:43:53 CST

by Holly G. Green.

What’s in store for business leaders in 2011?

As I gaze into my crystal ball, I see a year of promise and opportunity. And I see new challenges that require different ways of thinking and leading organizations.

It’s not just that opportunities, threats, and changes in the marketplace happen faster and with less predictability than they used to. It’s that they’re also becoming increasingly interconnected and interrelated in ways we’ve never had to deal with before. The result is a significantly more volatile and uncertain world. One where disruptive change can occur on a moment’s notice, and one where incremental change may no longer be enough to survive.

To lead your organization to even greater success in 2011:

1. Get clear on winning.

Employees have two questions permanently etched in the backs of their minds: where are we going as an organization and how will we get there? Your most important task as a leader is to answer those questions by painting a rich and vivid picture of what winning looks like for your organization.

To gain clarity around your vision of winning, paint the picture as if you have already achieved it. Ask yourself, when we win:

What three or four key strategic objectives have we accomplished?
How will we define our workplace culture in terms of attitudes, beliefs, values, and operating principles?
What skills, knowledge and abilities will exist in the organization? In each business unit?
What organizational structures will be in place company-wide, and at each business unit?
What work processes and metrics will we use?
What tools, systems and technologies will we need, both internally and externally?
What products will we have in the market? What products in development?
Who will our customers be? How many will we have?
Who will our competitors be? What type of companies will we compete against?
What will be our greatest competitive advantage? Our biggest threat?
How will we be known?
What will our brand represent?

Once you have a compelling picture of winning, communicate it! Not just once, but constantly, so that people never lose sight of the goal.

2. Get closer to your customers.

Last year, IBM asked more than 1,500 CEOs around the globe how they saw customer expectations changing over the next five years. Eighty-two percent said they expect customers to demand a better understanding of their needs. Not ask for, but demand. Seventy percent said their customers would expect new and different services.

To stay current with your customers and their changing needs:

Increase the frequency of contact. The old days of sending out a customer satisfaction survey once a year are long gone.

Check your assumptions about your customers and your markets on a regular basis. Don’t assume that what you knew to be true six months ago is still valid.

Make customers part of your team. Find new ways to communicate with them (i.e. social media) and new ways to leverage what they tell you. Invite them to participate in your new product development process.

Develop new ways of gathering, analyzing and using the information customers provide about how you can help solve their problems and achieve their goals. Make sure this information gets to everyone in your organization who needs it.

Make every employee in the company responsible for customer satisfaction. Not just those who work directly with the customer, but every employee.

Most of all, make it easy and transparent for customers to do business with you. And make sure you know (don’t guess) what really motivates them to buy your product or service.

3. Get good at scanning the horizon.

In today’s world, new competitive threats can emerge from anywhere at any time. To keep from getting blindsided, get in the habit of looking at three specific areas:

Your own industry. Where do you stand in relation to your competitors? Are you growing faster or slower? Of the companies growing faster, what are they doing new, different, or better than you? Are they merely improving the status quo, or are they looking to transform your industry?

Adjacent industries. Which companies that serve your industry are growing fastest, and why? If they decided to enter your industry, what barriers would they face? Do they have the people, technology and resources to overcome those barriers? Do they have the potential to introduce disruptive innovation into your industry?

The world at large. What companies/industries currently enjoy the most explosive growth rates? What issues and problems do they solve for their customers? Are those solutions likely to impact your industry or your business?

Set up a “We Refuse to Get Blindsided” team that meets at least once a quarter, and task them with researching emerging products, technologies, demographics, and trends in all three areas. Make the team as diverse as possible. Not just in terms of job skills and responsibilities, but also in personality, thinking and decision-making styles. The more perspectives you have on the team, the broader the net it will cast.

4. Get good at strategic thinking.

Not just you, but everyone in your organization!

Today’s business environment demands a workforce that can move fast with focus and flexibility. If you can’t respond quickly to changing market conditions and unforeseen events, you’ll get left behind by faster, more strategically agile competitors that can.

Teach people at all levels to anticipate opportunities and threats while managing their day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Give them the training, coaching and mentoring to become more responsive to changing customer needs. Develop their creative problem solving skills, and help them understand how their decisions and actions impact the business in the future as well as today.

Structure your organization so that it can realign quickly in response to unexpected events. Learn how to say “no” to opportunities that take you off focus, unless you have redefined winning and agreed to the new destination. Create laser-like focus and prioritization at every level, keeping your picture of winning visible at all times by communicating it and keeping it physically in front of people on a regular basis.

5. Get good at innovating.

This is perhaps the biggest challenge because most companies aren’t set up to innovate. To support innovation on an ongoing basis:

Have a vision and set clear goals. Get very clear on why you’re innovating, what you want to achieve, and how you will get there.

Don’t limit your search for new ideas. Look internally and externally for new product ideas and for ways to improve your systems and processes. Sometimes the best ideas come from unlikely sources.

Develop a culture of communication. Innovation isn’t cheap. Don’t waste time and money duplicating ideas and/or efforts because different parts of the organization didn’t talk to each other.

Provide full management support. Innovation can’t succeed if employees see it as just another “flavor of the month” management fad. Management must commit sufficient expertise and resources, and demonstrate that commitment by their actions as well as their words.

Develop an appropriate reward system. If employees don’t get rewarded for new ideas, they won’t come up with any. Make sure your reward system aligns with your innovation goals and the innovation model you adopt. And don’t limit your rewards thinking to just monetary – employees are often as motivated by simple recognition such as thank you notes, personalized emails, comments in team meetings, etc.

Most important, strive for disruptive, rather than incremental, innovation. Disruptive innovation redefines your market and the way value gets delivered. It fundamentally alters the customer’s relationship with your product or service. And it puts you in a position of market leadership so that competitors end up chasing you instead of the other way around.

For companies looking to get ahead, innovation is no longer a “nice to have.” It needs to become a way of life!

Push yourself to incorporate these five strategies into your working habits. Unlearn some of your old ways of doing things so you can relearn based on all the change around you – you’ll win!

Time for a Strategic Planning Makeover

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:13:22 CST

by Holly G. Green.

When it comes to organizational sacred cows, strategic planning sits very close to the top of the list for most organizations.

We all know the drill. Take the senior management team off-site for a weekend. Evaluate last year’s performance. Conduct the basic SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. Set some goals for the upcoming year. Pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. Play a couple rounds of golf. Return to the office Monday morning and get back to the business of running our businesses.

This process may vary from company to company, but the basic model remains the same.

Well, I say the time has come to put this sacred cow out to pasture.

Back when the world moved a lot slower and markets didn’t change overnight, the traditional strategic planning model served us quite well. It got business leaders to rise above the day-to-day minutia of running the business and focus on the big picture. And it gave everyone a sense of direction and purpose, at least for a little while.

But as we all know, the world has changed dramatically since this planning model was first introduced. We still need to plan. In fact, planning is probably more important than ever. What needs to change is not so much how we plan, but why we plan and how we go about implementing our plans. We also need to change how we think about the planning process.

Traditional strategic planning involves looking out three to five years, predicting where your industry will be, and setting a firm course in that direction. Once the plan has been crafted, it gets rolled out with great fanfare, and for about one-tenth of a nanosecond everyone in the organization is actually working from the same page.

But then a curious thing happens. Management typically puts the plan high up on the shelf and leaves it there. They stop communicating with employees about the strategies and goals included in the plan. And they assume that the plan will unfold exactly as written.

Instead of monitoring the plan on a regular basis, management sits back and waits for it to magically happen. When it starts to get off track, as every plan does, management typically adopts a wait-and-see attitude, preferring to ride out any bumps in the plan rather than make any “unnecessary” adjustments. The end result is a business that struggles to achieve its goals. And one in which most employees have no clue where the organization is headed or how it will get there.

What does the new strategic planning model look like?

For starters, it looks a lot more fluid and flexible. You still set a target destination, but one that doesn’t look nearly as far into the future. And you still set intermediate goals and action steps to help you reach your destination. But instead of putting the plan up on the shelf to gather dust, the focus shifts to monitoring and measuring the plan on a regular basis and making adjustments in response to changing market conditions.

Here’s a quick comparison between the old model and the new:

Old model: Plan three to five years out.

New model: Plan 12 to 18 months out.

Old model: Look at last year’s numbers and set this year’s goal three to five percent higher.

New model: Set this year’s target based on the opportunities available in the market, on what achieving excellence in a new (and constantly evolving) game looks like, not on what happened last year.

Old model: Set a firm target and a firm route for getting there.

New model: Set a firm destination and build in plenty of flexibility for how you will get there. Enable those closest to the work to make day to day decisions based on the getting to the destination.

Old model: Announce the plan at the beginning of the year and then never say a word about it beyond sporadic management meetings.

New model: Constantly communicate the plan to all employees, using a variety of methods and media. Continuously address “here is why we will still win” even when markets and conditions shift or plans unfold unexpectedly.

Old model: Put the plan on shelf to collect dust.

New model: Review the plan on a regular basis. Ideally, once a month. Once a quarter at minimum.

Old model: Invest a lot of time and energy in creating the plan. Then hope it happens.

New model: Make implementing the plan a priority. Keep it in front of yourself and everyone involved. Talk about it, measure to it, and modify it as needed. This includes making quick mid-course corrections based on changes in your markets and customer needs.

Our business world has become too complex and moves far too quickly to waste time and resources crafting rigid strategic plans that become obsolete before we get halfway through. Success in today’s volatile markets requires moving from strategic planning to strategic agility.

The former is a once-a-year event. The latter is an ongoing process that allows you to respond quickly without losing focus when disruptive change blows up your marketplace.

Stay tuned for more on developing strategic agility.

Don’t Get Blinded By Your Own Data

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:11:00 CST

by Holly G. Green.

Remember the good old days when products, markets, and industries had fairly predictable lifecycles?

Back then, carefully managing a few key metrics was usually enough to ensure the continued health of the business. As long as sales and revenues held steady or continued to grow, we could remain reasonably confident regarding the future of the business. And if we stayed current with emerging technologies and trends in our industries, we didn’t get blindsided by unexpected change.

Well, those days are long gone, and I don’t see them coming back anytime soon. In today’s uncertain business environment, tracking only internal metrics could lead to our demise due to unforeseen external events. The U.S. Postal Service, which currently stands poised on the brink of insolvency, offers a compelling example.

Over the past decade, the postal industry tracked a steady decline in the growth rate of the volume of mail it delivers. An obvious red flag for any business. But thanks to regular increases in the price of postage, revenues remained steady, leading those at the top to conclude that all remained well. Meanwhile, growth rates for email, texting and other communications technologies were exploding. While the Post Office struggled to keep up with traditional competitors like UPS and FedEx, it got totally blindsided by a different industry.

The music industry shares a similar story.

When growth in the total number of CDs sold began to level off earlier in this decade, higher retail prices kept revenue streams steady for a while. While music industry leaders focused on traditional sales and revenue metrics, digital music providers snuck in and not only stole large chunks of market share, they literally changed the way people buy music. Ask anyone under age 15 when they last purchased a music CD. They’ll look at you like you’re crazy!

It’s easy to say these industry leaders got complacent and quit paying attention, but I don’t agree. I think they were paying attention, just to the wrong things.

Obviously, we need to continue tracking traditional metrics such as sales, profit margins, and revenue streams. But in a world where business models can get “obsoleted” overnight, we need to do more than just track the data. We need to look beyond our own organizations to see where the next unexpected threats and/or disruptions might come from.

I suggest looking in three specific areas:

Our own industry. Where do we stand in relation to our competitors? Are we growing faster or slower? Of the companies growing faster, what are they doing new, different, or better than us? Are they merely improving the status quo, or are they looking to transform our industry?

Adjacent industries. Which companies that serve our industry are growing fastest, and why? If they decided to enter our industry, what barriers would they face? Do they have the people, technology, and resources to overcome those barriers? Will new technology or ways of working eliminate the barriers in place today? Do they have the potential to introduce disruptive innovation into our industry?

The world at large. What companies/industries currently enjoy the most explosive growth rates? What issues and problems do they solve for their customers? Are those solutions likely to impact our industry or our business?

Most companies ask these questions once a year, during strategic planning, if at all. To avoid getting blindsided by unexpected competitors or events, we need to make them a regular part of how we review and analyze data.

For example, consider setting up a “We Refuse to Get Blindsided” team that meets at least once a quarter, and task them with researching emerging products, technologies, demographics, and trends in the three areas listed above. Or, if you have enough people, consider establishing a separate team for each area. Make the teams as diverse as possible. Not just in terms of job skills and responsibilities, but also in personality, thinking, and decision-making styles. The more perspectives you have on the team, the broader the net it will cast.

At the same time, constantly challenge your beliefs and assumptions about the traditional metrics you measure. Ask questions like, “Do we accept the data at face value or do we dig deeper to identify what’s driving the numbers? What is the data telling us that we might be missing? What changes in our industry could the data be causing us to overlook? What if we’re wrong about what we think the data is telling us? Is there anything we are missing from the bigger picture trends and happenings in the world?”

It’s easy to say the Postal Service and music industry should have seen it coming. But without a process in place for looking beyond the data, any business can fall victim to external circumstances and get stuck in doing the things that made them successful in the first place.

What will you do to ensure you don’t get blinded by your own data?

Who are the Pundits in Your Company?

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:16:18 CST

by Holly G. Green.

I recently came across a very interesting book that provides convincing evidence that we’re all more human than we think, including the experts we turn to for political and economic advice.

Expert Political Judgment, by Philip Tetlock, a psychologist who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, presents findings from a nearly 20-year project in which he asked 284 “pundits” (people who get paid large sums of money for offering opinions and advice on political and economic trends) to make predictions on a variety of issues. Tetlock also studied the pundits’ decision-making processes, assessed how they handled information that contradicted their views, and measured their reactions when their predictions failed to pan out.

Guess what?

When it comes to forecasting what the future holds, the so-called “experts” are no better than the rest of us! In fact, they often do worse, based on their over-inflated opinions of their expertise.

After reviewing more than 82,000 predictions from the study, Tetlock discovered that:

The majority of pundits performed worse than random chance, with less than half of their predictions actually coming true.

Specialists in a particular field are only slightly more accurate than non-specialists in predicting what will happen in their areas of expertise. Having a little bit of knowledge in a specific area might make you a more accurate forecaster. Having a lot can actually make you less accurate.

The greater the experts’ self-confidence in their abilities, the less reliable their predictions. People who keep up with current events via mainstream media can predict almost as accurately as specialists.

The better known and the more frequently quoted the expert, the less reliable their predictions.

What I found most interesting was how the pundits responded when proven wrong.

Rather than acknowledge their errors, the experts in Tetlock’s study tended to do one of four things. Claim that their prediction was basically correct but their timing was off. Argue that they got blindsided by an unexpected or improbable event. Insist that they almost got it right. Or grudgingly admit they got it wrong, but for the right reasons.

In other words, they used the same excuses and self-justifications that us less famous and lesser-paid mortals use. And they almost never changed their beliefs about the way the world works just because they happened to make a mistake.

Sound familiar?

It’s human nature to dismiss new information that doesn’t fit with our core attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions about how we see the world. So it’s not surprising that the pundits would readily accept any evidence that supported their theories, while casting a highly critical eye on any that argued against it. After all, this is the same human tendency that causes conservatives to watch only Fox news while liberals flock to movies by Michael Moore. And this is the same human tendency that causes us to make terrible blunders in our businesses.

The issue for business leaders, then, becomes one of identifying the pundits in our organizations and evaluating the influence they have on our decisions.

Who are the people that -- by virtue of their knowledge and expertise in a certain area, their positional power, their status among management or co-workers, or even their longevity with the company -- we turn to first when trying to discern what the future holds for the business? And do we automatically accept their word as gospel, even though evidence now suggests that we could have equal success predicting future events by randomly throwing darts at a board? Or do we challenge them to present real evidence to support their suppositions?

I’m not suggesting that we discount the knowledge and experience of specialists and experts in our organizations. But we must accept the fact that they are equally prone, and perhaps more so, to being blinded by their own attitudes and assumptions about how the world works. We need to pay closer attention to how we incorporate their ideas and opinions into our decision-making decisions. And we need to have safeguards in place to ensure that we don’t allow their biases and over-confidence in their abilities to lead us into decisions that may have devastating long-term consequences.

The bottom line from Tetlock’s study is that the experts we look to for opinions, advice and, yes, even a glimpse into the future, are just as vulnerable to human error as the rest of us. They cling just as tightly to what they “know” to be true. And like us, they hate to be wrong. And their thought bubbles tend to carry more weight.

I predict that we’ll get much better results if we keep this in mind when making decisions about the future of our organizations.

Are You Focused on Winning Like the NFL?

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:27:59 CST

by Holly G. Green.

We’re halfway through the NFL season, and I have to say that from a fan standpoint, I’ve had better years.

I root for the Cowboys, Broncos, Chargers and Falcons, although not necessarily in that order. So far only one of my teams (Falcons) enjoys a winning record, while the others have all dipped well below the .500 mark. After their usual slow start, the Chargers look like they may have started to turn things around. But barring an absolute miracle, the Broncos and Cowboys will surely end up watching the playoffs from the comfort of their living rooms.

I love watching pro football because it’s a fast-moving sport played by exceptional athletes. But I also love the many parallels between the game and the world of business. The NFL holds many valuable lessons for today’s business leaders, in particular its relentless focus on winning, regardless of a team’s won-lost record.

In preseason, every team shares the same definition of winning -- walking off the field as victors at the Super Bowl. Some may have higher expectations and more realistic hopes of getting there than others. But they all hold the same vision of hoisting the coveted Lombardi Trophy at the end of the final game.

Then the season starts and reality intrudes. The best teams outperform the others, make it to the playoffs, and get even more focused on winning. The rest fall by the wayside, and the players end up playing for pride and in many cases their jobs. But regardless of whether a team’s record is 10-2 or 2-10, they still remain intently focused on winning.

Why?

Because perhaps more than any other type of business (and never forget that pro football is first and foremost a business!), NFL head coaches understand the importance of having everyone focused on winning.

In sports and in business, the pursuit of winning keeps people focused and motivated. It aligns them with the vision and direction of the organization. It gives them a sense of purpose and a reason to show up for work every day. It reinforces the notion of being part of a team, a group of people who share the same values, goals and aspirations. And it gives people the courage and tenacity to fight through setbacks and adversity, which abound in the NFL.

For many teams, the definition of winning can change as the season progresses. For example, a team that sits at 2-6 at the halfway mark may redefine their destination as reaching .500 at the end of the season. But even when the Detroit Lions went 0-16 two years ago, I guarantee you their coach was continually talking about winning in the locker room, and doing his best to get his players to believe they could win the next game.

Another lesson we can learn from NFL football is the importance of making quick adjustments when the plan gets off track.

As business leaders, we have a tendency to lay out a plan and stick to it at all costs. We justify our inaction by saying things like, “We’re in a down market” or “It’s a temporary slump, sales will pick up next quarter.” Next thing we know, it’s the fourth quarter and we’re down by three touchdowns with no timeouts left. In football, if we don’t adjust quickly we lose a game. In business, the failure to adapt means we probably won’t survive.

Perhaps the best thing about NFL football, and all sports, is that everybody gets “do-overs.” No matter how badly a team performs, there’s always the next play, the next game, or next season. Of course, next season may involve new coaches and new players, but the team always gets an opportunity to start anew.

Not so in the business world.

Today’s markets move so quickly that we can’t afford the cost of do-overs. If we go 0-16 as a business, we may not get the opportunity to come back for another season. Even if we finish at .500, the best we can hope for is to constantly chase after the market leaders who have done a better job of adjusting their game plans.

To win the Super Bowl of business, we need to manage our organizations in a way that gives us the best chance of getting it right the first time. That starts with getting very clear on what winning looks like, and then constantly communicating that picture so it remains foremost in the minds of employees.

For this year, go Falcons (and maybe Chargers). For the Cowboys and Broncos, although I have not completely given up hope, just wait ‘til next year!

Working in a former eastern european country

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:24:13 CDT

by Jack Smith.

As the title introduces, I have moved to a former eastern european country - Romania. Of course, right now I face some difficulties. With all the crisis and the adjustments made to conquer it, there are some troubles for my industry - car retailing. We face the average costumer and try to approache his need but some more ideas are rare.If any of has some inspiration, I would welcome some impulses.

Change Strategist

Mon, 31 May 2010 11:32:25 CDT

by Ron Bauer.

I am a communication systems strategist, specializing in human behavior and process change development. My job is to co-create a strategy within the client environment that will facilitate lasting change. I am not a specialist in organizational change, I am a specialist in process systems dynamics. I focus on the people side of change which allows me to be versital in my approch, using creativity, intuition and various NLP strategies. My passion is to help transform business cultures by recognizing the communication style, meta programs and system dynamics of the work team.

I identify individuals' meta programs, understanding past regrets, frustrations and assessing the team environment on a process level. This provides a framework and a communication snapahot I can use to begin the process of culture change. I use my intuition, creativity and humor to work within the client environment on a group process level to change the way individuals interact with one another. By coaching each individual within the team on their communication strategies, I am able to reinforce new communication patterns and ultimately create a team environment where indivduals, teams and businesses will. thrive.www.bauerchangemanagement.com .

When is coaching about the other person?

Tue, 25 May 2010 09:39:47 CDT

by Lawrence Ng.

It seems so right to talk about "correcting" another person to reach their potential, however, honestly is coaching about the other person per se?

My writing is based an IF and that is to say,IF it is really about creating a realisation for another, when did I meet my own realisation to be authentic enough to be truthful about my intentions of 'helping' another individual/organisation? If talking about the talk and walking is simply words and achievements meant to drive advertisement of the self in the work I assume coaching is authentic enough, however something remains unsolved if it becomes solely about 'developing' another human being/organisation at the expense of authenticity, gravitus, response-ability, TRUTH and REALITY that I am creating in my coaching.

Does this fascinate you that a Life coach thinks this way, if so what goes on for you as you finish reading this? What opportunity of "thinking" and "doing", does this reasoning open up for you and perhaps, alternatively, what does it shut down in your interacting with the words on this page?

Looking forward to your feedback?Last question appears to be that of: when creating a reality for another, is it HONESTLY and TRUTHFULLY about the coachee or MYSELF as a coach?

The Case for Using an Achievement Coach

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:44:21 CDT

by Greg Kilgore.

We all have our weak suits. And some of them may be moving into the area of mission- or values-critical. And there are things we all need to learn, to give us the edge we want or to unlock the potential we strive to fulfill. One of the two greatest values of a coach has always been the consultant's role: to give us new and useful points of view. Perspective is the slipperiest and most valuable commodity on this planet. No matter where you are, no matter how low you go, your viewing point about where you are and where you want to go and how you could get there will be a priceless commodity. We need to see "outside the box." We need to hear non-invested opinions about what we're doing and how we're doing it. This is, and always will be, the value of consultants...

More here...
http://kilgorereport.com/the-case-for-using-an-achievement-coach

Workshop on Deep Democracy in Berlin

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:57:20 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Deep Democracy White & Yellow Belt
Foundation Course
Berlin/Germany: January 26 - 27, 2010
Course Instructor: Myrna Lewis

Deep Democracy is coming to Germany for the first time: Team dynamics, decision-making, conflict resolution

Please register by January 21, 2010 online at: www.regonline.com/deep_democracy

Do you find that:

The same issues or topics keep coming up-but without resolution?
The conversations in the corridors or at tea are not being held in the meetings?
The leadership and project teams try and progress but get stuck as the real issues are avoided?

Whether you are a leader, a coach, a facilitator, a consultant or simply a member of a team – Deep Democracy offers both a set of innovative tools and a world view that will enhance your effectiveness across all dimensions.

Deep Democracy is based on the work of psychologist and physicist, Arnold Mindell, whose concepts and principals have been demystified and adapted for laymen by clinical psychologists Myrna Lewis and her late husband Greg.

On a practical level Deep Democracy is an advanced form of facilitation that can be used by in a variety of ways to help both groups and individuals.

The Deep Democracy process differs from traditional problem-resolution techniques and classic (majority wins) democracy in that it doesn’t strive for compromise. Instead, it aims to build a real consensus across a group – a consensus which recognizes and takes note of the wisdom inherent in the minority’s viewpoint(s), rather than simply ignoring it or overriding it. Different too, from the main emphasis of large group intervention methodologies, in that it focuses heavily on the emotional, rather than rational level and aims to heighten awareness at an individual and group level of the secondary, or unconscious, processes occurring, as these more often than not hold the key to real progress.

Through a highly experiential approach you will gain awareness and experience of group dynamics and decision-making in groups.

Goals of the White and Yellow Belt training

The White and Yellow belt is the first level of training and provides the foundation for using this methodology.

Although each course follows its own unique path, you will learn how to:

Ø Improve group decision making and buy-in

Ø Read the dynamics affecting group interactions

Ø Inspire participation from everyone in your group

Ø Engage a group to create better quality decisions and reduce the ‘terrorist activity’ of disaffected group members, undermining the effectiveness of the group

Ø Recognise when there are underlying tensions and issues in the group that are getting in the way, and how to deal with them

Ø Gain the hidden wisdom of the minority

Ø Bring new creativity into your business, family and social circle

Ø Uncover inner resources you never knew you had

Who will benefit from attending?

This course is intended for consultants, coaches, managers, leaders and others who are interested in developing their skills in dealing with groups, making decisions and resolving conflict in order to promote change and transformation.

To book or for more information contact

Email: frauke.godat@the-hub.net

Call: 0176-50 47 88 06

Cost

Special introduction fee: 416,50€ (350€ + 19% VAT)

Includes workshop material and tea/coffee during the workshop.

Please register by January 21, 2010 online at: www.regonline.com/deep_democracy

Brief background of Deep Democracy

Deep Democracy is based on U.S. psychologist Arnold Mindell’s innovative work in Process Orientated Psychology. Myrna Lewis and her late husband, Greg, trained with Mindell in the early 1990s and as corporate consultants, they applied what they had learned to a unique situation: South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994.

The Lewises responded to these enormous challenges by adapting the complex science of Mindell’s Process Orientated Psychology and applying it to help a large national utility company make the leap into the New South Africa.

After Greg died in 2002, Myrna continued to refine the techniques they had created together to hone Deep Democracy into the straightforward, five-step methodology it is today.

In 2007 Deep Democracy was one of the 80 innovations show-cased in a United Nations publication “Africa Leads” as one of the innovations coming out of Africa.

Deep Democracy spread very quickly to other South African companies and beyond the South African borders. In 2007, Capgemini UK, one of the top 4 consulting firms consisting of over 50 000 consultants worldwide, incorporated Deep Democracy in their training technology. Today Deep Democracy is being used in 20 different countries from South Africa to Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and India – from boardroom to classroom.

About the course instructor

Myrna Lewis has a B.A. degree in Social Work, Honours in Psychology and Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology. In 2001 Myrna received the Ashoka award from Ashoka Washington, USA. Ashoka recognises individuals who through their personal endeavours, uplift communities and facilitate social change. In 2008, Myrna was a finalist in the South African Women of the Year award and she also published her book “Inside the NO – Five Steps to Decisions that Last”.

More background information on Deep Democracy is available at http://deep-democracy.net/

Download our course flyer here.

Creating tomorrow's change history today

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:05:09 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

I believe that many organisations err in being too casual about their change history. I also believe that the cumulative change history of an organisation is probably one of the most reliable predictors of its success with future change, and is also a very important factor in shaping organisational culture.

The cumulative organisational experience of past change has a very significant impact on how change will be dealt with in the present - a history of “bad” change will tend to:

Make stakeholders more resistant to change
Lead to the development of counterproductive learned responses (habits)
Undermine trust and confidence in change leaders
Limit opportunities for organisational learning of good change practice
Increase the likelihood of further instances of “bad” change.

Conversely, a history of “good” change will tend to

Lower stakeholder resistance to change
Build trust and confidence in change leaders
Present opportunities for organisational learning of how it “should be done”
Increase the likelihood of further instances of “good” change.

If we accept that - with regard to organisational change management - the past is an important predictor of the future, then we have to do three things:

Assess our change history.
Find ways to learn from what happened before and apply these lessons into the future.
Realise that we are creating tomorrow's history today, and take extra care to make sure that we change well.

Assessing Change History

Change history is a combination of objective and subjective realities – one needs to understand to what extent a particular initiative reached its objectives, but also how stakeholders have experienced the change. To assess change history effectively, one therefore should combine objective and subjective sources of information – for example:

Objective:

To what extent did Initiative X meet its objectives?

Was the initiative within budget?

Did it complete within the agreed timeframe?

Were there significant negative unintended outcomes?

Subjective

How do people describe their experience of Initiative X?

What were the good things, and what were the bad things about the initiative?

How did it make you feel?

What was the overall impact of Initiative X with regard to how people feel about the company and about working here?

Learning from the past

When any initiative concludes, a formal “lessons learnt” exercise should be conducted. This information should be properly captured and made available for easy retrieval. Then, as part preparation phase for each new initiative, the lessons learnt repository should be reviewed. Change leaders should also review this information periodically, to identify trends and patterns that require attention.

Where issues or problems that impacted stakeholders are identified, these should be acknowledged and explicitly addressed – this will build trust. For example: “On reviewing our 'lessons learnt' from Initiative Y, we can see that we did not always take enough time for proper dialogue, and that this led to several misunderstandings. We intend to address this in Initiative Z by scheduling regular discussion sessions with you.”

Sieze the day

Whether your assessment of your organisational change history shows that change has been experienced positively, negatively or (most likely) a combination of the two, it is important to realise that what happens on your initiatives today will become the change history of the organisation tomorrow. You can influence what happens today – but once it becomes history, it cannot be changed.

All aboard!

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:53:30 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

We often use the metaphor of stakeholders “being on board”. However, how communication is managed on large projects may not always lead to this outcome.

If you want all of your stakeholders to come on board, your train must depart from where the stakeholders are. This seems so obvious, yet it is one of the most common mistakes made in change projects. We all approach life from within our own perspective – each of us have a unique set of knowledge, assumptions, beliefs, values, habits, norms, personality traits, perceptions, fears, hopes, quirks, strengths and weaknesses. Perspectives can differ so greatly that it can be extremely difficult (or even sometimes virtually impossible) for us to understand the perspectives that others have.

When a project team works together, there are strong influences at play that serve to at least partially align perspectives. Team members often spend significant amounts of time together, sometimes under rather difficult conditions. They usually come to realise that they have to depend on each other and that their destinies are linked. Because they are so intimately involved in the process, they usually “buy in” to the project very strongly and at an early stage. A project team therefore tends to develop overlapping areas of shared perspective, and also advances quite rapidly ahead of where the bulk of stakeholders are, creating a large gap in relative understanding and relative acceptance with regard to the project.

This might make it very difficult for the project team to effectively engage with stakeholders:

Project teams tend to be passionate (and therefore to communicate) about what is important to them (the business case, project phases and key milestones, the composition of the project team, the importance of buy in and support from stakeholders) instead of what is important to stakeholders (how will this affect me, when will I need to do what, how does this relate to everything else happening in the company).
Most project teams rapidly develop a specialised “language” which is different to what most stakeholders are used to. Acromyms and specialised terminology present a significant barrier to stakeholders who are not part of the project team and therefore have not learnt to the new “language”.
The attitudes of project team members toward the project are usually very different to the attitudes that most stakeholders have. Project team members may overestimate the extent to which stakeholders will support the project, and may feel resentful when stakeholders assign a low priority to the project, show poor support and commitment or even resist the project. From the stakeholder point of view, project team members might appear to be unrealistically optimistic, to act in their own self-interest or as if they have a hidden agenda, and be regarded as being manipulative.
The project world is very different to the “business as usual” world. In the project world there is greater urgency: Plans change often and with little notice, it is taken for granted that people will go to extraordinary effort to get things done in time, and it is acceptable to schedule meetings after hours and at the last minute. This same behaviour in the “business as usual” world is regarded as being inconsiderate and disruptive. This may result in a situation where project members see business resources as being lazy, uncaring and uncooperative, and business resources see project members as being arrogant, pushy, rude and self-important.
The challenge is not only that there tends to be a large gap between the point of departure of the project team and the point of departure of stakeholders who are not part of the project team – a further complication is that perspectives will change over time, and what might be an entirely appropriate strategy for stakeholder engagement at one point in time may not be appropriate two months later. As stakeholders progress with regard to their understanding of the project and its consequences, their information needs will change and they will require increasing amounts of personal interaction.

In a classic psychology experiment, Elizabeth Newton asked college students to participate in an experiment in one of two roles: “tappers” and “listeners.” Tappers received a list of 25 well-known songs and were asked to tap out the rhythm of one song. Listeners had to try to guess the song from the taps. Each tapper reported that he/she could clearly discern which song they were tapping. When they were asked to predict how many songs listeners would correctly identify, they predicted 50 percent. However, listeners had a much harder time than predicted – to them what was being tapped was not at all obvious. Of all the songs tapped out, listeners correctly guessed only 3 percent. Communicators tend to grossly overestimate the clarity of their message – because they already “got it”, it makes the task of “getting it” seem easier than it really is.

The obstacles listed here can be partially overcome by addressing them directly – for example, by reminding the project team not to use acronyms and unknown terminology when dealing with stakeholders, or by ensuring that more time is spent in understanding the perspective of the recipients of project communication. However, this is like dealing with a leaking roof by placing buckets under the leak rather than simply fixing the leak. A more effective primary approach is to ensure that there is truly effective dialogue between the project and its stakeholders, and then to assist the project team in responding appropriately to the feedback they receive. If listeners in the experiment related above were allowed to provide feedback to the tappers as they were tapping, it is likely that the number of listeners who “got it” would have been much higher, provided that the tappers were willing and able to modify how they were communicating (by also humming or whistling, for example).

Change Models (1): The 4D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:18:19 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

With this article, I start a series about change models (which has originally been published on the Change Management Blog).

Background:

The 4-D Model is based on Appreciative Inquiry (AI) which is a larger framework for human or organizational change. Like AI itself, it is based on a shift in paradigms on human interaction. The core can be captured in the idea that we create the world as we describe it. If many people in an organization think that this is a torture chamber, they will feel physical pain when they enter the door of this organization. If the same people think this is a great place to work, it will be.

Alana Karran writes about the difference between problem and outcome orientation approaches:
The other primary orientation is the Outcome Orientation, also known as the Collaborative-Creating Orientation. The focus of this orientation is the vision of the organization. What is focused on has a great impact on the emergent experience. Focus, or intention evokes an emotional response that drives behavior. This behavior reinforces the intention. Because systems are circular and feedback loops return to their point of orientation, this cycle continues indefinitely unless there is a change of focus. The principle of feedforward also applies, as the focus influences the future.

In the Collaborative-Creating Orientation, focusing on the vision engages passion and desire to manifest the intended outcome. When members of an organization have a shared vision and shared meaning this passion infuses the entire system because what affects a part, affects the whole. Biological systems are creative in nature and creativity happens collaboratively, most often in some form of community. Highly functioning organizations with a deep sense of community thrive from this orientation as the vision sparks passion, which creates authentic action moving the whole system closer to the vision exponentially.

Creators of the Model: Suresh Srivastva, Ron Fry, and David Cooperrider, 1990 Phases of the Change Process: (taken from new-paradigm.co.uk) Discover—people talk to one another, often via structured interviews, to discover the times when the organisation is at its best. These stories are told as richly as possible. Dream—the dream phase is often run as a large group conference where people are encouraged to envision the organisation as if the peak moments discovered in the ‘discover’ phase were the norm rather than exceptional. Design—a small team is empowered to go away and design ways of creating the organisation dreamed in the conference(s). Destiny—the final phase is to implement the changes.

Does the Model Relate to Complexity Theory? AI and the 4D-Model are deeply rooted in complexity theory. The underlying principle of simultaneity (change of mind and change of organizations happen at the same time) and the principle of poetry (the story of organizations can be recreated in conversations) relate to a basic systemic process: organizations can not be described as the sum of its parts but only as a whole. Applicability: The model has been applied to many different kind of organizations, from the profit (e.g., British Airways) and non-profit (United Nations) sectors. It is suitable for a wide range of transformation processes, including quality management, vision/mission/value creation, improvement of collaboration, etc. Strengths:

The 4D-model works with what exists already in organizations. People can easily relate to their past success stories and link them to what they want for the future.
It is highly participatory and inclusive and respects different views and values.
The results of a 4D process are directly action oriented.
It creates energy and enhances motivation of people involved.

Weaknesses:

The model is more related to the past and present than to the future.
It does not include a wake-up call. Problems and challenges, although not denied, do not receive the same attention than visions.
The quality of results varies and depends on many factors. AI requires a highly skilled facilitator to make sure that the output of the process satisfies the expectations of the process owner.

More resources: Website of Appreciative Inquiry Commons Case Study: AI at World Vision Timeline of Appreciative Inquiry Related articles by Zemanta

Appreciative Inquiry - Tools and Methods (LearnThis.ca)

Photo of David Cooperrider: Ovationnet PLEASE DISCUSS THE MODELS: WHAT ARE YOUR EXPERIENCES?

If you come across the guru on the road, pity him.

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:53:20 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

I am a dyed-in-the-wool change consultant. This is what I’ve chosen to do some 15 years ago, and I’ve stuck to it ever since. I have some opinions on the art and science of change management, and while I would never call myself an expert (or heavens forbid, a guru) at anything, I know I’ve paid enough dues to feel that I’m no longer a beginner at this.

The nice thing about being where I am now in my career is that I have a sense of calmness about the work I do, a quiet confidence that developed over time. Of course, that’s not to say I don’t sometimes feel stressed out by sheer volume of work or crazy timelines, or that I’ve managed to find an antidote to all of the normal frustrations that beset the lives of all change managers. I suppose that the key thing I’ve learnt with regard to the latter is that it is about winning, not about being right.

On the inevitable other side of the coin, the drawback of where I find myself now in my career is that there is a danger of an increasing sense of “been there done that” creeping in. The patterns become familiar, the work less challenging and “exciting” than it used to be on the steeper part of the learning curve.

I think the challenge is to keep on reinventing, to always strive to do the work better and better, and never to settle for “this is the best and only way to do things”. It’s almost like playing a video game all the way up to the top level, and then creating 10 more levels above that, and ten more above that, ad infinitum. You are never finished with learning and improving, and that keeps things interesting.

To be able to create those extra 10 levels, you have to open your mind to the possibility, you have to be willing to take the risk and put in the extra effort, and you have to retain a realistic sense of humility about it all. For this reason I feel some pity for those who proclaim themselves to be “experts” and believe that they know most of what there is to know in any particular discipline. For them it must be like playing the same video game over and over and over.

Planning for uncertainty

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:55:22 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

While “Change management” is still the most commonly used term to describe our field of practice, there are many practitioners and scholars who object to this, pointing out that “change cannot be managed”, and insisting on alternative terms such as “facilitation of change” or “change leadership”.

Of course, these practitioners and scholars have a valid point – the emergence of new paradigms in science (notably quantum physics and chaos theory, which actually have roots that date back to the 1800’s), have increasingly made the limitations of Newtonian cause and effect thinking apparent. Even change in relatively simple systems (such a bowl of water into which a stone is dropped) exhibits unpredictable, chaotic patterns.

In the infinitely more complex systems of human society, change always has outcomes that were not predictable and hence could not be managed in the direct sense. If one conceives of “change management” as a means by which change and change outcomes can be managed in a direct sense, it would be a fallacy with potentially disappointing consequences for those who set forth to achieve this. It is not the change that is managed in change management, but the process of change - this is a very significant distinction.

Human psychology seems to have a great affinity for predictable patterns, for the security of cause and effect. It is very hard for us to accept that, despite our most earnest efforts, in reality we are bobbing along a turbulent river of unforeseen events that flows where it will. To quote the character Dr. Claire Lewicki in the movie Days of Thunder (for me fiction often seems to illuminate real life with greater clarity than scholarly work): “Control is an illusion, you infantile ego-maniac. Nobody knows what's gonna happen next: not on a freeway, not in an airplane, not inside our own bodies and certainly not on a racetrack with 40 other infantile egomaniacs” . Indeed. We also don’t really know what will happen next on our implementation projects, corporate restructurings, mergers, or productivity improvement initiatives. Because of the unpredictability associated with any complex change initiative, we have to ensure that we manage the process of change appropriately - above all, this implies that we need to remain eminently flexible.

Yet we seem to keep on diving into the spin dryer headfirst, armed with neat change methodologies, comprehensive theories, consult-by-numbers approaches (in this case only some of us, thankfully!), clever tools, 400 line project plans and detailed budgets. Behind the reasssuring facade of predictability and certainty created by these artifacts, we change practitioners then have to face the chaos and simply must make do, with no small measure of quiet desperation. The really good change practitioners are able to create some sense of rhythm and structure amidst the chaos, and can rapidly accommodate changing circumstances by changing their approaches. Less experienced and/or talented change practitioners (or those unfortunate enough to be working within strict cookie-cutter frameworks imposed by their firms) are doomed to mechanically plod through an increasingly irrelevant change approach determined by the original proposal (which ironically was developed when the least information was available about the initiative).

If a change methodology or approach becomes fixed at the level of execution (i.e. the typical level of detail that would appear in a project plan), it will rapidly become irrelevant. We must allow for ongoing dynamic change in our approaches to change management to accommodate the inevitable turbulence. This does not mean we don’t have to plan. It just means we have to plan appropriately.

Before I explain what “planning appropriately” means for me, let’s consider Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 – widely regarded to be one of his finest works and written in 1788 (bear with me on this, it does go somewhere!). Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 has been performed again and again by different orchestras over hundreds of years with only relatively small differences in interpretation. As they start with the very first note of the first movement, each player in the orchestra already have mapped out in their minds how the entire performance will play out. This would make a very poor metaphor for change management. A far more appropriate metaphor would be a game of chess: The chess pieces do have specific ways of moving, there are rules governing the game and you can learn different strategies to employ in different situations. However, you only plan a few moves ahead (with your immediate next move being fairly certain and succeeding moves decreasing in certainty). Every time your opponent makes a move, you re-evaluate and possibly re-plan.

For me, planning appropriately therefore means

Having a clearly defined and simple overall approach (which describes at a high level what you are trying to achieve – Kotter’s 8 Steps would be a good example of this). Ideally, you should not only have one approach, but should rather be able to select from a number of proven approaches to obtain the best fit for the client. If the client already has a workable approach that is well embedded in the organisation, this should be adopted – insisting on using your own approach in such circumstances is to my mind incredibly arrogant and doubtlessly not in the client’s interests.
Translating this approach into a more specific (but still high level) plan that relates to the unique circumstances of the initiative you are planning for. This could be represented on a single PowerPoint slide where the major change management activities and outcomes are mapped to the initiative timeline.
Developing a “bare bones” project plan that will allow for progress tracking and easy updating but does not fix activities at the execution level. How much value is there in a detailed project plan that specifies that the change practitioner will spend next Thursday afternoon between 12h00 and 16h00 drafting an article for the company newsletter? If change practitioners are truly in step with what is happening on the change initiative, it is a certainty that such very detailed project plans will have to change very frequently. Project plans are usually baselined and subjected to change control that makes frequent changes quite onerous if not impossible. If you plan change management activities at a very detailed level in the formal project plan you will be wasting precious time that could have been better utilized in delivering real value to the client, but far worse, you could limit your flexibility.
Having a short-term (two to four weeks) detailed action plan that can be quickly and easily updated following at least weekly reviews. This action plan is used by the change management team and can be managed in a desktop application like Excel (not my first prize) or on an online web-based system (far more effective). It relates to the higher-level detail captured in the “bare bones” project plan and facilitates easy updating of status reports and progress statistics, assigns responsibility and due dates and tracks progress against this but allows significant flexibility in detailed change management planning.

Change Management Database Tool (web based) for a Tier 1 Automotive company

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:43:27 CDT

by Rahul Plavullathil.

I work as a Change Control Coordinator for a tier one automotive company. Our change management system is based on excel sheets and e-mails. It is very hard to keep track of all changes and their progression through the system we have. I was looking for any webbased database system to support this. Any one has any experience in this matter ? If you do, please share.

http://appreciativeorganization.wordpress.com/

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:02:48 CDT

by budi setiawan.

Blog appreciative inquiry dalam bahasa indonesia

Why Culture Is Important

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:59:20 CDT

by Jay Fedora.

I spend a great deal of my consulting time working on Lean Six Sigma deployments. I believe the Lean Six Sigma movement is primarily a large-scale transformation effort but the practitioners often view it as a training, tools and skill development effort. My personal blog, http://blog.culturescaipe.com , describes my firm's work in developing change facilitation tools to help black belts and change agents broaden their perspective and overall organizational effectiveness.

Consequently, I find this new community far more enjoyable than the Lean Six Sigma communities I usually have to navigate! Thanks for the invitation.

Participation Camp 09 - Virtual and Face-to-Face

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:51:40 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

Our new group, now called Radical Inclusion, is organizing the virtual aspects of Participation Camp, Change the Rules, an un-conference that is taking place on June 27/28 in New York. The focus of the event is to explore topics at the intersection of politics and technology. This includes strategies for citizen engagement, participative democracy, collaboration technologies that might support these processes, specific projects, etc. Details can be found at: http://mudball.net/pcamp09

There are two ways that you can participate virtually:

Virtual Presenter: We will be livestreaming virtual presenters into a Virtual Room at the conference. Hence, if you want to give a webinar on a particular topic of interest, present your project or company or explore a particular theme with the group that is at the conference, this is a perfect opportunity! If this might be of interest, drop us a line and we can discuss.

Please check out the site to see who has already signed up to participate virtually.

Open SkypeConversation Commencing June 22nd: Radical Inclusion is experimenting with a new way of doing things. We want to make conferences not just one/two day events, but conversations that are continuous. In order to do this we will be experimenting by opening up SkypeConversations on Monday June 22nd.

We will simply invite you to a open space chat session where you will be able to introduce yourself to others, share your ideas and questions and so forth. Many of you have already provided us with your SkypeID's. If you haven't, and are interested in participating, please forward your Skype ID.

We really don't know how this will unfold, so it's up to you to be active and participate! The opportunity exists for you to stimulate and generate conversations with others, invite your own contacts into the space etc.

This is an experiment in self organization and we are interested in seeing how it might shape the actual real world conference that starts at the end of the week on the Saturday!

Let us know what you think, and if you would like to be involved!

Please contact Suresh Fernando by email.

Airbags, hot air balloons and champagne.

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:38:25 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

I’ve been quiet for a while, and it’s not because I was absolutely so busy that I couldn’t blog. I thought about some possible blog topics, even sat down more than once to begin writing, but I just couldn’t get started.

You see, sometimes change management is like a hot air balloon. Colourful, exciting and somewhat unpredictable (and yes, also filled with a substantial amount of hot air), it takes stakeholders to places where their perspective changes, where they can see new possibilities and map out new futures that they could not have conceived of before. When change management is like a hot air balloon, it is a very, very satisfying profession. You are responsible for assisting organisations and their stakeholders on multiple journeys of discovery and growth, and in the process, you discover and grow as well.

And sometimes change management is like an airbag. You deploy milliseconds after impact, and all you can hope for is to cushion the blow, to limit the damage. If you do your job adequately (there is no doing it well here) stakeholders may be able to walk away with less damage. They won’t thank you, and of course, you shouldn’t expect them to. They may even blame you a little for some of the pain.

In helping my clients deal with the harsh reality of a global economic crisis, my work has increasingly tended to be of the airbag variety. This means it is messy, often devoid of proper closure and recognition (how many retrenchees will stop to thank you for making the process better?), painful and emotionally draining. It becomes a hugely tough job, but I know that it is damn necessary. Organisations change in times of prosperity, and they change in times of crisis. I think the latter type of change is where our process skills are most needed, for we can help avert major harm to individuals and organisations.

Airbags help limit damage, help to keep the future alive. And in the future, as in the past, in the never ending cycle, the colourful hot air balloons will rise again in greater numbers, to the sound of laughter and popping champagne corks. So, to all of you fellow airbags out there who are also taking strain, my best wishes to you in these times. Hang in there, the world needs us!

Facilitating Virtual Collaboration

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:16:19 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

Facilitating Virtual Collaboration
Keble College Oxford
September 18, 2009, 9.00-17.00

Virtual collaboration tools have mushroomed and matured at the same time. There are thousands of tools and platforms such as online conference systems, blogs, wikis, chat rooms, forums, social networks, social bookmarking sites, files sharing, etc., which allow small and big groups to work together for a common goal. Many profit and non-profit organizations are using such tools for communication and collaboration with their internal and external stakeholders. In the future, most workshops, seminars, conferences will have a virtual component. Other events will be entirely online. Besides real-time events, the demand for facilitation of asynchronous processes of organizational development is high.

We offer you a practice oriented seminar to upgrade your skills for navigation and communication in the virtual world.

Objectives:
The participants, upon finishing the session, will be able to

...understand the importance of social media for transformative change
...apply different social media tools in their own work
...create meaningful content on the web
...linking up to different social networks on the Web
...initiate change processes by using social media
...apply different social media tools in their own work as change facilitators

Workshop Agenda:

Web 2.0: How social media are changing the world (presentation)
Exercise: Exploring the world of social media (small groups)
The how and what of blogging (hands on learning)
Creating meaningful content: working with videos, podcasts, slideshows, mindmaps and other interactive Web media (hand on learning)
Creating social networks that move people to action (hands on learning)
Microblogging: creating a world brain (interactive exercise)
How to broaden virtual facilitation and networking skills for change processes (group discussion)

Trainers:
Holger Nauheimer and Sofia Bustamante (Radical Inclusion)

Participation Fee: £ 350
Early registration fee (ends July 15, 2009): £ 280

Register here.
Please contact holger@change-facilitation.org for more information.

Is the UK waking up?

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:57:30 CDT

by John Fay.

Dear All,

I have the honour to work with some of our largest corporates and some of our finest small companies and I wanted to share some thinking on the entry title to my blog.

I think it is, I think people can see the light at the end of tunnel but I also feel people are afraid.

Afraid of standing up to a government that now has a weakened mandate to govern and has damaged our economy. In the UK we have great talent, great companies and a great spirit. We lack leadership though and this lack of leadership is causing us all to become reserved and over cautious in decisions.

How many times have we seen that over the years in the change programmes we all run? I would imagine quite alot.

So please have faith in the UK, we are not dead and buried, we just have a Prime Minister who is and we desperately need a General Election to provide the transparency and authenticity to government so badly needed.

I remember Jim Collins mentioning those words once!

Til next time

John

10 Tweets Seminar on The Change Journey

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:35:46 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

On Wednesday, June 3, at 1 pm EST / 17.00 GMT, I will hold a 10 Tweets seminar on contemporary concepts of change facilitation. The seminar will be delivered through Twitter, i.e. I will post 10 tweets in a short time. The tweets will contain main messages and links to further resources.

Content:
* Why change has changed
* Why we can't manage change
* New leadership skills
* Transformation of organizations

To follow the seminar, just follow me on Twitter, or follow the hashtag #cj01.

The seminar will take about one hour and involves some reading from your side, and a short video. You can follow the seminar in real-time or asynchronously, and we can discuss the experience here.

Jascha Rohr: Unfolding Individual & Collective Potential in Corporations

Wed, 20 May 2009 03:37:56 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

I attended a presentation of Jascha Rohr (@jaschrohr) at the Berlin Hub on Unfolding Individual & Collective Potential in Corporations. During the presentation, I twittered the main statements and ideas of Jascha's German keynote, which I document, comment and annotate here (my original tweets in bold). You can read the entire tweetstream here.

Photo: www.partizipativ-gestalten.de

@jascharohr starts with a question: are bees or ants happy?

That is a real good question to reflect about. I mean, we all know that bees' and ants' brains are probably not made to feel emotions. But if we just assume for a moment that bees and ants would have the ability to feel, what would they feel, in particular, what would the worker ants and bees feel? Would they be proud and happy to be part of a greater good?

Reading an impressive article of National Geographic on swarm theory, I am not sure whether Jascha's underlying hypothesis hold: that there are power structures in bees or ants colonies. The author of this article says:

One key to an ant colony, for example, is that no one's in charge. No generals command ant warriors. No managers boss ant workers. The queen plays no role except to lay eggs. Even with half a million ants, a colony functions just fine with no management at all—at least none that we would recognize. It relies instead upon countless interactions between individual ants, each of which is following simple rules of thumb. Scientists describe such a system as self-organizing.

When you are 1 in a million in China, there 1300 of you. @jascharohr refers to Shift Happens.

"Shift Happens" has become one of the most quoted videos on change of society and culture. It has changed the way we look at our closest future. I just learned there is an updated version:

This year there will be 4 extrabyte of new information, more than was generated in last 5000 years.

Another quote from Shift Happens which shows us how quickly what our knowledge will be outdated.

However, I wanted to know more. A Google search on "Growth of Human Knowledge" did not reveal anything satisfying. So, this was the decisive moment of testing www.wolframalpha.com, the new "intelligent" search engine which has had a lot of (rather bad than good) PR during the last days. It reveals the following interesting information:

Input interpretation:

Value:

Comparisons:

A counter scenario to continuous exponential growth: Peak Oil Theory.

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. The concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, and the combined production rate of a field of related oil wells. The aggregate production rate from an oil field over time usually grows exponentially until the rate peaks and then declines—sometimes rapidly—until the field is depleted. This concept is derived from the Hubbert curve, and has been shown to be applicable to the sum of a nation’s domestic production rate, and is similarly applied to the global rate of petroleum production. Peak oil is often confused with oil depletion; peak oil is the point of maximum production while depletion refers to a period of falling reserves and supply. (Text and image from Wikipedia.org)

Whatever growth theory is right: We will have to deal with accelerating change - what does that mean for organizations?

At this point, Jascha went to the core of his presentation - what organizational forms do we need in the 21st century, in times of great uncertainty and growing complexity.

Consciousness is the skill of reflexive mindfulness. Is the consciousness of an organization only the sum of individuals or more?

3 levels of organizational consciousness based on the concept of David Deida and #spiraldynamics

David Deida is acknowledged as one of the most insightful and provocative spiritual teachers of our time, best-selling author David Deida continues to revolutionize the way that men and women grow spiritually and sexually. His teachings and writings on a radically practical spirituality for our time have been hailed as among the most original and authentic contributions to personal and spiritual growth currently available. (from Deida's own short biography)

Spiral Dynamics is an evolutionary model of human development which can be applied to individuals, societies and organizations. Originally conceived by Clare Graves in the sixties, it was taken up and further developed by Chris Cowan and Don Beck (the two guys, after having collaborated and published a seminal book on the topic, parted in conflict). We have published a case study on the Lebanese history based on Spiral Dynamics.

Level 1: The level of clearly prescribed roles, clear hierarchies, clear job descriptions. These organizations are efficient.

In Spiral Dynamics, we call those entities "blue organizations". They are organizations where trust is developed by rules and hierarchies. If you stick to rules you know that you are on the right track. Level 1 organizations work well in predictable markets.

But Level 1 organizations are not able to quickly adapt to change.

We have seen the fall of typical blue organizations recently, such as GM which had failed for many years to adapt to quickly changing markets.

Level 2 organizations are looking for meaning. It is kind of a community and includes emancipation. Trust is based on equality.

Problem of Level 2 organizations: they are not as efficient as Level 1 organizations and equality blocks individual development.

In Spiral Dynamics, we call those entities "green organizations". Trust is given by the community of equals. There are no hierarchies and no leaders. Issues are discussed and either decided by group consensus or left undecided. Level 2 organizations have worked well in particular in non-profit settings.

In level 3 organizations (just emerging): Instead of roles and equality, authenticity is the base of organizational consciousness.

In Level 3 organizations, leadership is a service, helping others to unfold their authenticity. Here, people unfold their potential.

In Spiral Dynamics, we call those entities either "yellow or turquois organizations", depending on whether they have the ability to create community and serve for a larger good (turquois).

How to organize Level 3 organizations? @jascharohr suggests participatory co-construction.

In @jascharohr's concept of participation, all living/non-living actors are part of the co-construction process and have their role.

Participatory co-construction is based on generative patterns

In a participatory co-construction process, all living/non-living actors are part of a non-linear field and interact with each other.

This concept is based on several sources:

1. The work of Christopher Alexander (http://www.patternlanguage.com, a Vienna born architect. From Wikipedia comes this quote from one of his books:

The Timeless Way of Building described the perfection of use to which buildings could aspire:

“ There is one timeless way of building. It is a thousand years old, and the same today as it has ever been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. It is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way. And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are.

2) For me, another important source for this is the work of Arnold Mindell, further developed by Max Schupbach in his WorldWork approach.

Worldwork brings is a new way of thinking about and working within the complete spectrum of collective life and its organizational forms. At its core is a theory that links research in consciousness studies to fresh interpretations of findings in modern physics.

More about the WorldWork paradigm can be found here.

In Level 3 organizations, all actors are ready to be deeply involved, aware that they are part of a field which they cannot control.

In Level 3 organizations, everybody can and will lead and everybody can and will follow in different phases.

We don't know whether Level 3 organizations do exist but there have been early prototypes, such as Dee Hock's Visa, who said in an interview:

"We are at that very point in time when a 400-year-old age is dying and another is struggling to be born -- a shifting of culture, science, society, and institutions enormously greater than the world has ever experienced. Ahead, the possibility of the regeneration of individuality, liberty, community, and ethics such as the world has never known, and a harmony with nature, with one another, and with the divine intelligence such as the world has never dreamed."

Conclusion of @jascharohr: Let us stop being judgmental on leading and following. So bees and ants must be happy.

This blog post is just a start. There is much more to say about Jascha's theories, and - we have to put them into practice. Please contribute to the discussion.

Follow Jascha and Holger on Twitter.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

Everybody believes that this is a quote from Nelson Mandela's inauguration speech. Unfortunately, this is an urban myth, and the text comes from an author called Marianne Williamson (read the full text here). How it got attributed to Nelson Mandela remains a mystery. Marianne Williamson herself said: "Several years ago, this paragraph from A Return to Love began popping up everywhere, attributed to Nelson Mandela's 1994 inaugural address. As honored as I would be had President Mandela quoted my words, indeed he did not. I have no idea where that story came from, but I am gratified that the paragraph has come to mean so much to so many people."

SMART Coaching Events

Thu, 14 May 2009 10:34:58 CDT

by Steve Thornton.

SMART Coaching Events

SMART Coaching events are avialable from SMART Coaching practice Ltd.

Each event is unique in that its focus is what is important to you - it may be an immediate issue or concern, such as increasing sales or a longer term change or strategic goal.

The founder of SMART Coaching Practice, Steve Thornton says the aim of each event is to establish the foundations for significant performance improvements while having some fun along the way.

"I have been developing SMART Coaching practice over a number of years and that experience is now coming to fruition with the launch of SMART Coaching events.It is an exciting time for me being able to do this at a time when many are facing difficulties. I hope we can help in some way."

Facilitating Virtual Dialogues

Thu, 14 May 2009 04:58:44 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

I will host a 2 days training on "Facilitating Virtual Dialogues" in Oxford, UK, Sep. 17-18, 2009, as a preconference workshop to the IAF Europe conference.

Summary

Social media of the WWW are now widely used to facilitate team processes, organizational development and stakeholder dialogues. The choice of an appropriate tool is based on five context markers: place, time, content, relationship and language. Such processes can take place in synchronous, asynchronous or mixed mode.

In the two days workshop, participants will experiment with a multitude of social media and learn how to facilitate virtual processes of different size and duration. It will be learning-on-the job: the learning group will subsequently form an editorial team that covering the IAF conference by different media (blogs, podcasts, videos, photos, community groups, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Learning Objectives/Outcomes

The participants, upon finishing the session, will be able to

- ...understand the importance of social media for transformative change
- ...apply different social media tools in their own work
- ...create meaningful content on the web
- ...facilitate asynchronous and synchronous virtual events
- ...linking up to different social networks on the Web
- ...initiate change processes by using social media

Session Content Outline & Description

Before the workshop:
- Participants will connect through a social web platform

Day 1
- Web 2.0: How social media change the world (presentation)
- Focus group discussion: What are virtual facilitation skills
- Exercise: Exploring the world of social media (small groups)
- Group presentations
- The how and what of blogging (hands on learning)
- Group presentations
- Creating meaningful content: working with videos, podcasts, slideshows, mindmaps and other interactive Web media (hand on learning)
- Group presentations
- The rising importance of social networks on the Web (presentation)
- Social media as means for transformative change in teams and organizations (group discussion)

Day 2
- Creating social networks (hands on learning)
- Group presentations
- Microblogging: creating a world brain (interactive exercise)
- Virtual facilitation skills (presentation)
- Conference platforms (interactive exercises)
- Real Time Virtual Facilitation: creating multi-media events (hands on learning)
- Reflection. How to broaden virtual facilitation and networking skills for change processes (group discussion)
- Planning: creating editorial teams to cover the IAF conference; defining objectives of coverage

Bookmark the date, more info soon.
Please send me an email at holger@change-facilitation.org if you wanted to be posted on this event.

The RTVC Happened! Successful!

Tue, 12 May 2009 05:10:31 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

We did it! After a two months preparation, our international team hosted the first Real Time Virtual Facilitation workshop, applying Open Space principles and using a lot of different social media tools. Here is a complete (and outstanding) mindmap covering the event (you better click on on this link to see the entire mindmap):

After the agenda wall had been opened 48 hours prior to the event, 50 particpants from around the world met in a big (Skype) chat room for the opening session. From there, they went into "break-out rooms", using chat rooms, Skype voice conferences, Dimdim (conference platform), different Twitter applications, Etherpad (a simplified Wiki in which people can simultanously work on a document, and chat at the side), and other tools. These were the topics discussed:

* Collective Action
* Communication tools for the Manager 2.0
* Introducing social media to large organisations
* OpenMoney: connecting social entrepreneurs with new currencies
* New Change Management Approach for the 21st Century?
* Interdependencies between sensible and meaningful communication and tools/ technological development
* Global Skills
* Community Owned Communications Infrastructure
* Collaborative Intelligence in the Workplace

After two break out sessions, people reconvened in the big chat room, where we facilitated a reflection session, in which we heard words like: "thrilling", "encouraging", "roller coaster", "what's next?", "bacterial", "fallingoffthecliff", and much more.

We learned a lot as a team about technological barriers, virtual facilitation skills etc. We will be back with an even improved concept!

Large Scale Systems Change

Sat, 09 May 2009 07:13:09 CDT

by Albert Klamt.

I am increasingly interested, involved and engaged in large scale systems change. Collaboration and communication between and within cultures, cities, communities and countries.

Living and working right now in Berlin.

Thats why I am here and wanting to learn more about tools and technolgies.

You can find more about me at:

http://voyager.gaia.com

On board of regents at this first private university in Mideast in the realm of higher media education:

www.ecmas.net

Involved in supporting center for human emergence mideast:

www.che-mideast.org

having learned something already about OpenSpace Online, Theory U, Spiral Dynamics Integral, AQAL and other approaches for integrated and integral change.

This is my first RTVC workshop. Consider me as digital immigrant

Until later,

Albert

The Market Place of the RTVC Has Been Opened!

Thu, 07 May 2009 10:14:39 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

The Marketplace of the RTVC conference that will take place on Saturday, May 9 from 14.00-17.00 GMT has officially been opened. That means, we encourage you from now on until Saturday to identify topics you want to explore. You don't need to be an expert on that specific topic - we just appeal to your passion and responsibility. If you have such a topic, please go to the marketplace and follow the instructions:

http://www.change-management-toolbook.com/mod/glossary/view.php?id=616

Beside the topic, we ask you to define the virtual (or real life) meeting place: You can use any vehicle for dialogue that suits you well. Beside the few tools that we suggest, feel free to meet where ever you want - in Second Life, in a conference platform that you use regularly, etc. All you need to do is to specify that meeting place in the marketplace, where you post your topic.

Remember the Open Space Technology rule:

Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.

We also remind you that not all of you have yet either provided us with their Skype ID or have not yet confirmed our connection request on Skype. You need to do that to follow the opening and closing session in Skype chat. In case you cannot find the connection request, you can connect to us by using our Skype ID, which is rtvc.wks . If you are unable to install Skype (remember, it is not about the voice option but about chat), you can follow the main lines of the opening and closing ceremony at our Twitter account.

http://twitter.com/rtvc_wks

Looking forward to meeting you soon in cyberspace,

Holger Nauheimer and the Steering Group of RTVC

Stephan, Lucy, Hans, Sofia, Julian, Suresh and Michael

Life as story

Mon, 04 May 2009 04:08:25 CDT

by Steve Banhegyi.

Have you ever thought of your own life as a story that you might be able to change at any time? That it is never too late to have a happy childhood?

This is an exercise with ancient shamanic roots that we've updated for a variety of environments ranging from schoolkids to boards of multinational corporations...The idea is that participants need to become deliberate about taking back authority over their own story. Storytelling or the oral tradition is very much associated with Africa and many cultures here adopt the view that a human being is the creation of the story that they tell. Changing the story and retelling it to an audience has the quality of being able to change the experience of the person telling the story. Changing the story can be as simple as consciously introducing new words, metaphors, understandings and conclusions. Reminding people of their own authority is empowering. Experiment with what happens when you become deliberate about your own story. The attached exercise has been created specially for teachers from the Department of Education as part of a Life Orientation programme we have developed. Further details about this storytelling for empowerment / lifescript programme is available at http://isivivane.com/storytelling/?q=lifescript

Steve Banhegyi - steve@storytelling.co.za
Blog : www.isivivane.com/trans4mation
www.ubuhibi.com | www.storytelling.co.za | www.isivivane.com | www.thoughtformz.com

Design : Eugenie Banhegyi - eugenie@storytelling.co.za

Our 15000th register user: Maarten Boers from ICCO

Sun, 03 May 2009 10:14:32 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

Last week, we had the honor to welcome the 15000th registered user of the Change Management Toolbook. Maarten Boers is a policy advisor of the research and development department of ICCO which is the Dutch interchurch organisation for development cooperation. ICCO’s mission is to work towards a world in which people live in dignity and prosperity, a world where poverty and injustice are no longer present. They are active in 55 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

I had a nice telephone conversation with Maarten who told me that somebody had sent him a note about the Real Time Collaboration Workshop on May 9: He did not know our website before but he tells us that he is intrigued about the wealth of tools and information. ICCO is in a big change process themselves; the entire way of working changes. Instead of funding individual projects, the organization wants to become a knowledge broker between different programmes and organizations that are active in one of the 10 specific regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. One of the consequences is that the organization is reducing their staff numbers in the Netherlands, ans alos some of ICCO's people move from the HQ in Utrecht to the regions.

Although there is some understandable resistance to the changes, most people in the organization see that the changes make a lot of sense. They want to be nearer to their "clients".

Maarten is particularly interested in new ways to collaborate and to communicate and he says that Web 2.0 tools, for example Wikis, have a big potential to support the works of ICCO. In collaboration with Euforic he developed a web based way of working called ComPart (COMunication with and among PARTners). He confirms that the introduction of social media into organization is a challenge, a real change project. Maarten tries to address this challenge by working with the champions, the early adopters. He also hope that people will feel the necessity of using these tools once they move to the regions. Maarten also understood that emphasizing too much on tools in the first instance is not the right approach. Instead he recommends to focus on the question "What do we want to achieve?" and only when this question is answered, move to the question "What tools do we need to achieve our goals?"

Notes on using Conflict as a Catalyst for Positive Change

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:01:28 CDT

by Katie Wilson.

The demands of the changing economy continue to challenge, and change the marketplace in ways without precedent, giving rise to new conflicts within many businesses' models of growth. These conflicts can, more often than not, be used to create change and should be looked at as guideposts to success rather than roadblocks.

It's all about the Benjamins

True, capital flow is crucial to any successful business, but as markets continue to stagnate, entrepreneurs are being forced to get creative in terms of growth. And in today’s markets due to the complicated, distanced nature of economic woes and hardships, classical 'cause-effect' resolution of these problems may not prove to be effective.

In fact, one could examine problems of this nature and see a business on the verge of collapse. An optimistic businessperson however, will instead see gaps that need to be bridged, and opportunity to look elsewhere for an influx of new capital. So begins an atypical search for other outlets of growth.

Maintain Current Inlets

A key element to factor in is the maintenance of solid footholds that your company may have in current mediums and inlets. This cannot be understated. Remember that other businesses, if they are wise, will be looking for new alternative and inlets as well. If you allow a relationship with a current source or client to grow cold, someone else may step in and snap up the opportunity. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and these days the dogs are hungrier than ever.

Now you’ve covered your assets and decided it’s time to explore other options. This is a good thing. Outer exploration must be done constantly anyway in order for a business to grow, consider the slump economically to be a good kick in the pants instead of someone turning out your lights. So how do you find a psychology that will allow you to look in new places, especially when you are starting to believe you’ve already looked everywhere?

Keeping it Scientific, Yet Simple

Scientists call it the Reticular Activating System, or RAS, and it has the potential to change your whole perspective if you let it. Basically a fancy term to describe your focus, the lingo refers to the way your mind is constantly processing billions of pieces of information at any given moment. Since you are not humanly capable of taking each piece of info and contemplating it for any extended length of time, your brain acts like a constrictor valve and subconsciously chooses what it will focus on for you. By limiting the information that you focus on, your brain makes it infinitely easier for you to function—but there is a catch.

Remember when you got a new car or bicycle and suddenly there were other copies of it everywhere that you had previously overlooked? That is the RAS in action. It’s not that those bicycles or cars weren’t there before you got yours, you just didn’t choose to focus on them and thus your brain overlooked information you didn’t need. So now, in your business, you must focus your research on the seemingly newest ideas available to you, in an effort to awaken that hidden sense.

Being aware of your competition is one thing, but being aware of all that is affecting your business may take time and practice to fully realize. This, however, will mean the difference between learning how to flourish in the desert and drying up like the competition.

This post was contributed by Katie Wilson, who writes about the best distance learning. She welcomes your feedback at KatieWilson06 at gmail.com

Update (2): Invitation to Virtual Collaboration Workshop

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:45:35 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

May 9, 2009, 14.00-17.00 GMT (please check your local time here)

What tools and principles do we need to help change to unfold?
Social and technological development as means for
better organizations, and a better world.

The development of the World Wide Web as a tool for global connectivity has given rise to a participatory culture, opening new possibilities for communication and collaboration to effect and facilitate change.

There are plenty of examples that show the ease with which people actually link up with each other and coordinate complex projects as well as social and political change, including the wikipedia, coordination of aid efforts after natural disasters such as fires, and earthquakes through twitter or tools such as http://www.ushahidi.com/, but also recent events such as the "Moldava Twitter Revolution".

These tools, also called social media, are complementing an already existing large toolbox of methods for facilitation of whole systems change such as Open Space Technology, Appreciative Inquiry, Theory U, just to name a few. All these tools are means to an end, which is to change organizations, societies, or communities.

The conference will discuss how the different tools available can be used to foster collaboration that goes beyond mere sharing of information to create action. How can we combine social media tools with real time facilitation to address the essential questions and challenges arising in organizational and social change? Which tools support which kind of collaboration needs? What are the underlying principles that need to be observed to ensure that collaboration effects change?

The conference will make use of different social media tools. Our team will recommend a couple of those such as chat rooms, Twitter, Etherpads, Facebook etc. but you are invited to experiment with the tools you like.

We will produce an introduction video to show you the main mechanisms of the conferenc. 48 hours before the conference starts, the agenda wall will be opened. You wil be invited to post sessions on topics that you are passionate about and that want to explore with other participants. At the end of the conference, you will be asked to document the results of your session at the same place where you had posted the topic.

We will apply the principles of Open Space Technology, which are:
1) Whoever comes is the right person
2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
3) It starts at the right time
4) When it's over, it's over. When it's not over, it'snot over

We recommend that you install Skype, which will be the tool for the opening and the closing of the workshop. In the registration form, please include your Skype alias: we will need it to connect you to the Opening Forum. You don't need to install any other tool. We will recommend a couple of tools but feel free to use those you like most.

Register here.

Webinar: Web 2.0 for Business

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:45:21 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

UNFORTUNATELY, WE CAN NOT ACCEPT ANY MORE PARTICIPANTS FOR THIS SERIES. WE PLAN TO REPEAT IT SOON.

Webinar Series: How to Use Social Web Technologies for Business

You are welcome to join a four parts, interactive webinar series on Web 2.0 for Business. We have prepared a 20 minutes free video presentation which serves as the introduction to the topic. Watch the introduction here (give the video some time to start, and you can also watch it from here). Please open the video in the full screen mode:

Web 2.0 for Business – Why Change Makers
Should Care About Social Media

Target group of the Webinar Series:

Decision makers in companies and non-profit organizations, who would like to integrate social media in their communication strategies.
Consultants, trainers and other providers of services demanding special needs in communication.
Change agents and other stakeholders of change processes.

This is a beginners’ course. You can attend with any level of web literacy but you will likely be bored if you are already a web native.

These are the topics:

Webinar 1 (April 30, 2009, 15.00-16.30 GMT, please check your local time here): Blogs, wikis, podcasts, slideshows, etc. - How you and your customers can enter into dialogue
Just 10 years ago we started to comprehend that no organization could afford not to have a website. Today it is said to be: No organization can afford it not to interact with their stakeholders. This is the age of interaction. Many companies have started to use social media tools such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Wikis, etc.. In this webinar you will learn which tools are right for you and how to make your first steps. If you already use such tools, you will receive practical tips for optimizing your strategy. How and where should I blog? What are tags and what are their benefits? What is folksonomy? Is a wiki suitable for my internal or external communications? How can I improve the attractiveness of my blog? Does it make sense to upload videos and audio files to the internet? How do I embed them in blogs? What are mash-ups and widgets? And what about the copyright?

Webinar 2 (May 7, 2009, 15.00-16.30 GMT): Twitter - A new technology is revolutionizing the Web
Twitter is one of the latest major developments of the web. The micro blogging service allows you to build networks, discuss burning issues directly and quickly, broadcast brief information and forward them. Twitter is already used by many organizations. In this webinar you will learn how to use Twitter for yourself and your communication with partners, peers and clients. What tools are there and which one improves your Twitter performance best? Also, is Twitter really necessary?

Webinar 3 (May 14, 2009, 15.00-16.30 GMT): Networks and Netiquette
In this last webinar you will learn how to create new relationships through responsible and passionate action. The possibilities to connect with customers, like-minded people and opinion leaders and to become opinion leader oneself in a particular subject are manifold.
What are the basic rules and mechanisms to deal with it? How to use RSS feeds to efficiently meet the flood of data? What other networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, etc. should I use?

Webinar 4 (May 21, 2009, 15.00-16.30 GMT): What’s new? What’s next?
While the majority of us is still digesting the new technologies which emerged yesterday, the development moves on at a ever increasing space. In this last webinar, we will talk about emerging trends – what technology will shape our future tomorrow.

Some more remarks
The series is practice-oriented and interactive. You will receive practical tips and tricks on how to use new technologies. Our team will make sure that all your questions are answered. All webinars will be thoroughly documented so all the information can be reviewed afterwards. Also, there will be an opportunity to collaborate with the other participants in discussion fora. And if you miss one of the series, you will be able to watch a video recording from the session.

Trainer
Holger Nauheimer, author of Change Management Toolbook and worldwide known for his media work and on change in organizations. Since two years, he is engaged in the area of new technologies for the monitoring of change processes in the economy and society.

Technology
If you like to participate in the webinar series, please register at The webinars will be based on a telephone conference system plus an online presentation system (Dimdim). All you need is a high speed Internet connection. There is no need to download any software to your computer.

Costs for the entire cycle of four webinars: € 198 including VAT. (convert into your currency from here)

If you are from East Asia or Australia and find the time of the events inconvenient, please send us an email at holger@change-facilitation.org. If a sufficient number of people from the region show their interest we will organize a second event that suits your time zone.

Passion is Breaking Through in Darüssafaka School in Istanbul

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:10:53 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

This morning, Tanja Vermeer (president of CFAN) and Funda Oral (from AAT), with the support of Serdar Yurdakul and Holger Nauheimer opened the space at Darüssafaka primary and secondary school for a group 70 students, teachers, alumni, mothers, administrators and board members. Darüssafaka means "Home of Compassion".

The Open Space Theme was:

What we can do to re-animate the Darüssafaka soul that
we will be proud of and for Sustainable Success?

Darüssafaka High School is one of the most prominent and influential schools of Turkey and is currently located in [Maslak, Istanbul. The school was founded by the Darüssafaka Association with the name "[[Islamic Education Association]" in 1873. This date is controversial, with some sources claiming it was 1872. However, there is a consensus that the school started instruction in 1873 in the Fatih section of Istanbul, with the first graduation occurring in 1881. (from Wikipedia).

Admission to Darüssafaka High School is reserved to half-orphans who lost their father. Alumni stay attached to the school all of their life.

Soon after Tanja and Funda opened the space, passion broke through. Within 30 minutes, the participants found 40 topics they are passionate about, among them:

"Not only the orphans but also poor families"
"The effects of punishment (which are being used in education on students"
"Expanding Darüssafaka to whole Turkey / Anatolia"
"Not only the academical success but also in sports and art"
"What do we lack?"

After three rounds of Open Space, we moved back into the circle to report about the dialogue that had taken place. The participants compbined the 12 topics which were actually discussed, to 3 areas to focus on and to generate action plans, revolving around the following key issues:

Responsibility
Spirit
Success

Concrete projects were developed from there. It was in particular moving that theparents present said that this was the first time they were listened to.

Creating a World to Which People Want to Belong

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:54:49 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

This is a reprint of an article I wrote for the April newsletter of the IAF Europe.

Robert Dilts (image by Cantabrigensis via Flickr)

"We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future." George Bernard Shaw

Many years ago I had several encounters with Robert Dilts, one of the early developers of the systemic thinking school of NLP. Robert, in his kindness has left a deep impression on me with the subtitle of his book “Visionary Leadership Skills”, which serves as the title of this little article on how facilitators can have an impact on change in organizations and societies. I hope Robert doesn’t mind.

We are living in times in which most aspects of life have become unpredictable. Will we still be in business next year? If so, what new skills will we need to serve our clients? If we are employed, will we still have a job? Will our kids be able to develop their talents and gifts? Will our organizations become better places, where the individual contribution is valued and where team work becomes a means for personal and corporate success? Will there be more or less wars, terrorist attacks, and hunger (for food and for meaning)? And these are just the big questions – just try to write a list with two columns: in one column, jot down the things that you deem certain and in the other those which you think are uncertain. What’s your personal balance? So: if uncertainty and unpredictability prevails, can we as facilitators have an impact or are we subject to the strong forces of a seemingly chaotic world?

I believe we can. As facilitators, we

help teams to develop
create room for dialogue
assist organizations to improve their collaboration practices
support individuals in their intent for personal growth
deconstruct complexity and enhance comprehension
understand and describe systemic patterns in groups and organizations
serve as role models that provide orientation
allow emotions and feelings to be expressed
identify emerging leaders and give them room to experiment
express our views on the good, the bad and the ugly of organizations and societies
act as messengers of social initiatives
suggest tools for improved collaboration
etc.

As systemic thinkers we know that every action has an effect on the system. At the end our work boils down to one simple thing that we do: Creating space for passion and responsibility to unfold. I love to start my workshops with a simple exercise: I ask the participants to get off their chairs (which of course are assembled in a circle with no tables), and spend 15 minutes to meet other people. For these 15 minutes, I encourage them to talk about two aspects of themselves: What are they passionate about? What do they want to take responsibility for during the workshop (and beyond)? This little activity sets the tone and provides fertile ground for openness, transparency, emotional involvement and collaboration.

So, here is our contribution to a better world: let’s focus on helping to increase the global quantity of passion and responsibility. If we commit to this as an objective for any of our workshops, then I am not worried about our impact.

There is more reason for optimism: the global web culture that has developed over the last years is an indicator showing that people do collaborate if they have the tools, the freedom to use them and nobody standing behind their backs. Gary Hamel has expressed this perfectly in an article for the Wall Street Journal (“The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500“). He describes the following patterns of collaboration via social media:

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.

Quite a good description of how the real world should function, isn’t it? So, let’s start to build in real life what works in the Web already. I am ready to assume the hacker’s position, if wish so.

On Complexity, Paradigms and Language

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:09:31 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

Image by pipiwildhead via Flickr

I read a great post of Peggy Holman on PATTERNS OF CHANGE: Invoking Emergence in a Time of Uncertainty Peggy starts with the provoking question:

What would it mean to know how to work well with the unprecedented upheaval many of us face today?

She continues:

We live in unprecedented times. With financial systems crumbling, oil prices rising and falling, educational systems failing their students, whole industries like newspaper publishing and auto manufacturing collapsing, it is clear that dramatic change is happening whether we like it or not. The pathways of the past no longer reliably guide us to understand the needs of the present, much less the future. ... What follows is an emerging story that puts the old story of change in perspective, opens the way for something new, and provides some insight into how to put the ideas to work.

Sherri Black in her comment to that post, replies:

Peggy — it may be a bit more diplomatic talking about “old change” a bit more kindly — like change patterns that used to work but suddenly with the degree of turbulance in our lives do not seem to help any longer (or someting like that –not to offend all the other change or OD method masters).

I do not agree with Sherri. It is the role and responsibility of thought leaders to introduce a new language. The old language serves as justification for trying to reestablish the old ways of doing things. It is probably that we have not yet found the new language we need to describe patterns that are breaking through, and attitudes and tools that we need.

Image "PhotonQ-Beauty on the Horizon of Complexity" by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE via Flickr

During my attendance of the last Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco I saw a fascinating presentation of Soren Stamer, CEO of Coremedia about Darwinism on the Web. We have to realize that it is impossible to predict anything substantial even about the near future. Soren states seven compounding reasons why: 1. Increasing Dynamics 2. Rising Complexity 3. Increased Transparancy 4. Global Synchronization 5. Huge Opportunities and Huge Risks 6. Abundance of Options 7. Exponential growth So, maybe the "old" OD and Change Practitioners have to learn we are entering an era of new paradigms. Which doesn't mean that the old methods won't work any more. But there are fewer situations in which they actually do work. When I started my professional life, we were facilitating so called Objective Oriented Project Planning Workshops in Africa, Asia and Latin America, trying to conceive detailed plans stretching over 3-5 years. What a joke! I now have to admit that what we have used over the last years, methods such as Appreciative Inquiry, Future Search Conferences etc. are not effective in isolation. Rather, they need to be complemented by new ways of facilitating change. Where do we get the new language from?

Reblogging: Citizen-Powered Election Monitoring With Vote Report India

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:03:05 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

This is an exciting website for anybody who wants to effect social change:

Vote Report India is a collaborative citizen-driven election monitoring platform for the 2009 Indian Lok Sabha elections. Users contribute direct SMS, email, Twitter and web reports on violations of the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct. The platform aggregates these direct reports with news reports, blog posts, photos, videos and tweets related to the elections from all relevant sources, in one place, on an interactive map.

It is also worth to watch this great video which gives tipps on digital activism:

Comic art and social memory

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:52:22 CDT

by Steve Banhegyi.

In the course of our work, we often engage a variety of creative beings to help our clients articulate certain messages in the course of a change management process. Images are exceptionally important in change management as they are able to convey meaning and the overall feeling of a space in a way that is impossible for the written word. We use a variety of visual art including comics as memory devices - artifacts that remind people of a way of seeing a particular issue or marking a significant event in an organisation’ story.

Working with a client in the public sector, we were asked to devise a change management process for users moving from MS.Windows to Ubuntu Linux. As part of the media campaign that supported the initiative, we developed an inlay for canteen trays that communicates campaign values such as sharing, ubuntu, reciprocity, community, pass it along etc.. The same image is published as a set of 8 A0 posters mounted 4 top and 4 bottom. This is a worthy campaign to be involved in - the South African Government spends around US$14 Billion in software license fees when a significant proportion of this could be saved by using FOSS.

The images, theme and ideas are derived from a facilitated process run with client and articulated in a short feedback process - the image is therefore owned by client.

Concept & Writer : Eugenie Banhegyi - eugenie@storytelling.co.za

Artist : Ian Lusted

Facilitator : Steve Banhegyi

http://wisewolfconsulting.wordpress.com/

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:13:38 CDT

by Wendy Mason.

Resources for people managing or going through change

"The Guest House" Poem by Rumi

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:34:43 CDT

by Sofia Bustamante.

This poem inspires me deeply I heard about it through people who intervene to prevent violence on the streets. They use it as a deep philosophical approach to their work. For me it is very meaningful for hosting processes of any kind. Both online and offline. If we can create this kind of space, it would be beautiful and also potentially a huge source of human inner potential. I think that this CAN be done online as much as offline. From my experiences, it is possible to connect online to someone who you have never met in RL, and have a very soulful connection. Here is the poem: The Guest House This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

What is it that We Want to Make of the World?

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:21:12 CDT

by Stephen Joyce.

What is it?

Even Junk mail has its uses...

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:41:24 CDT

by Richard Cooke.

I woke up this morning and looked at my blackberry, and something seemed wrong… no flashing led, no email icon. It wasn’t that I was expecting deluges of interesting and important mail, but usually I have to start the day by deleting the few spam mails that crawl through my filters. The interesting thing was my reaction; my first thought was my blackberry must be faulty. I even resorted to sending a test mail. It was thus I realised that these annoying spams did serve one useful purpose, they do prove daily that my connections are working.

It is interesting how, if we change how we look at things, rather than just trying to change the things we look at we can find all sorts of value. Take a fresh look around you and see if you can’t find some value in apparent ‘rubbish’…. You might also enjoy this story of the Fields of Diamonds.

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” Albert Einstein

Using video in change management

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:54:48 CDT

by Steve Banhegyi.

Here is an example of using video in a change management project. The client is a South African government agency and the objective of the project was to move users of the MS.Windows desktop to Ubuntu Linux.

The video is designed to run as part of an internal campaign around FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) that stimulates users to reflect upon their 'Sekusile Moment'. Sekusile means 'a new day has dawned' and we are asking participants to share their ideas and feelings about the time when they 'saw the light' about FOSS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93iEaFZfpcU

writer : Eugenie Banhegyi
director : Kali van der Merwe
actor : Bongani Mundalamo
lighting director & gaffer : Terry Molloy (call-a-crew)
facilities : ZSE Television, Johannesburg
voice over : Dini Nondumo
voice over facilities : Sonovision Studios, Rivonia

Update: Invitation to Virtual Collaboration Workshop

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:33:59 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

What tools and principles do we need to help change to unfold?
Social and technological development as means for
better organizations, and a better world.

Join an experiment of virtual collaboration.

This is an experiment in virtual collaboration. On May 9, 2009, from 14.00-17.00 GMT (please check your local time here), we will host the world's largest Real Time Virtual Collaboration Workshop. The workshop will be based on the self-organization principles of Large Systems Change Methods like Bar Camps, World Café, Open Space Technology, etc. and will be facilitated applying different collaboration technologies such as Voice-over-IP, messaging tools, micro blogs etc. Although we have a certain structure and procedure in mind, this is work in progress, and if you have a passion for this, we encourage you to join the steering group. Just drop us a note in the forum below and we get in touch with you. During the Real Time Virtual Collaboration Workshop, this page will be the central place where the agenda will be created. Also, this is a place for documentation.We will post the instructions later on.

For the time being, please register here and join our pre-conference discussion

Here is an update on what has happened so far:

Since we had the first call for the conference, more than 50 people have registered and we have formed an organizers committee to brainstorm and set up the main facilities. Here are our latest ideas: This is the concept which is unfolding (work in progress):

a) we will have to create a very simple interface which will be the meeting place. Here, the agenda of the conference will be posted (on a wiki or a whiteboard), this is where participants can get advice from tool hosts, i.e. people who specialize to answer questions on application of certain tools. This is also the place where everybody can go to meet and join an open discussion - kind of coffee break room.

b) our team will propose a set of standard tools which everybody can refer to. This will probably consist of - wikis for the agenda and for notifications - chat rooms - Skype (for one-to-one chat, group chat and voice-over-IP conversations) - Twitter for communicating with the outside world in real time - personal journals in which participants can post the summary of their group discussions

c) we will all start building our agenda before the conference starts. At the beginning of the conference, participants have the opportunity to add topics and suggest virtual breakout rooms according to their preferences.

d) we will encourage participants to use other platforms for joint learning and exploration. For example, it could be that a group of participants decides "let us build a photo story around a certain issue of interest" and off they go to search photo databases. People search blogs or other websites for certain information, and then return to a discussion forum (this could be a chat room or Skype or whatever).

e) participants will take responsibility to document their results on a platform that we provide, or in their personal blogs. f) we promise to keep everything as simple as possible. However, some explanation will be required and we will produce a short video before hand to outline the main procedure of the conference.

Sometimes the best change managers aren't even change managers

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:13:51 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

If I were asked to provide one example of excellent change management, I would choose a process that I was exposed to some 8 months ago. The facilitator of this process was not a change manager in the conventional sense, but I would certainly classify what she did (and more importantly, how she did it) as top-notch change management.

Cathy is a nursing sister and registered midwife, and presented a series of ante-natal classes to my wife Yolande and I and a group of other expectant parents. She presented the classes in a uniquely quirky, personal and entertaining way, with so much passion, authenticity and real “I’ve been there and know what it is like” authority. She drew freely from both her own experience as a mother and from her formal training and experience as a health care professional.

I’ve been through the childbirth experience before when my teenage daughter was born during my first marriage, but this was Yolande’s first pregnancy. Consequently she approached the experience with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. While I increasingly shared her excitement with regard to the overall experience, I had a rather cynical been-there-before attitude to the ante-natal classes, somewhat grumpily resigning myself to spending several Monday nights hearing stuff I mostly already knew. In short, with regard to the ante-natal classes, I was the archetypal reluctant stakeholder!

But Cathy changed all of that. She loves her work, and it shows in buckets. Her enthusiasm and humour was infectious, and her classes were practical and insightful. She took the whole group on a journey, got us to ask questions and make comments. She skilfully dealt with fears and misconceptions, and had the ability to make us laugh at ourselves. We went through an alignment process, there was a proper setting of the context and lots of detailed communications. The change impacts were thoroughly clarified and made more real as she prepared participants in her class for the major life change they would soon experience. It was done so smoothly and so naturally that I didn’t become aware of the similarities between what Cathy was doing in her classes and what I do as a profession until the moment that she passed around the needles used for applying epidural anaesthetic – being able to hold these shiny, scary-looking needles in our hands, and openly sharing what we were feeling and thinking was one of the best possible ways one could prepare our group for one of the less pleasant aspects of the birth ahead. And Cathy didn’t sugar-coat any of the other more challenging aspects of becoming a new parent, sparing us none of the details regarding typical nappy smells, projectile vomiting, rashes, fevers and a host of other unpleasantries. She told it like it was. And after every session we left feeling slightly more prepared. The best for me – actually the clincher that turned me into a (hitherto only partially confessed) Cathy fan is that we could all sense that she was clearly on our side, sharing advice on diverse subjects like how to ensure the best (but more labour-intensive and therefore avoided by some doctors) stitches after a C-section, which nappy creams work well and which are rubbish, how the very best salve for preventing nappy rash is actually and surprisingly a product used by dairy farmers for the udders of their milk cows, and where to buy this at a good price.

Before I get too carried away, I must acknowledge that the circumstances of managing change in an organisational context are somewhat different – for starters our stakeholders are often not self-selected (those who attended Cathy’s classes were there of their own free will), and the case for change never quite as compelling! But I still see Cathy’s approach as an excellent example of effective change management. And there are also lessons (and encouragement) that I can take from this:

Good change management doesn’t necessarily require a lot of time (in Cathy’s case all she needed was two hours a week of focused interaction with the people in her classes and then as much time as stakeholders wanted to spend to read up on the material they got)
Simplicity is always better
A large portion of change management must happen on a human scale to allow for interaction and the processing of emotion. People don’t change when they listen , are “Powerpointed” or when they read e-mails – they change through dialogue and interaction
Practical assistance that addresses where stakeholders are actually at is priceless – and of course, misdirected effort in this regard (e.g. huge training programmes, websites, helplines, information sessions, and user guides that do not relate to actual stakeholder needs on the ground) is a waste of time and resources.
Personal attributes of the change facilitator make a major difference – things like compassion, a sense of humour, extensive knowledge of the relevant subject matter, comeptence, a passion for the work, and the ability to sometimes let go of structure and just trust the process come to mind.
Authenticity. Without this, the process becomes very shallow and true engagement unlikely. Meeting Cathy for the first time leaves you with a very clear impression that this is a no-nonsense lady and that, should you foolishly decide to cross swords with her, you do this at your own peril. No “bleeding heart” syndrome here, despite all the obvious care she feels. This “realness”, this bringing of her own true self into the situation imbues everything else she does with authenticity, and makes her so very effective at developing trust and enabling others to open up to her.

So, Cathy, it’s taken me a while to get around to saying this as completely as I have here, but you have my gratitude for investing my own road back to becoming a new father with extra warmth and humanity, for helping Yolande to deal with childbirth and early parenthood as well as she has, and also for reminding me how much difference a good change manager can make to the lives of others.

Spanish to English Change Management Translations

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:45:16 CDT

by David McCormick.

Hello

My name is David McCormick I'm a Spanish to English Translator and Interpreter and a management consultant.

I'm interested in translating Change Management articles. My fee is very competitive One US Cent per Word. And I’m also interested in exchanging Ideas with Change Management practitioners from all over the world.

Kindest Regards

David McCormick

Some boundaries shouldn't be pushed

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 05:34:45 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

"She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again
I said I appreciate that and would you please explain
About the fifty ways" (Paul Simon - 50 Ways to leave your lover)

As a change management consultant, I earn my living by minding other people's business. I spend much more waking time with my clients than with my loved ones. To my further discredit, sometimes when I am at home and supposed to be minding my own business - the business of loving, relating, laughing, conversing, caring and just simply living - I find my mind wandering back to my clients, like an errant tongue worrying at a chipped tooth.

Let me confess further: It's not just that working as a consultant has tended to absorb much of my time and even more of my attention, for me it is also true that the demands of change management work sometimes leaves me emotionally drained - when I return home after a day's work or a week away, I'm often kinda running on empty.

I suspect that my situation is not unique. Unless you take very special care in managing the boundaries between work and life, one sure-fire way of leaving your lover (and your children, your elderly parents, your faithful dog and pretty much everyone else who matters to you) can be by working as a change management consultant on a succession of large long-term projects. Of course, the damaging implications of not ensuring a healthy work-life balance extend even further - ultimately, it might prevent you from ever becoming the person you need to be, from realising your own unique potential. Being good at your chosen career might be ( might be) part of what you need to actualise yourself, but it is an absolute certainty that it would only form part of a much larger and more complex universe of what it really means to be you in the best possible way that you can. We all have to be clear on exactly how much we want to feed the beast called "work", and what we expect to receive in return. We also have to then stand firm on this, for the beast is greedy, devious, and unscrupulous.

But it’s not just about boundaries between you and the beast – it’s also how you relate to the beast, and specifically its keepers – your clients. My clients take up so much of my life, absorb so much of my attention, that it is important for me to understand how I relate to them and how they relate to me.

Let's begin with how I typically relate to clients: For me to contemplate doing the work at all, I have to engage authentically. I would not be able to spend this much time, effort and passion on something I don't care about. So in terms of my consulting career, it is fortunate that caring came naturally. Caring about the people I work with, the project, the company, the wider and longer-term implications of what we are doing. I can't help myself, I really "get with the program". I'm proud of the achievements, I worry if we're slipping on schedule. I'm deeply ashamed when the project behaves poorly or inconsiderately. I'm far more motivated by being part of a team, keeping up my end of making the project happen than by the formal commercial agreement. Actually, I'm quite comfortable to move away from what was agreed in the commercial arrangement if this will contribute more value to the project. Of course, this is anathema to people with a more clinical, arms-length approach to consulting. I've seen change management consulting teams delivering work that they privately admit will add no value, but feel bound to do because "it's in the proposal". In a nutshell then, I tend to really commit to clients and projects. There may be other ways, but for me this is the only sustainable way to do what I do.

It’s also an emotionally dangerous thing to do, for different clients relate in remarkably different ways to consultants. Although there tends to be patterns in this regard at organisational level (some organisations consistently engaging really effectively with consultants, others appearing to have a love/hate relationship with their consultants) the relationship between clients and consultants often is imbued with its sweetest or most bitter flavours at a more personal level:

In the sweeter part of the spectrum, individual client representatives are confident of their own abilities, have a realistic view of what you as consultant can offer, and treat you much as they would treat their other, more permanent colleagues. While they expect you to deliver, they also acknowledge and relate to the person doing the work. Here you will usually find consistency, openness, respect, and acceptance. Because this relationship tends to be authentic, it is easy to find personal meaning and value here, and it is also easy to make friends: One of my best friends (and the best man at my wedding) was my consultant and I his client more than a decade ago, and as a consultant I have developed deep and lasting friendships with clients that I have worked with – some are also colleagues in our consulting business now.

At the other, more bitter extreme, individual client representatives may be resentful of the fees that their organisation has had to pay for your services (in disregard of normal market forces and irrespective of the fact that your fees might be eminently reasonable), and they then make a point of expecting you to pull rabbits out of your briefcase with regular consistency. And they don’t just want super-extraordinary work, they also want lots of it - they insist on their pound of flesh, but unlike Shakespeare’s Shylock, they want a pound every week. If it were not for the demeaning tone that is normally taken by such clients, this would be still be OK with me, for I also feel that I must justify my rates and that I need to deliver at a significantly above average level.

It can even get worse: Some clients may also see you as a threat – operating from a deep sense of insecurity, they are afraid that you might expose their limitations and weaknesses or that by delivering value to their organisation, you might steal their limelight and undermine their opportunities for advancement. They may also secretly (and very unrealistically!) be envious of the prestige and money associated with consulting. Here you will usually find inconsistency, hidden agendas, distrust and a lack of respect.

As consultants we have a major influence in how our clients relate to us – how we conduct ourselves today will determine at least part of how our clients will treat us tomorrow. But there are many things we cannot influence, that we just have to live with (or choose not to live with).

Due to the nature of our work as change management consultants, we usually have to go to where this particular fire is the hottest, and it is us, more than most other project team members, who are the most exposed to client relationships. So, as change practitioners we need even more than others to understand how to deal with the keepers of our work beast, and sometimes in exceptional cases when to choose not to deal with them at all.

Change Facilitation Associates Network Publishes New Admission Guidelines

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:24:56 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

Four years ago, I created the Change Facilitation Associates Network. My intend was to bring together a highly skilled group of people from all around the world who share the passion for change and the responsibility to make things happen.

I guided the association for three years. When I saw it maturing, I handed over to a Board of Associates and a President, who is now Tanja Vermeer. The Board has revised the membership guidelines. The good news is: The membership fees have been reduced significantly, allowing more people to join this group. Download the membership brochure here.

An Invitation
We invite you to join the global Change Facilitation Associates Network. So far, 30 experts and companies from all over the world have decided to combine forces and to form an international network for learning and sharing their knowledge amongst themselves and other change makers in the world.

Our Mission
CFAN aims to refine and co-create the craft of facilitating organizational and individual change and to share the knowledge with change makers around the world.

Our Vision
CFAN is a global community of people who explore and advance change facilitation to collectively create profound collaborative change in a profit and non for profit manner. This connects us deeply, both within ourselves and within this changing world.

Why do people join us? Because...

it is an opportunity to build international partnerships with other associates.
it gives them a great feeling of connectedness.
it is an opportunity to sell and distribute own tools to other associates (and change leaders).
it provides access to tools on Knowledge: articles and discussions on interesting topics.
it gives access to experience: virtual conversations with other change facilitators around the world.
it provides ample opportunities to embrace and celebrate change.
members share knowledge and experience on change facilitation in a profit and not for profit manner.

Our Identity
Our network rests on three pillars: Learning, Earning and Serving. We operationalize this basic structure, by sharing information and experiences between our associates and our clients with a view to enhancing the knowledge and skills of all, establishing quality standards for the facilitation of change processes, undertaking research and development on change facilitation approaches and processes, creating sustainable business relationships between our associates and with our international clients, and creating and supporting initiatives that strive to improve equity, justice, and sustainable development for all.

Interested? Download the membership brochure here.

Walk Unafraid!

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:07:18 CDT

by Ada Gonzalez.

See my latest blog entry:

http://www.growth-coach.com/blogs/leadblog/walk_unafraid

Playing to Win

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 06:53:54 CDT

by Richard Merrick.

Play to win

Attending an early years education conference as a lay outsider is fascinating, and a bit humbling. Once you lay aside the normal political and bureacratic baggage,the overwhelming sense of purpose is about causing the conditions in which children grow into happier, more fulfilled adults. Some mission statement.

The role of play is much talked about - it's recognised as a key part of socialising - but it seems that the likelihood is it is far more important and far reaching than that. This recent film posted on TED gives a real insight into the role of play into adult life, and it really drove home for me the vital role of relaxation and play in innovation, renewal and overall sense of purpose.

As Coach and business developer, there are really important lessons to learn here. If play - real play - is absent from your business or executives, you have a real problem.

Watch the film - see if the Polar Bear reminds you of any CEO's you know, and listen for the part about the rats who were deprived of play. Then reflect on the recession.

The film is 18 minutes. It's worth it.

What makes a great change manager? My current list of "Top 5" Attributes

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 05:55:52 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

What makes a good change manager? This is a question that my senior colleagues and I have asked ourselves on several occasions - when trying to figure out how to improve the recruitment and development processes in our change management consulting company, when helping clients develop their own internal change capacity, when figuring out what courses to offer through our change management training company.

I suppose the answer to this question very much depends on what meaning is ascribed to “change manager” and “good” – i.e. what are the role requirements, and to what level must these requirements be met?

However, a typical set of generic attributes for middle-level change managers that work in the project context would probably include:

A passion for doing the work
An ability to work to deadlines and a commitment to deliver on time
An above-average “people ability” including communication skills, empathy, ability to establish trust and rapport, etc.
A very good understanding of change management principles and associated theory, methodology, techniques and tools, and the ability to apply these in a practical and flexible manner
Good analytic ability
A good understanding of the project process
Well-developed PC productivity skills in the major desktop software applications
At least a basic level of general business acumen
A good basic understanding of the client industry

We’ve developed somewhat more formal and complete definitions which we use for recruitment and development purposes, and have developed an extensive competency model for our training business. I think we’ve made good progress towards answering the question – in any event that we’ve reached the level where our answers yield practical, value adding direction and structure to our endeavours.

But there is another question that I find to be even more interesting: What makes a great change manager? For the moment, these are my “top five” attributes of a great change manager:

1. Ability to "make things happen".
Much of the practice of change management is intangible, and most of the meaningful results can only be achieved by working through other people who have their own priorities and who may not share the urgency that you have with regard to any particular deliverable. In the course of change management work on any project, there are always many small barriers to overcome - for example:

The most recent list of stakeholder contact details sourced from the HR system is hopelessly outdated and everyone looks to you, the external consultant, to somehow fix this
Workshop delegates accept meeting requests and then simply don't pitch on the day.
Project team members routinely wait until the eleventh hour to provide you with the information you requested well in advance
Four senior managers all insist on approving your newsletter articles, resulting in four different (and occasionally conflicting) sets of changes that have to be consolidated and then re-submitted for approval, with the happy possibility that this may result in further changes to changes...

Of course this is all just noise, the small stuff that we really shouldn’t sweat. But individually these small barriers can trip you up, and collectively they can dramatically slow your progress on a project.

There are also usually far larger challenges to “making things happen” – for example dealing with a situation where there is a lot of lip service to proper involvement of stakeholders in the project, but in reality business resources always seem to find some pressing but convenient operational crisis to deal with and the project team actually prefers to focus on technical aspects and avoid stakeholder interaction. Both groups say they want involvement, but both groups actually subtly resist this.

To deliver the required change management outcomes despite such typical challenges, a great change manager has to have an ability to make things happen that is way above the average - this includes the practical ability to do what it takes to get things done (often this requires plain “slog” and getting your hands dirty at the detail level), yet also the ability to think outside of the box, to challenge the known and the seemingly unchangeable to find very creative workarounds.

2. Grit

The going often gets somewhat tough on projects. This is not just necessarily in terms of the change management challenges – the physical environment can be uncomfortable (for example working in a temporary office constructed from a converted shipping container in the midst of a faintly toxic and occasionally explosive chemical plant in sub-zero temperatures), the project timeline can exert huge pressures requiring very long workdays with very early and/or very late meetings, you can end up sometimes working far away from home and only being able to go home on weekends (and not even necessarily every weekend), projects can extend for 18 months or more and require sustained effort and unflagging commitment, and to top it all off, you can be landed with a Mr Bean on your change team or an aspirant Attila the Hun as your project manager.

The reason life savers are able to rescue bathers who are swept away by strong currents is primarily because they are able to stay calm under pressure, and also because they are such strong swimmers that they can generate more capacity than they themselves need to stay afloat and make progress through the water. A great change manager needs to be able to hold her own, both physically and emotionally, and to generate significant surplus capacity, often despite very trying circumstances. Therefore, I believe great change managers need to have true grit, and lots of it.

3. Conceptual ability and agility

By this I mean the ability to rapidly reach deeper understanding through effective analysis and to quickly grasp new concepts – sometimes despite significant complexity - and then to apply these concepts in a flexible and creative yet practical manner. Also, the ability to develop new concepts where required.

That sounds rather theoretical. More plainly put, great change managers are able to quickly “get” what their projects are really about – to perceive the true shape of change though the thickets of available data, terminology and acronyms. This enables them to develop appropriate change management strategies and plans, to translate the “real change” into communication that all stakeholders will understand, to come to grips more rapidly with what will be required to enable and sustain the change, and also allows them to engage in a constructive manner with the project team with regard to the change management implications of the project process and technical issues.

4. Humility

A good friend and ex colleague often liked to remind us (but mostly himself too, I think) that for us as change managers, “it is more important to win than to be right”. A large ego inevitably gets in the way of the effective practice of change management, for not only will it inevitably create issues with project role players, the client and other stakeholders, it will also result in significant and probably unsustainable levels of personal distress for the egoistical change practitioner.

A fundamental aspect of change management is that we work through people to achieve results – the better the results, and the less visible our hand in the process of achieving those results, the more successful we are.

It can be very difficult to operate in the wings, for me personally not so much because I’m yearning for the limelight, but rather because of those instances when the person in the limelight makes a careless mess of your painstakingly prepared work. Another good friend (and at that stage a client of mine) used to get very frustrated in this regard, and he would often say: “We are making the very finest Cabernet, and you know what, the bastards don’t care – they just open the casks and let it all run out onto the floor.” My standard reponse was always “Yes, but at least we are making damn fine Cabernet!”, but I felt just as frustrated as he did.

However, even if you do crave the limelight, working in the wings is by far not the most severe test of the change manager’s humility – there are at least two other activities that change managers must perform that are far more challenging:

Apologising on behalf of the project and taking (even if just by association) the blame for stuff other people did or didn’t do.
Biting your tongue as you listen empathetically to a stakeholder in the throes of resistance who is very unfairly and inaccurately attacking you and is verging on making this personal.

Humility alone will not make you a great change manager, but without it, the odds are that you will never be a great change manager.

5. The ability to engage authentically

This seems like an easy one, but it is probably the hardest of all. Why did you just make eye contact and smile at that stakeholder? Is it because you just feel friendly and you like the person? Did you smile because you wanted to create the impression that you like the person but actually you loathe having to interact with him because he is creepy and furtively tries to look down your blouse at every opportunity? Why are you listening so attentively and empathetically to that poor woman who just lost her job? Are you leaning forward and responding to her because you care, or because you want to appear to her as if you care so that you can keep your job and keep up with your bond payments? Does it matter?

Of course it does!

The fact that people know (they always eventually know at some level even if they can’t quite put their finger on it) when you are faking is not even the most important point. What is far more important is that you know. And why on earth would you want to spend most of your waking hours doing a job that you have to slip on like a cold rubber mask every morning before you start work?

So, if you want to be a great change manager you can’t really get away with faking it, and even if you could, that’s a pretty dumb way to spend your life. And not faking it means that you will have to show people how you really feel. This could have major implications for your career as a change manager…

It’s is hard to separate out all the individual threads of the things that motivate us. And it becomes even harder – if not impossible – to determine to what extent we do things because of self-interest and to what extent there are other, more noble ends that drive us. We can even unravel something as fragile and seemingly selfless as romantic love to the point where the underlying motivational dynamics and self-interest becomes dismayingly unromantic and selfish.

Engaging authentically does not necessarily equate to being selfless, or that you need to carry all the cares of the world on your shoulders. However, you do need to find and maintain your own authentic position within yourself with regard to the work that you do as a change manager, and if this position does not tend strongly towards caring about what happens to others, seeing your own shared destiny in the destiny of others or some other similar position that the people you will work with can recognise and relate to, it’s time to think seriously about another career.

Authentic engagement in this context means bringing yourself – your real self - into the work that you do. It requires honesty, openness, congruence, self-insight and that you are basically OK enough with who you are to share that with the people you deal with in your work as a change manager.

So in summary, my current (it changes a little from time to time) “top 5” attributes of a great change manager are:

Ability to make things happen
Grit
Conceptual ability/agility
Humility
Ability to engage authentically

For me the particularly interesting thing about my current “top 5” is that, while most of these attributes can be honed to some extent by training and development, change practitioners will either be born with them, or develop them over fairly extensive periods of time. It is fairly straightforward (but by no means easy) to develop good change managers through training and development initiatives, but if there is some validity in my “top 5”, it would suggest that great change managers are found rather than developed.

Trash Your Power Point Presentations

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:46:14 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

For a long time of my life as a trainer, I refused to use Power Point presentations. In the trainers trainings I gave, I usually introduced the concept of death by PP early in the course. But then, slowly, PP creeped into my courses. Before, I used to spend the entire night before the start of a course to draw my flip charts. This was a meditative exercise and gave me the possibility to rehearse. But finally, I plead guilty - I do use PP more than I should, even if I try to design the individual slides as animating as possible. I include videos, images and all kind of staff. And I still use flip charts and often I joyfully press the blind button of the clicker. Having said that, I was more than happy to watch a taped webinar: Creating Powerful Presentations with Nancy Duarte. If you are a trainer or a presenter, you got to watch this 45 minutes and I bet, your presentations will never be the same.

Iran - the third largest blogger country on earth - or how change is gonna come

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:19:26 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

For the last weeks, I am spending a lot of my productive time on Twitter. This gives me less room to blog, for the time being. I plan to go back to regular blogging once my initial hunger for Twitter has faded a bit. However, what I discover on my Twitter journey is sometimes trivial but sometimes it is so overwhelming that it shakes my foundations. If I could chose one piece of information that was the most astonishing, encouraging message, it was a little video that I found yesterday. It shows that Iran is now the third largest country of bloggers: I have tried to verify this information but couldn't find any source (will keep looking at it). In any case, what this video says is that many people in Iran use blogs to create a counter culture, to meet in secluded spaces, to dream about a better life. I am speechless, again, about the power of social media that we yet have to comprehend.
Iran: A nation of bloggers from Mr.Aaron on Vimeo. I just heard in an MP3 of Deutsche Welle (in German) more about the topic. It confirms what the video says but also tells that the Iranian top bloggers often end up in jail. And I just found an article that on of them has died in prison (read here). By the way - follow me on Twitter if you want to follow my journey deep down the rabbit hole.

Coaching in a recession

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:59:16 CDT

by Richard Merrick.

I've seen a lot of posts elsewhere questioning how the recession will affect coaching. They seem to split into two camps- one looking at doom and gloom as budgets are cut, the other more resilient and optimistic with a view of this is when coaching is needed most.
I fall into the second category. Our jobs, above all else, is to help our clients think for themselves. Never is this more neccessary than now - but it raises some potential issues. I suspect there will be more dissonance in coming months between many businesses priorities (more for less, cut costs, survve) and those leaders and potential leaders who see opportunity, and want to go for it. It will be a brave (or inspirational) leader who gives them full rein - yet if they don't these people will find a conduit elsewhere - if not now, as son as things pick up. hunker down for cover, but when confidence returns, there will be opportunities for them.

Visual Culture & Branding in 3rd World Healthcare

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:41:07 CDT

by Steve Banhegyi.

We have worked with the Lesotho Ministry of Health for the last few years and have developed various campaigns for them that engage branding and other forms of feedback for staff and the public. While the HQ in Maseru is relatively modern, some of the bush clinics operate in extreme conditions in the mountains only accessible by Cessna 206 and Basotho Ponies. Since the MOH&SW engages in healthcare and has widely dispersed employees, we have developed a sticker campaign around washing hands, knowledge sharing, driving and general attitudes. We have also created a web 2.0 site for them which is accessible via 3G cellphone that you can see at http://www.mohsw.org

Steve Banhegyi
Steve Banhegyi & Associates

This sticker is displayed on the inside toilet door and is seen prior to exiting.

Tribes

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:42:40 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

Seth Godin is one of the emerging new thinkers on leadership in the digital age. For those who haven't read his latest book, Tribes. So, I was happy to read an interview with him from Copyblogger.

from the introduction: If not, Tribes is all about leadership in a post-geography world. The Internet allows anyone to become a leader of a tribe big or small, with members from across the planet. And people want you to lead them in all sorts of contexts. quotes from the interview: Well, everyone is a member of a tribe. A community tribe, perhaps, or a spiritual one. The time to go start your own tribe is when you realize the obligation you have to contribute your leadership and when you are passionate enough about a goal that you will make the commitment the tribe demands to get there.
In other words, do it when you care.

If you don’t care, don’t whine, don’t complain. But if there’s change you want to make happen (business change, social change, any change) then this is the way to do it.

Read the full interview here, and find the book on Amazon. This is the path to Seth Godin's blog. I really love this book because it is about my two current themes: Passion and Responsibility. I believe the world and any subset of it, like organizations could be places, if we drive on passion and sustainability. Like the Open Space Cooking we had yesterday (but this will be the topic of another blog post).

It's a Change Management Issue

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:02:14 CDT

by Ivan Overton.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, change management was the Cinderella of the corporate ball. Change practitioners really had their work cut out for them simply just to get through the organisational front door with change management. For many managers who had spent a significant part of their working lives in control-and-command organisational environments, the value proposition of change management was very hard to grasp. Surely, they reasoned, if leadership decided that something had to be done, then employees should just be told what to do, and that was that? This mindset proved to be quite persistent, even as increasing numbers of research studies underscored the critical role of change management in the success of large projects.

Then, as the influence of the new organisational paradigm spread and concepts like ownership, empowerment, involvement, and interdependence came to the fore, effective change management became widely acknowledged as a critical success factor for the implementation of any large-scale organisational change. Change management was included in business school curricula, and organisations started developing their own in-house change management competence.

As change practitioners we now have both of our glass slippers, yet I think many of us will in time find these increasingly uncomfortable: Coming from a historical working environment that varied from poor acceptance to outright hostility and rejection, we now find far greater acceptance in most of our engagements. There will of course always be the disgruntled stakeholder/manager/project team member that wonders (often out loud) as to the real value of all this “airy fairy stuff”, but they have come to occupy a minority position in most organisations. The new bane of our existence is exactly the opposite of the rejection we used to have to deal with, and it holds an even greater challenge for us.

We seem to have become the indispensable darlings of the project world - and I’m grateful for this – but it also seems to have had the undesirable spin-off that just about everything that happens on a typical project always seems to become a CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUE. If the project schedule changes due to poor planning, and training has to be postponed the day before it is set to start, this (as well as all of the inevitable fallout), becomes a CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUE. If the technical design is flawed, and users express their concerns, it is a CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUE. If an organisation tackles a large change project but can spare no business resources to participate in the design, or later on to attend training, you guessed it, it is a CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUE.

Of course all projects will have ups and downs, and change management can and should play a significant role to smooth out the bumps. But our primary role should be to help stakeholders deal effectively with the shift from As-Is to To-Be, not to act as spin doctors for poorly conceived or poorly managed projects. I believe that much of what is so frequently and conveniently labelled as CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUES on projects has very little to do with change management, unless one is willing to broaden the definition of change management to the point where it becomes a catch-all.

It may sound as if I’m griping, which I suppose I am, a little bit: It is a deeply satisfying experience to be part of a major organisational change where you can play a central role in helping those who will be affected by the change to gradually come to terms with it, and to adopt it in a way that creates value for them as individuals and for the organisation. In doing this work, you will inevitably have to do some crisis management and step into the odd project breach. It is the right thing to do, and that has always been fine by me. However, by the same token, if most of my time on a project is spent doing PR work to patch poor project performance and compensate for bad project hygiene, this is not my idea of a good way to spend my time. To add insult to injury, with “bad” projects, the miserable performance of the entire project then more often than not becomes labelled as – you guessed it again! – a CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUE.

But, having gotten that off my chest, the point I want to make is not how tough the lives of us poor change practitioners are (if the work wasn’t so difficult, we wouldn’t be needed, and let’s face it, it wouldn’t be as much fun either!). The important observation in all of this for me is that, by moving from one extreme of not ascribing much value at all to change management through to the other extreme of wanting to make everything a change management issue, we are not addressing the root causes of the problems we encounter during large change initiatives. To my mind, three of the most pressing problems that need to be addressed are:

1. Poor project hygiene is too frequently tolerated. There is absolutely no excuse for poor project hygiene – planning, resourcing, scope management, quality and timeliness of deliverables, etc. must all be top notch. Most initiatives will be challenging even when projects are flawlessly executed. Why risk compromising initiatives by tolerating poor project hygiene? The knock-on effect of a failed initiative is huge – it increases the likelihood that stakeholders will become more resistant to change, it erodes trust and confidence, and it often adds even more work pressure to already stressed employees. This means that the next initiative is less likely to succeed, and if that also fails, the negative consequences are compounded even further, making it progressively more difficult for the organisation to change.

2. People are regarded as an infinite resource. Most reasonable people would not arrange a dinner party and then leave it to the last minute before inviting the intended guests, particularly not without having checked their availability first. Yet projects often seem to be approached that way in large organisations – there may be good resource planning within the project, but despite the recurring and obvious problem of “initiative overload”, scant attention is paid to the resource loading of employees who may be at the receiving end of multiple large concurrent projects.

3. Projects are not properly initiated. I’m referring here to what happens way before the formal project kick-off: What is the quality of the process by which initiatives are prioritised, how much real alignment is there among organisational leaders before a new initiative is embarked on? It strikes me that in most instances, the overwhelming consideration remains ROI in financial terms – leadership reaches agreement on how much money to invest and what return to expect, but the time and focus that will be required from employees and leaders (both during a project and in the period after the project) to make the initiative work is often vastly underestimated.

Addressing the problem of poor project hygiene may seem simple – appoint experienced project resources with a proven track record, and implement effective performance assessment and management measures. However, project hygiene is not only determined by the quality of project resources or the project management process – if undue pressure is placed on project budgets or timelines, or unrealistic scope expectations are allowed to develop, then it becomes almost a given that project hygiene will suffer.

Effective project portfolio management should help with initiative prioritisation, while the introduction of portfolio change management will probably contribute to more realistic resource loading (and change impact loading) of employees, but neither of these will necessarily imbue the crucial mindset among organisational leaders that their organisation’s ability to change is a precious strategic resource that should be carefully nurtured.

It is this mindset, above all that we in our glass slippers should be working towards, for from this the rest will flow. So perhaps, in the light of this, when the usual chorus chimes in during a project meeting to blithely assign the issue of a lack of participation of overworked business resources in a design workshop to the weary change manager, they may be right after all – it is a change management issue. But not quite in the way they meant it.

Change Management. . . “In a recession?! Are you crazy!?"

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:53:10 CDT

by Holger Nauheimer.

Well, to be honest, that’s probably what a lot of our clients would be thinking right now. Or would be, if they even had the luxury of thinking about anything other than the wafer-thin order book for the coming quarter, crashing stock prices, liquidity akin to quick-dry cement, or just how many people they need to lay off this month. So what role, if any, does Change Management have to play in a business environment such as we are experiencing now? And when (before lunchtime, hopefully) we’ve answered that question, there’s a broader issue to explore: Just how does the business environment – we’re talking not only economical, but also political, social, technological and ecological – affect the practice of Change Management? This is the theme that will be explored at the 4th Annual Global Gathering of the Change Facilitation Associate Network (CFAN). The gathering will be held this year from April 21st to 23rd 2009 at the TÜB?TAK Turkish Institute for Industrial Management (TÜSSIDE), located in Gebze, 50km south east of Istanbul.

Read more about that international meeting in the attachment and join our movement. You can register at http://www.change-facilitation.org.

Avoid doing "Classical" Change Readiness Assessments

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:35:08 CST

by Ivan Overton.

My first exposure to the concept of Change Readiness Assessment (CRA) was in the early nineties, when I was working for a large manufacturing company, at that time as a project team member charged with change management and the HR portion of an ERP implementation. One of the large consulting companies was engaged to provide the necessary expertise.

Their view of CRA boiled down to a broad-spectrum organisational climate assessment, and was one of the first major activities in their change management process.

As a result of this assessment, I encountered my first serious change management ethical challenge: After the results were compiled, and despite his prior commitment to the process, the HR Director called an urgent meeting with the change consultant and myself, and forbade the publishing of any results unless some significant changes were made. In essence he felt that it would be counterproductive to feed any of the less positive results back to employees, as he was not in a position yet to do anything about it. He wanted us to “cook” the results. None of the other senior leadership wanted to make an issue of this, so the best outcome we could negotiate was to provide feedback only at a higher level where the overall results evened out to a more positive picture and did not reflect poorly on the HR function, but it left both the consultant (who remains to this day a very good friend) and I seething with frustration and deeply disillusioned. More importantly, it also took all of the “teeth” out of the feedback, stripping most of the potential value from the exercise.

But, dodgy HR Directors aside, how much value is there really in this “classical” approach to CRA? Many consulting companies still include this as part of their methodologies, but I’ve dropped it from my preferred approach, as I am convinced that there are significant issues with the classical CRA:

It’s too broad for specific project action: Typical dimensions often include just about everything except the kitchen sink: communication, training and development, trust in leadership, morale, work satisfaction, customer service, remuneration, quality of work processes, value of supporting technology, etc. Such assessments are in fact a type of organisational health check, and any serious effort at addressing the findings they produce will inevitably go WAY beyond a typical project scope (some might cynically point out that this is exactly why consulting companies still do this- it generates more potential work!). This means that change practitioners who follow the classical CRA approach are engaging in a fairly large activity as part of a project but that this activity will usually not result in actions or outcomes during the lifespan of the project. (Maybe in this regard the HR Director did have a point, even if his proposed solution was sadly misguided.) “Yes, but…!”, you might now interject – “even if you may not be able to do much about the problems you uncover, at least you know about them and can therefore adapt your change strategy to mitigate some of the associated risks.”. I agree that it is important to know about organisational issues and problems, but I don’t accept that a major CRA survey is necessarily the way to go about obtaining this information, which brings me to my second point…
The information almost always already exists: Most large companies run regular (typically at least annual) climate surveys, and within business units and divisions there may be further assessments and surveys that are frequently done.
There are other, often better ways to get the information you need: A few in-depth discussions with stakeholders who know the organisation well will often yield the same information that would appear in the executive summary of that 134 page CRA report. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, that executive summary would usually be enough for you to ensure that your change approach is appropriate. Do we really need to know that in the Northern Region respondents between 35 and 45 years of age are more satisfied with their training opportunities than respondents between 25 and 35, while in the Southern Region, the converse is true?

Such focus group discussions, if well positioned and facilitated, can also serve as a change intervention in their own right, as people get the opportunity to engage in dialogue with project representatives.

And my BIGGEST issue with classical CRA’s:

“Change Readiness Assessment” is a misnomer. Can we really make useful and valid deductions about how ready people and/or the organisation are for change by assessing perceptions regarding generic organisational climate issues? Of course not. We have to be more specific about the details of what will change.
Regardless of my perceptions regarding my manager, or the quality of the training I receive, or any of the other more generic issues assessed by classical CRA’s, you will only be able to assess my readiness to change to (for example) a new financial system once you have exposed me to more information regarding the change and the impact – why are we doing this, what happens if we don’t change, will I be able to work faster, will the system be easy to use, will my job content change, will my job become redundant, etc.. These are the things that will primarily influence my readiness for change, and compared to them the relative influence of how I feel with regard to the classical CRA-type items will be fairly insignificant.

A final concern with the classical CRA’s is a methodological one that extends to all surveys of this type: Most of these assessments are run as paper-based or web-based questionnaires that are distributed to a sample of the target population or sometimes to the entire target population. The questionnaires are usually completed anonymously, and there is very little control (beyond reminders by e-mail) over who completes the questionnaires and who don’t. Provided that the percentage of completed questionnaires reaches some acceptable level, the survey is deemed to have been a success and the approach is regarded as scientifically acceptable. But this thinking is flawed: Unless the percentage of completed questionnaires approaches 100, how can we be certain that the decision to participate or not to participate in the survey was unrelated to the domains that the survey was intended to assess? Were people that felt extremely dissatisfied with their jobs motivated to participate and share their views, or did they refuse to participate? Did those people who are under a lot of work pressure manage to find the time to complete the survey, or are most of them excluded from the results? Are we getting only the view of those who felt angry enough to participate, or only the view of those who love the company so much that they always participate? Is it somewhere in between, so nicely balanced that we can discount all of these questions? Of course there is no way out of this methodological quagmire – if you sample, you need to ensure that your sample participates, and that all reasons for non-participation are clearly random (for example attendance of a training course or absence due to illness).

So, clearly I am not a fan of the classical CRA approach. What I would recommend is:

First off, avoid mislabelling organisational climate assessments or “health checks” as “Change Readiness Assessments”. You cannot assess change readiness without being specific about the change.
Climate assessments and other similar exercises do have their place, but more often than not these should not be attempted as part of the change management work in support of a change initiative.
You do need to understand organisational dynamics and issues – there is usually a ready source in the HR department for climate survey results, and these should be further supplemented by interviews with carefully selected stakeholders.
While I am clearly opposed to the “classical CRA” approach, I believe that proper CRA’s are essential – these occur only later on in the project timeline after the change impact has been defined. Now you can target specific stakeholders and organisational units and determine readiness (and required actions) with regard to specific changes and the implications of these changes.
CRA’s don’t have to be survey-based. Sometimes this is unavoidable when large numbers of stakeholders are involved, but more interactive, psychologically “warmer” methods such as group discussions are far preferable. There are many simple techniques for combining questionnaire-type assessments with group discussions – while these deliver quantitative results, they also provide instant feedback and then allow dialogue around the feedback, and I’ve found them to be very effective.

Brands and Change

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:30:36 CST

by Richard Merrick.

Here's what I'm exercised with:
- at a time when one to one / one to many communication is easy and ubiquitous, brands have a problem. It has been easy in the past to create an attractive story, and create an image, and persuade people that if they buy the product, they become part of it. No longer. A story that doesn't match the brand makes it either faux (the polite term) or fake (my word)
- there has been a huge "stretch" as outsourcing has increased, with increasing exposure of expensive and luxury products made in sweatshop conditions.
- at the same time, many really authentic products get great airtime and exposure, based not on a preconceived or constructed brand, but rather by virtue of what they are. I have always liked Howies, and my current favourite is Saddleback. www.saddlebackleather.com
- From a commercial standpoint, I think the use of websites is changing. By their nature, even where they are trading sites, they are relatively static - they get updated in "chunks" and in the current climate of social media, are more "brochureware" than conversation. Nothing wrong with that as long as we understand. Blogs, and increasingly things like Twitter are the "conversations"

So, to the issue. All individuals and companies have a story to tell. we cannot make one up that we would like it to be - that falls into fake. So, we need to:
1. find a way of identifying and extracting the events, anecdotes, attitudes, hobbies, histories and similar that sit in a person or organisation, and bringing them together in the context of their goals and aspirations.
2. Identify how these can be constructed and translated by a "storyteller" into a form that resonates, is authentic, and most importantly is seen as true and authentic by the person or organisation concerned.
3. Can we find a way of unfolding and updating that story, via social media, in a way that attracts people / customers, and stays true to purpose and faithful to image?

It's not about making people fit a brand "live the brand" whatever - it’s much more honest - it's conveying clearly, and in an attractive way, who we are, what we value and what we are about in a way that attracts the sort of people we want to deal with.

For me , the "story" then drives everything- design, communication (website, media) and strategy.

I think we are getting back to Shakespeare - "and this above all unto thine own self be true, and it shall follow as the day the night - thou can'st not then be false to any man"

now that's a brand..............................and the complete opposite of how we have done it traditionally.

So, how can we define and create the skill set and the process to help people do it?

The Change Mountain

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:11:05 CST

by Ivan Overton.

So it seems the blog bug has bitten - I'm back sooner than I thought...

I've noticed (or perhaps I should say it has on occasion been brought rather forcibly to my attention) that change management is often sadly underestimated when organisations embark on major change initiatives. This results in inadequate budgeting for change, stopping too soon with change management, putting unqualified resources into impossible positions, "bad" change experiences for people in the organisation, and a slew of other undesirable outcomes. For us as change practitioners, the outcomes on a personal level could be even worse. Delivering really effective change management on a "good" project often proves quite challenging. On 'bad" projects this can become impossible - you can't really fix fundamental problems through good change management, no matter how talented you may be. For example, attempting to compensate through extra change management effort on a project that is woefully under resourced, where the technical solution is seriously flawed or very unstable, where far too little time has been allowed for stakeholder engagement, or where the training budget is totally inadequate is more likely than not to backfire - the change effort may even become the scapegoat for poor project performance, and even if you can see all of this for what it is, as a change practitioner you may also feel that you have failed somehow.

Of course, there are things one could and should do to counter this (effective early engagement of change practitioners on initiatives, ongoing education regarding change management for business leaders, better definition of what competencies are required from change practitioners, working with - sometimes arguing with! -the project manager to help avoid planning deficiencies, etc.). We must also keep in mind that change management as a discipline has come a long way from the early days when it took a lot of change management just to get leaders to accept the necessity for change management. But we still have a long way to go, and if organisations continue to "fire a cannon from a canoe" where change management is concerned, it does not help our cause.

Why is it so easy to underestimate change management?

In exploring this question a little bit, I would like you to take a metaphorical trip to Change Mountain with me. Let's helicopter in to the middle slopes...

Here we are at the middle slopes. No coincidence, starting here. That's what most people do, and many unfortunately never move far from here, quickly becoming very busy with lots of activities, yet managing to stay conveniently near the campfires. What can be found here on the middle slopes? Well let's look around a bit. Careful, you almost tripped over that PowerPoint presentation. You'll have to watch out, there are very many of them here. Look, there next to that disused project charter is a communication plan, just to the left of it a stakeholder analysis. Can you see the change impact assessment just peeking over that small hill there? Scattered near and far there are e-mail messages, posters, newsletters, brochures and other unidentified bits of mass communication. Life is pleasantly predictable here, and although we have lots and lots of terminology, tools and other "clever" stuff, the work is not really rocket science - we stick to the methodology and deliver what was agreed, everybody cheerfully busy with being busy, although of course now and then there is some tension when a deadline nears. It strikes me that this is how many people see change management, they just see the easy to reach (by helicopter!) middle slopes.

I see you looking up the peaks towering above us. Shall we mount an expedition up one of them? The one to the left there is Doing the Right Thing, the one in the middle Authentic Engagement and the very high one on the right is Change Leadership. Let's go up Doing the Right Thing. (We can explore the other two on another occasion when we have more time. Actually there are quite a few more peaks in this mountain range, but you need to hike a deeper into the mountains to see them. One day maybe we can do this if you like.) Let's go...

Sjoe, that was a tough climb! Doing the Right Thing is not so high, but can be technically very difficult. When we got stuck early on scaling that old poster campaign I thought maybe we wouldn't make it. Climbing up the Business Understanding cliff was also very hard and it took longer than I expected it would. And when we had to slacken the change methodology rope and you looked down and saw nothing but open air below you I could see it took guts to let go - well done, many others would not have been able to do that. Good thing we were roped together though - the higher slopes can be very treacherous if you work alone and without a proven approach. The nice thing is that it is never crowded up here! The air is too thin and it is too cold for most people. What do you think of the view from here? There are some very misty days where you can see even less from here than from below, but on a day like today you can actually see for miles and miles. Look, you can even see the scattered bits of communication on the middle slopes from up here too - very colourful, they almost look like flowers! But the wind is scattering them like litter. We need to clean that up, it's making a mess. It's not just that - look, the folks on the middle slopes have missed out on quite a few stakeholders that are living on the other side of that hill, and that change impact analysis is right in line with the original proposal, but from here you can see it is in the wrong place. If we can get word to the folks working down there, we can make their work much more effective. Let's go down and tell them. Perhaps we can encourage some of them to sometimes make the journey up here and to the other peaks as well.

That was worthwhile, thanks for climbing up with me! But there is another part of Change Mountain that I need to show you. I kept it for last on purpose. It is much less glamorous, the going can be painfully slow, and it can get rather tedious. Most people don't like going there, but you need to see it for my metaphor to be complete. We have to go down to the foot of the mountain, where all the small loose rocks and stubborn large dislodged boulders are - the scree of detail. We are going to trip often, and we are both likely to get rather frustrated, but we must keep our wits about us, for it is here where both excellence and the devil may be encountered. It is also by far the largest piece of Change Mountain, and if we neglect it as change practitioners, we can never hope to do a good job. Let's look around a bit: Here we can find many real conversations with stakeholders, masses of detailed understanding of how change will impact the business and people, a firm grasp of what the change really is about, timeous notifications to stakeholders regarding important meetings, relevant, accurate and concise information (as opposed to some of the meaningless hype sometimes blowing about in the wind on the middle slopes), properly planned workshops where the right people are attending because we went to the trouble of identifying them and making sure they will attend, deliverables completed with care and on deadline, issues surfaced, recorded and addressed. If you look closely, you will see that the many small rocks here are worn smoother over time by small individual acts that often require discipline, attention to detail, many late hours, unacknowledged effort, serious commitment and diligence. Change Practitioners who are willing to work down here as well as on the middle slopes weave a far finer, more valuable and durable change management fabric - from a distance it is not easily distinguished from that shoddy and flimsy stuff woven by those who never venture away from the middle slopes, but from up close, the difference is obvious.

Perhaps we should end the visit to Change Mountain before I am tempted to add even more metaphors or stretch the original one even further! The point I want to make is that two important aspects of change management - the higher-order, strategic level and the very detailed practical level are sometimes rather rashly discounted. While good tactical delivery in terms of a proven approach and with helpful tools and techniques are clearly a very important aspect and a requirement for success, you can't have truly effective change management without at least part of the change team being able and willing to make the difficult ascent to the strategic level where the work becomes exponentially more challenging (and where there may be no pre-existing methodology, tools, or well-trodden path to follow). This has significant resourcing implications - it may be fine to appoint inexperienced or less experienced resources to execute at an operational or tactical level, but they are unlikely to add value at a strategic level. This means the important strategic "peaks" - these include authentic engagement, doing the right thing (adapting the change strategy to be appropriate to organisational circumstances and unfolding events), ensuring effective change leadership, and protecting organisational change ability - will never be achieved, which usually severely compromises the effectiveness of change management. A lack of adequate focus on the detail is equally problematic, yet it is rare to see initiatives where adequate allowance has been made - in terms of money or time - for detail change management work. This often results in the detail being glossed over - an example of this would be change impact assessments that never go into the real detail and therefore are fairly worthless in assisting stakeholders and the organisation in identifying the practical actions required to prepare effectively for change.

The strategic level can be extremely difficult from a technical point of view, and there are often no easy guidelines to follow. This truly tests the mettle of change practitioners. The operational detail also has significant challenges, mostly related to the sheer volume of work. So, at one extreme we need expert resources with rather unique competencies who can operate at a strategic level, and at the other extreme we need the time and resourcing to deal adequately with the detail. But many decision makers are only really aware of the tactical bit in the middle, and often this awareness is even further limited when they equate change management to communication and stakeholder management only. Compounding this even further is the frequently held and totally incorrect assumption that, as change practitioners are people after all, working with other people should be very easy (as opposed to say working with nuclear reactors). So it is probably not really surprising that change management is underestimated, and that we often end up with too few resources trying to do too much in too little time.

To Change or not to Change - is that the question?

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:19:59 CST

by andy radka.

Not sure about the answer to this. Organisations constantly changing so do they just need to be flexible full stop without the need to focus on managing this?

Change Facilitators come together

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:29:03 CST

by Tanja Vermeer.

Tanja Vermeer, president CFAN

Change management in the corporate trenches

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:46:46 CST

by Ivan Overton.

This is my first tentative entry into the field of blogging - always wanted to, but like scuba diving or horse riding, I just never quite got to doing it. I've read many other blogs, including the writings of my friend Holger Nauheimer (http://www.change-management-blog.com/ - also featured on this site), who sets a benchmark for being able to consistently share content that is interesting, intelligent and in step with what's happening out there. Actually, as I'm writing this I'm wondering what I've let myself in for, whether my chosen topic will be of any interest to fleeting web visitors. Well, perhaps that's not the point - it would be great to reach other people with this blog, to stimulate some discussion and interesting thoughts, but rather selfishly, I guess I'm writing this mostly for myself. A kind of self-therapy.

I'm actually sitting in an office at a client site writing this. I'm tired, it's the end of a long day, and I still have some work to finish which will now have to move to later tonight. Not sure why NOW had to be the time to do this, but here I am.

I want to - need to - write about working as a change manager on large corporate projects - I sometimes call it "change management in the corporate trenches". Sometimes I call it other things, but maybe we'll get to that later. If I can express my thoughts well enough in writing this blog, it will hopefully provide a faithful reflection of one old (it's not the miles on your clock, it's the roads you've travelled) change management consultant's experience of the practice of this art and craft of change management. This means I will probably be writing about the exhiliration of sometimes doing things really well, the frustration of achieving absolutely nothing, the perfect logic of a well conceived and executed change strategy, the hopelessly tangled web that most change strategies rapidly turn into when meeting reality, the absolute insanity of some project environments, the lonely hotel rooms, the fear of having so much (even if it is not tangible) ride on what you do or don't do, the heartache and heartbreak, the hilarity and the fun, and most of all, the people.

So firstly, and by way of "checking in" more formally: I've been in these trenches for the past decade and a half, and like many of my ilk, I've had my share of working at remote sites on mega projects that extend over many months, weekends at home flashing by like cat's eyes on a highway. (Projects seem to accelerate subjective time - I suspect that's where my thirties went and why my forties arrived a bit sooner than seems fair.) I have a Masters' degree in Psychology, which hasn't really been as useful to me as I would have expected. After working as a lone ranger for the first part of my career as change manager, I founded a consulting company that grew slowly but steadily over the past nine years. It is a fairly successful, reputable boutique outfit with between 12 and 15 permanent employees at any one time, and we have no intention to grow it much bigger - we probably could, and it would be more profitable, but we know we would not be the same company then, and we kinda like our company the way it is.

So, I've started this blog. I'm going to hit the highway home now. If you've read this far and you feel like it, why don't you respond, maybe check in with a bit of detail about yourself as well? It'll be nice to know that I have some company during my therapy...

7 1/2 Leadership Habits for a Complex World

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:26:07 CST

by Marc West.

Welcome to the March 2009 Issue of Leadership 2.0

Wow! What a year 2009 has already been, what with world change, the world economics, and amidst this change a drive for greater collaboration and community in our world. I genuinely believe that the changes we are experiencing are in service of a greater good for humankind everywhere, I hope you will hold the same intention with us.

Here at Joyful Leadership we have been very busy with the new website, designing our new leadership program, "Lightside of leadership" which starts in the fall of 2009, and releasing the Leadership 2.0 newsletter. I feel like the last 2 months have already been a year!

We said back in January that this edition would contain a number of articles. Once we started writing this month’s material it just kept on growing with ideas and suggestions, and as a consequence we have decided that in this edition we would focus purely on what we believe are some of the key crucial leadership habits required in a complex world and will revisit the other articles in later editions.

I hope you enjoy this edition and look forward to hearing your feedback and comments in the coming month.

Regards Marc

Editor

Joyful Leadership

7 1/2 Leadership Habits in a Complex World

Habit 1: Staying present with your memories

Do you find yourself fearing what might happen to you, or do you get caught up with past fearful memories, believing in some way that they are going to replay themselves?

A common myth is that memories reside in the past, and yet we don’t actually travel backwards in time with each memory we experience.
If our memories do not reside in the past and we experience them in the moment, why do we experience the feeling of fear of what might happen to us?

Firstly, a memory is a like a photo except that we capture considerably more sensory information than a camera does.

Secondly, our minds attempt to make sense of the unknown. Since our frame of reference is based on past experiences we generalize these two experiences into our current state. The emotional state triggered from our previous memories is added to a state of unknown and we make it our current reality.

To quote two references:

Pat Ogden founder of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute said “Anxiety is excitement without the breath”.

Buddhist tenet: “Insanity and suffering resides only in the past and the future. The current moment can hold only peace that is why it’s called the present".

When we believe memories reside in the past it can be very debilitating. In fact it is a major reason that leaders fail to execute necessary actions.

A way to help you reframe this is to imagine a photo of loved ones. The photo resides in the present moment. While looking at it you may experience sensations of actually being with people in the picture, or even hearing them.
These are examples of stored experiences showing up in the present moment.

The key leadership learning in this habit is being able to identify what are past fears versus present moment experiences. By reframing a memory in this way you will be able to choose how you want to respond to your fears.

Habit 2: Developing gentle irreverence

When the cultural mood of a society or an organization is dark, heavy or oppressive, it can cause those within in it to collude with the gravity of a given situation.

If you think of the metaphor of gravity, movement becomes difficult, change is more difficult and likewise shifting the cultural mood becomes harder. Gentle irreverence acknowledges the facts of the situation without emotionally buying into the gravity.

Gentle irreverence provides lightness and in lightness we find creativity and joy, two key leadership qualities that will help you transform darkness into light.

Habit 3: The perception of your experience is your reality

Have you thought that what you experience is reality?

To many of us the concept of reality is just that; reality. We see it as solid, unchanging and undisputable. Recent evidence from the sciences of neurobiology and psychology as well as the study of somatics show that our perception of reality is filtered through our senses much like tea leaves are filtered in a strainer.

Our senses receive a huge 65000 bits of information per second. Our minds have developed the means to filter this information based upon our beliefs, values, behaviors and language.

This filtering out of our experience creates distortions, generalizations and deletions in our experience, thus our experiences are not our reality.

When fully understood the realization is, reality is an individual experience of which our experiences of reality is actually a perception.

Imagine watching yourself on a movie screen. You see the actor on the screen and notice circumstances that the actor has filtered out.

Now step into the movie as the actor of your life and the experiences appear whole and real to you.

This exercise will enable you to create clearer distinctions between your perceptions and your reality.

Habit 4: Developing the ability to stand still in the midst of chaos

When we are in a chaotic environment every input triggers a response of:
“Do something now!” Running around like crazy; hiding to avoid more chaos and fighting against the tide are all hallmarks of being in chaos.

Rollo May said it best when he said: “Man is the only animal that runs faster when he has lost his way”.

This habit is about: “Slowing down and breathing.” When we slow down and breathe we send a message to our brain... a message of safety.

When we perceive safety the parts of our brain responsible for creativity, intelligence and rationality begin to surface. When we perceive danger or chaos our brain reacts with anxiety, paranoia and aggression. This is commonly referred to as the fight/flight response.

Instead of reacting to chaos this habit is about intentionally responding to chaos. By slowing down and breathing you increase the choices available to you in the moment.

Habit 5: Developing the habit of responding intentionally to others

Have you ever found yourself reacting to another person’s behavior?

In this last sentence the misnomer is that behavior drives behavior. If we hold this way of thinking as being true, everything we do is a reaction to someone else’s previous behavior. For example: Someone frowns at you, you feel something, and you react.

The reality is that our behavior is driven by our values and beliefs whether or not we are conscious of it.

You don’t respond to how a person behaves. You respond to what is important to you and to what you believe about that person’s behavior.

By becoming conscious of what is important to you about another person’s behavior, you will become aware of a greater intentional choice for your response.

Habit 6: What you want is what you will get

How many times have you heard this recently? “I don’t want to be upset with the economic problems we are having”.

The interesting aspect with this statement is that we are creating the very thing we don’t want.

Simply put the human mind can not negate. It deletes the word “don’t” and analogous to a computer system runs the instruction, “I want to feel upset with the economic problems we are having”.

There is another aspect to “What you want, is what you will get”. Think of the phrase “I want to be happy”. With this phrase as it is, we end up with an experience of "Wanting" versus an experiencing of being happy.

The intention of this habit is for you to develop greater awareness of the impact of what you say to yourself and how you can become more powerful in what you are intentionally attracting.

Habit 7: Learning to trust your body

Last time that I checked, being in a body was not optional. However, the degree to which you are aware and tuned into your body is entirely optional.

The human body is a powerful tool with sensing and processing abilities that have been developed over millennia. It processes information, it receives information and it transmits information.

In many domains the body is incapable of lying which is the basis for the polygraph or lie detector test. Our gut instinct is rarely wrong and our intuition can be a valid source of cognition.

If we are willing to learn how to tap into, trust the wisdom of our body and harness this effective and tangible way of knowing, as leaders we have something uniquely accessible to us that many other people are simply unaware of.

Habit 7 1/2 : Developing compassion for yourself and others

Of all the habits this is probably the most fundamental.

Simply put: "How can you develop on a daily basis more compassion for yourself and others?"

Posting your comments

Any comments you would like to make regarding this months issue of leadership 2.0 please email the joyfuleditor.

Please feel free to forward to friends so that they can sign up.

April 2009 Issue

Be sure not to miss your copy of the April 2009 issue of Leadership 2.0 which comes out at the beginning of April and covers "Walking the Knife Edge of Belief" and "The Deep Keel of Effective Leadership".

As well as the latest news from Joyful Leadership and a column of your comments.

Additionally during March we will be announcing a series of free teleconferences on leadership, and posting videos on Leadership 2.0 TV, so please keep a look out on the website for these exciting new free leadership offerings.

Brought to you by www.joyfulleadership.com

Change and Transformation - Dr. George Ayee

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:24:59 CST

by George Ayee.

There is no better time to embrace change and transformation in our current state of economic meltdown, job losses, closure of great institutions and recession. It all happened so fast that it took the best of economists by surprise. What does this tell us? Change and transformation should be expected, anticipated and ready for all the time because you do not know when it will come knocking at your door. The old paradigms seem not to be working anymore meaning that we are in a continuous state of change and transformation. Those who will survive and thrive are those ready to welcome these changes and renew the mind for transformation. It is time we put aside the old paradigms and get ready for the changes ahead. In an economic down turn, only those in a continuous state of change will see opportunities in the midst of chaos. That is the relm of innovation and breaking out of the mold. Remember that what is stopping you is the mold. Break free from the mold and discover the opportunities within the current environment.

you get what you look for

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:49:24 CST

by Becci Wilhite.

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why
not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them
bloom?

Thich Nhat Hanh
(Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, Teacher)

Entrepreneur Advice Wanted

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:46:21 CST

by Teresa guest.

I'm starting a new business in NW BC and would welcome any discussion on the pitfalls, tips, ideas and encouragement needed for a start-up. It's a scary thing to be doing in my 50's but I have confidence it will work. Only serious bloggers invited please.

Why be part of the change management fraternity?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:01:53 CST

by Ignatius Raphael.

Change Management
A couple of decades back, this term did not even exist, at least not in my vocabulary. But in that period, I had to change. I had to deal with the rapid changes around me. And I watched countless others change too. But we didn't use the term - managing change. We just reacted and did what needed to be done.
There were not many people who even wanted to talk about why we do, what we do. Today the tribe of truth seekers are growing exponentially. Blogging is a great way to connect with other seekers and I look forward to a fun, meaningful interaction with all those out there in this world who want to make this a better place for everyone.
God bless you, your thoughts and your actions.

congratulation

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:44:01 CST

by Ibrahim Ahmed.

Dear All

congratulation for the amazing powerfull new look of the toolbook,it is realy great.

BrandCoach Blog

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:25:25 CST

by Walter Dermul.

See my blog for more information about me, my activities and my approach to brand strategy related change management.
The blog is written in Dutch, but there is a 'google translate' button (for what it's worth, of course )

Ubuhibi Media - www.ubuhibi.com

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:58:47 CST

by Steve Banhegyi.

Late last year we decided to take all of our change and KM related publications and place them into a single brand - Ubuhibi Media. Ubuhibi Media specialises in licensing this media to corporates for their KM and change training and development programmes for just a few Dollars per year per user. On www.ubuhibi.com we have titles on Change Management, on the Isivivane Ritual, on thinking skills and permaculture as a useful metaphor to teach planning, sustainability and design.

Diagoal published an Interview with Me on Change Management

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:46:39 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Dialgoal, a great new blog on using dialogue for change has published an interview with me on Change Management, Change Facilitation, Realpolitik, and life in general. A few quotes (of myself):

The complexity of many change processes calls for an approach that respects the emergent character of change. Coming back to your original question, a lot of what we do is actually creating room for dialogue in an attempt to – as Patricia Shaw has coined it – “changing conversations in organizations”. We do that by asking questions and by creating space for people to express their passion and consequently take responsibility for what they care for.
... As a system thinker I believe that all political and social change happens – as Bernard Mohr has coined it – “at the speed of imagination”, i.e. if we can anticipate change it is already there. I hope that the work of Otto Scharmer and his Presencing Institute will give us new tools that will help us to see the future as it emerges. ... Enjoy the change, ride the waves, protect your loved ones but don’t be overprotective, do good to yourself and to the world. Enjoy traditions that survive because they make sense to people. Appreciate that some people are conservative – they take care of good things not being lost. Appreciate that other people are progressive; they bring new ideas to the world. Trust that the person working next to you (whether it is your boss or your report) wants to do a good work as much you want. Use your natural facilitation skills; help your teams to be more productive. Believe in solutions for urgent problems can only be co-created. Learn, not because somebody talks about the need for live long learning but because you enjoy to stretch your mind. Tomorrow will be different, for sure. Assume that 95% of people are good, and the other 5% cannot rule the world if you don’t let them. Be an agent of change.

Read the full interview here.

Looking at my own journey - another twist of my life?

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:10:32 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

The last days and weeks have been really exciting. The year started with the workshop on Be the Change in Helsinki (totally technology unrelated, check our presentation). Last Sunday, I delivered my keynote on Web 2.0 and Change, and - finally - I am twittering like hell. The idea of combining my Change Facilitation skills with my newly acquired knowledge about social media on the Web slowly comes together.

It was good to see on the last workshop that people started to make use of the tools that enable us to stay in touch, record our observations in real time and provide the opportunity to check back later. I am going to build on that in my next workshop, coming up in February, where we will combine exchange of experiences in supporting democracy in Asia with an introduction to large scale facilitation methods, mainly Open Space Technology and World Café with a self organized documentation using blogs, podcasts, videopodcasts, Twitter (of course!), arts, and maybe other media. Because usually there isn't much time for harvesting results in such workshops, we will have dedicated time slots of two hours each afternoon where editorial team will digest and organize the information.

I have been an advocate for self-organization and for observing emergent patterns in organizations for ten years, and the latest great discovery for me was actually Open Space Technology. At that time, we talked a lot about Open Space organizations, somehow captured and catalyzed by Dee Hock's book Birth of the Chaordic Age. This was also the time when I first read Kevin Kelly's book New Rules for The New Economy (1998). 1998? Jesus, time is really running, and Kevin's theses are as fresh and valid as they were 11 years ago. In the last two years, growing slowly into the Web community, I have met so many people who really believe that a better world is possible and who life from a position of abundance.

For those of you who think that my occupation with Web 2.0 is all of my professional life, let me tell you that this is just a tiny but growing bit. I earn my living as a facilitator and trainer in change processes. But I feel it is time to move forward: I felt this urge when I met Nancy White from Seattle, who switches between the virtual and real world with such a grace. So, what is the future: more of both. Doing Open Space Facilitation and such stuff and integrating web communities in real whole systems change processes.

I made the start with publishing a new website in German called Virtueller Wandel (that's Virtual Change). At the end, all of this goes back to the old dream of one of my teachers, Robert Dilts of Creating a World to Which People Want to Belong. In my small circle of influence I an happy if I can contribute to creating organizations to which people want to belong. There are about two books to be written this year. One about a new change model that my friend Vesa Purokuru has developed and which we want to fill with life. One about Web 2.0 and Change. Heaven, where shall I take the time for that? I have a company to run and a wife to attend! However, this all sounds like exciting time. Thanks all of you who have been and will be part of my journey.

On Web 2.0 and Change

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:02:20 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

On Sunday, I was the keynote speaker on the topic “The World- a SingleComputer – Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web 4.0 and Change”. The audience were 170 German speaking change facilitators who meet annually to exchange and network. The tradition of the meeting calls for an input on the first day, and for an Open Space workshop on the second. So far, guest speakers presented new facilitation methods such as Max Schupbach who demonstrated his Worldwork concept in 2008. Matthias zur Bonsen had the courage to invite me for a talk about a topic which was alien to many of the participants: how technology can support change processes.

I basically gave an revised and translated version of my Atlanta speech from 2008, and I encouraged people to twitter and blog during the meeting. In the weeks of preparation (yes, I prepared weeks for a two hours presentation), I had no clue about the level of knowledge and skills of the crowd. I live in two worlds – the world of facilitators who work with flesh and bones, real people in real time, and the world of Web 2.0 geeks who are part of the political and social revolution that is going on the Web. I tend to forget that the “real world facilitators” know little about Web 2.0, while many of the social dreamers in the Web know Open Space Technology (because they use it all the time and call it Bar Camp, or Social Camp). I thought it would be nice to polarize a bit to stir up some dust. So, I took the liberty to recite Stowe Boyd who said that social collaboration on the Web is the last hope for the world. I went so far to say that Web 2.0 is the continuation and the extension of Large Group Facilitation. I said that the Web is thoroughly democratic and will help to make better world.

Besides, I said that some Web 2.0 technologies are handy for marketing and they can also be used for documentation of large workshops.

Soon after I started, there were two phenomena to observe:
1. About 20 of the participants started to twitter right away with their laptops and iPhones, and continued so throughout the workshop. If you understand German, read the tweeds from the start onwards - it gives a good overview on the flow of the conference.
2. A controversial discussion started about the good or evil character of modern technology. Hey, I enjoyed that (I like heated debates) but I was surprised that some people were more interested in that debate which you can have over a beer than going more deeper into exploring what is.

For those from outside Germany I need to explain something: Although we have the best engineers of the world and probably the most patent holders (and the best cars anyhow…), the generation which was born between 1950 and 1960, i.e. those who are now between 50 and 60 are critical or should I say cautious towards technology in general and to IT in particular. I am not (well, I don’t like nuclear power plants, and I think cars should be fuel efficient), so I always want to understand why people resist to technology. In this case, it was particularly interesting to understand why people who call themselves change facilitators seem to resist to innovation (as one other participant communicated via Twitter "I felt like being in a congress of conservatives.") In the given case, these were the main lines of argument:
- web technology is rather used for control and manipulation than for grass-roots democracy,
- our kids are deprived and not able to create social relationships because of mobile communication technologies,
- computers and cell phones are causing electro smog and consequently cancer,
- in a meeting, use of technological devices distracts and destroys relationships.

And there were the two worlds: the early adaptors who created their description of the meeting in real time (I was excited about the tweeds going back and forth), and those who preferred to talk about the risks of technology. It was good to have this discussion and the feedback to my input was overwhelming. Fair enough. Looking at the Max-Neef model of human needs, I would interpret the needs showed as needs for protection, understanding and leisure. This for a first start of the dicussion. Here is my presentation:

Die Welt Ein Computer

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: ggforum2009)

Meine Twitterpolicy und ein bisschen Hintergrund

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:09:12 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Da es jetzt schon einige Gedanken, Bedenken und Fragen zu Twitter gegeben hat, hier meine eigene "Twitterpolicy" und ein paar Hintergründe:

1. Twitter gehört zu den am schnellsten wachsenden Internetapplikationen. Momentan verdienen die noch kein Geld, aber es wird in der Szene gemunkelt, dass einer der Großen (Google, Yahoo) ein Auge darauf geworfen hat. Die Rede is von USD 250 Millionen; ich glaube, die Summe wird am Ende höher sein. Es gibt allerdings auch schon Parallelprodukte, z.B. geschlossene Applikationen für Firmen (müsste jetzt den Namen raussuchen, später vielleicht)

2. Twitter ist eine Basistechnologie und die Firma hat anscheinend wenig in die Weiterentwicklung gesteckt. Da es aber eine Open Source Applikation ist, gibt es Hunderte von Programmen, die die Leistungsfähigkeit verbessern; dazu zählt z.B. auch die Möglichkeit besser zu filtern, mit wem man in Kontakt steht. Hier die neueste Beliebtheitsliste von Twitterzusatzprogrammen.

3. Wie überall im Netz gilt tatsächlich das Tatoo-Prinzip; man muss sich ein bisschen Hygiene angewöhnen, oder einfach furchtlos sein; es kommt darauf an, wie man es nutzen will.

4. Da ich Twitter sowohl als Netzwerk-, als auch als Marketingtool verstehe, habe ich für mich die folgene Politik entwickelt:

Following_Me: Ich folge den Personen, mit denen ich persönlich im Kontakt sein möchte (so wie die Leute vom ggforum2009). Bei Fremden entscheide ich so: Geben Sie Beiträge, die mich interessieren könnten, und wie ist ihre Twitterfrequenz (bei solchen , die 20+ mal am Tag twittern, wird es mir zu viel - dadurch verliere ich zwar einige Meinungsführer, aber macht auch nichts; wichtige Sachen werden ja ge-"retwittert"). Eine weitere Interessante Kenngröße ist das Verhältnis von "Following_Me" zu "Followers_Me". Ein Beispiel: Leo Babauta (@zen_habits) hat ein Verhältnis von ca. 1:130 (66 Following_Me zu 8400+ Followers_Me). Der Mann hat offensichtlich was zu sagen...

Followers_Me: Ich schaue mir jeden an, der mich auswählt. Wenndas Ziel des jenigen ist, nur möglichst viele Kontake zu haben (also umgekehrtes Verhältnis), blockiere ich; die anderen lasse ich zu, aus Marketinggründen. Ich habe auch damit experementiert, meine gesamten Updates zu blockieren, dann können nur die mich sehen, die eine explizite Erlaubnis habe; dies würde aber dem Marketinggedanken widersprechen. Twitter hat ein paar Grundmechanismen in Place, die zu starkes Spammen verhindern; ein Konto wird dann geblockt. Das sieht dann so aus: http://twitter.com/suspended. Jeder muss das letztendlich selbst eintscheiden. Ich bin nach einigem Nachdenken zu der Erkenntnis gekommen, dass der eine oder andere "unnütze" Twitterkontakt (auf der Followers_Me Seite) mir eigentlich nicht schaden kann; er/sie bleibt von mir unbeachtet, und wenn er meine Tweeds finden will, kann er das, auch wenn ich ihn geblockt habe.

Web 2.0

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:19:29 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Es gibt natürlich viel im Internet zu Thema Web 2.0 Ein grundlegender Artikel von Tim O'Reilly aus dem Jahr 2005, der den Begriff erfunden hat:

Natürlich ist die Entwicklung seit dem nicht stehengeblieben. Wer wirklich angefixt ist, dem empfehle ich die Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. Ich war dort vor 2 Jahren und ich kann nur sagen, die Begegnung mit so vielen Menschen, die sich mit dem Thema "Communities on the Web" beschäftigen, hat mir einen neue Welt eröffnet. Manchmal kommt die Expo auch nach Berlin (zuletzt im Oktober 2008), aber leider ist noch kein neuer Termin veröffentlicht.

emsig am Notebook

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:48:23 CST

by Peter Schmid.

links und rechts neben mir wird in die Tasten gehauen, dass es nur so "tätscht"

jetzt kommt das Bild des Tastenhauens

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:48:02 CST

by Peter Schmid.

jetzt kommt das Bild des Tastenhauens

Peter am Bloggen!

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:47:41 CST

by Ralph Hoefliger.

Peter am Bloggen

Barcamp

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:47:19 CST

by Hans Gärtner.

Frage: Welche Rolle spielt eigentlich die Barcamp Bewegung in diesem Zusammenhang?

Barcamp

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:46:50 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Die Barcampbewegung ist eine Parallelbewegung zur Großgruppenszene, die sich im Lager der Web 2.0 Enthusiasten gebildet hat. Auf Web 2.0 Konferenzen, aber auch auf anderen Events, gibt es oft eine Open Space ähnliche Struktur, bei der Leute Ihre Anliegen auf einem Marktplatz posten können, dann geht es wie bei OS weiter (in vereinfachter Form). Auch zu anderen Themen gibt es oft "Camps". Ich stehe z.B. in Verbindung mit der von der TAZ ins Leben gerufenen Social Bar, die sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat "Weltverbesserer-Gruppen" im Einsatz von Webtechnologien zu unterstützen.

Wikipedia schreibt hierzu:

Ein BarCamp, ist eine offene, partizipative Unkonferenz, deren Ablauf und Inhalte von den Teilnehmern bestimmt wird.

Seit dem ersten BarCamp in Palo Alto (Kalifornien) im August 2005 in den Räumlichkeiten der Firma Socialtext werden in Nordamerika, Asien und Europa BarCamps abgehalten. So fanden bereits Ende September 2006 in Berlin und Wien die ersten BarCamps im deutschsprachigen Raum statt.

Entwicklung [Bearbeiten]

Der Name ist eine Anspielung auf eine von Tim O’Reilly initiierte Veranstaltungsreihe namens FooCamp, bei der ausgewählte Personen (Friends of O´Reilly) sich zum Austausch und zur Übernachtung (Camping) trafen. Während man zur Teilnahme am FooCamp eine Einladung von O'Reilly benötigt, kann an BarCamps ohne Einladung teilgenommen werden. Foo und Bar sind beides metasyntaktische Variablen.

Normalerweise werden auf BarCamps Web-2.0-Themen wie Webanwendungen in frühem Stadium, Open-Source-Technologien und Soziale Software diskutiert. Mittlerweile werden jedoch auch BarCamps zu allen Facetten bestimmter Themen ausgerichtet, wie EduCamps, die sich mit mediengestützen Lernen befassen^[1], oder WordCamps, die sich thematisch mit der Weblog-Software WordPress beschäftigen^[2]. Auch zum Thema Tourismus gibt es bereits Barcamps in Deutschland^[3] und Österreich^[4].

Der Ablauf von BarCamps hat Ähnlichkeiten mit der Open-Space-Methode, ist jedoch lockerer organisiert. Er besteht aus Vorträgen und Diskussionsrunden (Sessions), die jeden Morgen auf Whiteboards, Metaplänen oder Pinnwänden - sogenannten Grids (engl.: Gitter) - durch die Teilnehmer selbst koordiniert werden. Doch gibt es auch Regeln: Alle Teilnehmer sind aufgefordert, selbst einen Vortrag zu halten oder zu organisieren.

BarCamps werden hauptsächlich in Wikis organisiert und über Kanäle wie Blogs, Social Bookmarks und IRC beworben und dokumentiert. Jeder kann selbst ein BarCamp organisieren und dafür auch das Wiki auf Barcamp.org benutzen. Die Teilnahme ist kostenlos und nur aus Platzgründen limitiert, eine vorherige Anmeldung daher notwendig. Auf vielen BarCamps im Ausland ist es möglich, am Veranstaltungsort im eigenen Schlafsack die Nacht zu verbringen. Die Kosten der Veranstaltung und für Verpflegung werden von Sponsoren getragen.

Example for a Tag Cloud

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:34:21 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

This is an example of a Tag Cloud (here: for my own blog)

Jevon MacDonald changemanagement 0comments web2.0 ggforum2009 1 comments 0comments creativity email Email problems! customercare Webinarreihe: Soziale Webtechnologien sinnvoll im Business nutzen Kundenorientierung logo Global Making Change Work Study technology 6:52 PM changemanagement ulrike@change-facilitation.org 0comments change Kick-Starting Creative Processes: The Spark Plugs Method 9:23 AM 9:34 AM changemanagement research 0comments 10:13 AM 9:08 AM Is it time for Social Media to grow up? Pirittas website Bilinguality 7:41 AM 12:48 PM as I described a few days ago Change Management Toolbook IBM Study on Change Management Grape People my post from yesterday the Newsweek interview of Clifford Stoll from 1995 innovation socialmedia 0comments Just a test! 0comments

Webinarreihe: Soziale Webtechnologien sinnvoll im Business nutzen

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:28:07 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Sie sind herzlich eingeladen, an einer vierteiligen Webinarreihe zum Thema Web 2.0 im Business teilzunehmen. Die Teilnahme ist am ersten Webinar ist kostenfrei; Sie gehen keine Verpflichtungen ein.

Zielgruppe: Entscheider in Unternehmen und Non-Profit Organisationen, die neue Medien in Ihrer Kommunikation einsetzen wollen. Berater, Trainer und andere Anbieter von Dienstleistungen, die durch einen hohen Kommunikationsbedarf gelennzeichnet sind. Begleiter von und Akteure in Veränderungsprozessen.

Dies sind die Themen:

Webinar 1 (27.2.2009, 17 Uhr MEZ): Wie soziale Medien die Geschäftwelt verändern.

Die neuen sozialen Medien haben in den letzten Jahren eine zweite Internetrevolution ausgelöst. Produktion, Kundenservice, Design, Forschung & Entwicklung und viele andere zentrale Unternehmensfunktionen werden zunehmend ins Internet verlagert. Gleichzeitig wachsen die Möglichkeiten von Bürgerbeteiligung in politischen Prozessen. Im ersten Webinar unserer Reihe werden eine Vielzahl von Beispielen aufgezeigt werden, wie soziale Medien in der Organisationsentwicklung und in der Kommunikation mit Stakeholdern eingesetzt werden.

Webinar 2 (6.3.2009, 17 Uhr MEZ): Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, Slideshows etc. - Wie Sie mit Ihren Kunden in Dialog treten können

So, wie es vor 10 Jahren hieß, keine Organisation kann es sich leisten, keine Webseite zu haben, gilt heute: Keine Organisation kann es sich leisten, nicht in Interaktion mit ihren Stakeholdern zu treten. Viele Unternehmen nutzen bereits solche Tools. In diesem Webinar werden Sie lernen, welche Tools die richtigen für Sie sind und wie Sie den Einstieg schaffen. Wenn Sie bereits solche Tools nutzen, werden Sie praktische Tipps für die Optimierung Ihrer Strategie erhalten.

Webinar 3 (13.3.2009, 17 Uhr MEZ): Twitter - eine neue Technologie revolutioniert das Web

Twitter ist eine der letzten großen Neuentwicklungen des Webs. Der Microbloggingdienst erlaubt es, Netzwerke aufzubauen, direkt und schnell zu Themen zu diskutieren und kurze Informationen weiterzuleiten. Twitter wird bereits von vielen Organisationen eingesetzt. In diesem Webinar lernen Sie, wie Sie Twitter für sich nutzbar machen können.

Webinar 4 (20.3.2009, 17 Uhr MEZ): Netzwerken und Nettiquette

Im letzten Webinar der Reihe lernen Sie, wie sich durch verantwortungsvolles und passioniertes Handeln neue Partnerschaften ergeben. Die Möglichkeiten, sich mit Kunden, Gleichgesinnten Meinungsführern zu verbinden und selbst Meinungsführer in einem bestimmten Thema zu werden, sind vielfältig. Was sind die grundlegenden Regeln und Mechanismen hierfür?

Bei Bedarf wird die Reihe fortgesetzt. In jedem der Webinars werden natürlich Ihre offenen Fragen beantwortet. Die Veranstaltungsreihe ist praxisorientiert. Sie erhalten konkrete Tipps und Tricks, wie Sie neue Technologien einsetzen können. Alle Webinars werden ausführlich dokumentiert, so dass Sie alle Informationen später in Ruhe nachverfolgen können.

Webinarleiter ist Holger Nauheimer. Der Autor des Change Management Toolbook ist weltweit durch seine publizistische Arbeit und sein Wirken in Organisationen bekannt. Seit zwei Jahren beschäftigt sich Holger Nauheimer mit der Nutzung neuer Technologien zur Begleitung von Veränderungsprozessen in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft.

Wenn Sie am Webinar Nr. 1 teilnehmen wollen, schicken Sie eine kurze Email an ulrike@change-facilitation.org. Als technologische Plattform werden wir Dimdim einsetzen. Das bedeutet für Sie: keine Downloads, Sie benötigen nur ein Headset oder Lautsprecher.

Wie gesagt, die Teilnahme an dem ersten Webinar ist frei; die Teilnahme ist begrenzt. Wenn Sie dann an der weiteren Reihe teilnehmen wollen, kostet Sie dies € 168 plus USt für die gesamten restlichen drei Seminare.

Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Teilnahme und bitten Sie, diese Nachricht an interessierte Kollegen weiterzuleiten.

Blog des Lernforums Großgruppen 2009 in Oberursel

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:15:44 CST

by Hans Gärtner.

Für alle, die über keinen eigenen Blog verfügen: Hier haben Sie die Möglichkeit, über Ihre zu posten, YouTube Videos, Slideshows oder Flickr Fotos einzubinden. Probieren Sie es doch einfach. Da wir alle das gleiche Konto benutzen: Bitte den eigenen Namen dazusetzen, und bitte immer mit dem Tag ggforum2009 verschlagworten (im Bearbeitungsmenü unten).

Ich wünsche uns allen eine tolle Konferenz!

Holger Nauheimer

Company 2.0

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:57:52 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Peter Kim has published an impressive list of 324 companies which use social media for external communication (Benedikt Koehler has published a similar one for German companies, and Jeremyah Owyang has listed companies that were targetted and hit by social media because of an assumed or proven misbehavior). I am sure this list is far from complete but give a good indication of how the corporate world is adapting new technologies.

Some examples of successful application of Web 2.0 tools:

IBM

Blogging: 125 corporate blogs.
Forums: developerWorks.
Microblogging: Smart SOA SocialNetwork ((S3N)) Team on Twitter.
Online video: Rational Heroes machinima videos and Meet Mr. Fong on YouTube.
Podcasting: developerWorks and Social Networking Now.
Social networks: Rational Heroes community space.
Strategy: internal social computing guidelines
Virtual Worlds: IBM Business Center and Rational Software Conference/Hipihi in Second Life.
Wikis: developerWorks.

Not to mention the internal OD work that IBM does with the help of interactive, virtual tools such as its value jams.

Starbucks

Crowdsourcing: My Starbucks Idea, over 50,000 ideas submitted.
Microblogging: Twitter account.

As I have mentioned several times in this blog, the age of virtual change facilitation has just started a few years ago, and most companies still have not seen the value of Web 2.0 for their own enterprise - like it took many companies a couple of years until they understood that they must have a website. Do you know any mid-size or large company that does not have a website nowadays? Likewise, most companies will use some social networking tools in the future.

However, here the choice will me more difficult, as there are plenty of such tools for creating community. Forums, blogs, podcasts and wikis were the first technolgies applied by companies. Meanwhile, mashups (e.g. including Google Maps), micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter), virtual worlds e.g. Second Life) are just some of the applications available.

While these tools have the potential to initiate and support change processes, their introduction becomes a change process by itself. You cannot force people to contribute to a social network on the Web - it only works if they see a compelling reason to do so and have some intrinsic motivation. Reason for employees of a company to blog, podcast, twitter etc. can be indeed manyfold, e.g.

- the desire to learn in communities of practice,
- the potential to engage with customers which in turn might increase a team's performance,
- the possibility to increase one's own knowledge on new media,
- the opportunity to increase one's own reputation and market value,
- the possibility to connect and socialize with co-workers, etc.

The IBM example (324+ blogs) shows that if a company is willing to provide a free space to express, people will do it naturally. ("As they'll tell you themselves, the opinions and interests expressed on IBMers' blogs are their own and don't necessarily represent this company's positions, strategies or views. But that doesn't mean we don't want you to read them! Because they do represent lots of business and technology expertise you can't get from anyone else."). What I like in particular is that the format of the blogs can be chosen individually by the bloggers.

Summarized, in terms of change management, Web 2.0 / social media for companies provide mechanisms for change management; their introduction requires a change management process in turn. Becoming a 21st century corporation might indeed require a cultural shift, and maybe a couple of older board members have had their cultural paradigm changes already...

5 ways that you can create a bloated, obsolete dinosaur of a company

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:21:27 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Maria Gajewski from NeverTheSameRiverTwice has written a good post about who you can do to run down a company by introducing an anti change management programme. She takes reference to the Big 3 automakers in the US. Her suggestion are:

1) Build Protectionist Walls Around Your Business.
2) Take Advantage of Customer Loyalty by Building Lousy Products.
3) Assume the Future Will Be Just Like the Past.
4) Wait Until a Crisis Hits to Try to Change.
5) Blame Others, Beg for Money, and Reject Sound Advice.

Cool.

How Municipalities Should Integrate Social Media Into Disaster Planning

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:47:01 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

Jeremiah, a blogger from San Francisco, has written an interesting reflection on the role of social media during Mumbai bombings and other tragedies, and what municipal / regional / national / global planners can learn from it:

Social tools allow both true and false information to be rapidly communicated from sources in real time from anyone using a mobile device. During disasters this both enables and detracts emergency response... Local governments, authorities, and response teams should understand how these social tools work, learn how to integrate into disaster response, and evaluate how they will use them during an emergency.

For all who are in pre and post-disaster work, I really recommed this excellent article with a 5-steps strategy and some interesting comments which add to the article. Like I said before, social change is much slower than technological change, so I assume the issue is less the technology than the implementation in agencies and authorities which are notorious for being conservative and change resistant.

Gabriela Ender Receives the High Award of Ashoka Foundation

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:35:59 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

This is a moment to celebrate and to honour my good friend and colleague Gabriela Ender.

In this blog, I have talked about the important work of the Ashoka Foundation and I have mentioned OpenSpace Online®, a tool to create high-value dialogue in diverse groups. Now, both have come together: Gabriela Ender has been awarded the highly prestigious fellowship of the Ashoka Foundation on November 19, 2008 during a ceremony in Munich, Germany.

One year ago, I wrote about the book How to Change the World of David Bornstein, who describes the work of the Ashoka Foundation which supports social entrepreneuship around the world. Created by Bill Drayton in the eighties, it has become the leading organization for supporting social activists who create new concepts to help marginalized groups in all parts of the world. People who are able to find innovative solutions for the pressing problems of our times.

OpenSpace Online®, developed about 8 years ago has proven to be a very effective tool for initiating and sustaining change. In their justification of the award, they write:

With the help of a virtual companion, up tp 125 people can work together in real-time, they can co-create results and go into implementation
right away... Gabriela Ender enables organizations around the globe-which would not have thebudget otherwise-to work contructively... on topics like climatic change, urban planning, health care, etc.
Once again: cheers to Gabriela!

Technology and Social Change

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:35:37 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

One lesson I have learned over the last years is that technological change is much faster than social change. It has not been always like that, or has it? For the past 25,000 years or so, technological progress has been pretty slow and predictable. I found an interesting paper that was recently published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia: Social and Technological Change in Western History, accompanied by an well illustrated Power Point presentation. In his paper, Alex Wright gives a good account of the history of technologies for the collection and dissemination of information/knowledge and its implications on social history (I must read his book GLUT: Mastering Information Through the Ages).

Most technologies that revolutionized the way information was managed before and intiated social change are well known to us. Language, different forms of writing, eventually the different alphabets, handwritten books, the Gutenberg printing press, the steam engine enabling the industrialization of printing, telecommunication, and even the rise of personal computers all took their time and were slowly absorbed by mankind. In most cases, there was enough time for people to understand, digest and utilize the new technologies. Only 15 years after email became available and user friendly to more than a few computer geeks, somewhere between 1 and 2 billion people worldwide have an email account (the latest figure I could find was from 2005, when there were 668 million email users. Compare that to the growth of telephone users, which took about 100 years to reach the same dissemination, and only got a boost through the introduction of mobile phone technology.

Meanwhile the technological development moves on, hardly recognized by a large part of the population. Since about 5 years, knowledge and information is widely shared among people who in many cases don't know each other. We haven't really had time to digest that and understand what this means to social change. Well, the younger generation does. While 69% of US adults use email as their main form for sharing information, a growing part of young people marched on. They do not use email any more but one of their preferred social network services such as facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. "Power Sharers are a new category defined as individuals that share content at least weekly and share with 11 or more people through at least one channel. Adult Power Sharers represented 35% of the online population, and Youth Power sharers make up 62% of the online population." (taken from itfacts.biz).

Unlike many other authors I don't believe that the age of social networking was a short one and is basically over. We are still in the experimental phase of it. Change agents in organizations (and their consultants) have only started to scratch the surface of what can be and will be the future of collaboration of large networks. Just to remind you: companies are actually transforming into networks, dismantling their boundaries. It all has just begun. How can we believe that we can solve the problems of the 21st century with approaches from the 20th century?

The latest hot technology that I have just discovered is provided by a company called Cepstral, which is in text-to-speech conversion. Enter any sample text in English, Italian, German or Spanish and select whether you would like to hear it read from David, Linda, Vittoria, Matthias, Miguel or one of the other artificial voices. Instantly, and in a pretty good quality. Amazing

Photo: loop_oh on Flickr (CC licensed)

Change Management in Times of Crisis

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:35:15 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

In October, I had started to reflect on what needs to be done in times of crisis from a change management perspective (Don't Hit the Iceberg). Recently, I did some research in the blogosphere on what other authorities recommed as a rational behaviour for corporations.

John Rosen reflects from a marketing perspective what needs to be done:

Step One: Be absolutely clear about your strategic objectives. Slowdowns are exactly the time when the entire organization should have no question about the overriding strategic objectives. Tradeoffs will have to be made – between, for example, pursuing share growth or maintaining profit margins. Management must be both clear and fully in alignment on the strategic imperatives in four areas:

- Financial Measures
- Maintaining Relationships
- Maintaining Product, Service Viability
- Competitive Attack

Step Two: Be sure you understand your brand, its ability to carry a price premium, and the competitive situation it faces.

Step 3: Re-evaluate and adjust your marketing.
John is providing quite a comprehensive and valuable list of Do's and Don'ts (for example, Do identify new customer segments, or Do invest in brand building). However, this list is fine I feel that his suggestions are the sort of actions that fall into what has been discribed by Peter Senge and others as a more-of-the-same-pattern.

See, I don't underestimate the value of strategic repositioning of the brand. From the perspective of a marketeer, the Servant of Chaos Blog, citing Craig Wilson, suggests that

we may well be at a turning point for both the types of marketing that we do and the agencies that we use to plan, create and execute. In this great, and far reaching post, Craig outlines the state of affairs, the issues at play and makes some suggestions for where we might be heading. Social media may well be rising at
the perfect time. As consumers grow increasingly weary of broadcast advertising, and have more control than ever over the media and content they wish to consume, social media offers a subtle new direction for marketers to build relationships and brand.
What this blogger explains about external communication is applicable for internal communication as well. As I have outlined before, I believe that the real issue now is to realign staff around a common purpose and to change the patterns of conversation in the company. This applies to marketing as well as to other strategic issues. It is dangerous if the staff of a corporation looses their faith in their company's fitness and the meaning of their brand(s). So, do we need a radical new strategy to approach crisis? I think, yes. Reflecting on that, my colleague Bernd Weber writes me in a personal mail:

Crisis of the type we see now means DRASTIC CHANGE to be managed within the company that are a result of a rapid system-environment change for worse. So management has to cut down costs and get leaner and leaner; they have to react by rapidly building new urgent task teams. They have to become faster han before AND they have to find even more creative solutions, again: learning effective and efficient teamwork that holds the complexity as long as possible (alap instead of asap reduction of complexity) might help. They have to take decisions under a much higher level of insecurity and intransparency with regard to cause-effect than normally.

It sounds like a paradox - while most people might believe this is the time for speeding up all kind of activities and fall into an extremely reactive behaviour, this might be the time for slowing down, taking a break and starting to talk to the teams in your organization, asking them questions like

- What do we know?
- How do we know that we know?
- Do we share the same understanding of what is happening around us?
- How do we evaluate the company's strategies to navigate through the crisis in terms of information policy, creation of ownership, priorities and robustness?
- Where can we reduce complexity, where do we need to embrace complexity and uncertainty?

Here, new social media can play a decisive role. Given the overarching need to cut costs, such a dialogue can indeed be intiated with the help of Intranet forums, wikis, external and internal company blogs, complemented by focused fac2face meetings. Radical honesty and transparency is the ultimate prerequisite for such a process to be inclusive to deal with the strong emotions that increase in times of crisis. We call this attitude Change Leadership in Times of Crisis.

Recently, we had a good discussion in our management team yesterday evening. We defined our product portfolio for companies who need support to navigate through crisis:

- Change Skills
- Virtual Leadership Coaching
- Team Dialogue
- Scenario Writing
- Corporate Karate
- Co-Creation of Strategies

More details:

Change Skills. We equip human resources with the most essential set of capabilities that are required to understand and to manage change—in individuals, teams and entire organizations.

Virtual Leadership Coaching. Our change facilitators are available to support decision making and leadership development. We do that by applying online communication tools.

Team Dialogue. We facilitate—virtually and face to face—dialogue sessions in order to change conversation styles in organizations and to align teams around common purposes.

Scenario Writing. We help organizations look beyond the uncertainty and see how the future unfolds in front of them.

Corporate Karate. We strengthen the imagination and the readiness to go through tough times through simulation games.

Co-Creation of Strategies. We design and implement strategies for utilizing the only resource an organization has in times of crisis—the hearts and minds of their employees

Interested in our solutions? Contact me, holger@change-facilitation.org.

The HUB - a Place for Entrepreneurs to Work and Meet

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:57:16 CST

by Holger Nauheimer.

For the last 6 months or so, I regular visit the Self-HUB in Berlin. Self is a part of a global network of HUBs, which provide flexible solutions for temporary and permanent working and meeting space and serve as points where social and other entrepreneurs can connect. HUBs meanwhile exist in 16 places around the world (Berlin, Bristol, London, Rotterdam, Brussels, Milan Stockholm, Madrid, Cairo, Johannesburg, Tel Aviv, Mumbai, Toronto, Halifax, Sao Paolo) and more are in the making. Already, the connect more than 3000 people.

For me, as an entrepreneur, it is the ideal place to work - I just open my laptop and connect to the WLan, I can find people there who can provide services that I need (admin, marketing, etc.) and I can create more connections. And the HUB is really a fun place to work.