Huge Horizon-vs-DeepThinkers

Change Management, Day Two

change management principles

1. At all times involve and agree support from people within system (system = environment, processes, culture, relationships, behaviours, etc., whether personal or organisational).
2. Understand where you/the organisation is at the moment.
3. Understand where you want to be, when, why, and what the measures will be for having got there.
4. Plan development towards above No.3 in appropriate achievable measurable stages.
5. Communicate, involve, enable and facilitate involvement from people, as early and openly and as fully as is possible.

Be wary of expressions like 'mindset change', and 'changing people's mindsets' or 'changing attitudes', because this language often indicates a tendency towards imposed or enforced change (theory x), and it implies strongly that the organization believes that its people currently have the 'wrong' mindset, which is never, ever, the case. If people are not approaching their tasks or the organization effectively, then the organization has the wrong mindset, not the people. Change such as new structures, policies, targets, acquisitions, disposals, re-locations, etc., all create new systems and environments, which need to be explained to people as early as possible, so that people's involvement in validating and refining the changes themselves can be obtained.

Whenever an organization imposes new things on people there will be difficulties. Participation, involvement and open, early, full communication are the important factors.

Workshops are very useful processes to develop collective understanding, approaches, policies, methods, systems, ideas, etc. See the section on workshops on the website.

Staff surveys are a helpful way to repair damage and mistrust among staff - provided you allow allow people to complete them anonymously, and provided you publish and act on the findings.

Management training, empathy and facilitative capability are priority areas - managers are crucial to the change process - they must enable and facilitate, not merely convey and implement policy from above, which does not work.

You cannot impose change - people and teams need to be empowered to find their own solutions and responses, with facilitation and support from managers, and tolerance and compassion from the leaders and executives. Management and leadership style and behaviour are more important than clever process and policy. Employees need to be able to trust the organization.

The leader must agree and work with these ideas, or change is likely to be very painful, and the best people will be lost in the process.

Watch for day three of Change Management

Thanx DeepThinkers 

& © alan chapman 2005-2010

Change Management, Day One

Do not 'sell' change to people as a way of accelerating 'agreement' and implementation. 'Selling' change to people is not a sustainable strategy for success, unless your aim is to be bitten on the bum at some time in the future when you least expect it. When people listen to a management high-up 'selling' them a change, decent diligent folk will generally smile and appear to accede, but quietly to themselves, they're thinking, "No bloody chance mate, if you think I'm standing for that load of old bollocks you've another think coming…" (And that's just the amenable types - the other more recalcitrant types will be well on the way to making their own particular transition from gamekeepers to poachers.)

Instead, change needs to be understood and managed in a way that people can cope effectively with it. Change can be unsettling, so the manager logically needs to be a settling influence.

Check that people affected by the change agree with, or at least understand, the need for change, and have a chance to decide how the change will be managed, and to be involved in the planning and implementation of the change. Use face-to-face communications to handle sensitive aspects of organisational change management (see Mehrabian's research on conveying meaning and understanding). Encourage your managers to communicate face-to-face with their people too if they are helping you manage an organizational change. Email and written notices are extremely weak at conveying and developing understanding.

If you think that you need to make a change quickly, probe the reasons - is the urgency real? Will the effects of agreeing a more sensible time-frame really be more disastrous than presiding over a disastrous change? Quick change prevents proper consultation and involvement, which leads to difficulties that take time to resolve.

For complex changes, refer to the process of project management, and ensure that you augment this with consultative communications to agree and gain support for the reasons for the change. Involving and informing people also creates opportunities for others to participate in planning and implementing the changes, which lightens your burden, spreads the organizational load, and creates a sense of ownership and familiarity among the people affected.

See also the excellent free decision-making template, designed by Sharon Drew Morgen, with facilitative questions for personal and organizational innovation and change.

To understand more about people's personalities, and how different people react differently to change, see the personality styles section.

For organizational change that entails new actions, objectives and processes for a group or team of people, use workshops to achieve understanding, involvement, plans, measurable aims, actions and commitment. Encourage your management team to use workshops with their people too if they are helping you to manage the change.

You should even apply these principles to very tough change like making people redundant, closures and integrating merged or acquired organizations. Bad news needs even more careful management than routine change. Hiding behind memos and middle managers will make matters worse. Consulting with people, and helping them to understand does not weaken your position - it strengthens it. Leaders who fail to consult and involve their people in managing bad news are perceived as weak and lacking in integrity. Treat people with humanity and respect and they will reciprocate.

Be mindful that the chief insecurity of most staff is change itself. See the process of personal change theory to see how people react to change. Senior managers and directors responsible for managing organizational change do not, as a rule, fear change - they generally thrive on it. So remember that your people do not relish change, they find it deeply disturbing and threatening. Your people's fear of change is as great as your own fear of failure. 

Tomorrow, "Change Management Principles."

Thanks, DeepThinkers 

© alan chapman 2005-2010

The Leadership Principle

"In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence" (Dr Laurence Peter, 1919-90, Canadian academic, from the 1969 book, The Peter Principle, written by Dr Peter and Raymond Hull - Peter was the academic; Hull the writer)

Far from being an indictment of people, Laurence Peter's ideas were mostly focused on the weaknesses of typical organisations, and the threat that they present to the well-being of their people.

Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull's 1969 book The Peter Principle is a study of hierarchies (Peter coined the scientific term 'hierarchiology') and how people behave within them in relation to promotion and competence. Laurence Peter also asserted that, "Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence", although he places the blame on organisations, not employees, and urges people to prioritise their health and happiness rather than struggle to meet the unhealthy demands of a promotion-too-far, in an uncaring hierarchy.

Although written in 1969, The Peter Principle contains perspectives that resonate even more strongly today.

Notably Laurence Peter observed that bosses who are competent in their roles tend to assess employees according to their output and results, whereas incompetent bosses tend to assess employees according to their input and adherence to rules and policies, etc. This remains a feature of poorly managed organisations and hierarchies.

Peter also suggested that 'super-competence' in an employee is more likely to result in dismissal than promotion, which again is a feature of poor organisations, which cannot handle the disruption. A super-competent employee "...violates the first commandment of hierarchical life: [namely that] the hierarchy must be preserved.." which again is symptomatic of poorly run modern organisations, just as it was back in the 1960's.

Peter also says of leadership in poor organisations: "Most heirarchies are nowadays so cumbered with rules and traditions....... that even high employees do not have to lead anyone anywhere, in the sense of pointing out the direction and setting the pace. They simply follow precedents, obey regulations, and move at the head of the crowd. Such employees lead only in the sense that the carved wooden figurehead leads the ship.."

Also included in Laurence Peter's study was his analysis of a survey of general practice doctors who were asked to list the most commonly encountered medical complaints among 'successful' patients. The survey results could easily be found in a modern survey, and included ulcers, colitis, high blood pressure, alcoholism, obesity, hypertension, insomnia, cardiovascular problems and impotence. Peter interpreted such complaints as evidence of 'constitutional incompetence' associated with what he termed 'final placement syndrome'. At the time, Peter bemoaned the fact that the medical profession failed to see the connection between over-demanding work responsibility and people's well-being. Today of course we understand that there is a connection, although the challenge remains for most organisations, and society as a whole, to focus seriously on dealing with the situation. As Peter himself says, "...Truth will out! Time and the increasingly tumultuous social order inevitably will being enlightenment.."

Laurence Peter's ideas of 1969 were keenly perceptive then, and remain so today.

© alan chapman 1995-2010

Leadership

First, here is a deeper more philosophical view of effective modern leadership which addresses the foundations of effective leadership, rather than the styles and methods built on top, which are explained later.

A British government initiative surfaced in March 2008, which suggested that young people should swear an oath of allegiance to 'Queen and Country', seemingly as a means of improving national loyalty, identity, and allegiance.

While packaged as a suggestion to address 'disaffection' among young people, the idea was essentially concerned with leadership - or more precisely a failing leadership.

The idea was rightly and unanimously dismissed by all sensible commentators as foolhardy nonsense, but it does provide a wonderful perspective by which to examine and illustrate the actual important principles of leadership:

1. Always, when leaders say that the people are not following, it's the leaders who are lost, not the people.
2. Leaders get lost because of isolation, delusion, arrogance, plain stupidity, etc., but above all because they become obsessed with imposing their authority, instead of truly leading.
3. Incidentally, leading is helping people achieve a shared vision, not telling people what to do.
4. It is not possible for a leader to understand and lead people when the leader's head is high in the clouds or stuck firmly up his backside.
5. That is to say - loyalty to leadership relies on the leader having a connection with and understanding of people's needs and wishes and possibilities. Solutions to leadership challenges do not lie in the leader's needs and wishes. Leadership solutions lie in the needs and wishes of the followers.
6. The suggestion that loyalty and a following can be built by simply asking or forcing people to be loyal is not any basis for effective leadership.
7. Prior to expecting anyone to follow, a leader first needs to demonstrate a vision and values worthy of a following.
8. A given type of leadership inevitably attracts the same type of followers. Put another way, a leadership cannot behave in any way that it asks its people not to.
9. In other words, for people to embrace and follow modern compassionate, honest, ethical, peaceful, and fair principles, they must see these qualities demonstrated by their leadership.
10. People are a lot cleverer than most leaders think.
11. People have a much keener sense of truth than most leaders think.
12. People quickly lose faith in a leader who behaves as if points 10 and 11 do not exist.
13. People generally have the answers which elude the leaders - they just have better things to do than help the leader to lead - like getting on with their own lives.
14. A leadership which screws up in a big way should come clean and admit their errors. People will generally forgive mistakes but they do not tolerate being treated like idiots by leaders.
15. And on the question of mistakes, a mistake is an opportunity to be better, and to show remorse and a lesson learned. This is how civilisation progresses.
16. A leader should be brave enough to talk when lesser people want to fight. Anyone can resort to threats and aggression. Being aggressive is not leading. It might have been a couple of thousand years ago, but it's not now. The nature of humankind and civilisation is to become more civilised. Leaders should enable not obstruct this process.

© alan chapman 1995-2009

The Echelon Value Office

Some time ago I challenged my Deep Thinkers to release a short blog highlighting some of the things that they do for Echelon and our clients. Their counter- challenge for me, to short blog on the Echelon Value office. The “Value Office” is a truly different operational office environment that most of our clients have never been exposed to, so here goes.

First, understand that almost everything that happens in the “front office” is non-value added. Companies spend about 20% of their operating budget on the “front office”. And, also understand we’re not just talking about people and their compensation packages; think about the non-value added cost of paper, printers, shredders, toner, furniture and the cost of maintaining the property. There is the cost of time, time to print, time to talk on the phone, time to set up meetings and with a heavy manned front office, there are a lot of meeting. None of this is value added, so that means its waste-right?

As any focused business owner should know, there is a difference in an expense and an investment. Financial software can handle AP, AR, invoicing, quoting, company P&L reconciling and you can even set up some customized applications to fit your business = 1 person. Messaging, handling social media updates, scheduling and departmental interfacing (ex. production to engineering) = 1 person. Handle incoming mail (snail and electronic), scan snail mail into the correct files and shred, answer incoming calls and forward messages via speech to text in real time = 1 person. Does your company really need a person sitting in a fancy reception area greeting people when the person that they are supposed to meet can meet them there? And why did someone travel to your company when they should have scheduled a meeting online and saved your employee some time. I could go on, but you get the idea. How huge would some of these changes be for your company? Not just in the business of running the business, but in the amount of money that would be saved (value)? There is the one time investment of software and training and there is the continuing expense of a non-value added Front Office. How you spend your money is key to how valuable your company is.

What Deep Thinkers do!

Today is a special day for the Deep Thinkers. Some time ago, Mr. Huggins challenged us to release a blog about what we do, how we do it and to tell you about our mission and the purpose of it. Our counter challenge to Mr. Huggins; release a blog that explains how he has set up his Value Office and how it works, not just for Echelon but how it returns value to Echelon clients. Let’s go…

The Deep Thinkers (DT’s) are a group of four anonymous bloggers that give input in the business of increasing value added business for Echelons clients. Most of the work we do is proprietary to Echelon clients and is customized to their company and their industry. The challenge from Mr. Huggins for the DT’s, keep it customized to the client and keep it cutting edge. Understand the #1 concern that Echelon trainers have, teaching all new business models(in some cases) to some clients(change implementation and management), using the information that we provide. The four members of the DT’s reside in different locations throughout the country and are varied industry experts in their own right. All also provide some type of valued added support to at least three other non-consultant organizations, and all have degrees in Information Systems/Tech.

Echelon Value Consulting LLC, only has one PowerPoint presentation in their tool box, we saw to that. Out went the stale text pages and PowerPoint, in flew the www. Almost all of the teaching and instruction Echelon does is live, from the web. We not talking about sleepy webinars here folks, we’re talking about up to the minute exchange rates for the client, international and domestic. A hard look at the clients’ competition, how they do branding, who their customers are, how they are perceived in the marketplace. Web feeds from our clients’ customers, direct feedback on the changes that are happening and ‘in the room employees’ (as the training happens, when appropriate). Don’t ever fail to realize the importance of the greatest stakeholder in an organization, the employees. In the service of the DT’s to Echelon Value, there is significantly more that happens, but we think you get the picture. Our philosophy is “keep up, it’s almost tomorrow already!”.

Words Matter

It’s true, I mean just think about it. The words we use to deliver a message really determine the effectiveness of the message. If you know that you’re going to have a conversation with someone that is quite and somewhat reserved, you need to understand that they are listening, probably better than you realize. The key to having a value-added conversation with someone is understanding that what you say is just as important as how you say it. And, one of the best ways to know for certain that you’ve effectively delivered a message is to ask a question or two about the subject. Example, “Did I explain the initiative completely?” or “Do you have any questions that I can answer about that?”

So, words do matter. Try to watch for body language clues, and be careful about the body signals you send. Most people feel threatened, or feel as if you’re in their space if you lean forward, brow furrowed. Also, when people feel comfortable around you, making a statement or delivering a message is much easier. So, look for listening cues; one hand on the chin, direct eye contact and asking questions. If they’re asking questions, they’re truly engaged in the conversation, and that’s VALUE!

The Gulf

There have been many questions and few answers about how a catastrophe like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico can happen. This is one of those things that, if it doesn’t immediately affect you, you watch from a distance and just hope it gets fixed. And after so many weeks of watching the black crude oil jet out of the sea floor, we fail to remember that eleven people lost their lives when the drilling platform exploded and ultimately sank. But, there were Fathers, Sons, and Brothers that never went home…were never found. It’s so difficult to measure the many ways this disaster has touched so many lives. And when it’s shut off, and the cleanup continues, it still won’t be over.

For those that don’t live close to the gulf, this disaster will touch them, every time they drive up to a fuel pump. Someone has to cover BP’s loss on this screw-up, and it will be the customer. The oil companies have a well documented history of making the consumer hand over the profits; this event will prove no different. In Washington DC, there will committees and sub-committees of committees, with lots of finger pointing and plenty of blame to go around, that’s not cheap-and who pays for that?-the tax payers. Unfortunately, there’s a lot to be done now; the tap has to be turned off, the clean up done, restitution to the many that have been left unemployed and the continued conversation concerning making our planet greener. But for just this moment, just try to imagine what life must be like for the many that have been directly affected by the horrible tragedy in The Gulf.

How you can make $1 million in one hour?

So I take a break for a few minutes, I mean even I need to step away from it from time to time. And when I get back, there are the usual things in my inbox. Now, I'm used to seeing that stuff, and just as used to just deleting them out and going on to real business. But something caused me to pause, not exactly what it was, I don't waste my time opening it up-actually reading it. How to make a Million Dollars in one hour! (0n Twitter) "

Breaking News- Now!" (they've been reporting the same story for six hours, just how long does "Breaking" last?) "

Purchase and Develop your own website in just one hour (prices start at $0.99, your cost will only be $2300.00)!"

Now, you and I know that snake oil under any other name is still snake oil, lipstick on a pig is still just lipstick on a pig. And sure, you can't save the whole world Houston, you can't protect everybody--true--true. But I don't know anyone that ever made $1 million in an hour, I'm numb to news that breaks, and if you have the rest of your life to waste and $2300 to throw away, then make that call.

Those of you who are busy with your new start up business, looking for a new job, or just have time to spend on the web-- just delete that junk and move on. Life is too short to waste any time looking at that stuff, it's junk, those people just want to take your money and there is no value there. Also, there's probably a anti-spam button you can click on that will help take your life easier as well. I don't know who may value from this posting, but if anyone does it was worth the time it took to put it together.

Houston

 

 

Press Release

         Echelon-eod Media
 

Echelon Value Consulting LLC, in a statement released by Donna Huggins, the Executive General Manager of Operations, has retained eod Media as Echelon’s primary media group.  “As our company branding grows to become visible in as many as 19 countries around the globe, we feel that eod Media is capable of managing the many media tasks that come with our growth rate” Huggins was quoted as saying.  eod Media is a media group located in Tupelo, Mississippi.  eod Media is a full service media group, and will handle Echelon’s media needs directly. 

Echelon Value Consulting LLC is a workforce development and Executive Coaching consulting group located in Mississippi. Although located in Mississippi, Echelon Value has connections around the globe. Echelon Value Consulting LLC also works with public school systems in Mississippi through its 2009 initiative named “Educate Mississippi Project”.  Through the EMP initiative, Echelon lowered its costs to the school systems and added value to the systems through assessment tools and mentoring. “It makes sense that Echelon would offer some of the tools that we use with our manufacturing clients to the school systems at reduced costs, it’s the right thing to do” said Huggins.