How can you possibly have 400 of anything? 400 Change Management Topics

100. was not that difficult and a lot of fun.

200. I cheated and just put up popular posts.

300. back to the lists.

I was told today there is no way you can come up with 400 things about change management… Even I will admit that change management must pull and carry from the past and the present so I have an idea:

400. Change Management is complicated with lots of nooks and crannies (see 399 linked by the numbers examples below). I actually passed 400 posts the other day without even knowing it. 500 is right around the corner!

399. Why have a Change Management Consultant?

398. Teaching strategic thinking

357. If I were 24- getting started in change management

396. Patience and Speed coexisting

395. The Helicopter View of change management

394. How we work

393. Levels of participation

392. Predicting attrition with LinkedIn

391. A Change and Politics comparison

390. Transitions in the change process?

389. Those little things that make difference

388. What if the change consultants are not open to change?

387. The economy creates a musical chair environment

386. The “sign-off”’ quagmire

385. A lay off is an individual transformational initiative

384. Workin’ that Crystal Ball

383. The Blamer Type

382. Change Management for the project team

381. Mind Reading the Change

380. Social Media and Change Management

379. What is a Change Plan for?

378. Do you need a Stakeholder Analysis?

377. External Change Consultants can be excellent mentors

376. Impact is a business word

375. Importance for stakeholders

374. Unasked (and unanswered) questions

373. What is behind a Change Management Plan

372. Impact on an IT initiative

371. Organizational adaptation potential road blockers

370. Do not use words

369. Can you manage change?

368. Big firm repurposes same old same old

367. Middle Managers tips

366. Balancing strategy and tactics

365. Succession Planning

364. Big change little change

363. The why of change

362. A story for change management

361. Benefits to using an independent consultant

360. Control and change failure

359. Shortening communications

358. Change Management within the actual change

357. An audio version of how to create pull toward the end state

356. Translating ideas

354. Change Management pinch hitter

353. Individual connection to change

352. Just try

351. Even sailing is changing

350. Labels and change

349. Housekeeping change

348. Change management dancing

347. Change Management tactics

346. When is it complaining?

345. Is change management a threat?

344. Change management marginalized

343. Human adventure and change management

342. Formal and informal communications

341. Change Leadership

340. Who says change means you have to give something up

339. Some more change leadership

338. Seeing change

337. Setting your change management consultant up for success

336. Filtering of change management

335. Cost cutting change

334. Change management competency ladder

333. WIFM- What’s in it for me?

332. The hidden meanings of change management words

331. Garrett’s five factual stages of happiness

330. First graders teach us some principles for change

329. First graders teach us integrity

328. Repairing damage

327. Is an external consultant a stakeholder?

326. Change management first steps

325. Middle of the organization change

324. More middle of the organization change

323. The tiniest of changes list

322. Change Management- What do you actually DO?

321. Things that surprise me about change

320. Two change management outfits

319. Sample change management plan?

318. Change management before initiatives

317. Change catalysts

316. Outsourcing change management

315. Transformation without change management?

314. Big consulting firms for a crutch and scapegoat

313. Change management players

312. Symptoms vs. root causes

311. Never too late for change management

310. Simplest version of change management

309. The project focus stranglehold

308. End state focus

307. End state of future state?

306. Executive ownership or sponsorship?

305. Can change management get in the way

304. The meeting during the meeting

303. Organic change (this warrants four separate posts, Dandelions, the sequel, the triquel-likely many more to come in the next 100)

302. Consultants as symbols

301. Where’s the love?

300. 300 change tidbits

299. Change and hindsight

298. The broken cog and external consultants

297. Half full or half empty?

296. The busy bees

295. Post change reinforcement

294. Deliverables?

293. If only…

292. Empathy

291. The silliness of methodology

290. and the silliness of models

289. Outward change management

288. Engaging change management- 4 ways

287. Driving change

286. Growth change management

285. The only tip you will ever need for change

284. Corporate Change Entities

283. Action (buzz word)

282. Career path secrets

281. Change in 2011

280. Second chances

279. What if?

278. Change Management for 2011

277. Fun with 1/11/11 and 10 tips

276. Fresh perspective

275. An example

274. Persistence change management

273. Received truths, mental models and groupthink

272. Give change a chance

271. Celebrated naysayers (adult bullies)

270. Explaining change management

269. 10 posts to get you started and my thoughts

268. An enlightening change statistic

267. Change participation

266. Change leadership (again)

265. Change communication- an explanation

264. We do not need change management

263. Gail Severini’s 8 answers to- What exactly is Change Management?

262. Whack-a-mole and stakeholders

261. What consultants look for in a client

260. What clients look for in a consultant Round 2

259. What clients look for in a consultant

258. The importance of questions

257. Toxicity- true resistance

256. Change management supplements

255. Are you sure this is really transformational change?

254. Understanding the change process

253. Inclusion because of expertise

252. Guiding vs. managing change

251. Just imagine

250. Preparing your organization to resist change

249. A generation gap example

248. Buy-in makes it on to the rarely use list

247. The hard side of change management

246. Patterns, trends and subtle shifts

245. Lists, to do’s and time

244. A stream of change management thoughts

243. Ideas, vision and end states (a Starbucks example)

242. Engaging a consultant (a contract example)

241. Organic change- the triquel

240. Internal Change Management Director roles- Fair Warning!

239. Recession, cost cutting and short term fixes

238. The Garrett Gitchell change management wonder wheel

237. Business communication flatness

236. Effective communication in 4 steps

235. Communication skills

234. At risk employees

233. Recession backlash

232. Rates, Fees, Time and Value

231. Before the change

230. The Power of One

229. Status Quo

228. A not so effective trend

227. Do it yourself change management… or not

226. Your organizational change management meter

225. Benchmarking- comparing status quo

224. Questions or PowerPoint- engaging senior leaders

223. Some things truly are seminal

222. Do not kid yourself you likely are RANKING

221. Tomorrow’s leaders- where were they yesterday? Poking fun at “gurus”

220. Performance management downfalls

219. Performance management thoughts

218. More lone penguin

217. Consultants- The Lone Voice

216. The most important ingredient for change management

215. Social media and kindergarten- pick me! pick me! PICK ME!

214. Time to separate “compelling vision” into two sentences

213. Big change in small steps

212. A list! 5 structural elements that ALWAYS effect change management

211. Little Change Practitioner Successes

210. Stakeholder Screeners

209. Why it is so hard for change to make sense

208. Change, color and creativity

207. Go ahead and toot your own horn

206. Trust, perspective and behavior

205. Consulting is not horse racing (no one owns a client)

204. “Easy” change and some tips

203. False assumptions

202. The Adult bad word

201. Change addiction

200. 200th Blog Post

199. People are people- stakeholder types

198. Whose fault is PowerPoint?

197. C level leadership

196. Our tools and toys have changed

195. Covert organizational development

194. External resources are an excellent option, but fair warning too

193. On your mark, get set, change

192. Change management false starts

191. Managing change

190. The importance of time

189. Deliverables- Who are they for?

188. The importance of directions

187. The good, the bad and the ugly

186. Consultants can be a threat

185. Change management scope creep

184. Looping in leaders (uphill change management)

183. Root causes

182. Images of change

181. More change communication

180. Restarting change

179. First things first

178. “In my day we never had change management…”

177. Creativity

176. Change or transition

175. CM and the project manager

174. Self Interest

173. Who is in charge of motivation?

172. Change management- layered or separate?

171. Cultural loyalty

170. Loyalty

169. Celebrations’ tie to culture

168. Everybody loves a parade

167. Trusted advisor or gatekeeper?

166. C level primer (this one is still my favorite post)

165. Organic change or What to do about the dandelions ( a year later this is still one of my most visited posts)

164. Stuck mindsets

163. Get ready for apathy

162. CM without a dedicated resource

161. Overlooked positives

160. 8 steps to failure

159. CM in the middle

158. Two exercises- why and work style

157. What are we not thinking of?

156. More on the Monkeys

155. Upside down banana peeling

154. Executives are stakeholders too

153. Metrics or not?

152. The muddy messy part

151. From the stakeholders perspective

150. Promises- This time it will be different

149. Change naivety

148. Change Management untarnished

147. The missing organizational wrapper

146. Tools for change

145. Languaging

144. Change management is not about implementation

143. Beware third parties

142. What is IT?

141. What is change management… becoming?

140. Repeatable change

139. Windows of opportunity

138. Tribal mentality

137. Fortifications

136. Going native

135. The CEO and the change management consultant

134. A quick injection of change management

133. Just a little change list (actually huge for me 20 items)

132. Change management timing

131. Listening to the wind of change

130. Do not let time be a measure

129. Surprise value from consultants

128. The Vision to Work version of urgency

127. Consultant engagement phases

126. The consultant dimmer switch

125. Operational change management

124. CM and a grain of salt

123. Grass roots change management

122. Training + communications = change management?

121. Favorite client question

120. Front loading change

119. Quick Wins (this one jumped to the front for most reads)

118. Survey says…

117. Obsolescence before the end state

116. The Change Web (the most popular with practitioners/peers)

115. Chasing symptoms

114. Change that flows like water

113. Canada kudos

112. Parachuting in

111. Change takes time

110. Funding gaps

109. A room full of change agents

108. Past, present and into the future

107. A little more leverage with CM

106. Leveraging change management

105. M & A change management

104. Best practices?

103. Assumptions

102. Industry experience?

101. The reason for change and the reason to change

100. 100 things about change management (100th blog post)

99. Economic Effects

98. Change Management for free?

97. Smiles and laughter

96. Sometimes authority is OK

95. Stripping away authority

94. The people side of change?

93. Linear work through spatial eyes

92. Mini-detente

91. Change design

90. Hearing and listening, same thing?

89. Why CM communication is not like selling a Coke (or Pepsi)

88. When one step back is one step forward (I think this post should be more popular)

87. CM and the status quo

86. The owner of the change is who?

85. The lure of the fix

84. Beware the change management scientists

83. From the outside in

82. The people side of change

81. Quantum change

80. Reinvention

79. The elephant in the room- an invited guest?

78. The buzz of employee engagement

77. The search for the owner

76. Silos

75. Preparing for the next great idea

74. Looping assumptions

73. 3 middle of the organization mistakes

72. What is change management?

71. CM from the sidelines

70. A piece of the Vision to Work model

69. Communication phases

68. Where are we and how do I fit in?

67. Fast growth change

66. Trends

65. Change Managements’ most important word

64. The path of least resistance

63. End states- the pot of gold (fast moving up in popularity- yes- maybe people are beginning to get this)

62. C level leverage of your change management trusted advisor (of course one of my favorites- readers too)

61. End state back

60. Turning the frog into a prince

59. Honoring the status quo- or not…

58. Another CM trend

57. A future trend- Horizontal Change Management (I was right on this one- except it is being played out vertically- go figure)

56. Skim savings or eliminate to keep things intact?

55. The change management energy account

54. Waves of change start with a single drop

53. Can a consultant be coached?

52. Energy

51. St. Peter and the gatekeepers

50. Choosing a new start

49. Is it partly cloudy or mostly sunny?

48. Impromptu parties

47. Looking back from the end state

46. It’s OK to dream

45. Waves of change

44. Organic Change Management design

43. What is good change management?

42. Learning styles

41. Formal communication

40. Your coffee persona

39. Solo or big firm

38. An argument for up front payment

37. Time, place and context

36. The Knight in Shining Armor

35. a disturbing trend

34. Design versus method

33. Corporate strategic change

32. What is successful change management?

31. Whole organization change

30. Intuition

29. Transformational change roles

28. Horizontal Change Management (HCM)

27. The knowledgeable executive

26. Stakeholder perspectives

25. Project beginning- thing or act?

24. Responsibility and accountability

23. RESISTANCE

22. The five W’s of change

21. What about the people?

20. Strategic semantics

19. Throwing initiatives into functions

18. Translators

17. Assumptions, assumptions

16. McKinsey follows status quo

15. Overzealous change management

14. Context to big picture

13. Internal or external?

12. Change is here to stay

11. Collaboration that doesn’t work

10. Choose your change states carefully

9. Kotter false assumptions

8. CCM- Corporate Change Management

7. All the acronyms are taken

6. The ball goes over the fence

5. Glossary

4. Make Sense motivation

3. Change management simplified

2. Kubler-Ross, the “Change Curve”… setting yourself up for failure?

1. My promises… it seems so long ago… maybe time for some new ones

My 400th Blog Post.

Technorati Tags: Garrett Gitchell, vision to work

A Magic List of Project Prerequisites

The nice thing about blogging is that you can dream.

Here is a list of Magic project prerequisites (before I wake up):

An early date to start (within days of the idea for the change).
The owner (where the money starts) as client.
Peers of the owner interested in meeting you and discussing the change.
A PMO looking for strategic assistance.
A PMO that understands anything bigger than a project HAS to have a senior change management consultant.
A PMO that realizes number 5 is even more effective when external.
Middle of the organization leadership competencies.
No Gatekeepers.
One person review of communications (and not an internal communications person).
Willingness to do an early talking heads video.
Realistic compensation (not what procurement people call “market rate”) at least twice the salary this senior level of talent would get paid if an employee.
A DIRECT relationship- no second, third and fourth party barriers (to compensation and contracting expectations- in both directions consultant and client).
Budgeting for the roles of training, communications and tactical change management (for at least each program if not project).
Willing and eager to learn internal resources.
The right tools or at least the chance to use your own computer (loaded with the right tools).
Aversion to the statement, “that’s the way we do things around here”.
Comfort of, and curiosity for, the word, WHY.
Empathy (from the owner down or from the line stakeholder up).
Scheduling flexibility- this is a head role not a hand role, the consultant does not necessarily need to be on site all the time.
Performance measured by the smooth flow of change (not hours put in- that was our high school job).

Twenty is a good start.

What this magic list is about is respect for a seasoned, reasoned external perspective. What this magic list is about are leaders who take responsibility for their roles as both visionaries and guides for change journeys. What this list is about is people doing work that connects to something important. It is a list about something important being the lever for shared work.

And then I wake up…

Technorati Tags: Buyer, C level, CCM, CEO, change failure, change management, change management consultant, change management strategy, Change Strategy, Context, corporate change management, engagement, executive communications, External Consultant, Fees, horizontal change management, PMO, Value, vision to work

Fill the Whiteboard Exercise

To start a week long team meeting with a client we had categories of things to plan spread over a whiteboard. It became a doodle pad and a big giant area to cover. I was fascinated by the dance of filling out information. One by one ideas were put in the right place, things were expanded on, sentences were edited and languaging was clarified.

It could not have turned out better if it had been planned. It could not have turned out better facilitated. It was truly organic.

Now I am thinking… why not do that on purpose knowing how well the process plays out. A Whiteboard for Change.

Ingredients for the Whiteboard for Change

Time-

because it is the ability to dialogue, add in, expand and question that got the good stuff on the board.

Different expertise-

this mix of people happened to be technical, change management, leaders, operations, finance and project managers.

The sense that nothing is permanent-

the board did get erased and redone in spots for clarification (yet no one erased without consensus, which was cool).

A sense of permanence-

It was there the next morning, to question and to reaffirm.

Big space-

because big picture needs room and visuals have more effect when they are big.

Small text-

the level of detail (this is fascinating) was reflected in the size of the written font (the smaller the more detail).

Color-

once a color got used it acquired a meaning (typical things like red to stand out, heavy black to emphasize and lots of blue for comfort).

Erasure-

something as good as this has to have closure, so the board was scrubbed clean on Friday (after the cell phones clicked pictures, of course).

A blank whiteboard a week with your team, some color and an open but focused perspective are your ingredients for this effective exercise.

Technorati Tags: business objectives, Change Design, change excercise, Communication, excercise

Creating Change Ambassadors

This is a first and a good idea so it deserves a call out.

One of the client leaders on my current change effort is making a circle through Asia to reach out at the operational level to his function. These people are either stakeholders now for my initiative or soon will be. This leader has requested information, ideas around messaging, a mini deck to facilitate his interactions and has offered to be a change ambassador.

This is a novel idea that I think should be a consideration in any initiative.

But isn’t this the same as a Kotter “champion” you say? No. Because he has volunteered for the effort, his trip is not for this initiative (which gives him a chance to be an effective “champion”- third person perspectives are often more powerful) and he isn’t selling or representing anything. He is gathering information, making connections and putting important experts in his communication loop. He is investing and front ending for future change. Smart.

I have not put together his travelling package yet. That can go in Ambassador post two. I have a sense of what will go into it though:

The requested mini deck with a high level overview
Some of the visuals we have used to discuss, present and justify decisions
Links to our Forums, FAQ’s and calendars
A few of our sample demo recordings of the new technology
Contact names for individual connection (and likely introduction)

In this age of virtual dial in meetings and desktop sharing collaboration good old fashioned brown bagging (especially with a global field trip) is incredibly powerful and valuable. These loops (whether done like my leader example or with the change management consultant) are the glue to get to end states.

Technorati Tags: change awareness, change communications, change excercise, change management consultant, change management strategy, Change Strategy, Communication, End State, engagement, executive communications, horizontal change management

Change- Blending it all Together

Guiding change in organizations is a little like whipping up a morning smoothie.

Get the right ingredients and it goes down smooth and cool with a sweet aftertaste. Mix in, drop in, splash in one nasty ingredient and your morning and the rest of the day can get unsavory. And you thought I was still talking about the smoothie…

The good stuff in the change blender:

Social Media
Computer Based Training (CBT’s)
A young generation always ready to try
Leadership (beginning to get this change/people/business thing)
So much change that is is hard to keep structure together
So much change that culture is movable (and sometimes even malleable)

Some nasty ingredients to avoid:

Hanging on to stranded leaders
Anyone who says, “we have always done it this way”.
Anyone who does not have “why” in their vocabulary
Anyone with an empty calendar
Anything more than single approval
Third Parties

Lets’ run through these:

Social Media

Is awesome in its ability to gather information, sift it and then dust the filtered (or fixed or solved or answered) results onto the change. Forums, Wiki’s, Blogs, SharePoint and similar tools all help to save time, create collaboration and give visibility to change.

CBT’s

I come from a face to face background- early executive presentation coaching/consulting- and, obviously, as a high level change management consultant benefit every time I am collocated and connecting, but… CBT’s can be an amazing time saver. Since I am a big “why?” person when it comes to any form of disconnect between people using a CBT is a very conscious choice. Technical information, simple instructions, easy task lists can be put into a CBT and as I say, “you bag the easy stuff”. Ideally you just freed up time for the genuinely needed in person work and you prepared the stakeholders for better engagement and learning.

Switch the order too for a different kind of effectiveness- in person work then CBT’s to reinforce (with a better understanding of big picture).

Youth

I changed this from the younger generation to youth. Because this is really about an attitude and approach to life. The less you have seen the easier it is to fly out of bed in the morning. As you get older, chronologically, it gets harder and harder to set aside the bad examples and bad influences. So youth is an approach.

If you choose to be receptive to change (not saying you have to accept it unless it makes sense) you can live like a 25 year old. A 25 year old can get frustrated with obstacles. If you are older than that and step lightly around those roadblocks you can at least do the SKIP out of bed.

Leadership

The good kind.

The kind where change is acknowledged as a sometimes difficult process. A process that ties people (or not) to what is important to them. That plays out in many ways- enjoying work, wanting to be part of the bigger picture, cash, kudos and camaraderie.

Also the kind that treads lightly, but firmly, on the idea that work and jobs and careers are an equation of doing something (well hopefully) and getting paid for it. Leadership should never forget this. Done well, neither will stakeholders.

Structure

Companies seem to be in a once a year organizational design cycle. Which, of course, is ridiculous. In some ways though that is helpful for change management. It means individual power silos are hard to create. It means everyone must constantly be learning. It means that those individuals who are “problems” start to get called out (and in a perfect world do not make the cut at some point for a new structure).

Culture

Short status quo periods can really help CM.

Change grows and thrives when you feed it with new. (I hesitate to use a political example, but look at the side in the US that wants less and less change- just keep it simple… anyone making more money now doing the same thing as 10 years ago as a result of that simplicity?).

When culture gets stirred up people must collaborate. They must try to find compromise. And they must find ways to make hard decisions that are not compromise (hint bargaining, negotiating and shared ownership of solutions).

Stranded Leaders

Grab an org. chart and see if you can find the executive with only a couple (or, shudder, no) reports. They are either at the tail end of a perfectly executed succession plan (hint that is a fantasy) OR they have been stranded over time. There is no telling what someone will do when they are deserted and ostracized. The effect can make for a nasty change smoothie.

Always been this way

Which is exactly why it is being changed now.

Point made.

Why?

If you do not know how to ask this question and figure out how to get the answer then you will not be able to change. If you are a leader lacking this competency (not sure how you got where you are without it) then it must be difficult to get anyone to accomplish anything.

To not be able to answer why for stakeholders is inexcusable (but, unfortunately only too common).

Empty Calendars

In my first reach out waves to stakeholders at all levels of the organization I always notice calendars. The empty ones stand out. Especially if this leader is going to be the one to help pass out the smoothie in their function.

NO ONE has an empty calendar.

I do not even have an empty calendar at the end of the first day of an engagement.

Empty calendars are bitter ingredients.

Approvals

One please.

A few more discerning eyes if you want.

Just not a committee.

Approvals are like big chunks of ice in the smoothie. They ruin the texture, freeze things up and eventually, after a wait, completely water down the mix.

Third Parties

First disclosure: I have an S Corp, Vision to Work, and so have the capacity, and use it, to bring in sub contractors for specialized work. In those cases I am a third party (in case you have not read my stuff before, the first party is the client, the second the person delivering anyone EXTRA is a third, fourth etc. That looks backwards I know, but think about it…).

The third parties I am talking about are the fly by night sourcing firms that pop up all over the place. They really, really get in the way of the contracting process- both the compensation and the agreement between client and deliverer. Use them for true deliverable based contracting. Do not put them in the way for true consulting.

So there is your change smoothie- stuff to put in, stuff to keep out.

Technorati Tags: change failure, Communication, Context, corporate change management, engagement, organizational change, stakeholders

Balance- Patience and Speed

Every change initiative needs Patience.

Behavioral Change Management does not happen without it. Patience is at the core of Empathy (not always, but usually).

Business needs Speed.

Project Management gets rewarded for pace (and effectiveness which opens a window for patience).

Too much patience stalls projects, sidelines decisions and makes inclusion a comedy of errors. Too much speed causes mistakes, confuses people and makes big change next to impossible.

Interesting that both, to the extreme, will cause impatience. Which leads to snappiness. Which leads to resistance. Which leads to failure.

Where is the balance of patience and speed for your change?

Technorati Tags: C level, change awareness, change management strategy, resistance to change

Linkedin as a Mirror to Change

Linkedin turns out to be a window into the future. People from the same company suddenly get active, start recommending each other and add to their network after years of quiet. Result? Attrition.

Single executive begins to join groups, add contacts and ask questions in forums- there will soon be a new consultant.

I have seen this happen multiple times.

Watching the changes people make through the vicarious window of Linkedin is fascinating. There are all kinds of changes around us. Those of individuals making the best of their talents and capability deserve a look and a Kudos.

If you see this kind of activity coming from your own connections lend a helping hand. You will be playing the role of mini change consultant.

Transitions

Many change models and approaches assume a transition period. This is likely a result of a present to future fill the gap perspective (the gap filling is a transition period). None put any kind of time parameters on the space. Most make it seem as if this is a reasonably long period. As with a lot of change management “theory” not much empirical evidence (hard to come by with human nature- too subjective) supports the assumption.

Is there a transition period for change?

If the change is not a replacement of something else- the bigger the change the more this will likely be the case- then no there is no transition period. If the change truly is replacing something else (the most obvious being tool or technology changes) then perhaps. The perhaps would be training, learning and getting used to the new thing.

I throw this transition thing out there because it is, I think, another group think assumption (especially by those who have practiced CM for awhile). The result of a “transition assumption” I think, is a lot of pseudo-psychology and hand holding. It works to make certain stakeholders feel better (which, curiously, makes the practitioners feel valuable…is this for the stakeholders or to make them feel better?) and maybe calms negativity, but doesn’t speed up the movement to the end state and change.

I can see calling a phase the “transition period” to signal the development of the missing pieces for the end state. In that case it is more of a business label tied to the work that needs to happen to move forward.

What this boils down to at its core for me is that historical approaches assume the reason change is not successful is that people resist and sabotage the change. Transitions give them time to convert (them being either the consultants/leaders or the stakeholders themselves, take your pick).

Don’t “transition” labels or approaches or assumptions also give stakeholders permission to resist? If there is no time frame for the transition…

Call this semantics again, but you often get what you ask for when it comes to change.

Technorati Tags: Big Picture, change awareness, change management, Change Strategy, vision to work

The Little Thing That Makes the Difference

In the middle of big initiatives buried in the minutiae of communications and training I often ask myself, “ what little thing can I do in the middle of this that will really make a difference?”. We change agents are lucky if we can really move structure, process or culture. Sometimes it moves on its own, sometimes the change facilitates movement. Usually it is not enough to get any better than that bogus 30% success statistic.

But what little thing might work? What can be done around those organizational blocks?

Some ideas:

An early, in person, travel circle by the change management consultant. This would make a huge difference because of the in person connection and the visibility for the consultant/change. What does a two week loop, even if around the world add to the budget? What giant difference will it make later when the change hits quicksand?
Scattered brown bag sessions. I use “brown bag” as a generic term for the type of interaction that includes supervisory leaders and the experts that are part of the change team. The idea being that questions can be asked, information (hopefully answers) given by the person who has the answer. When done well those sessions personalize the effort and increase collaboration up, down and sideways. I say scattered because brown bags are usually part of a PR push to get “buy-in”. Scattered would mean early too. You do not get buy in when you are short of information- you get participation and interest.
Invitations to participate in different ways. I have had a few initiatives that had their own wiki or blog. Inviting authorship for a blog post is like asking someone to learn information so they can teach. It garners a different level of connection. You can just as easily invite someone in to a Wiki conversation. It is even easier to participate there- less writing. The Wiki has the advantage of a closer to synchronous dialogue- reinforcing expertise and participation.
Engaging operationally. I am convinced that change agents who work with the current operational structure with a mind to improvement knowing what is needed for the change, can circumvent organizational obstacles. Mentoring, working with leaders, explaining change, bucking historical approaches so people understand change as a business/people combination etc. all help to feed end states (with a good open and flexible consultant).

I’m not sure these are the little things I am grasping for though… Time to ask the stakeholders- stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: business objectives, change awareness, change excercise, End State, engagement, resistance to change, stakeholders

Ideas from the middle- the positive side of middle of the organization change

One thing that has always impressed me about start up companies is how close the tie is for energy/decisions/effort/energy. Everyone is focused on the same goal, working with their hands on a specific skill, smiling and laughing into the middle of the night. What is up with that?

In those situations there is nothing in between strategy and work. No politics, no bureaucracy, no performance reviews, little status quo and clear (and usually fairly close) end states. Easy change management.

If you could have that with security I think most employees would be willing participants.

I know that because I see what happens when, in the middle of the organization, someone comes up with a good idea, tells someone about it, they fill a white board over lunch and they are off and running- even in, and maybe especially in, the Fortune 50 (in fact I can vouch for one in the Fortune 5). When a company gets big enough it becomes hard to know exactly what everyone is doing. Low Fortune numbers mean lots of mini initiatives that sometimes do not even connect to others and/or strategy and yet by virtue of size look a lot like the big stuff.

And so we have the ingredients for middle of the organization change: low visibility, specific needs, shared end states not necessarily in need of much description and willing hands.

A smart executive lets some of this run. Even smarter is to see how these efforts might tie in to strategy and utilize grass roots energy. It is a chance to help employees be empowered. It might free up time for the executive to work harder on strategy that makes sense. Or to more fully develop communication that illustrates the connection between strategy and work.

Grass roots change can decrease the distance between executive and stakeholder by effectively eliminating the stall of decision making and the translation to work. Organic activity around change can even produce pods of innovation to feed long term strategic decision making.

That is unless the grass roots change gets to the point where it can no longer feed itself. When it becomes visible. When it requires more money. When it goes against current strategy (which might happen fast since good ideas usually do). When it conflicts with a leaders personal agenda and career path. When it pushes internal political buttons. Almost the second it crosses functions- in fact cross functions and you will get all of the above.

So you hear things like “scale up”, meaning to try to gain MORE visibility higher in the organization. You get change models and methods that talk about recruiting an “executive sponsor” ( I still think this is the strangest thing- how can you possibly be “managing change” without any connection to the owner?). And you get CM consultants on the prowl for “champions”.

The positive- energy, teamwork, quickness to work, collaboration and development.

The not so positive- change requires ownership from the person with the money, it is hard to contain change in a silo, it is hard to keep change in a neat (and invisible) box, the middle of the organization only has a certain level of leverage and power.

By all means encourage- in a way that works for you as an executive and the culture of your organization- grass roots activity. For the executive know that your role is to tie that into the bigger picture (not try to manage and control it- do that and it goes away or moves to a different hidden corner). If you are a stakeholder in the middle of the organization pushing a grass roots idea know, that you have little wiggle room before you run into needs. Those needs will likely scale up, or over- which can be just as difficult. Keep that in mind early and do not be afraid to make the right kind of connection to leadership- with the owner.

Technorati Tags: Big Picture, business objectives, stakeholders

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