Agents2Change - Smart Business Thinking

All Change is personal - so put the personality back into change management

Anyone in business or part of a large organisation will not have escaped the rise and rise  of change management programs, they are everywhere.  Executives fret over doing it ‘right’ and employees fret over having it ‘done’ to them.  But ask anyone to describe what it is and we often find that there is little consensus of opinion.

It was Heraclitus that said ‘Change is the only Constant’ as we see in the ever changing seasons in nature.  And yet it is the very act of change that seems to be so difficult for organisations, and the larger the organisation, the more difficult that change appears to be.  Yet the view of the ‘status quo’ is only an illusion that we cling to.  For the organisation that you step into today is not the same as the one that you worked at yesterday, even if on the surface everything appears as it was; indefinable changes in people, processes, customers or products have occurred in the intervening hours between one dawn and the next.

We do of course have to use the logical tools of change management (roadmaps, project plans, gap analysis etc.)  to make things happen when we want to effect a change in direction or performance, but only in as much as it is the navigation tools that help us along our journey.  The real change has to happen in the hearts and minds of the individual, there has to be an intention to change for it to be successful.

 

The important dialogue that needs to occur is around some fundamental questions such as:

• What is getting in the way of us making these changes? 
• What are we holding onto in terms of core beliefs, attitudes or ritualised behaviours that gets in the way of making these changes?
• Why do our people not feel empowered to make the required changes?

 

In organisations big and small it can often come down to issues such as:

 

1. A parent to child relationship between the employer and the employee –  a ‘we tell you do’ attitude that is pervasive though every level of management
2. Blame is the default reaction to problems – there is little or no tolerance to good old fashioned human error.  In fact it is preferred that mistakes are glossed over rather than unearthed and learnings taken from them.  It is more important in this type of culture for managers and leaders to ‘save face’ rather than hold open a discussion on potential shortcomings.
3. A belief that nothing can ever go wrong – this is particularly strong in growing organisations or those that have not yet plateaued.  A feeling of invincibility pervades the culture often resulting in early warning signs being filtered out until the issues start to seriously harm internal performance or customer loyalty.

But if we view change management as an organic process, we can see a more holistic and encompassing approach to managing change; one that is based on clear simple changes at the individual level of leaders, managers and operators.  By focusing on tangible steps, new patterns of working and allowing time for reflection and tolerance for mistakes, it is possible to create the momentum for change and give people the confidence to take the risks, make the decisions and try out new and unchartered paths.  This can be done by:

• stating the reasons for change, what the journey will look like and why the destination is better than the current position and sharing this honestly with all employees in simple and engaging terms,
• giving employees every opportunity to get involved and make things happen (and that also means not overcrowding the space with external experts – speaking as one) and taking some chances on the untested talent that comes forward,
• regularly informing employees of how progress is made, sharing the good, the bad and if necessary the ugly stories, so that they understand and can continue to feel engaged in the process.

What do you think?  Have you examples of change management from your organisations or projects that you would like to share here?

Agents2Change specialises in Change Management, Implementation and Performance Management.  For more information visit us at www.agents2change.com

Is your Performance Management System up to the job?

 

Many global organisations have a very robust and well thought out performance management system.  Typically it will include technical competencies, behavioural competencies, have a rating scale and be linked to an end-year calibration process.  And yet many of these same organisations find that the results seem to add up to less than the sum of the parts. 

But surely I hear you ask, if they follow the process and set the goals, the results will follow?  But somehow the goals get watered down or become detached from the strategic intent as they trickle down through the layers of management from the CEO to the grassroots worker.   The overarching strategic goals are somehow lost in the cascade process and the year-end results fail to hit their target. 

For performance management to underpin and achieve strategic goals a more holistic approach needs to be taken, one that rewards the greater efforts of the whole and not just the a few outstanding individuals.  For example:

• To rate or not to rate – that is the (frequently asked) question.  The answer depends on your organisation and culture.  Ratings are good and do give an easy way to compare across teams and occupational groups.  But other levers could be equally useful, such as performance of profit centres, talent management processes and 360 degree appraisals. Rather than get bogged-down in the debate about whether they are needed or not, think about what data will help you to make effective decisions and reward high performers.
• Data-driven decisions – Executives cannot hope to make informed decisions about performance, reward and succession unless they have good data to support them.  Investing in a good performance management system – some of which are quite affordable with the new SaaS (Software as a Service) model, can ensure that performance is taken in the round, against variables across the organisation and linked to overall achievement of strategic goals.
• Transparency motivates performance – Some of the reasons that performance management systems fail comes down to a lack of consistent reinforcers.  If employees cannot see a clear link between performance and success and its converse – poor performance and failure, then they are less likely to go the extra mile to achieve something extraordinary.  Why should they if no one notices?  So ask yourself if the relationship between effort and reward is clear in your organisation.  If you find yourself scratching your head for the answer then it’s time to rethink your succession and promotion processes.

Performance management at its best is hard-wired into the way things are done within an organisation.  Feedback about performance is not left until the review meeting but becomes part of the natural ebb and flow of conversations.  Goals are not poorly thought out tasks to get the dreaded yearly goal setting form out of the way, but are clearly linked to what the organisation has set out to achieve.  The best performance management systems give employees a sense of purpose and room to grow and develop in their current role, whilst having their sights firmly set on their next role.  If you can say that these qualities are evident in your organisation, then it sounds like you have a performance management system that lives and breathes the values of your organisation, rather than something that is done to you. 

Agents2Change is a specialist implementation consultancy that has been improving the performance of global organisations since 2006.  For more information visit www.agents2change.com.

When Implementation gets tough – three strategies that might help Leaders succeed

Today’s global companies are driven by projects.  Projects to implement new processes; projects to implement new systems; projects to outsource; projects to insource, you name it and they will be doing it.  The challenge that they often face is how to access the implementation skills to ensure that the project is delivered on-time and in a relatively pain-free way.

If Leaders are asked to take on this role as part of their day job it can be very challenging for three  reasons:

• The pace and needs of an implementation project is very different from that of business as usual leadership.  Getting the style, approach and finding the energy to do this alongside running the day job can be very demanding and it is frequently under estimated.
• Implementation by its very nature often means stepping on someone’s toes.  If Leaders are uncomfortable causing ripples they can shy away from having difficult (and usually long overdue) conversations with other parts of the organisation to address areas of blockage.
• Implementation requires a fair degree of honesty to address inefficiencies that you the Leader may have turned a blind eye to for a long time.  This may involve upsetting trusted and favoured employees as their roles and responsibilities are tested or changed by the implementation project. 

 

So how can Leaders continue to stay focused and have the energy to continue to lead implementation when the going is getting tough?  Some things that will help include:

 

1. Self awareness is key: Be aware of how change affects you and others and how to support people through it.    There are many models that can help with this such as The Change Curve (below) which explains simply all of the different phases that we go through as we undergo change.  Nobody is immune from it, but self-awareness and acknowledgement goes a long way to mitigating the issues.  Understanding where you are in the process can help you to recognise the signs and the stages that your team are at and know how to respond to them.
   
   
   
2. Belief is essential:  We have all heard the phrase ‘Failure is not an Option’ but that could be turned into a far more motivating phrase such as ‘Success is our only option’.  Even if there are private moments when the leader has a loss of faith in the implementation program, publicly they should always be encouraging, motivating and upbeat with their team. 
3. Responsive trumps planning: The plan is only the best guess at the time of what is required to implement successfully, but the key to success is in how to respond to the roadblocks along the way.  Modern mythology tells us that the US Moon Mission in the 1960's was off-plan 90% of the time  What the team became very good at was ‘on-the-job’ problem solving.  So whilst we are not saying that you don't need a plan (Fail to plan, plan to fail - right?) as a leader, you need to rely on more than the plan.  And the more is the role you can play to create the kind of collaborative team environment where problems can be raised, discussed and solutions created by your team.  This is both skill building and deeply motivating for your people whilst in the midst of heavy-duty Implementation.

Have you some implementation experiences that you would like to share?  Do you have other tips of what makes implementation a success?  Please do share them here.  Or if you would like to hear more about our experience of implementation – contact us on [email protected]

Related articles

Conscious Leadershp - some wise words from Deepak Chopra

Myers Briggs - which type are you?

Three ways to motivate staff to run a more efficient business

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The Lost art of Influencing

Have you every wondered why some people seem to be able to overcome any barriers and get their ideas accepted.  What is the magic ingredient that they have and can you develop it for yourself?

In the modern organisation there is an increasing dependence on technology such as emails,  over face-to-face communication.  The impact of this is that it  has eroded some very important skills sets such as influencing and persuasion.

If we think on this a moment, we can see how this will start to erode all manner of subtle influences that will have important impacts on how we make business choices.  Decisions are rarely a binary relationship between proposal and decision, especially when we are talking about things that matter such as strategy, investment decisions or new ways of working.

For people in the know, such as those individuals that have always been good at climbing the corporate ladder they have an intuitive understanding of what influencing means and how to go about doing it.  These individuals are often able to promote their agenda and push through thorny decisions with difficult stakeholders without ever appearing pushy.  So how do they do it and can you learn from them?

Here are  three of their golden rules:    

Only use email as a fall-back position.  Of course you need to use email and it is an essential way of getting information out to people, but key influencers know that if something is really important, they will always speak to the key decision makers and get their thinking before the send button is pressed. 

Think about it for just a moment.  What is your chance of success if you are sending a proposal or decision cold to a key influencer without giving him or her any warning that you require their support.  However by contacting them first you have already take the first and most important step in engagement, by getting their buy in early, which leads to the next rule.

Never look for a solution to your own idea.  Influencers are very good at realizing that they must solve the problems of the organisation or more precisely the problems that they key decision makers are concerned with.  Too many young gifted managers become the judge jury and executioner of their own ideas only to have them rejected by the board at the last hurdle.  Not necessarily because their solutions were bad, but because nobody but that individual was involved in deciding if it was a worthwhile cause or not.  So before solving an idea without a clear problem, talk to the senior stakeholders.  Share your ideas by all means, but then listen to theirs and see if you can see an opportunity that already has senior stakeholder buy-in.  If they came up with the idea, why wouldn’t they support it?  But they cannot be a lone voice in pushing an idea through which leads to the third rule:

Think Federally.  Decisions these days are rarely taken by one individual, but rather a group of individuals, so even if you have the most powerful and most influential stakeholder on board, you would always need to share the idea and seek support from other key decision makers ahead of any key decision meeting.  Providing a short pitch, asking of their opinions and clarifying what you need from them  (usually their support) will all help to avoid an idea being sabotaged at the last hurdle.

So if you have some influencing rules that you would like to share please do comment here.

For more information about how agents2change can help you with your influencing skills, please  contact us on [email protected].

 

 

A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still - or the art of persuasion.

Benjamin Franklin offered this nuggest of advice on persuasion.  But can we really change someone else's mind?  

Before we even contemplate the question, we need to consider is it even valid in the first place?  

Just because someone holds a different opinion or set of beliefs to ourselves, does that really matter? Quite often we spend enormous amounts of time and energy trying to get people to come to our own way of thinking, just so we have the satisfaction of feeling right.

If after considering the question, we come to the view that, yes it does matter and we need to have a point of agreement, then we need to consider how to do this, without undermining the person concerned, or losing ourself in the activity of arguing a case.

Deepak Chopra in a recent article offers some wise advice that includes:

 

Let’s consider each of the five points a bit further.

1. Be sincere and truthful. Don't be manipulative.

You can't sell other people on something you don't actually believe in.The upshot is that you shouldn't try to be a master manipulator. It only works on weak-willed people, and in the end they are fickle allies. Rely on your listener's natural ability to detect sincerity.

 

2. Appeal to what someone else already believes. Don't impose your own belief system.

People identify with their beliefs. With that knowledge at hand, you can align yourself with their beliefs. Without that knowledge, you are throwing darts at a brick wall. If you try instead to impose your own beliefs, the other person will feel that you are making him wrong, and immediate shutdown follows.

 

3. Be aware of the other person's blind spots. Don't assume they are open-minded.

A blind spot is a fixed opinion that is so strong, the person shuts out any input to the contrary. It's the supreme example of rigid thinking. If you are self-aware, you know that you have your own blind spots - there are certain things you simply can't stand or that bring out your most stubborn reactions. Almost no one has an open mind, yes, even you; but it's a fact of practical psychology that must be considered. Your task is to avoid sensitive topics and to appeal to the part of your listener that wants to agree with you.

 

4. In general, persuade through reason, not emotion. Don't assume that emotions aren't in play, however.

One of the most confusing aspects of persuasion has to do with being reasonable. Everyone thinks they are, and decision-making is supposed to be rational. Yet psychological research has shown time and again that emotions cannot be separated from the choices we make. To be persuasive, you must argue rationally while always monitoring the emotional atmosphere. (It's worth noting too that competitive personalities regard a show of emotion as a sign of weakness - with them, you must muster all the rational reasons you can.) 

 

5. Make the other person feel right. Don't make them feel wrong.

We all feel wrong when we are judged against. We feel right when we are accepted, understood, appreciated, and approved of. If you make someone else feel accepted, you have established a genuine bond, at which point they will lower their defenses.

So if you have an important area that you need to get to a big 'yes' from a person with an opposing view, think about how you would use these skills to positions yourself better for the conversation.  Remember to put your own ego aside, become the passive listener and see how easy it can be to turn around the most staunch of opponents, always remembering to do it with a smile.

Please do share your experiences here.. or if you would like some further information on how we can support you in becoming more persuasive contact us on:  [email protected]

 

 

Conscious Leadershp - some wise words from Deepak Chopra

We spend a lot of time here discussing the behaviours of leaders and looking to how they can engage better with their poeple and be more effective as decision makers.

Much of the challenge for modern executives is the lack of any time to reflect; to think; and to weigh up options  before acting.   What are really essential attributes to be able to function well are viewed by many as luxuries that they can't afford.  The difficulty with this mindset is the negative impact it has on the person and on their organisation's performance.  Something we are all too readily reminded of by the global crisis caused by the unthinking actions of key executives across the banking and financial community. 

In his article, Deepak reminds us that if you examine the rise of a typical leader, the ability to look and listen decreases as power increases. That's a trend you need to be aware of. At the outset, a future leader often rises out of a group to present a grievance or to offer a new idea or way of doing things. Hands-on experience motivates him (or her), and the group supports his efforts because they recognize a need to be fulfilled.

 

But leaders at the top are often enmeshed in corporate politics and insulated by immediate aides. The notorious White House bubble that isolates presidents also encloses any leader who lives inside a small circle. Here are some pointers about looking and listening all the way up the ladder.

Read more ..

 

About us:

Agents2Change specialises in organisational change and implementation and supporting leaders to do this in an engaging and energetic way.  We would love to hear your feedback on tihs or any other issues and we can be reached on : [email protected]

 

 

The Rise of the Corporate Bully

One of the things that we have observed in our work is the rise of the corporate bully.  Bullying in the workplace has the same characteristics to the playground bully, and the motivations of the bully are also similar, but as they are masked in adult behaviour, they can often be ignored or even encouraged by organisations.

Why, I hear you ask, when so much evidence tells us that supportive and engaging leaders achieve more and get far greater levels of commitments than a bullying leader, would organisations encourage such behaviour?

One word – Fear.  The playground bully is a child that feels compelled to bully because he or she feels fearful.  This may be because they are not very smart in the classroom, or they observe dominant and bullying behaviours at home.  They bully to gain power and control.  They crave this because at a deeper level, at the sub conscious, they do not feel worthy of love or respect, and therefore believe that if they can’t have both, they will settle for respect, or at least what they misconstrue as respect. 

Those very same feelings that are observable in the school child of 10 or 12 years old, are virtually identical to those motivations behind the senior corporate bully.  The head of marketing who insists on humiliating under-performing team members; The Head of IT that shouts and screams when team members have missed an important deadline; The Head of Finance that forces his or her team to work late to fix accounting issues to ensure a positive report to the Board, each and every one of them is driven by an innate sense of their own unworthiness or likeability.  They mask the deep hole that these feelings bring by creating fear, distrust and keeping everyone at a distance.

But what of the bosses of these bully managers?  What motivates them to tolerate this behaviour, even if they personally do not sign up to such tactics?  The answer also brings us back to the same issue – fear.  Whilst their fear is not wedded to their sense of self, it is linked to poor organisational performance, a track record of poor delivery and a belief that something is needed to turn this around.  Often exacerbated, they turn to the corporate bully to pull everyone up by their boot-straps to ‘get us out of this mess’.  But does such a strategy work?

According to the CIPD bullying cost UK businesses over £2billion per year (2005 CIPD report).  A workplace bullying survey found that over 38% of Americans have reported bullying at work.  Corporate performance does not fare well in bullying environments.  In fact the losses may be even higher than some estimates have suggested, if we factor in reduced creativity, low morale, and increased turnover — all factors that weigh heavily on the bottom line.

Strategies to help you or your team if bullying is a factor:

• Have your targets and delegated duties written down.  If your boss has a tendency to change their mind, or blame you for not delivering something that was outside of your control, written documentation will help.  Always follow up with an email confirming your understanding of requirements.
• Find an independent mentor  (either in your department, or in another division) who can be a sounding board and the voice of wisdom when you are feeling under pressure.
• Think deeply about how important this role or this organisation is to your long term plans.  If it is very important, then start to network to build a wider span of influence beyond your immediate team to build support.  If it is not important, then start to consider your exit strategy and focus on what qualities and culture will be important in your next role.

If you are affected by these issues, website resource that might help include:

http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-topics/bullying-harassment.aspx

http://www.bullyfreeatwork.com/blog/

http://blogs.hbr.org/research/2010/03/create-a-bullyfree-workplace.html

http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/being-bullied/

If you would like more personal support, then we can offer confidential, focused and targeted coaching package to give you strategies to support your needs.  Contact us at:  [email protected].

 

We can also offer engaging and highly participative public speaking and seminar sessions if you would like to bring this or matters of people and performance to your corporate event.  Contact us at:   [email protected].

 

 

Olympic performance and how it provides a framework for performance everywhere

With the Olympics and Paralympics now coming to a close, its with a sense of pride that the host nation can look back on its achievements. Officially the most successful Olympics ever for Team GB and the biggest toll of medals per capita of any nation competing in the events. These achievements, together with the exemplary organisation and event management have lifted the spirits of a whole nation. But these achievements tell of considerable work, organisation and focus behind the scenes. When we blogged about the 2008 Olympics, we talked about the crystal sharp focus on goals and performance for athletes and disciplines.

This was something that was quite new to British Sports, which had a rather haphazard development before this time. Some people commented that the approach taken was quite hard, almost brutal in determining where funds went and who got attention. Perhaps it was, but performance requires a clear set of goals that are then rigorously followed. Taking an egalitarian approach (all sports are equal) whilst very inclusive, rarely leads to exemplary performance.

We also saw that discipline follow through to the Paralympics where Team GB also finished 3rd in the overall medal table and won an astonishing 34 gold medals and won the heart-felt pride of the British nation. But there too, it was performance that drove their success. What can corporations learn from these examples as they look to raise the morale of their people and motivate them to raise their performance to something truly exceptional.

Sports psychology and the Olympics bring many lessons to leaders in business. What Sports do naturally is:

• Putting performance in the context of a stretching and inspiring vision; Is it clear where the finish line is, and how long it will take to get there? 
• Providing a performance framework in which to define, monitor and measure performance. How clear are the goals for your team this month? This quarter? This year? If you cannot answer this, neither can they, so ensure that goals are clear and readily accessible to all. 
• Feedback on a regular basis on performance. In business we can shy away from this, yet in sports its as natural as breathing. Constructive, regular feedback is like an extra muscle. Once you practice and hone it, you can rely on it whenever you need it. 
• Celebrate success: Sports are excellent at celebrating success, but how good are modern companies. How often is time taken to tell everyone of a job well done? Taking time to acknowledge achievements makes a huge difference to team morale and performance. 

So take a leaf out of the Olympic book and look for ways to provide a fun, challenging and competitive environment to help raise the performance of your team.

Myers Briggs – which type are you?

In our previous blog we explored the four temperaments, perhaps one of the oldest personality type models on the planet.  But to this, we now add a good all-rounder that has proved a helpful framework in which to consider why you work the way you do. 

No psychometric model predicts behaviour, but they can go a long way to explaining the motives behind our actions.  The Myers Briggs model is particularly robust, since it has been developed through over 60 years of research and has shown a high degree of reliability.

Where does the model come from?

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers Briggs, building on the work of Carl Jung.  It was Jung that first coined the Psychological Types in 1921, and his work was taken up by Katherine Brigg and her daughter post World War II to develop into a model of psychological preferences. 

Jung based his original theory on observations of many hundreds of patients and colleagues, whom he found displayed distinct differences in how they responded to the demands of everyday life and arrived at decisions.

 

What are the Types?

The MBTI is based on four opposing pairs, or dichotomies, that are related to how we interact with the world around us and arrive at our own decisions.

A questionnaire helps to define the preferences for each individual, which are always at the heart of our psychological make-up, but may not be immediately obvious to us, as we have learnt to adapt and change our responses based on work and life experiences. 

 

The MBTI model helps to explain why some people :

• may need to talk through their decisions in detail; whilst others need time to reflect and then present their decision.
• are very good at organising and planning their work and others appear to work in chaos.
• are good at remembering fine detail from a situation and others refer to general themes and patterns.
• make decisions based on facts; whilst other will refer to the emotional impact on others.

 

How can you use MBTI?

The framework like all self-assessment tools helps to raise your awareness of how you work and think and how this may impact on your work with others.  The Type indicators can also be informative when thinking of your career and life choices, by helping you to better understand the work roles and organisational settings that will suit you. 

For teams and organisations, it provides a common framework and language from which to explore the many differences in how team members, managers and leaders operate and can lead to a better understanding of the benefits of a diverse workforce.

 

About us

Agents2change works with some of the world's largest companies on change and implementation issues.  We regularly use MBTI as a developmental framework for leadership, team and organisational development.  If you’d like to know more contact us at:  [email protected]

 

Trouble at the Bleeding Edge – Or how the Mighty Fall

Earlier this week we talked about challenges at the Leading edge of change.  But what about at the other end of the spectrum?  It’s a salutary reminder of the unrelenting pace of change, when you hear that Eastman Kodak have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  It is a mighty fall from grace, given the near monopoly status that Kodak held in the world of photography for over 125 years.  Yet it is also a stark reminder of the dramatic changes that our digital based economy has wrought. 

Kodak was once viewed amongst the world’s most innovative companies, providing innovation not only in the camera but also in the development and print field of photography.  Yet in the last 30 years it has gradually slipped further and further from the mainstream, as smaller more agile competitors, better able to respond to the rising tide of digital technology started to take its place, alongside that of the multi-media smartphone. 

Management arrogance is one of the accusations for its demise.   Yet perhaps its biggest failing was not realizing that the moment to change had arrived and passed it by; quietly and swiflty.   It is one of life’s truisms that the moment to change, is just when everything seems to be going swimmingly.  It is at the point of our greatest successes when we have to consider its demise and therefore the need to innovate and change. 

The Danger of resting on one’s laurels

Whilst Kodak fades to black, we can see a similar struggle occurring with Research in Motion's (RIMs) Blackberry.  Once the smartphone of choice for Executives around the world, it has become more and more obscured by the rise of Apple products and the demand for tablet-based technologies. 

Blackberry like Kodak is accused of failing to read the market conditions and consumer choices.  Being unclear where its core market base lies – ‘are we the smartphone for executives, or the consumer product for young people?’.  This fuzzy marketing focus has led to inconsistent R&D (such as the disastrous launch of the Storm and Playbook and the lack of a single OS platform for software development).

Fuzzy leadership  and poor engagement are also cited for Blackberry's demise.  As we fully embed ourselves in the digital age, companies that fail to provide a figurehead to tell their story, or those that don't engage their customers through the infinite options of social media are at risk of being ignored, overlooked and eventually shunned completely by their once loyal customers.

Engagement & responsive-ness, the new watchwords

How can you ensure that you are listening to and engaging your customers as you develop your products and services?

• The world’s most innovative companies all have a strong and clear strategy, communicated by a strong and clear leader
• Using social media – twitter, facebook, youtube etc., as well as the traditional media channels ensures the widest possible circulation
• Creating closed loop marketing opportunities e.g. Once an Apple product owner, one naturally migrates to the next Apple product.
• Anticipating rather than responding to trends – this one of course is the silver bullet, but the world’s most innovate see this as their raison d’étre.  What are you doing to anticipate?

About us

Agents2change works with some of the world's largest companies on change and implementation issues.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on this blog, innovation or change in general.  Share your comments here or email us on [email protected]