FAQ's on Change Management

 

What is it you do and what is your USP?

 

We drive and implement change in organisations that want to move to the next level of performance or that are experiencing poor performance which is not in tune with their capabilities or their potential.

 

Our USP is that we have some unique specialised tools for driving change and improving performance very quickly.  Speed of diagnosis, an ability to align with business challenges and wants and being able to work closely with people is what we bring to the business.

 

What is your typical change management intervention?

 

It is usually customised and tailored to a particular problem being experienced by the client organisation.  For instance, reviewing the corporate culture or undertaking a customer review. There’s always a strong business case for assessment and at this time the top team recognise that serious action has been taken.

 

If undertaking research, we will interview the top team first to gauge specific viewpoints and reactions and also run top team direct reports through similar sessions.  Speed of analysis and implementation is important.  We always provide several options and ensure we see through implementation personally.

 

We see no point in undertaking an analysis and failing to implement it. We find it easy if we are working with a designated member of staff and we take the tough decisions realising that the manager supporting us still has to function in the organisation after the matter at hand is resolved.

 

How do you undertake an organisational analysis or cultural audit?

 

We don’t make any assumptions but work right away with top team members and their direct reports.  We use our own methodology based on soft and hard cultural, technology, process, and structural and performance issues.  We design questionnaires, interview key stakeholders, run focus groups, design and discuss an initial report from which produce a detailed report and feed it back to the top team or the executive group responsible for taking action.

 

We find that many people still have difficulty understanding culture and how it directly impacts performance.  We develop a very tangible diagnosis that is easily understood, appraise the culture of the business against its current performance and the desired performance and then develop a map to bridge that gap.

 

How do you undertake strategic reviews?

 

Strategic reviews include customer reviews, competitor and strategic analysis.  It is important to work closely with all functions to understand the dynamics of what drives the strategic direction of the business.  This is true in any sector, public, private or third sector.

 

We find that there is sometimes a wide variance in strategic vision between organisational functions with Finance having ‘drivers’ which are very different to those of customer management, operations, and sales and marketing.  The important thing is to bring the team together to look at the’ disconnects’ and the ‘synergies’.  W use my variant of vulnerability analysis and other strategic models and tools to make this happen quickly.

 

What are your views on organisation development (OD)?

 

We think OD is seriously misunderstood.  True, OD is the application of the tools of the behavioural sciences to resolving problems in a business.  To us OD has to be very tangible and actually impact and cause the business to improve.  If your OD intervention fails to improve customer management, retention, performance of people and the business than why bother doing it?

 

OD should not be an academic exercise but a real attempt to partner with business leaders to improve business metrics.  The worst example we have had of the misinterpretation of OD was when it was confused with O&M and work measurement.

 

You Consulting work spans a multitude of disciplines – how is that possible?

 

There are so many instances of being recruited to resolve one problem – e.g. quality, to find that the real problem is not quality assurance but rather a failure to commit to a tangible strategic direction with valid, accurate and measured business plans.  Over the years the interventions in which we have been engaged have been fairly complex, requiring a number of specialist inputs. 

 

How important is leadership in the corporate culture?

 

It is central – we say that without leadership, there is no change and this is definitely true.  You know we can often go into an organisation invited to assess strategy and find that very few people are driving the strategy.  The team may have a business plan but nobody strong or committed enough to take responsibility.

  

We have found many with rudderless businesses – or a ‘pig headed’ management team that pursue their own selfish goals – but aligned leadership is the best kept secret to drive change, and when the business starts rewarding people for leading strategic projects that change the shape of the business for the better, you can believe you are on for a winner.

 

 

What is your view on corporate values and mission statements?

 

They have to be tangible and live.  If it is worthless slogans printed on coffee cups and tee shirts then it’s a waste of time.  We much prefer the philosophy of high impact, low profile which translates into “don’t start telling people how great you are until you have actually changed the business, so enough people and customers notice.”  That’s what we mean by low profile.  Forget the PR, just get on and do something that takes us nearer to our goal and stop trying to bask in reflected limelight and BS. 

 

Stop just talking the talk, just take action and ensure that people are rewarded by doing things that improve performance.

 

What is the most important factor in bringing about change?

 

Take action.  Develop an implementation plan – and align responsibilities to measured accountable deadlines.

 

How do you go about designing and installing performance management culture?

 

Honesty is central.  If managers cannot be honest with their staff, there is no mutual trust and people end up telling each other, their staff and managers, what they want to hear.

 

Of course, we need to relate performance to a strategic plan but this has to be done in a very systematic manner with core deliverables defined in process and functional terms.  Most things that make a difference to an organisation are getting people to work better and sharper across functional boundaries.

 

It is a matter of defining strategic imperatives and making these operational goals which can be further broken down into work unit objectives.  But honesty or lack of it is at the core of the problem – if people cannot discuss poor performance, give good and bad news then there is a real problem.

 

How do you ensure that change takes place and is implemented?

 

We always need a sound analysis accepted by the top team.  Once problems are defined, then we can set about designing implementation plans which end up in business plans, performance standards and targets and team norms.

 

How do you work with internal consultants or trainers?

 

Agree an agenda and deliverables.  Agree a psychological contract of what is expected and what is to be delivered.  Support each other.  Understand their political powers at work and protect the internal change agent from potential reverberations.

 

What is important to you in a client relationship?

 

Honesty and authenticity are central.  Egos are definitely unimportant in that people with strong ego drives are more interested in their career, their next job or something which is not really related to business performance.

 

We want to work with clients who have a passion for improvement.  That’s where we get our drive and motivation.

 

How do you typically go about designing a training intervention?

 

Assess the business problem or metric which underpins the training need.  It is important to work very quickly on the core competency of the business or the work that will directly cause the problem to go away.  We are not talking about a big exercise in competencies.  Rather what core behaviours once trained, practised and honed to perfection, can take the organisation away from the problem and lead to rapid business improvement.

 

 

How do you design learning and experiential exercises?

 

Give us the problem.  Let us interview people who are responsible for that problem and the people most hurt by it.  Let us assess this against the strategic drivers and business plans (that is, if they exist) and take positive action.

 

For instance, we design a series of exercises which can be used in conference or workshop format for small teams of 6 people to 300.  Design is importantly focused on addressing the issue experienced, not the symptom, but the cause of the problem.

  

 

How do you create a sales culture?

 

We need to get away from the belief that there are customer facing staff and others.  In our world, those who don’t face customers directly support those who do.  Examine the behaviours that will promote a sales culture and train the heck out of people so they are aware when they are adding to a value stream through serving the customer.  We need to get away from people not understanding that there is no such role as administration – it is all about contributing to a value stream that improves the balance sheet.