Managing Organizational Change for Today’s Leaders

Notes for FountainBlue Presentation 8/24/06
by Pat Obuchowski

How can we, as change leaders, manage change and what skills do we need to make the change smooth (as much as is possible)?

According to William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions, when management introduces change, it needs to provide employees with the four P’s: the Purpose (the reason behind the change), the Picture (what will the expected outcome look like?), the Plan (how will we get from here to there), and the Part (what part will the employees play?).

• Involve everyone…especially yourself. Jump in….you must be involved.
• Clear sense of purpose and mission. The simpler the better.
• Be Committed as the leader
• Be the watchdog and fire up people for support
• Find Allies and Build ‘Change Champions’ and "Paradigm shifters" in your top managers and others. Do not leave it up to HR to manage this change
• Maintain a flat organization team structure. Rely on minimal and informal reporting requirements
• Make plans, but hold your plans loosely. Know they may need to change
• Build a cross-functional team to monitor the change and to see where the problems are.
• Ask for volunteers. You’ll be surprised at who will show up. This team is a great place to put the ‘nay-sayers’ of the change.
• Remember resistance is a natural part of change. People fear uncertainty. The questions always arise: Why do we have to change if the old way is working? What will happen to me after the change? What if I don’t fit into the new way? What if I become obsolete?
• Deal with questions honestly and if you don’t know…say so.
• Acknowledge people’s fears. Let them get used to the new situation and encourage and reinforce them for their efforts. Don’t force acceptance.
• Realize there’s a tension between getting ready for the change and implementing quickly.
• Don’t stretch out the ‘getting ready’ phase.
• Win Employee’s support Provide considerable amounts of training and staff development for those involved. These activities can include everything from skills training to ‘on-the-move’ coaching.
• Be flexible and toss out the rule book. You must have the ability to drop what you’re doing and move to something more critical. Treat everything as a temporary measure. During this time, it is.
• Find a common language.
• Reward ‘problem finding’. (Fred Nikols, Change Management 101) A situation requiring action but in which the required action is not known. (Problem vs. opportunity) Identify and settle on a course of action.
• Concentrate dispersed knowledge. Start and maintain an ‘issues’ log. Let anyone go anywhere and talk about anything. Keep communications barriers low and information flowing fast.
• Treat everything as temporary. Don’t ‘finalize’ until the last minute and then insist on your right to change your mind.
• Be prepared for implementation dip. Know things often get worse temporarily before improvement begins to appear.
• Assess. Assess. Assess. Keep assessing the situation. Keep assessing what’s being said and what’s not being said. Keep assessing your effectiveness as a change leader.
• Acknowledge the mess. Remember, managing change is about bringing order to a messy situation. It is not a time to pretend that it is already organized and disciplined.
• If things look chaotic, relax! Trust they are.
• Reinforce the change. Some people may relax back into old ways. Keep the pressure up until you are sure the new habits are well-established.

CONCLUSION: How do you Manage Change? The same way you’d manage anything else of a turbulent, messy, chaotic nature. You don’t really manage it, you grapple with it. It’s more a matter of leadership ability than management skill.
QUOTE by Robert C. Gallagher: "Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine."
QUOTE by Andre Gide "One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

Other Words of Advice on Managing Change from the Executives in attendance at the 8/24/06 meeting:

• Create Trust and Credibility with Frequent and Honest Communications (needs to happen first)
• Look to the leader to drive change:
• Leaders Articulate the Vision
• Vision comes from the top, tactics from the bottom
• Leaders Change course as necessary
• Leaders Plan and prepare but are flexible
• Leaders Walk the talk
• Get Buy-In
• Explain why change needs to happen
• Consider 'WIIFM', the 'What's In It for Me' Syndrome
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Road Map
• Mutual Benefits
• Leaders consider multiple factors when managing change - Consider the size and state of the organization when managing/planning/executing change
• There's a difference between collaborative and unilateral change

Sustainable IT Practices

Sustainable IT Practices for Today's Executives

by Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue

the Facilitator and Panelists for the August 18, 2006 Connections Event,

Stuart Robbins of CIO Collective, Madhukar Govindaraju, SVP of Engineering for Certive, former VP of Engineering for Hyperion and Usha Sekar, former CIO of Fujitsu America and CEO of CriaTec

and Event Attendees

The executives in Silicon Valley see first-hand how technology is impacting the day-to-day business operations for their organizations. As we evolve from an age of data (a computer science term representing numerical or other information represented in a form suitable for processing by computer) into the age of information (a computer science term for processed, stored, or transmitted data), we will be asked to manage increasingly larger volumes of data: from storing the data itself, to recovering the data as necessary, to proactively planning for the networking infrastructure so that data can be shared efficiently and to securing the data and managing who has access to the data. Indeed, proactively managing who has what type of access to important data and information will become increasingly important not just for CIOs and other technical executives within organizations, but also for senior executives in general.

Below is advice and suggestions from the panelists, facilitators and audience for the August 18 FountainBlue Connections event on Sustainable IT Practices.

Definition of sustainability: ability to meet the needs of today without compromising the needs of tomorrow.

• When planning or executing your IT practices, consider people, process, technology and environmental needs (including the global impact of your activities).
• Lead your teams effectively: Deal with the people issues!

* Develop consensus on the criteria for success within specific timeframes and continually measure results

* Foster cooperation between people, teams, partners and other stakeholders

* Model the way

* Engage your stakeholders, communicate the reasons for planning and execution, forge consensus/buy-in, manage for success

• Proactively develop and encourage a commitment to best practices for today and tomorrow, while efficiently responding to the needs of today.

* Start with the desired and measurable outcome and work backwards

* Consider factors such as reliability, security, inter-operability, etc., and the requirements now and expected requirements in the future based on changing business and technology needs

* Understand the clustering of skillsets, draw out the best in individuals and teams

* Investigate actual results of implementation - did it go as planned, why or why not? Were the requirements accurately reflecting the needs of the customer?

• Accountability is important when trying to raise quality standards

* Consider corporate, industry-wide, and other expectations for software vs hardware for example. Consider also how you will hold your team accountable to a higher standard, and how to motivate your team to achieve those standards.

* A culture-wide shift on software quality expectations may be long in coming, but developing a higher quality standard more on par with hardware standards may improve your company's brand.

• Be flexible in design and execution

* With the additional complexity and challenges today, flexibility is 10 times more important than it was ten years ago.

* Put the processes, tools, resources in place to change quickly based on changing requirements.

* Measure your responsiveness to change.

• Balance bottom-line pressures with sustainable business practices
• Remain in touch with the needs of the customer

* Example: take a 'cow's-eye-view' when designing a product for a cow.

* Leverage focus groups for current customers and prospects and partners

Putting it Together: Plan for changing technology and business requirements, based on the needs of the market and the customers, and remain flexible in your IT strategy and execution.

We invite your comments, additions and suggestions. For more information, visit http://www.FountainBlue.biz or get Stuart's new book
Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror.

Managing Change for Today's Leaders

Comments by Pat Obuchowski, CEO of inVisionaria

“After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.”

This quote is by Alfred Edward Perlman (1902-1983). This was a man who knew about change. He is known as one of the 20th Century’s most respected and admired railroaders. He restored the bankrupt Denver & Rio Grande to profitability, held a technically insolvent New York Central together until the merger with Penn Central, spent aggressively on modernizing the Penn Central and positioned Western Pacific for merger into the Union Pacific.

I think if Perlman was to quote this in today’s business environment it would probably read six months, one year and two years respectively.

We all know change is inevitable. We may not like it, but it’s going to happen and we should be prepared for it, especially if we’re the ones to “throw it away and start all over”. So, how can we, as change leaders, manage change and what skills do we need to make the change smooth (as much as is possible)?

According to William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions, when management introduces change, it needs to provide employees with the four P’s: the Purpose (the reason behind the change), the Picture (what will the expected outcome look like?), the Plan (how will we get from here to there), and the Part (what part will the employees play?).

As change leaders we must involve everyone. People must see that the leaders are totally committed before they fully buy into the change. We must be the watchdogs and fire up people to support the change by spreading the word and cheerleading.

Build a cross-functional team to monitor the change and to see where the problems are. Ask for volunteers. You’ll be surprised at who will show up. This team is a great place to put the ‘nay-sayers’ of the change. Some of the most valuable input can be found among these allies and being a part of the change may change them into full supporters.

Remember resistance is a natural part of change. In our current environments, people fear uncertainty. The questions always arise: Why do we have to change if the old way is working? What will happen to me after the change? What if I don’t fit into the new way? What if I become obsolete? Deal with these questions honestly and if you don’t know…say so.

Acknowledge people’s fears. Let them get used to the new situation and encourage and reinforce them for their efforts.

Be flexible. You must have the ability to drop what you’re doing and move to something more critical. Treat everything as a temporary measure. During this time, it is.

Assess. Assess. Assess. Keep assessing the situation. Keep assessing what’s being said and what’s not being said. Keep assessing your effectiveness as a change leader.

Acknowledge the mess. Remember, managing change is about bringing order to a messy situation. It is not a time to pretend that it is already organized and disciplined.

And remember, in the words of Robert C. Gallagher: “Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.”

You are cordially invited to an interactive discussion facilitated by Pat Obuchowski on Thursday, August 24 from 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at the Bay Café Clubhouse,1875 Embarcadero Rd, Palo Alto, CA. To register, visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=104191.

Global Perspectives

We are fortunate to live in the Silicon Valley, a region that rich in diversity in people, in cultures, in economic backgrounds. In the best companies here, we celebrate the diversity in our workplace and leverage our differences to spawn innovation in technology and in our business processes and systems.

We can now reap the benefits of the acceleration of technological development and leverage the established software and hardware infrastructure to communicate quickly to others around the world via voice, computers and videos. Indeed, leveraging the existing communications infrastructure and establishing presences and partnerships worldwide unquestionably gives companies a competitive advantage and it has become a business requirement for success.

The successful global corporation celebrates the up-sides of our global world:

• A diverse, creative and distributed workforce
• Vendors, partners, customers, ambassadors and other supporters throughout the world
• Coordinated roles and responsibilities for all advocates leveraging strength of skills and resources and synergies between partners
• Optimal and sustainable output - tangible and intangible results
• and other benefits.

But it is a fine line between those global successes and the down-side of having global relationships:

• Diversity in the workforce creates factions and silos who compete rather than collaborate
• Confusion in roles and responsibilities where people feel threatened by other advocates working for the same cause
• Distributed workforce and partner base without the processes and systems and leadership in place to overcome time zone, cultural, management and other issues
• Compromised productivity for lack of leadership, coordination and cooperation
• Unsustainable successes due to combinations of the above and other challenges.

It is a given that any organization endeavoring a global presence needs to balance the up-sides and the down-sides and optimize for short-term and long-term results. Please join us for an event which explores 'Global Perspectives', which features

• Facilitator Catherine Zinn, Client Development Executive, DLA Piper http://www.dlapiper.com, who will facilitate a panel on the topic of Global Perspectives. An accomplished business professional and sales executive, Catherine focuses on developing new business and providing exceptional service to her clients throughout the world. As the facilitator, Catherine will share DLA's perspective on trends and directions in international business in the context of how it will impact the men and women leaders of today and tomorrow.
• Panelist Catherine Ngo, General Partner, Startup Capital Ventures http://www.StartupCV.com, who will present her perspective as an experienced finance and management executive. In her current role as a venture capitalist, Catherine focuses on investments in start-ups in Silicon Valley and China. Throughout her career as a finance and operations executive and venture capitalist, Catherine has generously supported the development of leaders.
• Panelist Michelle Messina, CEO of Explora International http://www.ExploraInternational.com, who will share her extensive experience consulting with companies both locally and internationally. Michelle takes pride in actively supporting the Silicon Valley business community as they develop business overseas and vice versa. She is optimistic about the synergistic business opportunities in our increasingly interconnected world.

To register for this event, visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=112599 by Thursday, August 10.

For more information, visit http://www.FountainBlue.biz.