I thought it might be good to take a break from my “preaching” on business philosophy for a post or two and get down to some basics on change (and maybe include a little shameless self-promotion). Big or small, almost every organization is going through change for economic reasons. The recession is driving business owners and leaders to rethink their organizations, processes, and even their fundamental purpose for being.
People and organizations are reinventing themselves. People who have been out of work are thinking about starting their own businesses instead of getting back into the “corporate world”. Some of you want more control over your own destiny and think with your own business you can take charge. So maybe it’s time to prepare a new career plan. If you believe in a God, maybe you’re doing a little soul-searching about what God’s plan might be for your life and work. These are big changes, strategic changes, and it seems like no one can avoid them.
Two studies of North American businesses over the last thirteen years have validated that strategic change initiatives fail two out of every three times. Our own data shows that employees are unaware of management’s expectations seventy percent of the time! And we wonder why change initiatives fail!
My partners and I are in the business of “alignment”. The first question everyone seems to have is, “What’s that?” Alignment is the process of translating change into action, making change personal, removing assumptions, and getting people on the same page. We believe we can improve the probability of achieving successful and sustainable change by getting down to the basics: communication and accountability. Management can declare what change is needed and when it will happen. But it will not happen unless the change is effectively communicated to and translated into action by someone who can deliver and chooses to be held accountable; in other words, when your people are aligned.
There are several steps in the process of change. First you must define clearly and concisely what change you plan to implement. We help our clients link the components of change to their mission and strategy to make it relevant. Then you identify the key players in the organization. Next, we help the leaders share the component definitions in their own words (the corporate language) with the key players so they “get it”.
Now comes the really important part, making change personal and translating it into action. Each key player and leader writes the most significant tasks and behaviors related to the desired change that they expect of each other person with whom they work, and what they think each person expects of them. They then meet one-on-one and discuss and resolve every significant expectation, agreeing, editing, discarding, or escalating the expectation. When they agree, they define what success looks like for each expectation. Then they execute, and hold each other accountable for what they agreed to, coaching as often and extensively as necessary. If you don’t do these things, don’t expect your change initiative to be successful.
Note that there are two communication channels between each participant, what I expect of you, and what you expect of me. Not a big deal when there are just two of you involved in a change, but if there are twenty of you there are 380 channels. One of our big projects involves 100 participants; that’s 9,900 possible communication channels. That’s a lot of data to manage, but we’ve created some web-based software that helps you manage it all.
And by the way, those channels exist whether you are peers, or leader and subordinate. For you leaders out there, it is a two way street, and don’t you forget it!
As we like to say, “Change is hard, real change is real hard!” This process sounds simple, but it isn’t. My partners and I usually come in to facilitate this process in organizations where it has failed, often several times. If you are struggling with change in your organization, whether you are a sole proprietor or one of the directors of a large corporation, keep these points about change in mind:
- define and communicate it,
- make it personal,
- translate it into action,
- coach like crazy, and
- hold people accountable.
Businesses that don’t change don’t survive. Change is an essential part of your business. How you handle it is one of those better business basics. Check out the resources on our web site, www.pdsgrp.net, and if you need help with alignment, don’t call your mechanic or chiropractor, call us!