How to Influence Leaders When Driving Strategy and Change

The key to a successful change program is management and leadership commitment to the proposed communication strategy. The greatest challenge for change managers is to ensure that leaders stay on message and do not waiver from the challenges ahead. Change is hard, whether you are at the frontline, or at the executive leadership level. But the most difficult role of all to cope with change is the leader, because pressures come from leadership team members warning against the changes, for many unfounded reasons. And they advise it is always safer to stay with what is known even if it is not the best outcome for the organisation rather than to take a risk to try to innovate and do something new that is untested.

So here's what can you do to ensure that the focus stays on strategy.

1. Establish a project management team comprised of key leaders that focus on enterprise wide change and dependencies and is chaired by the CEO or department head. This ensures that the silo mentality is broken down as managers are required to adapt to a new process, that is, thinking of their specific project and the impact across the organisation, which in turns changes behaviour.

2. From a change communication perspective it is important to ensure that communication is timely and aligned with progress at each of these change meetings. More importantly it is essential to communicate how each project and strategy execution is aligned with the enterprise wide vision and direction of the organisation. This way employees and managers will understand how individual projects are linked and how the organisational strategy is dependent on them all coming together.

3. All members of the leadership team need to be aligned. They must have consistent messaging regarding the direction they are communicating and that it is linked to the organisational vision and strategy. The need to communicate this face to face and influence support, provide specific details of the positive outcomes of the strategy to those who are accountable for driving aspects of the strategy.

4. Identifying and communicating the performance requirements linked to the strategy and confirming this at regular intervals throughout the year keeps everyone focused on the strategy and tasks.

5. Ensure that all managers make the strategy reviews and updates a key part of their regular team meetings.

6. Implementation is the most difficult aspect to manage successfully of any project because this is when it becomes real - most resistance will be at this phase of strategy execution, so it is important to have engagement strategies in place before this phase.

7. Identify those members of the leadership team most likely to be committed to achieving the outcomes and design a specific role for them to influence their peers and their management teams.

8. Where project management falls down is at the middle management level unless they have been engaged from the beginning and this means actually involved in the project and being able to influence the direction. This is where significant undermining occurs of project implementation and that is largely based in fear. Find out what the fear is and then address it and ensure that middle management are engaged from the beginning so they feel less threatened by the unknown.

Senior management provide direction for the strategy, ensure that appropriate resources both people and dollars are available, are focussed and directly involved and aware of all the issues and risks of the project and most importantly provide updates and direction on an ongoing basis. The role of the change manager is to support this by ensuring that all the other issues that could derail the project are dealt with so that the senior leadership do not back track on the strategy.

Finally to maintain commitment to change all projects needs to be integrated into the longer term strategy and vision of the organisation and for all employees from frontline to senior leadership to understand how the project and their role contributes to the overall vision. Change is only successful when it is seamlessly integrated into the way the organisation operates, not as an appendage to the organisation.

About the author: Marcia Xenitelis is a recognized authority on the subject of change communication and helping organizations achieve their business goals by engaging employees. She has consulted widely to business, spoken at conferences around the world and has developed products focused on change management. For access to case studies and more information on the types of strategies you can implement to engage employees visit her website for a wealth of free informative articles and resources. http://www.marciaxenitelis.com

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The 3 Key Reasons Change Communication Messages Fail

Given the number of number of times organisations embark on communicating change you think they would eventually get it right. But many things get in the way, not the least of which is thinking that communicating change is easy and that what works in one organisation will work in another. Those of us who develop change communication strategies know that this is not the case, change is difficult, it is different for every organisational culture and the approach needs to be customised each time.

Here are the 3 key reasons change communication messages fail and what you can do about it to ensure that your change messages get traction.

1. The first key mistake is when the focus of the message is on the what, not the why. The key message should not be about the project or the IT system, if that is what the change is about, it is always about the why. You need to explain how the change links to organisational strategy and specifically how what leaders and employees do in their role will change. The important aspect here is that the change is not just because of a new process but due to the organisational strategy behind its implementation. And yes you read that correctly, you need to connect the dots for leaders as well. Never assume that they understand the why behind a change initiative. If leaders are a key part of your communication approach as they always should be, then they must all be on the same page when it comes to explaining and supporting change initiatives.

2. Many times the key message communicated to employees during transformation programs is the need to change the way they do things. Sometimes unintentionally the message is heard that they way they do things is wrong and needs to improve. Successful change communication focuses on what is good about what employees do and how together we can build on this. By focussing on positive messages and finding creative ways to communicate them and not relying on online tools, you have a much greater change of encouraging employees to participate and support chance initiatives.

3. Change is never owned by the change team. The role of the change team is to provide the tools and techniques to enable transformation to occur within the organisation, change communication has to be owned by the leaders and employees within the organisation. If you stop and assess your current change programs, ask yourself the question, "When the change team ceases to exist will we have transferred capability and appetite to drive change within the organisation?" If the answer is no, then your change communication strategy will surely fail as it will only be transactional and not embedded into the culture of the organisation. The focus of any change communication strategy needs to be action oriented techniques, not just providing information on what is changing and when.

Whether you are implementing new IT systems and processes, merging with another organisation or any other change initiative, the above 3 reasons why change communication fails provides an opportunity to reassess change communication to ensure successful organisational transformation.

About the author: Marcia Xenitelis is a recognized authority on the subject of change communication and helping organizations achieve their business goals by engaging employees. She has consulted widely to business, spoken at conferences around the world and has developed products focused on change management. For access to case studies and more information on the types of strategies you can implement to engage employees visit her website for a wealth of free informative articles and resources. http://www.marciaxenitelis.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9359982

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Business Agility Means Releasing Old Habits and Integrating New Ones

Does the phrase, "United we stand, divided we fall" have any relevance to today's need for business agility or strong, decisive leadership? Whether it's business, with friends or family, when is separation ever as agile or effective as integration?

Integrating your thoughts, words, and actions will just about always provide you with more strength, agility and flow than trying to go it with mixed emotions and/or alone. In the turbulent times we are entering, the more you integrate yourself and then integrate with those around you, the more agile and successful you will be in navigating the increasing uncertainty, which is now appearing more quickly and in larger doses.

Integrate literally means to make whole and how effective or powerful do you think you can be if you are split into pieces? Although it is extremely important for a department or team to focus on the task at hand, setting up barriers (consciously or not) from the rest of the organization will heighten the risk of overlooking threats and opportunities. This works on all levels of any organization, including your own body. In fact, more evidence is surfacing every day that points to the increased risk disease or disability by becoming unconscious of or ignoring a part of your body. In fact, research points to cancer flourishing in areas of the body that do not receive enough oxygen! Extrapolate this evidence to an organization and what happens to dedicated people in groups who feel cut off, suppressed or alienated? Who doesn't resent being ignored? Wouldn't you too begin focusing on everything but the critical task at hand? Feeling unheard makes us humans naturally begin looking for other options or alternatives to make us feel whole.

Integration breaks down without a constant flow of energy and information streaming throughout all parts of the body in question. Be it the corporate body or your own, the more animated and agile it is, the more you can depend upon it working, even under increased stress. Keeping secrets, hiding or suppressing the truth or masking the pain will ultimately consume more energy than just releasing the information in question directly, then dealing with the consequences. Ask virtually anyone with a conscience still intact in politics or the financial sector... You see you can release the information and proceed to the next issue or you can re-lease it and keep paying for limiting its access. Often, re-leasing your deception means paying interest, which compounds. If you still doubt this cheap lesson in wisdom, ask any person involved in a cover-up. Whether personal, corporate and/or political, and regardless of its tactical success, ask the wise participant what it ultimately cost and listen with all your senses to their answer. If they are honest, you will get a fair summation of the stress, pain and loss of integrity involved. If they're not, sense the energy still needed to continue keeping his/her controversial issue under wraps.

Want an easy lesson in this? Think back to a presentation you made where you were not thoroughly prepared. Be it business or school; think about how much energy it took to try not to look nervous. How well did that go? If you lucked out and got away with it, how energized did you feel for the rest of the day? How well did you sleep that night? If you got caught, was it because you realized that you were actually not fooling anyone? Never forget, the body (be it corporate or your own) does not have the capacity to lie. It can hide stuff, but more and more people are learning where to look for the truth. Whether with help from the Internet or just learning to read body language and the message in front of you, the truth is always available for those willing and trained to look.

With the advent of the Internet, more and more well hidden secrets are being exposed concerning all manner of leaders, organizations and institutions. Far-fetched conspiracies as well as urban myths are beginning to be exposed from the local priest to the highest levels of politics and business. The costs are becoming too high and the webs of deception too complex to maintain. To become and remain agile, focused upon what's ahead instead of what's behind, you and your organization will need all the energy you can get. Quit compartmentalizing issues and rid yourselves of your company's inhibiting behaviors. Become conscious of what your corporate, as well as you own, body is doing and then learn to appreciate the flexibility this relaxed, agile way of living and doing business.

Kurt Larsson is the Co-Author of the book, "Mastering Agility, Successfully Navigating Uncertainty". This book is packed with both the reasons you need to Get Agile Now or die trying, as well as simple, practical C-Level management tools to help you along your path to mastering agility. Look for it on Amazon.

For more information, contact us at the following link: http://minervaclp.com/contact-us/

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Plan B: The Pivot

By now you have reviewed your prior year numbers and know how you feel about the results. If revenue has been less than stellar for two or more consecutive years, it's time to think seriously about how to respond more effectively to the environment that your organization faces. Create a Plan B and pivot.

Or maybe your numbers were more than respectable, but because you are a savvy market strategist, you know to look three years down the road and follow the advice of hockey immortal Wayne Gretzky and skate not to where the puck has been, but to where it's going to be. Scanning the horizon for potentially lucrative opportunities and the willingness to pivot is always a good idea for those in business.

To pivot is to adjust your business model in response to current or impending conditions, good or bad. To increase the probability that the tweaking will be successful and you'll be able to engineer a good pivot, trend and financial analyses, along with planning, are imperative. Market research and reality (i.e.market) testing of what you think will work are the foundation of your pivot plan.

Start with an analysis of the types of clients that hired you and the projects you were asked to do. A successful pivot could entail expanding your outreach to those clients. What other services could you provide and how might you persuade clients to upgrade what they hired you to do previously? Also, how can you obtain repeat business this year, so that you can maximize the launch of upgrades?

Conduct some self-guided market research and apply the findings to the creation of a pivot strategy.You might receive clues about which of your products and services clients value most, services you might expand and upgrade, or additional services you can sell by reading blogs and newsletters followed by those in the industries that hire you.

Invite a favorite client out to lunch or coffee and diplomatically inquire about his/her organization's future plans, or current hot buttons in that industry. I think you can afford to be frank and let the client know that you enjoy working with him/her and that you wonder how else you might be of service. Don't be shy! You need information to set up a marketing test so that you can identify the Plan B to pivot into, plus a marketing message to announce and sell it.

Alan Spoon, general partner at the Boston office of Polaris Venture Partners, recommends that you closely study your customers' broader behaviors around the use of your products and services. Your research should help you address these questions:

• What do I do that is perceived by clients as distinctly valuable and could potentially be extended to other client needs?
• Are there products and services that can have an ongoing use and thus extend billing beyond the initial project?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Kim L. Clark is an external consultant who provides strategy and marketing solutions to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Kim is the founder and principal of Polished Professionals Boston and she teaches business plan writing to aspiring entrepreneurs. Visithttp://polishedprofessionalsboston.com for more information

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Superbosses - Wanting the Best!

There are many articles, books, and countless conversations of what traits create a great leader or what we're calling a SuperBoss.

So what makes a SuperBoss? My research on Superbosses led me to a well-known academic and writer named Sydney Finkelstein, a professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. In essence, a SuperBoss has a unique charter with, a limited ego and surrounds him or herself with the best talent, even if this talent is more refined or advanced than that of the boss. For the SuperBoss, the recruitment process starts by seeking out people with the highest intelligence, creativity, and flexibility. Creating a team of winners is the only priority. The Superboss job is to coordinate the team and create a spirit of camaraderie toward the same goals. A team's success does not necessarily mean a commitment towards each other but towards the project at hand. It is also important to understand the teams competitiveness is not a bad thing, if managed effectively which can create better results.

There are also many studies of what not to do as a boss, and I'm sure we all have our opinions. To list some simple adjectives of bad bosses; incompetent, controlling delegator, indecisive type, always thinking they're right, stubborn managers, talking change but are stagnant, micromanaging, fear tactics, lack of vision, favoritism, just to name a few.

To summarize horrible bosses are driven by emotions versus the facts, and this leads to low morale, reduced productivity, the inability to achieve goals, and the loss of good employees..

A great leader makes decisions by using data to back up his or her decisions. Bosses who fail to conduct a comprehensive review are running on emotions, which lead to poor decisions.

Workplaces talk about improvements, innovation, expansion, and profitability, but many cannot change the inner workings to achieve greater success. To generate results poor bosses may take an ax to management, staffing, policies and procedures but no matter what strategies are attempted, results continue, to spiral downward. There is no excuse for mediocre results. Tolerating mediocrity is an admission of failure.

Superbosses understand that smart, creative, flexible people tend to have fast-paced careers, your typical boss may say he or she is overqualified and would soon want to move on. A Superboss would embrace these individuals maximizing his or her knowledge and talent.

Mr. Finkelstein has categorized Superbosses into three styles of management. The first is the glorious bastard who cares only about winning but realizes the need to develop the best people. The second type is the Nurturer. This individual is the coach, teacher, and the mentor. This individual takes pride in bringing others along and cares deeply about the success of others. Lastly the Iconoclasts, This individual operates in creative fields where his or her inner passion inspires others. The fundamental characteristic of all three categories is each is not afraid to recruit and hire individual that have great wealth or talent.

As with any boss, it requires hands-on-leadership, but Superbosses have a distinct quality of having people do what they thought was impossible. Superbosses are masters and extremely efficient delegators. They have this ability chose smart, ambitious, adaptable people and offer them a vision and trust. Superbosses encourage and create steps for change and personal growth. They provide advancement opportunities far beyond those found in traditional organizations by customizing career paths. Lastly, they stay connected, even after team members move on, they continue networking and maintaining communications, giving advice and direction.

A SuperBoss has the personal confidence to recruit the best and understand a leap of faith is required. To the bosses that cannot move forward with hiring and retention of the best, it may be time to hire a third party consultant who can analyzes and articulates the pitfalls and bottlenecks within the organization. A fresh eye deep mussel comprehensive inner looking's of the organization is just what may be required. As with any review or audit, how it is presented is important and should never be punitive but a step toward improvement.

The simplest way to describe a SuperBoss is a leader that does not have a strict management style, has the ability to adapt to situations, and does not allow personal insecurities to get in the way of making a good business decisions. Superbosses understand no matter the talent nurturing and motivating is an essential requirement with surrounding yourself with the best team. They are always seeking the best people and keeping staff focused and engaged.

Andrew Catalano's Bio:

Andrew Catalano resides in Maspeth, New York, and has worked in the hospitality service industry for over 30 years. Experiences with but not limited to; working with union and non-union operations, for-profit and not-for-profits in all segments of the industry; private ownership, corporate, education, and healthcare - (acute and LTC). Andrew is an adjunct professor at CUNY and the Institute of Culinary Educations, and a certified instructor with the National Restaurant Association, holding an NYS teaching permit. As the owner principle of Strategic Management Consultants Andrew prides himself on offering Shopper service, fresh eye reviews for the service operator to include financial audits, management evaluations, labor optimization, marketing strategies, food safety, and employee training for both front line and management staff. Andrew holds a Master degree in Business Management, which gives him the refined skills to think through the problems, refine the vision, and plan next steps to improve the quality and value of an operation. Please contact Andrew Catalano at cat2380@msn.com with your questions or to schedule a business review.

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Tackling the Greatest Inhibitors to Business Agility

Business Agility is all the rage! Look at all the books and articles on how wonderful life will be when your business becomes agile. Yet how easy is it to become more agile when you even just focusing on the four most prominent inhibitors lurking in your organization pushing you maintain your own brand of business as usual.

According to McKinsey and others, there are four primary inhibitors that can destroy your plans for and implementations of a more agile way of doing business:

• Underlying IT systems
• Corporate Culture
• Organizational Structure
• Business Process

Underlying IT Systems

Your underlying IT systems can constrain your agility without you even being aware of them. Creativity suffers in a digital world of ones and zeros. Once set up, everyone and everything must conform to their standards rather than vice versa. Add to this the leveraging effect of GIGO or Garbage In, Garbage Out, and one internal mail to everyone, based upon a false fact or figure and you can literally sabotage even the most well thought out strategy. It is now more important than ever to locate that balance point between acting and reporting.

Corporate Culture

How aware are you of the written and unwritten rules that influence and often rule how your organization interacts, both internally and externally? Like the proverbial fish out of water, culture is something so transparent when you're in it that you it is almost impossible to notice until you are thrown out of it. As David Gerber wrote in his book "The E Myth", you can either work "in your business" or look upon it from outside and work "on your business". Can you guess which is harder to do? To take a detached view of what you do takes training, but without even attempting to look on your business you will never see how your own cultural behavior is slowly suffocating your company.

Organizational Structure

The older and bigger your organization gets, the more rules and guidelines for doing business the "(Enter your company name here) way" becomes. Add to this the extra press of your IT Systems and reporting structures and pretty soon it takes days to negotiate the paperwork and sign-offs necessary to take a day's training or upgrade your PC. Look no further than how many laws are passed DAILY in every country on the planet and soon even law-abiding citizens are breaking some kind of law or statute without even knowing it.

Business process

There are a number of very successful processes out there such as 6 Sigma, Lean Production, etc. They are designed to cater to the greatest common factors regarding your average employee. Yet this means that all outliers, entrepreneurs and anyone on the cutting edge will be marginalized. If you are looking for a great way to stifle creativity and courage, look no further. If you are looking to encourage these over achievers, then you need to relax those critical bottlenecks where they feel constrained. Look no further than the former telecoms giant Motorola and what happened when 6 Sigma took over the company. Designed by Bill white in 1966, this business process permeated the company to such a degree that many of the creative people who were responsible for Motorola's success were driven out to more creative pastures. Combined with a major financial storm or two, these factors were enough to cause the company to die first a slow, then a faster death.

Each one of these inhibitors can kill any attempts to create a sense of agility in your organization. Combine them and your chances to extract your company from the clutches of business as usual, drop to virtually zero. Why?

... because we are creatures of habit. As much as most of us love to talk about change we are only really for it when requires someone else to change. We love certainty and we build systems, cultures and behavior to create that certainty, yet we constantly get fooled into a false sense of security that our complex models provide. Look no further than Long Term Capital Management and the two Nobel Laureates that almost crashed the financial system in 1996 because their investment model was not broad or robust enough to handle the larger than expected event of Russia defaulting on its bonds.

The key to meeting the challenges of these common inhibitors is to become agile. Yet your agility must be an effective blend of strategic, operational as well as relational tools and practices. Focusing only upon one of these areas is like sitting on a one or two-legged stool, neither stable nor comfortable and it will leave you vulnerable for shocks for which you are not prepared.

The biggest step you can take to begin the process of handling these inhibitors is to balance the application of agility tools from these three areas and focus your energy upon the horizon rather than all of your past achievements. No matter how good you once were, if your systems and culture are focused on Key Performance Indicators that are based upon history, you may miss the next big trend or the approaching financial storm. The market will not forgive you no matter how wonderful you think your culture is. Just ask Nokia, Motorola, DEC and many other late, great companies. Think forward, think Agility!

Kurt Larsson is the Co-Author of the book, "Mastering Agility, Successfully Navigating Uncertainty". This book is packed with both the reasons you need to Get Agile Now or die trying, as well as simple, practical C-Level management tools to help you along your path to mastering agility. Look for it on Amazon.

For more information, contact us at the following link: http://minervaclp.com/contact-us/

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Succession Planning And The Need For Recruitment Process Outsourcing Connections

Every year it seems that some premiership managers will only last a matter of weeks in the job. There is a lot of criticism around these short tenures, many argue that managers should be allowed longer to achieve culture changes, or personnel changes required to achieve success, and others who are less forgiving say that you shouldn't put up with underperformance.

But if a football manager is fired after only a short time in their job, does that mean that no succession planning has been going on? The financial cost of failure and the opportunity cost of missed success can be so great that the pressures to find the right manager or a better manager are huge. So when a manager gets the sack after a short tenure, do the board and club owners suddenly start to look around at who is available for their next appointment. That has to be a resounding no. There has to be a continual process of evaluating who is available to take over before the existing manager is sacrificed. It wouldn't make sense to sack your manager without a replacement lined up ready to go. This must mean therefore that there is a succession plan already on place before the manager is relieved of their duties. So what forms the process of a good succession plan, and is it the same for the world of business and commerce as it is for Football?

Identify the critical positions

The critical positions in an organisation have to be the focus of succession planning. Without these roles, the organization would be unable to effectively meet its business objectives. To use our football scenario again, new appointments are usually handled by network of agents, who are associated with free personnel. The football clubs are in constant contact with agents whose job it is to inform the club at any time as to who is available in the marketplace, or who could become available at short notice.

Identify competencies

A clear understanding of capabilities is needed for successful performance and the setting of clear performance expectations, and for the assessment of performance.

Identify succession management strategies

Once critical positions have been identified the next step is to choose from developing or to look externally

Implement your succession plan

Once strategies have been identified, your succession plan needs clearly defined timelines and roles and responsibilities.

Evaluate Effectiveness

Like all good plans you need to systematically monitor all your performance data and make necessary adjustments. Using our football manager example again you may attribute points per game, as an effective measure of success, and in business you may use measures such as value of deals won or share price as your measures.

Now it is true that football managers work in a ruthless and impatient environment and business is probably more forgiving and slower to act. Nevertheless with increasing pressure form activist investors and pressure from employees and the media, chief executives have their own job security pressures. In the world of business the agents role in our football analogy is taken up by recruitment organisations, whose role it is to keep constantly up to date with the talent pool and provide the connections boards and organisations need when looking externally for executive replacement.

Having a methodical and assured process along with longstanding working relationships with recruitment companies is one way in which organisations can avoided calls of crisis, and retain the trust and confidence of shareholders and markets when changes in senior personnel take place.

It is therefore a responsible risk management approach to take to consider the process required to replace a senior person before they are lost to the organization.

One common consequence of failing to have a succession plan is that many boards panic and spend large amounts of money and time on rushed external replacements, with no affinity to the workings of the firm. This is why a well-structured and well planned succession is always preferred irrespective of whether personnel change comes from internal staff or externally.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing is one of the best tools available for companies to cost-effectively focus on finding great talent today that will be with them for the future.
Omni are an award winning outsourced recruitment services provider. They have won the prestigious Outstanding Outsourced Recruitment Organisation Award at the 2015 Recruiter Awards after being recognised for multi-sector knowledge, employer branding, innovation, and the consistent provision of a first-class RPO service. You can find out more about them by visiting http://www.omnirms.com

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Master Business Agility Now Or Face The Consequences Of Business As Usual

Business Agility, a trend or the key to your future?

Hold on to your hats. If you think the rate of change was intense over the last 20 years you ain't seen nothing yet! There are large, mega trends now underway that will wash distracted decision makers overboard, no matter how luxurious your corporate yacht is. There are also dark storm clouds gathering for what could be the most perfect storm ever! If you are not prepared, if you choose not to listen and/or if you are not agile enough to handle the increasing seas of change, you and your company will founder.

Powerful trends are now showing themselves with great intensity.

• Big Data now has the power to capture and measure whatever you want.
• On-line learning in the form of MOOCs (Mass On-line Open Courses), allows access to state of the art education to anyone, 24/7, ANYWHERE!
• An abundance of production, services and even cheap money.
• Exciting demographics where smart, healthy seniors choose not to retire

These are just a few, but each is a forceful wave powerful enough to crush those resisting, ignoring or missing them. If you don't learn to surf these waves of change you may find yourself and your crew dashed against the rocks of complacency.

Yet this is only half the story. For every exciting change listed above and dozens more there is a dark side. Storm clouds are gathering. Just as with each trend above, each and every storm below, plus others not mentioned, could wreak chaos in its own right.

• Economic turbulence, due to easy money, has broken the World's pricing mechanism. How much does something really cost when it's financed it for free?
• Environmental issues like pollution and climate change can no longer be avoided.
• Governmental intrusion in the form of higher taxes, large and complicated laws are choking off business development. Entrepreneurs are hesitating.
• Geopolitics are increasingly uncertain, it is always easier for a leader to blame some outside force, than to take a closer look at their own part in the chaos.
• Information saturation makes it tough to take effective decisions; increases stress.

All of these accidents that are waiting to happen help to increase our distrust in business as usual leadership. With new scandals coming to light every day, whom can you trust; how can you make responsible decisions: how can you act on them decisively?

In order to survive or let alone thrive in these increasingly uncertain times you need to get agile NOW! Change management using backward looking tools is no longer practical. By mastering your ability for agility you can help insure your future success by:

• Looking forward towards the horizon, not relying on how good you used to be
• Finding agile leaders with a passion for people, customers and your products
• Increasing value by tuning in and marketing your products efficiently
• Lowering costs by locating and outsourcing non-core inefficiency
• Communicating your message by inspiring and engaging others into action

All of these disciplines will help to increase your ability to respond. Practicing these tools on a daily basis will transform business agility from a catchy buzzword to a lifestyle that insures your and your corporate crews success.

Kurt Larsson has co-authored a new book, "Mastering Agility, Successfully Navigating Uncertainty". This 350 page manual is packed with reasons you need to Get Agile Now. Learn simple, practical management tools to help you along your path to business mastery. Look for it in March 2016 on Amazon

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9322085

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Leading (And Following) Through Change

In our previous article, we discussed that for most of us change is uncomfortable and anxiety provoking. We fear the unknown. Naturally, we face organizational change with resistance, either openly or passively.

Leading through an organizational change is a great balancing act that appears to be more of an art than a science. This act requires of leaders to have a sound skill and a strong will. Each organization has their distinct culture and history, and there is no definitive prescription to successfully lead through change. The key is to remember that as leaders we cannot tell people stop feeling what they feel. On the contrary, fighting resistance directly will just bring in more resistance. However, several time and experience proven approaches can guide us in an effective change management while embracing resistance as a part of the process.

Create a vision. When we lead, we have to be certain to which direction we are going. It may be challenging to create a vision to manage an externally driven organizational change, such as downsizing due to economic conditions. Yet, the vision is the main starting point and the foundation of change management. Ideally, leader's vision would embrace full understanding of organization's current situation and the implications for future. Employee involvement in creating a vision is critical to employees' future ownership of the vision.

Set strategic goals. Organizational change management requires setting strategic goals. Again, employee involvement in crafting the goals is important. Goals should be backed up by short term objectives (2-8 weeks). These goals may differ from strategic goals developed during stable organizational times as they would be shorter termed. Generally, leaders should refer to these goals and objectives on daily basis and update employees on progress on at least a weekly basis. First, it allows leaders to better measure the progress of change. Secondly, it involves employees and provides them with a better sense of control when they know "where they are".

Communicate. Communication must be timely, true, and consistent. Be positive, but realistic in your messages. Employees have to know reasons for the change, the vision, the plan, and implications for their performance expectations or job security. Using a variety of communication pathways is a good strategy. However, if you already shared information that may be anxiety provoking such as possible layoffs or reduction in work hours, avoid repeating that information again and again unless you have new information pieces to add. Let employees know when they can expect an update and follow through before or on that date.

Keep an open door policy. It's a good approach when leaders welcome employees to come to them directly with any questions about the change process. With that, it also means that leaders should embrace a mindframe of openness where they genuinely expect employee questions and are forthcoming with answers. Let's also keep in mind that building trust is a process, and not the task; it may take numerous conversations before employees start trusting leaders and the change process.

Appreciate and highlight successes that employees attain during the change process, such as learning a new skill, learning a new computer program, or embracing a new role. Most importantly, treat and believe that your people are your most valuable asset. To be effective, praise and appreciation has to honest and authentic - embrace your employee's behaviors not only by your mind, but also your heart. Apologize when you are incorrect. Show that you care about your employees beyond work environment.

When we are following through change, we are also not powerless (although it may feel that way).

Face your feelings about the change, especially when the change is imposed and beyond your control. Figure out what your fears or worries are. You don't have to be a victim, even when you are not in control of the change. Write about your feelings. Embrace the notion that feelings are pleasant or unpleasant, but they are not bad or good.

Choose your thoughts and attitudes about the change. Negative thoughts block your creativity and problem-solving abilities. Positive thoughts build bridges to possibilities and opportunities. Keep a record of the choices you make in your thoughts and attitudes. Catch your negative self-talk - instead of telling yourself "I cannot handle it anymore", ask yourself "How I can handle it?" Instead of saying "never" or "always", say "this time". Welcome change as an opportunity and explore the benefits of the change.

Rely on peer support. Seek positive support from peers and provide the same to them. When someone's feeling down, put your effort in reframing their negative thoughts into positive ones. Ask for help in the process of learning a new role or a new task. While it is OK to occasionally vent to someone and share your frustrations, venting will not ultimately change your situation, but instead may create poor morale all around. Instead stay positive and solution focused.

An organizational change is a challenging process for both leaders and followers. Resistance, anxiety, and strong feelings often accompany the process. While we cannot talk ourselves or others out of feelings overnight, leaders and followers can work together to make the change process smoother.

Eivina Muniute-Cobb, Ed.D. is a Principal Consultant with the Pontis Group. The group provides organizational consulting, training, and coaching. Consulting projects include performance management, leadership development, organizational change management, employee succession development, strategic planning, effective team building, and ROI measurement of HR, training, and social services programs. The group's blog focuses on topics that are relevant to leaders and professionals in a current recession environment. Please visit the Pontis Group blog and leave your input http://www.ThePontisGroup.com

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3 Steps to Driving Cultural Change

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been under fire for the lack of progress in its transition from a law enforcement agency to an integrated intelligence agency. Many are calling for a significant cultural change at the agency.

This is not a new issue for the FBI as they have been struggling for years. They have recently taken a page from Google and set up "campfire meeting areas." These innovative workspaces are intended to drive cultural change by encouraging a more fluid work environment and create opportunities for collaboration.

Unfortunately, this type of action is not sufficient to drive cultural change. Although common work areas and "pods" can be helpful, the FBI may be doomed to fail without a strong foundation. They've put the "cart before the horse."

Any program designed to change an organization's culture must be based on an understanding that culture is made up of the collective behavior of an organization's individual members and the process used to get work done.

Organizations that are effective at achieving cultural change ensure 3 critical elements are in place.

Define the Ideal Future State

Clarifying or reaffirming the mission and vision is the place to start. It is also important that this picture of the future is shared by employees at all levels of the organization. With this target in mind, you can now ask, "What are the behaviors and competencies that will ensure we achieve this outcome?"

Shape Behavior

Once the behaviors that support the desired culture have been identified, communicating expectations is an important next step but it is not sufficient. The old behaviors must be replaced with the new. The primary responsibility of facilitating change in behavior is the managers and to help "shape behavior" managers have 3 tools to draw on.

• Coaching and feedback - people need to know when they are on track and what areas need improvement. They are also likely to need guidance to help transition to the new behaviors.

• Recognition and rewards - help reinforce positive behavior change. It helps sent the message, "That's what good looks like" and "You can do it."

• Consequences - just as there needs to be rewards to reinforce using the new behaviors there also need to be consequences to discourage the use of old behaviors.

Review and Adjust Systems and Work Processes

Systems and work processes ensures the use of new behaviors gets to "critical mass." They outline how people should work with internal and external stakeholders - they provide guidelines in which the new behaviors are applied. In this way they institutionalize the behavior and ensure the change moves beyond a few individuals scattered around the organization.

Two key systems at the manager's disposal are the Performance Management system - which is the primary vehicle to communicate expectations and provide rewards and consequences for current employees - and the Selection and Hiring system - which, by using the new behaviors as context, increases the likelihood new employees will a good fit with the new culture.

Many leaders find the term culture vague and difficult to get their arms around. And this is at the center of the problem - if you can't name it you can't get it. Understanding that an organization's culture is known by observing the behavior of its employees and the processes used to get work done provides leaders with a concrete place to start the work of driving culture change.

For more information on OnPoint Consulting and our products and services please go to
http://www.onpointconsultingllc.com/organizational-and-leadership-development

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Managing Change: Lessons Learned From Top Companies

Profitable companies must keep changing for continued success. Sometimes it is unexpected, sometimes it is necessary. To maintain normalcy during periods of change, employees look to their leaders for guidance. The key is to get leadership on board with the change and establish methods for helping their teams handle the change. Leaders must possess certain qualities for a smooth transition and to keep momentum in the workplace.

Navigating change is difficult; even the best ideas will fail if they are not adapted correctly. Here are the top three companies that implemented major changes and what we can learn from their successes and failures.

Alphabet

Alphabet is now the parent company of Google and is run by Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The restructure came so that the Google search engine could remain focused on its original mission to organize the world's information. Among the companies now under Alphabet are the collection of ventures Brin and Page have delved into, including Google, Calico (their quest to cure death) and Nest Labs.

Given that this was a restructuring of a major organization, leaders should have minimized uncertainty among their employees. Instead, they shocked their employees and the world at the same time when Larry Page published a blog post on Google+. They did not give their employees much warning, and it brought the workday to a halt as everyone from interns to senior engineers reeled at the news.

The blog post addressed many of the questions leaders should answer during a time of change, including why the change was necessary and where they are in the process. However, it took employees by surprise when leadership could have been upfront about the changes and how it would affect their teams. As the situation unfolds, we will continue to learn how Alphabet is managing the transition and how its employees are adjusting.

Amazon

When you're a giant retailer like Amazon, your name is synonymous with change. Staying competitive is no easy task, though, because you are up against other innovative retail giants. Without a solid strategy in place to ensure your company is ready for change, failure is inevitable.

Such was the case with the Amazon Fire phone launch. The online shopping company made its foray into the smartphone realm, which seemed to be a smart decision. But one detail was missing: The phone didn't offer enough reasons for smartphone owners to switch from their Apples or Androids. The phone boasted some intriguing features, but lacked a competitive price for what it had to offer and was sold in limited locations.

Was Amazon ready for this step? Perhaps not. What at first was considered a great idea may now require "many iterations" and "some number of years to get it right," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Change readiness is a process that prepares your company to shift directions, even if it is still keeping the same overall strategic focus. Having these discussions with employees can result in an even better product.

Nike

To successfully navigate change, leaders should initiate and encourage change talk- discussion within companies that represents positive reasons for supporting change. When change talk is used well, it can prevent the "commitment dip" that often occurs when employees lose sight of the goal and revert back to old behaviors. This may have been a factor in Nike's struggled over the years to maintain a favorable image after its factories in Asia were exposed for their abusive labor practices in the early 1990s.

Those in power at Nike didn't act on the need to implement a more ethical supply chain until they were called out by activists, college students and consumer protesters-until customers boycotting their products hit the company's bottom line. Their substandard work practices were a way to cut corners on costs to increase profit, which ultimately ended up costing Nike its reputation in the court of public opinion. Since then Nike has made positive changes, but it took time for the company to acknowledge all that it needed to do to improve working conditions. By working closely with employees and having ongoing conversations about what actions would be necessary to make lasting changes, Nike could have improved its supply chain practices before they made headlines.

In each of these examples, adequately preparing employees for changes and thoroughly discussing how the plans should play out could have solidified strategy execution efforts and led to a profitable innovation.

Does your company have a plan in place to handle a large organizational change? Let OnPoint help you execute your strategy and achieve success. Download our eBook, Managing Change: 3 Secrets of Smart Leaders to help you implement change today

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9239414

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Buying Software Solutions Means Adapting Business Processes

CRM, SCM, FAS, ESS, ECM and BPA are just a few of the endless stream of acronyms and buzzwords that confront small business owners searching for good software solutions to automate key business functions. The promises of many cloud-based software solutions to automate key functions of a business are impressive. The ability of the technology sales rep to speak an entirely different language using English words injected with acronyms, jargon and unique expressions is equally impressive.

This creates an air of superiority as apparently only special people can know all of this stuff and make any meaning from it in business terms. Many small businesses readily adopt these solutions, believing they will accrue the compelling list of benefits.

The challenges for the business owner go far beyond learning an entirely new befuddling language. More importantly, they must learn to adapt their business processes, people, policies, practices and all of the information and work that must flow through the business functions served by this software. Ironically, many very large businesses cite this failure to execute this adaptation process as the reason many such systems fail to meet their expectations. This despite the hordes of information technology resources and business consultants applied to manage the process.

Small business don't have access to the same array of experts to help them manage the transition. Instead, they tend to rely more heavily on the supplier of the software solution. Unfortunately, most of these software suppliers do not provide services to help their customers redefine their business processes and work flows. The software supplier is focused on installing the product, providing training on the best practices in the usage of the product, providing basic technical support for the software and then moving on to the next prospect.

After a short period, the frustration mounts as the existing processes and work practices of employees in the business clash with the way the software operates by design. Attempts to adapt the software to the existing workflow or to develop workarounds to seemingly inappropriate or missing functionality invariably produce more frustration. All the while, the business never fully realizes the full benefits of the software as sold by the sales person. The truth is that the business never fully adopts the software so the benefits will only match the degree of its utilization.

Acquiring the software license and turning on the first user name and password is the easy part. To achieve the real value of this purchase requires an accurate and comprehensive assessment of the actual business processes in place in the business compared with those provided in the software solution is required to determine the work required to implement it successfully. This assessment must include process mapping, change management plan for each process, system and workflow integration, user training, and real-world testing and overall project plan to manage the transition to the new mode of operating. A competent project manager with business operations, business process analysis and software deployment expertise can be an invaluable asset to enabling long-term profitable deployments of software solutions for small businesses.

Patrick is a coach, speaker, and trainer to individuals and business leaders. He helps leaders to achieve success by clarifying their vision, strategic plans, leadership, change management, brand and marketing strategy. He helps individuals to remove self-limiting beliefs and fears that prevent them from acting on their goals and dreams. 615-261-8585

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Can Leaders Teach Resiliency?

Why do some people bounce back from difficult life events seemingly easier than other people? How do some people, such as firefighters, law enforcement, and the military (and I would include teachers, all teachers) manage tough situations better than others. Some people seem to press on and be more resilient than others. How? Is this ingrained or is it taught?

The truth is some people deal with life's challenges and tragedies better than others. This is resiliency.

Some people respond faster and better in crises than others. They seem to always know what to do, while their counterparts are often paralyzed with shock. What is the difference?

Researchers studying resiliency looked at United States Marine Corps and Navy Seals to see how they manage to train for action when confronting difficult situations.

What they found is there are neurological differences with people who tend to rebound from difficult situations. Highly resilient people experience a shorter time between the emotional response and taking action. Some observers used to dismiss that as "those people just don't care" which is why these warriors were able to respond quickly and appropriately. That could not be further from the truth. Resilient people care as deeply as anyone else, but they manage to postpone the emotional reaction until the crisis is concluded.

Once the crisis is over, they process the difficulties better than others. Can this be taught?

Researchers found that we can train for resiliency by helping people prepare and then giving them the right path and action to take. The brain, through practice, then goes more quickly to the action, instead of being incapacitated by the emotion. This research also showed that people with high levels of exercise increase the neurons, so the path to the action speeds up in our brain.

Training for difficult situations helps us respond appropriately. Most of us would agree that rational people do not go into burning buildings. Yet firefighters do. They are able to overcome the innate desire to run from fire because they have the training and the gear that gives them the response of going into the building instead of out. Training and the confidence in the training builds resiliency.

So how can we build resiliency?

We need a core of people you can trust when things go wrong. We need community.

We need to know that others have succeeded. Have you ever thought "Oh, I can't do that" and then you meet someone who did whatever "that" was and you think well, "If he/she can do that, I can do that too?"

We need a strong sense of the ability and the need to move forward and to overcome the setbacks and obstacles.

We have to believe that events or the situation will improve with effort.

How can leaders teach this?

Leaders can help build resiliency and help people be successful by:

• Letting people fail. Paradoxically, allowing people to fail builds resiliency. People need to try, to risk, and then try some more. This comes from failing a few times along the way. Resilient people are not people who have never failed. They are people who have learned from trying, failing, and trying again. Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, was rejected from 30 jobs, including KFC, before becoming the richest man in China. What did Grandpa tell us? "If you fall off, get back on the horse." One of the issues today is that people are afraid to allow for mistakes, and they want to protect others from failure. Falling off the horse is not the end of the world. Being scared and not getting back on the horse is failure. Failing and trying again helps us become more resilient.

• Teaching the ability to solve problems. This means not solving the all of the problems yourself. The most difficult task a leader (or a parent) has is not doing something ourselves when we know we could solve the problem quickly. Instead we need to pull back and ask: "What do you think will happen next?" "What is the next step?" "What do you think you should do?" It is really hard watching people make mistakes and not step in, but people don't learn if someone else is doing the job for them. For example, you cannot teach your baby to walk by carrying the baby all the time. At some point, they have to try to walk. They are going to fall down. They will bump their head and bruise a knee and they will sometimes cry. They pick themselves up, they climb back up, and they keep going. None of us learned how to walk while we were being carried.

• Remembering the goal. It is easy to get discouraged if you only see the failures. Every attempt is a step towards success, even if that attempt wasn't the solution. Keep the big picture in mind.

• Defaulting to the right response. Making allowances for people to fail is not carte blanche for not holding people accountable. Failure without a lesson IS failure. When the US military conducts an exercise we have a "hot wash" where we discuss the quick "what went right and what went wrong" part of the exercise. Then in the final summation there is a "lessons learned" section. We have to learn what to do when things do not go right. We take note of the failures and figure out a way to avoid failing in the future. We accept responsibility for the problem and move to create a better outcome.

• Knowing the difference between a problem and an inconvenience. Problems are life threatening, serious issues. Inconveniences are when you get the middle seat on an airline, when someone cuts you off in traffic, when your neighbor doesn't keep the lawn mowed, or when you don't get that promotion or pay raise. Let the inconveniences go. Focus on solving real problems.

Especially during the holidays we need to watch out for each other, be alert to signs of a serious problem, and help each other.

Dr. Mary C. Kelly is a leadership and productivity speaker, whose dynamic and unique keynotes have been helping organizations and individuals to become more productive and motivated in a fun and engaging way.

With over twenty years of leadership experience and a diverse background leading teams in the U.S. and abroad, Dr. Kelly makes leadership a reality for all levels of an organization. Register for her free newsletters at

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Why We Tend To Resist Change

We live in a time of globalization and constant technology innovation. The growth in technology rapidly increases our access to information and knowledge. These constant changes result in an ever evolving business environment and a demand for organizations to change and adapt. Although modern organizational changes are more often driven by external forces than internal, change is a wonderful individual and organizational opportunity to innovate, create, and become more efficient and effective. Research shows that organizations that adapt to external changes most quickly will create a competitive advantage for themselves while the companies that are slow to change will be left behind.

While change is an opportunity, anyone who led or participated in an organizational change can attest that the process is not easy. Changing the procedures, technology, and organizational systems is the less challenging part of change management. The most challenging component is changing how people in an organization act and think. Change is uncomfortable and often provokes resistance. It is our natural tendency to cling to the known rather than embracing the unknown. So, what's behind our resistance? Why may we feel so uncomfortable and defensive even though rationally we may grasp the benefits of change?

Based on our personalities and previous experiences, we all may embrace and deal with change differently. We do though have some common tendencies behind resistance to change.

Status quo bias. People have conscious or subconscious tendencies to stick with in the status quo. When faced with a dilemma, we tend to do nothing. And not just individuals and organizations; biological and ecological systems also fight to remain in the status quo. This phenomenon is called homeostasis.

Fear of the unknown. Behind the fear of the unknown lurks the fear of not meeting basic needs. If we recall Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we will remember that our physiological and then safety needs are at the bottom on the pyramid. So, it is natural that during an organizational change, we become fearful of our jobs and the pay level. Will I have a job and be able to bring food to the table? Will I have enough income to pay rent and provide safety to myself and the family? So the fear of the unknown drives us to resist change.

Sometimes, the current, "the known" situation may cause us a distress and dissatisfaction, but we still may feel more comfortable with what we know. Even when we rationally understand the potential change is positive and promising, we may resist it, because on emotional level "the unknown" is anxiety provoking. The old proverb sums it up: "The devil that I know is better than the devil that I do not know".

Loss of control. This is another key reason why we resist change. Familiar routines help employees develop a sense of control over their work environment. Being asked to change the way they operate may make employees feel powerless and confused. Even changes in daily procedures or desk location may evoke a feeling of loss of control for employees. Overall, people are more likely to understand and embrace changes when they feel they have some form of control.

Concerns about competence. Sometimes, change in organizations necessitates changes in skills. Some people may perceive that they do not have skills to make a transition, and doubt of their capacities to learn those new skills. Therefore, they resist change as a survival strategy, either openly or passively. Some employees may have intellectual and physical capacities to learn new skills, but may express an unwillingness to do so.

Concerns of greater workload. We may also have a legitimate concern of more work to do that come with new tasks or new positions. Especially, when change includes restructuring, mergers, or acquisitions, employees may be anxious of "doing more with less", that is performing more than one job with the same or even lesser resources.

Resistance is an emotional process. Behind the resistance are the feelings. In our next blog we will discuss the strategies to embracing change, however it is important to remember that as leaders we cannot tell people stop feeling what they feel. On the contrary, fighting resistance directly will just bring in more resistance. As employees and participants in the change process, we also cannot talk ourselves out of our feelings overnight. Rather we can accept the feelings that we experience and then we can work with ourselves and with others to embrace change.

Eivina Muniute-Cobb, Ed.D. is a Principal Consultant with the Pontis Group. The group provides organizational consulting, training, and coaching. Consulting projects include performance management, leadership development, organizational change management, employee succession development, strategic planning, effective team building, and ROI measurement of HR, training, and social services programs. The group's blog focuses on topics that are relevant to leaders and professionals in a current recession environment. Please visit the Pontis Group blog and leave your input

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Confirmation Bias: Can You Prove Yourself Wrong?

While most of us are naturally more comfortable hearing information which confirms our current beliefs, the practice of seeking contrary information is what enables us to be more informed and make better decisions.

However, this seemingly natural practice is not the norm. Instead, we prefer to be told what we already know or believe, which is more technically termed "confirmation bias."

Confirmation bias is the tendency to pursue and embrace information that matches our existing beliefs. We tend to seek out and enjoy people who write or say exactly what we think. We gravitate toward these sources not for information but for confirmation!

The trouble with confirmation bias begins when it gets in the way of seeking out facts; and even more alarming is the fact that it is especially hazardous to highly-experienced and successful individuals. Consider that the "more we know" the more likely it is that we will be able to uncover supporting research or data.

This inclination to look for supportive data can easily lead us to serious mistakes. Without a conscientious effort to avoid confirmation bias, many small choices - all valid on their own - tend to be combined to support our initial opinions. Consequently, we think we are making data-driven decisions, but we are really collecting decision-driven data.

In theory, the explosion of information would lead to more and better information, more nuanced understanding, and less bias, but as Nate Silver points out in the Introduction to his book, The Signal and the Noise, we face danger whenever the quantity of information grows faster than our ability to fairly and effectively process it. We must choose what information to access and to credit, and that's when our biases take over.

If these facts have prompted you to reconsider your approach to research and decision-making, here are three things that can help you avoid confirmation bias:

1. Recognize the bias and remind yourself to look for it in your decisions and analyses. Remind yourself that the authors of everything you read (including this article) are making a point that is supported by the data they present, but is not necessarily by data they do not present - and in fact may not even have seen if they did not look hard enough for contrary data. Remind yourself that the well-intentioned people providing you with analysis and recommendations are also subject to confirmation bias. Ask for contrary data.


2. Consistently ask yourself "what else could it be?" Think creatively about alternative explanations and alternative solutions. Explore the whole feasible set, if possible.


3. Encourage others to express contrary views and ideas. Aggressively seek out and try to understand contrarian views. For many people, the first impulse is to refute contrarian views and argue our own. But the best decisions are likely to be made by those who "seek first to understand rather than be understood."

If you value the differences in people, the differences will produce value. Or stated a different way, "Can you prove yourself wrong?"

Paul C. Donehue is a Senior Associate at Conway Management Company, a global consulting firm specializing in continuous process improvement and helping organizations of all types and sizes

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