Change Management News

Wendy Mack and Deanna Banks have posted their new e-book on Wendy’s website. Leading After Layoffs: Best Practices for Re-Energizing Your Workforce is a fine and accessible short book. Did you know that a 1 percent reduction in force can have a huge negative ripple effect throughout the organization? If you are interested in this topic (and who isn’t?) I encourage you to read their book.

You can also access their free e-book at the Change Management Open Source Project as well.

If you’re going to the ODN (Organization Development Network) conference in Seattle (October 18-21), Id love to see you. I’ll be doing a couple of presentations and will be hanging out in the Exhibitor’s area at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland booth. The Institute is my home away from home. And getting to work there is a true labor of love. – Rick Maurer

I just posted a free 16-minute Podcast that provides an overview of my approach to leading change.  I hope you’ll listen and pass along the link if you like what you hear.  Change Podcast

NPR just ran a good segment on how Hyundai turned itself from the butt of jokes to a very successful company by continuous improvement and profound belief in the quality of its cars. NPR

When’s the last time you paid attention to the safety announcement on a flight? I can’t remember either.

Air New Zealand posted a safety video on YouTube and 3,305,548 people have viewed it so far.

This is the same safety announcement that all of us hear every week on flights. So why would so many people view this video? Simple: The airline employees giving the safety announcement are all naked. Their uniforms are painted onto their bodies. So, that information should be enough to get some of you to click on the video in anticipation, and others to click on with utter disgust. Either way, it gets you to watch.

Click here to view video

Their video got me thinking about corporate presentations. People file into a room as cramped as economy seats on a flight. And almost the instant that the lights dim and the first slide appears on the screen, the audience tunes out. Don’t believe me? Look around you at the next meeting you go to. (Or, perhaps you’re reading this during one of those deadly presentations right now.) (more…)

No, it wasn’t just greed. Michael Zhuang writes a short article How Madoff Did It in his investment newsletter titled . He draws on the work of social psychologist Robert Cialdini, author of Influence and Yes!) to show us why people fell for the Madoff Scheme. It’s worth reading.

I am a fan of Cialdini’s work on influence, and I his six categories can be helpful in making a case for a new idea.  Zhuang shows how those same powerful psychological forces can be used to manipulate us.

Here is a reply I received from Eric regarding my client’s question about rating values as part of a performance review process.

Given that the majority of inter-organizational “partnership” arrangements fail (over 60% in some citings), and that ‘interpersonal relationship problems” is often cited as a fundamental reason for leaving a job, then I’d really wonder at the notion what this particular supervisor is focusing on? True, the question as phrased, specifically cites Indicators. Indicators of what? Or, are these, or some of these, specific kinds of desirable behavior? If the supervisor feels OK at listing specific behaviors, then it might be matter of mis-communication. If the supervisor doesn’t want any of this ’stuff’ in the appraisal process, then it seems needful that someone take the supervisor aside for a friendly chat.  Something seems to be upside down in this limited description.

To read the first two posts on this, scroll down the page a bit.

My buddy, Jake Jacobs (Real Time Strategic Change) hosted a Podcast with me about my new free Change Management Open Source Project.  Thought you might enjoy hearing it.  Podcast

A client in the US federal government asked me if it were possible to measure values along with other performance indicators in the appraisal process.  The Human Resources Department of that agency said no. I wa skeptical, so I asked readers of Tools for a Change (my e-mail newsletter). Here’s what they said: (more…)

My freind, Ellie Hooks, just started a new blog called African Zen. I think it is well worth reading and coming back to.  See what you think.

It’s hard to imagine an organization with a union that didn’t deserve to get it. Scratch the surface of the glossy smiling faces on the annual reports and you often find far different pictures of what is going on.

Once again Wal-Mart is crying foul about organizing at their company. (Union Intensifies Efforts to Organize Workers at Wal-Mart, The Wall Street Journal. 4/17/09)
This has been going at Wal-Mart for a very long time. Seems like Wal-Mart should have learned a lesson or two along the way, but doesn’t appear that they have. Their approach continues to be to fight the union. (more…)

The Change Management Open Source Project just held its first conference call to discuss the topic of How to Lead Change When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going. Seemed like an apt topic for this environment. I posted a Podcast of the hour long call. To listen you need to register for the open source project. Everything associated with the project is free, by the way. You can register at Change Management Open Source Project.

This week Time Magazine will run an article about voting patterns. In past elections, 28 percent voted for the wrong candidate. These people voted for candidates they disagreed with. So, why would people do that? OK, some voters may be stupid, but I’ll guess that many voted for the candidates they liked or feared less.  He or she seemed to be like them and so they assumed that candidate must support the same things they do.

Leaders of change take note.

I think there is a lot that we can learn from the halting progress on the bailout of the financial institutions in the US.

Speed

Leaders told the American people that the economy was essentially sound. Then, almost on a dime, they sent a new message – this situation could quickly dump us into severe recession or even a depression. People wondered, “Where did that come from?” It’s no wonder then that messages to Members of Congress from constituents were 100 to 1 against the bailout plan.

One of the Lessons: You’ve got to make a compelling case that a change is needed before offering a plan to get out of the mess. People need to feel the urgency or else you won’t get the support you need. (more…)