Change Management News

Jay Goldstein studies “those” parents at kids’ sporting events that fit the acronym Tempestuous, Harried, Overwrought, Self-absorbed and Emotional. A parent who had been part of his study told him that he had once been one of “those” parents. But one day the referee didn’t show and he was asked to take over. Suddenly, he was the victim of abuse from “those” parents. (more…)

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I just read a fine blog post titled Fine as North Dakota Wine. He discusses studies that show how our belief of an event (i.e. are we drinking North Dakota or California wine?) influences how we rate the entire dining experience. He links this to change management and suggests that the content of the message should only account for a small percentage of the message. I agree. In fact, my website includes many free articles on how to Make a Compelling Case for Change.

I read an article about a political pollster who liked focus groups over surveys. Duh.

He believed that you could get better information with a group sitting together. I agree. Unless, of course, people are afraid to talk (e.g. their boss is present). Live exchanges allow you to see body language, hear tone of voice, see how others react when someone speaks. You can’t get any of that in a survey. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago, Kathy and I visited the Koshland Science Museum here in Washington, DC. We’ve gone to a lot of museums. She looks at paintings, bones, or rockets. And I look at paintings, bones, or rockets. For the most part, we tend to have parallel and separate experiences. Then, over coffee, we talk about it.

Our experience at Koshland was quite different. (more…)

When I make presentations on leading change, I’m often asked, “How can I influence people when they don’t know me.” The simple answer is: you can’t.

I think columnist, Thomas Friedman, said it best: “When you have leverage talk. When you don’t have leverage, get some. Then talk.” (NYT 6/1/08)

Making a case for change is tough. But, you knew that. One effective way of getting people’s attention is with compelling stories. Stories grab us in ways that bullet points and graphs don’t.

I recorded an interview with Lori Silverman, author of Wake Me When the Data is Over (a title that I love). I ask her how to use stories to making a case for change – and to keep the message alive throughout the life of a big project.  (www.wakeupmycompany.com)

 

It’s about 40 minutes long and you can listen to it in the Change Management Library section of my website. Just scroll down the page and you’ll find it.

If you do listen and have questions, leave a response to this post. Lori has promised to visit the blog and respond to your questions. Thanks.

Cecilia Kang interviewed Dan Hesse, President and CEO of Sprint for The Washington Post (5/21/08). She asked what resistance he faced given all the changes facing the industry and challenges facing Sprint. He said, “I haven’t found much resistance at all. If all things were equal, I’d much rather take over a company in great shape and going well. But if there is an advantage that it is not going well, it’s the readiness to embrace change because everyone knows modus operandi isn’t working.” (more…)

The article in The Washington Post (5/20/08) titled Fat School got me thinking. The story profiles a residential program for overweight children. The cost: $6250 a month with a four-month minimum stay.

Although the school presents high short-term success rates, and a few anecdotal reports of kids who kept the weight off for longer periods, there is no research to indicate that this approach does a better job than anything else in helping young people keep weight off. And at $6250 a month, it seems like that might be a good thing to do. (more…)

Neil Davey’s post Why Change Management is Critical to Web 2.0 Success is worth reading is your organization is considering employing any Web 2.0 strategies such as blogs that  encourage conversation with customers.

I rarely see such a thoughtful article about how change should be managed. Too often, articles and blog posts focus on the technical aspects of change and miss the human elements. I appreciated the thought with which he approached the subject of Web 2.0 in large organizations.

A fine post by Michael Krigsman titled 10 Reasons Why  IT Projects Fail.
In my experience consulting on resistance to change in organizations, I find that leaders understand the gist of his list intellectually, but miss the fact that it is referring to them. Too bad. If leaders only took a portion of a single meeting to seriously reflect on his insights, they might be able to save time, money, and countless headaches.

My post titled Change Management is a Waste of Money generated a lot of comments. You can see some attached to the original post. One comment came as a call since the person didn’t want his company to know that he agreed with what I had to say.

And I got this e-mail from my friend, Bob Bryan., regarding the post. I like what he has to say, especially the distinction between training and learning.

“Training folks I know also tout butts-in-seats / CBT TRAINING as The Panacea. In addition to your point about leadership …… an add’l error occurs when TRAINING is conflated  w/  LEARNING. Training is not learning … they are not the same things. Learning is the process of continually id’ing what is working and what is not working in our constantly changing environments and effecting the necessary adaptations.  Training can support a learning organization but can subvert the nature of a learning organization if it becomes ‘the’ prominent response to change.   (more…)

This was a major study of CEOs conducted by IBM. CNN reports: There has been a dramatic increase in the number of global business leaders who see important change ahead and “highlights how the ability to absorb and manage change is widening the gap between winners and losers in the global economy.”

“Overall, 83 percent of surveyed CEOs expect substantial change in the future, an increase of 28 percent in just two years. However, CEOs report their ability to effectively manage change is increasing at a far slower pace.” (Italics are mine.) And then. . . (more…)

Often my work in change management takes me to companies that want to use a lean manufacturing or sometimes Lean/Six Sigma. I claim no expertese in that discipline. I get called in to help them work with the human aspect of those types of changes. Why would people resist something as sensible as lean or Lean/Six Sigma? And what does it take to build support?
I am always looking for ways to increase my knowledge of the specifics of changes like these, even though I will never put myself in a position of advising people on the technical aspects of lean.

Gabriela Drescher who is an expert lean manufacturing. If you are interested in learning more about this subject, I suggest that you visit her website: ImplementLeanManufacutring

She provides clear (plain English) definitions and descriptions. I think her site offers a good orientation to lean.