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On Being Productive: Tools, Techniques, Inspiration & Motivation
He who knows most grieves most for wasted time.
Wishing You Failure During Organizational Change...Read On.
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Your Coachability is Important in Successfully Navigating Organizational Change
“It’s how you cope with the imperfect matches that makes you great.”
Kim Clijsters (1983 –) Belgian Professional Tennis Player, Two-Time U.S. Open Champion
You don’t know everything. You do know that, don’t you?
The Name of the Game? Integration.
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."
Michael Jordan, (American NBA basketball player, widely considered to be the greatest player in the history of the game, 1963 - )
For companies that care about the client / customer experience (and who doesn't these days?), teamwork and integration is a must.
ACTION
- Choreograph all your client touch points so the client has a seamless experience whether s/he interacts with your account team, speaks with your finance team, walks into your storefront, contacts your service center, uses your website, or self-serves.
- Ensure sure the systems and processes that support this coordination are in sync. Often, companies have channel-specific silos that are culturally and logistically at odds.
- Create incentives that encourage your people to coordinate across those channels. Look out for those who serve as barriers to a harmonized customer experience. If they can't learn to coordinate, it may be time for them to make room for their integration-minded colleagues.
Learn more by reading the article upon which this posting was adapted and based: How Integrated Are Your Customer Experiences?,by Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path.
Trust Your Instinct...& the African Hornbill Bird & Dwarf Mongoose
"Both work together, or network, to accomplish their individual objectives." Is this quote referring to the success of a recent merger? Not quite. The author was referencing the relationship between the dwarf mongoose and the African hornbill bird.
Check out William E. Boswell's book Success by Instinct: Use What Animals Already Know to Boost Your Career. Boswell, a former senior executive with BP America, and one of the company's highest ranking African Americans, presents an thought-provoking approach to managing change, including personal career development. Instead of the usual dos and don'ts, Boswell offers 14 practical principles based on the instincts found in the animal kingdom which are also used by businesspeople, sportsmen, and world leaders alike to tremendous success.
Here is a sampling of Boswell's principles for success through instinct:
Recognize that teamwork is essential to accomplish goals
Maintain knowledge of organizational environmental issues, and ensure compatibility with your personal values
By the way, going with your gut does not mean that data and research are not important. Trusting your instinct means considering factors that may not always be easily quantifiable but are still quite important. Depending on the situation, you will need to be careful to avoid the confirmation bias trap. More on confirmation bias in my next posting.
Try not to get stuck in the analysis paralysis. Be quiet and listen to your gut instinct.
Crash. Burn. Turnaround: Seven Ways to Turn Failure Into Success
"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."
Babe Ruth (1895–1948), American baseball player
Perhaps you are leading an organizational change (e.g., merger, acquisition, downsizing, hyper-growth, business process reengineering) that is not performing quite as planned. It could even be considered a…failure. So, what do you do?
You may not realize it now, but you have (at least) two key responses: the ‘little w’ response and the ‘Big W’ response (and I am hopeful that my Northern Trust Corporation colleagues reading this entry are smiling at the re-use of big and little w).
Option One: The little w response. wallow in self-pity
Option Two: Big W response: Be Willing. Be Willing to turn disappointments into great accomplishments by:
- Changing a course of action that isn’t working, no matter how much faith, time and money you may have put into it so far
- Abandoning a path that is not taking you where you want to go, and starting over again
Thomas Edison believed there were no mistakes or failures, only “eliminated options” that brought him one step closer to his goal. Decide to eliminate option one above and rethink failure.
A failure can be a valuable opportunity to regroup and rethink strategies and goals. Do not let pride keep you stuck in a wrong decision. Realize there is hope on the other side of the change, even if you cannot see it yet.
ACTION: Try these seven steps to turn failure into success.
1. Look at your past objectively
2. Focus on the purpose on the other side of the failure / pain
3. Realize that you can’t see the whole parade from where you stand
4. It’s not whether you have won or lost in the past; it’s the person you have to become to win in the future. Think about who you want to become
5. Accept that falling is a normal part of life, but try to fall forward - in the direction of your goal
6. Realize that pain and heartache are only labor pains before your / the change's birth
7. Know that retreat does not equal defeat
I recognize that these steps are not easy. There are strategies and tools to help you succeed in each step. Consider adding your steps that have worked well for you in the past. Even better, create a new step.
Make a deliberate decision not to give up in transforming your adversities into success springboards.
Adapted from © Advisor Today 2008 and Critical Choices That Change Lives: How Heroes Turn Tragedy Into Triumphby Daniel Canstro. All rights reserved.
Do What You Gotta Do: Thinking Beyond Change
"Just go out there and do what you have to do."
Martina Navratilova (1956 – ), tennis champion
It is certain that in every life, change will come. Change represents the situations, conditions, and events we try to avoid that could result in adversity, controversy, stress and inconvenience. We do not intentionally seek out these tough challenges. We do not desire to face these difficulties. We do not want to deal with some changes. When the changes do come, human nature allows these times to overwhelm us. However…
When we can appreciate change and respect its value in our lives, we come to a place of contentment. When we can see beyond current difficulties brought about by changing and realize that these challenging times will make us stronger and allow us to grow, we truly open our eyes with optimism. When we understand that ultimately we are in control of the way we respond and think about changes, that only we have the ability to choose the thoughts that enter our minds, we discover absolute freedom. Such hope is there in knowing that when faced with any type of circumstance, the truth remains that change is what we choose to make of it.
When your change comes – be it in your professional life or personal life, will you choose to be upset how the storm has inconvenienced you? Or, will you choose to acknowledge that while change has the potential to be destructive, it also brings growth and new opportunities?
ACTION
1. Choose to think differently about facing change.
2. Choose to see beyond the change to uncover the opportunities that change brings.
3. Choose to welcome change during all of life’s twists and turns.
Adapted from The
When Is the Last Time You Hung A Question Mark?
"It's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, advocate for social reform, and pacifist
Boy, this sure seems easy to say but can be hard to do. It is a quote I likely will keep in my back pocket to use in organizational change presentations and discussions as a way to set the stage for helping people understand it is okay to consider new ways of thinking and doing. This does not mean that the way your organization, your team, you have been doing things is wrong. Sometimes it just never hurts to try a new point of view, especially if you feel stuck.
ACTION:
To use the simple Nike phrase: Just do it!
Based on the culture of your organization and/or team, decide up front if you want to let people know that you will be explicitly hanging question marks during the next few team meetings.
Or, consider expanding the experiment to engage your team: ask your team members to rotate being the 'hanger' every day for a week or two. Ask them to write a brief reflection at the end of their day to share with the team once the experiement ends. Reconvene after the set time period, and discuss what you learned collectively. See if there are any learnings that you can weave into how your team operates.
What I know for sure is that organizational changes are pull of question marks; so, we all might as well learn to embrace them vs. fight them. Happy hanging.
Donald Says Location. Sandy Says Communication.
"When you are up to your neck in alligators, it is hard to remember that your primary goal is to drain the swamp."
I don't know who to attribute this quote to, but I'll guess it is from a wise person from the southern United States :)
Wow. Who hasn't felt like this lately or while going through any organizational change? When you, your team, your peers, and your company's senior executives are working overtime to re-assess risk, re-scope expenditures, prepare for acquisitions, understand government actions, and anticipate market changes, it is hard to remember you are there to serve your customers.
Communicate Effectively During Organizational Change
Is there a relationship between frequency of contact and client satisfaction? According to the Corporate Executive Board, the answer is a resounding yes.
During an organizational change, when relationship boundaries are shifting, effective communications to customers and employees matters more than ever. If employees are not clear on the 'what' and 'why' of the change, how can they effectively communicate with customers? Often, when I work with clients who've asked for my assistance on an organizational change effort that has failed, what I uncover is that employees are distracted and poorly equipped to communicate. They have obsolete scripts, mixed messages, and uncertainty regarding their own careers and finances.
ACTION:
What can you do to help your stakeholders deal with organizational change effectively?
Prepare and support managers.
Employees will be looking to their managers for cues on how to interpret the change. Develop FAQs, talking points, host small group discussions and/or on-line discussions just for managers. Ask them what they need to perform their roles effectively.
Equip all employees emotionally.
Explain the 'what' and 'why' of the organizational change. Focus on the 'why'...that is really what most people care about. Help employees address uncertainty and negative emotions that may arise within themselves and their customers. Prepare them to exude confidence and competence when interacting with customers. Remind employees to focus on what they can control and to seek assistance or guidance otherwise.
Equip customer-facing employees to handle customers effectively.
Keep client communications materials current and readily available. Remind employees of the importance of frequent client contact, and to stay focused on servicing clients. Share and reward successful ideas and methods.
Ensure consistency across stakeholders.
Inconsistent messages to customers, employees, investors, or regulators can and will surface, causing undue pain. Establish a Communications Coalition across the company (with all geographies and business units) to ensure coherence of messages.
Foster two-way communication.
Listening is an important part of customer communications (any communications, really). The distance between inbound teams (e.g., sales, customer support) and outbound teams (e.g., corporate communications, marketing) makes it difficult to have "closed loop communications." Establish tighter collaboration between these teams. For example, look for new shortcuts you can create between customer-facing staff and communications executives.
These are just five of many communications tactics to consider when building your organizational change strategy. One of the opportunities organizational change presents is the ability to play with the elasticity of relationship boundaries. Don't be afraid to test some boundaries in the name of change. And remember, as the venerable former coach of the Chicago Bears football team, Mike Ditka, said: "Success isn't permanent, and failure isn't fatal." Now go test a boundary!
Adapted from the Corporate Executive Board, my former employer, 2008.
