Filed under: - Change Execution, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Capacity, Change Management, LinkedIn, Resilience, Resistance
I always laugh when I see the new Snickers commercials—I admit it, I sometimes even rewind them.
They remind me that “You’re not yourself when you’re under the stress of change.”
Have you seen Robin Williams on your projects lately? This is the “Fourth and loopy” commercial where the usually very intense and focused coach is momentarily an incarnation of Robin Williams.
Very funny…because we can relate. continue reading here
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Personal Reflections, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, LinkedIn, Resilience, Strategy
“The whales sing, not because they have an answer. They sing because they have a song.” —Andrew Stevenson
There is no substitute for getting away from it all.
Displacement is a powerful rejuvenation technique.
For six hours on March 14th we forgot everything. We focused only on finding whales. I hope this story will “take you away” for a few minutes. continue reading here
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Personal Reflections, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, LinkedIn, Resilience, Strategy
“You can go to heaven if you want. I’d rather stay in Bermuda.” —Mark Twain
There are, of course, many compelling reasons to take a vacation, but here is one that reconciles with your business objectives.
Go slow to go fast.
To bring our best selves forward to complex and high-pressure strategy, we need clear minds and fulsome spirits.
continue reading here
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, Consulting
At the Association of Change Management Professionals’ annual conference last week, I participated on and moderated a panel of four great practitioners titled “Perks and Perils - Optimizing Internal & External Change Management”.
We developed a condensed 10-minute summary that would quickly convey our perspectives on:
- 1. The current trend toward building in-house change management capabilities
- 2. The nature of typical internal change management entities (3 models and 2 break through options)
- 3. The different roles that external practitioners play
- 4. Scenarios for optimizing internals and externals
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, Consulting
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”—Aristotle
A couple of years ago I was working with a great team of consultants (externals) on a major strategic change for a national bank.
It wasn’t going well. Two change management practitioners had tried and failed before me to help the project get traction.
In a team meeting, one of the consultants complained, “It’s like organ rejection: they need us, we can help them, but they keep rejecting us.” continue reading here
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Innovation, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: - Innovation, LinkedIn, Transformation
“Be careful what you ask for cause you just might get it.” Refrain from “When I Grow Up” by The Pussycat Dolls
Many organizations are chasing the “innovation” strategy.
We want all of the benefits, don’t we?
We want the shiny design, the “loyalty” of our clients, the envy of our competitors, and the bountiful revenue.
This is “hot” change. Maybe uncomfortably hot.
What price is the organization willing to pay?
What price are you, the leader, willing to pay? How about you, the employee? continue reading here
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Innovation, - Leadership, - People Change Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: - Innovation, Leadership, LinkedIn, Strategy, Transformation
“I wouldn’t give a fig for simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.”―Oliver Wendell Holmes
What does breakthrough innovation look like?
Let’s start with a common reference point. Say, something boring made stunning.
Something you thought you would never use, like, or buy that you suddenly reconsider.
A friend sent me this great video of modular, multi-purpose furniture. “Yawn,” you say? Look again.
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Leadership, - Organization Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, Leadership, LinkedIn, Planning, Strategy, Transformation
“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.” Albert Einstein
Kids these days have a phrase: “FAIL.” It means something like “epic failure” and describes scenarios often so common or standard that when someone fails it is all the more astounding.
A huge pop culture industry has evolved around those occurrences that are particularly funny. It started with shows like “America’s Funniest Videos” and now “Ridiculousness” takes it to the next level.
Seems to me that someone could make a show around “FAIL” in organizational strategy.
How can we all get out of this fail loop?
This little rant is inspired by an excellent post from Bill Fox called, “Jump, Rinse, Repeat. Why do we keep implementing change like this?”
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Innovation, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management | Tags: - Innovation, Change Management, LinkedIn, Strategy
I love innovation.
I have spent about half my career immersed in new product development, some in the hyper-change environment of start-ups.
I hope you are inspired, moved, by the following quotes and resources to embrace more innovation.
The world is changing around us. We need to innovate to be better―to be relevant, to be competitive, make a difference. continue reading here
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management | Tags: Change Management, Ethics, LinkedIn
“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.” ― John D. MacDonald, The Turquoise Lament
Change Management is a still-young profession struggling to establish legitimacy in the arena of the wild web. The preceding three posts in this series looked at the problems of plagiarism and intellectual property (IP) theft in change management. This post looks at the incentives of operating with integrity and of requiring others to do likewise.
Professional Integrity
What I love about the MacDonald quote above is its raw honesty. There is no guarantee that integrity provides any advantage whatsoever. In fact, it might be a disadvantage. continue reading here
