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, - 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, - Professional Development, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, LinkedIn, Planning, Professional Development, Projects, Strategy, Transformation
Having established, in Post 1 of this series, that strategy is “just another good idea” until it is implemented and churning out results, and that there is no single turn-key methodology for executing strategy, we then turned our attention first to the “go to” methodology: project management. In Post 2, we recognized that there are two dominant project management methodologies: The Project Management Institute’s (PMI’s) approach and PRINCE2―and we explored PMI’s approach.
Now, I am no expert in PRINCE2, so I found one to share insights with us. Even better, Richard Batchelor is an international change management consultant, trained project manager (certified in PRINCE2) and certified human resources professional. He has the street cred of many successful change implementations under his belt. Rich has kindly agreed to write an insider’s overview of PRINCE2 for us.
Filed under: - Change Execution, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, LinkedIn, Planning, Professional Development, Projects, Strategy, Transformation
Strategies identify “what” needs to change. Project management provides a structure for “how.” Some go so far as to say that “projects are the vehicles of change.” This post is a continuation in the “Strategy Execution Methodologies” series.
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Leadership, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, Leadership, LinkedIn, Strategy
Most organisations have developed internal processes and capabilities for executing strategy. HOWEVER, few of these are built for the transformational strategies that organizations face today. What’s missing?
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Leadership, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, Leadership, LinkedIn, Management Consulting, Organization Design, Planning, Projects, Readiness, Strategy, Transformation
Seems like many organizations are looking for the secret to effective strategic execution―the one thing that will fix the so-called 70% failure rate. The problem is (and we all know it deep down), there are no simple solutions for complex problems. In this series, I will look at the conventional “silver bullets” and explore why none work alone and each is only moderately effective in its common form.
“Change leadership” is a favorite clarion call among change practitioners. And, don’t get me wrong, I too believe that “it” (once we can agree on what “it” is) is important. However, I believe that by promoting change leadership as a panacea we are setting ourselves up for failure. I realize that this is a bit of a controversial position to take―I may be asking you to think differently about what you know. I will look at three points:
- “Change leadership” is not “leadership”
- Why is sponsorship regularly rated as the most important element for successful change if it’s not a silver bullet?
- The punch line
Note: the context for this discussion is “strategic” change or “transformational” change. Our firm’s definition: “Transformational change is highly disruptive to the way people do their work. It generally affects a large portion of an organization, shifts the power dynamic, and requires changes in mindset and behaviors to be realized.” (1) This is very different than the more common incremental change.
Filed under: - Change Execution, - CM Resources, - Innovation, - Leadership, - Marketing, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: - Innovation, Change Management, LinkedIn, Planning, Professional Development, Projects, Strategy
Updated March 2013. Additions in red.
We all have a “library” of resources we’ve read that have shaped our thinking and practice.
These are the books I reference regularly.
My top four are in bold. (I couldn’t narrow it down to three.)
If you don’t see your favorites please share them in the comments section.
What’s on your bookshelf?
More resources in the Related Posts below.
Leadership:
- “How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules for Getting and Keeping the Best Employees,” Jeffery J. Fox, Hyperion, New York, 2002
- “Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment,” George Leonard, Penguin Books USA, Inc. New York, 1992
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, LinkedIn, Projects, ROI, Transformation
Few organizations have figured out how to do strategy execution well. One of the enigmas of implementation continues to be the gap between project management and change management. This post is a review of a new book that tackles this very challenge. The Next Evolution—Enhancing and Unifying Project and Change Management: The Emergence One Method for Total Project Success is by Thomas Jarocki (Brown & Williams Publishing LLC, NJ, USA, 2011).
Filed under: - Change Execution, - Leadership, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives, - Strategy Execution | Tags: Change Management, Culture, LinkedIn, Planning, ROI, Transformation
Okay, this is an experiment at crowdsourcing solutions … here’s the dilemma:
- we all know that culture is a “challenge” for our current change initiative, Program or Project (let’s be clear this is a euphemism!)
- BUT addressing culture was never raised in the business case or in the initial Program scoping
- quite possibly whoever brings it up now takes a big career risk
- What do we do – do we talk about the elephant in the room or sweep it under the rug?
Please share your thoughts by commenting. I will summarize and share mine back in a couple of days here or on a related post – don’t want to miss it … you can subscribe by email at the top left.
What do you think?
Filed under: - Innovation, - Organization Change Management, - People Change Management, - Project Management, - Strategy and Imperatives | Tags: Change Management, Culture, LinkedIn, Transformation
I am almost done reading “Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture” by Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn (renowned thought leaders in this space). This book directly addresses culture in the context of Strategic Change. It offers very tactical and pragmatic approach, framework and tools.
I have come to believe that true Transformational change (of the ilk organizations must face to re-position for the next 10 years) requires attention to organizational culture – it is ignored at the peril of Project ROI and Strategy sustainability. We must not be intimidated by the risk rather we must take courage from the imperative.
Having said that few practitioners (leaders or consultants) have the breadth of knowledge and experience to bring to bear – hence our further research … and alliance with Conner Partners (www.connerpartners.com).
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