OD is a critical tool for change in any organisation

OD (Organisation Development) & Change Strategies

 

OD focuses upon working improving that which composes the culture of the business to generate the desired results.  We use gap analysis to aid the process, which means calibrating the current culture: reviewing against the desired future state and then creating a plan to transition that gap.

 

OD Consulting can address a number of organisational problems  both strategic and tactical in nature. Noted below are core issues which may appeal to senior staff who are keen to resolve current problems. These range from organisational re-design to team building, from creating a joint venture that works, to post acquisition strategy.

 

 

 

 

	OD is about creating strategic improvements

OD Consulting - what is it?

 

Here is a short article that focuses precisely on the OD movement.  You'll find the charactersitics of a succeeful change inititaive as well as references to instances when leveraging change can be achived by focusing on cultural and behavioural components.

 

Od is critically diffierent from most change tools and therein lies its strengths to talior solutiosn to unusual problems faced by businesses in unque circumstances.

 

OD Consulting: What is It?  More››

 

 

 

 

	Precision is essential to create the right leverage for change

GE and its contribution to OD and developing a Methodology for Change

 

We can learn a great deal about the art and science of driving change from GE.  General Electric is one of the largest and most successful conglomerates in the World and has always been committed to developing models for implementing improvement in its businesses.   

 

Jack Welch, recently retired, was CEO of GE for almost twenty years.  He took over as CEO in the 80’s and inherited a large business that he considered was slow to change. 

 

GE & WorkOut 

 

Amongst other things he committed to ‘structure the business for change’ and in the late 80’s introduced a change management tool later entitled ‘Work-Out’. 

 

‘Work-Out’ was a concept that would infiltrate the whole business - from GE Aero Engines, to Plastics and Financial Services.  Work-Out, as a concept of continuous improvement, transcended the whole business of more than 300,000 people and brought about a major cultural shift. 

 

Work-Out created a common language for organizational improvement and was a forerunner of the highly successful methodology – the CAP (Change Acceleration Process).

 

GE Change Acceleration Process (CAP)

 

The seven stage CAP broadly followed the action research model implicit within OD.  GE was probably one of the first businesses to develop a model for change which focused not just on introducing and managing technological change but also equally geared to dealing with cultural change.

 

In the eraly days i was trained in Paris in the CAP methodology and although there were many tools and techniques which were subsumed under the CAP process people like Bennis and Beckhard and other OD Guru's had pioneered the approach many years earlier.

 

CAP is a very useful methodology and a discipline for others to follow.  For further details see my simplified version of the GE CAP tool under Rapid Improvement Strategy.

 

Rapid Improvement is five stage process that captures all the change management issues that anyone would want to address.  With the Rapid Model we avoid the bureaucracy often associated with the CAP model which dictates certain actions which could be easily sidelined as inappropraite for the project under scrutiny.

 

Anyway, assess the Rapid Improvement Model and consider how this could be used by your organisational to ease change and close the loop on those projects that seem to take for ever to be implemented.

 

 

	Technical and Cultural change have to be integrated

Change is a Systemic Process 

 

As we introduce change in a 'cultural and behavioral' system or organization we cannot account for all the activities that arise from one particular action.  Therefore we need to seek continual feedback from our actions and adapt as we see necessary. 

 

This reflects activity in the real world and the metaphor I use to illustrate its credibility is the Airplane analogy.  It is worth noting that all planes are only "on course" for a few minutes of their total flight - no matter how long the journey – which is during take-off and landing.  The rest of the time feedback from instruments helps the Pilot or ‘on board self correcting systems’ making minor changes to the flight trajectory. 

 

Paying attention to Feedback is what makes change work

 

Paying attention to feedback is the key issue in implementing Change.  Without feedback, we do not know if we are ‘on course or lost.’  A failure to understand and access relevant feedback means we have no means of knowing whether we are ‘nearer to or further away’ from our goal. 

 

Although feedback is critical in letting us fine-tune our trajectory for change, little resource and energy is devoted to capturing data that indicates the extent to which we have made specific and tangible progress. 

 

For instance, we can launch a drive for change and run a series of public presentations outlining the purpose of the program and yet fail to assess the response to it.  Many still have difficulty evaluating the effectiveness of even the most basic Training course or Workshops.  

 

Imagine if you had the attitude of curiosity, and the tools to measure progress during every stage of the change or project for which you acted as Client or Consultant,  what effect could this have on overall progress?

 

What to Measure – Culture & Results

 

The average organization continues to fail to create the relevant metrics to use feedback constructively.   There is a failure to be able to document what it is that causes results to be achieved. 

 

What is the impact of Culture on Business Performance

 

We fail to understand precisely what elements of the culture we can manipulate to create specific a desired goal.  We have not traced a sequence of cause-effect relationships between our ‘cultural and behavioral inputs’ and our ‘business outputs’. 

 

The real secret is developing a scorecard approach between the vision we have for the business and the indices, or performance measures, which tell us whether we are on course or not.  It is possible to highlight specific ‘behavioral’ practices and actions that will yield specific results.  Too few practitioners understand how to build that process into their organizations.

 

Do Consultants understand Culture & Behaviour Change?

 

This is a major competency gap for some Consultants.  They need to understand not only qualitative, but, more importantly, qualitative means of measuring culture and behavior change.  They need to be able to focus upon the critical incidents that indicate whether a change has been accepted or not or whether a new process is working.  The real secret is to develop the behavioral tools to elicit the feedback that tells us are we making progress?

 

This continual quest for the interpretation of feedback is extremely powerful in assessing potential problems and error prevention and is an important credo for anyone engaged in bringing about large scale organizational change.

 

 

My Model of Rapid Improvement

 

Change is a Political & Behavioural Process

 

In order to understand the process of change, we have to consider change as a sequence of events and, at the same time flows of energies and activities.  We have to be particularly adept at ensuring that change is composed of a technical element and a cultural component.  The technical element, a new system or structure or process that is to be installed is taken for granted.  How people respond to the technical change is what we need to give special attention.  This is where most change management methodology falls down.  The five stage approach is outlined and integrates technology with culture, processes, people and politics.

 

Stage 1: Driving the Process

 

Change often fails because it is not led with passion and conviction.  Sometimes change is not led at all!

 

Often, people do not commit to change because they fail to see a firm commitment from those in Leadership positions or key players to the change.

 

Without Leadership there is no Change 

 

Because the major players in the business fail to consciously display positive enthusiasm to the change, those who witness this behavior will tend to adopt a “fence sitting” mentality. 

 

For these reasons I firmly believe that "Without leadership there is no change”.  I am of the opinion that those who sponsor a project or ‘change’ need to be displaying behaviors indicative of their full emotional support for that change.

 

Partnership in Enthusiasm for Change  

 

The 'Client' really needs to exude enthusiasm for the project.  If the Client cannot get excited by the project why should anyone else?  This has to be matched by the internal Consultant, who also must express the same energy, commitment and motivation for working with the Client. This should be widely acknowledged whenever the project is discussed, especially in public.

 

Emotional Engagement

 

Summoning up a high degree of ‘emotional energy' to support a project is something that the Client and Consultant need to work on jointly.  This does not mean being committed to printing special ‘T shirts' and 'Coffee Mugs' emblazoned with the latest fad or flavour of the month. 

 

Communication is what is Received not what is sent

 

It is giving careful consideration to the internal strategy of communication that will precede the change itself.  Change effectiveness can be increased by a huge percentage if the message of the change is clearly well established in the people’s minds of before they formally receive any formal training or development. 

 

There should be no confusion in their mind as to the actual need and rationale for the change itself.

 

During this phase, the Client and Consultant should realize that any plan they develop must not be written in stone.  Systemic change would indicate having a degree of flexibility to adapt to changes as they occur. 

 

This does not mean that things will go wrong.  It could mean a positive improvement, something occurring faster than anticipated resulting in a milestone being achieved sooner than first assumed. 

 

Flexibility is what makes change implementation work.  We need this degree of adaptability to incorporate the ‘feedback’ discussed in the previous pages.

 

Does being spontaneous and flexible mean the absence of a plan for implementation?  Of course not, we do need a plan indicating the key actions and milestones against deliverables.  One great way to plan, taking into account possible adaptations is to 'start with the end in mind'. 

 

Implementation Plans: Global & Local

 

Needless to say, the plan should include fairly detailed as it relates to the scope of the change as well as working out in advance the likely barriers to your proposed changes. 

 

Stakeholder or Constituents Analysis

 

Focusing upon potential barriers energizes the mind to consider the preventative action you will need to take to anticipate and overcome any resistance.

 

At this stage, it is important to work out using 'Constituents Analysis' a technique to assess the core interests of the key constituents or stakeholders that will impinge on the ‘change’ itself. 

 

By looking at the perspective of others key to the change, one can develop a plan to minimize conflict between all parties to the process.

 

It is important at this stage to list the ‘desired outcome’ for the project from the perspective of all constituents.  By detailing the consequences of the ‘change’, people can understand the rationale behind why the company is committing resources to such an initiative. 

 

Prevention Cultures & Risk Assesssment Guide Action

 

This warns people of what is to come and, more importantly, sets the outcomes clearly in their mind.   Clarifying the expected outcomes can be central to winning a high degree of commitment to change, and help define the parameters of the project of ‘what it will do’ and ‘what it will not do’. 

 

Stage 2: Creating a Desire for Change

 

I am constantly amazed by the number of times companies have launched an initiative and have failed to communicate their intentions to their workforce.   This practice is a major reason why change fails. 

 

Sell the Benefits – Sell the Sizzle not the Sausage

 

Before launching Quality Improvement, Customer Focus or a Cost Reduction exercise, organizations should think through the benefits of informing people in advance of any roll-out.  People should not be summoned to training Workshops or a corporate launch and roll out of a new initiative without understanding why the change in operations is necessary, the tangible benefits that will accrue to the organization when the change is implemented, and understand the role and the responsibility they will adopt in supporting the initiative.

 

Beware - the Cynic’s Views on Change 

 

Does this remind you of your business?  A cynic would say what that happens in practice is, “Several people get enthusiastic about a project.  They know intuitively it is the right thing to do.  They fail to clearly map out all the benefits of a course of action.  Then, because of their own impatience, and failure to bring everyone on board, they launch their ideas and the project far too early.” 

 

What happens?  The project fails.  Their initial enthusiasm was not enough.  They blame others for lacking foresight and vision.  They blame others for resisting change.  They do not give those the opportunity to clearly think through the corporate and personal implications of the change. 

 

They say, “There was no direction, no plan - no roadmap or means of measuring progress.   They failed to lead by example, and too much thinking was still in their heads.  They had not tested for understanding nor did they win the support of others.  They failed to create a positive vision for the change.  They reinforced everyone’s belief who said the ‘project would never work’ and probably wasted a lot of resources.”

 

Does this remind you of anyone in your business?

 

The Role of Change Leadership

 

The role of Change Leadership is to inspire people to willingly commit their own time to organizational improvement.  People need to be aware that the change is in the best interests of the company.

 

When you are devising any communications strategy, a good start used by any sales professional, is to assess likely objections to your communication in advance of its delivery. 

 

Compile a list of objections to the changes you are trying to implement and then develop a counter argument for each of these.  Turn these into positive benefits that will evolve from commitment to the program.  That is the process of creating an effective communications strategy.

 

Preparing to Deal with Objections to the Change

 

A major element in this stage is focusing upon the benefits of the change, rather than merely the features.  Those who have designed the change program can get so excited by it that they focus more upon communicating the 'features' rather than the 'benefits'.

 

The features by themselves are not particularly compelling.  They include core activities such as launch dates, the timing and content of any training Workshops, the role of various players and the sequence of events categorizing the drive - the metrics of how changed will be measured. 

 

Instead, they should sell 'the benefits' that the business is about to gain and how things will be better in the future.  Remember to charge the benefits with positive feelings of emotional intensity.  “What will you feel after the changes have been implemented?”  “How will it change your world?” 

 

Selling Change Magically

 

What change agents and their Clients need to remember is that all they are doing is publicizing a program and it is fundamentally a major selling exercise! 

 

People will only accept the change as legitimate if its rationale, and resulting benefits, are clearly explained.  We can learn much from sales people.  Effective sales people work focus upon likely objections that buyers will have to a proposal and counter these in their presentations.  '

 

Objection handling' is a very powerful process for selling a new initiative.  Work out in advance likely key objections and develop credible responses that are founded in reality. Then deliver these with enthusiasm and gusto.

 

Without interest being stimulated in why change is about to happen, there will be little curiosity or interest in that change displayed by key players in the business. 

 

Communication is the key.  There are few companies that over communicate and truly get their messages across.  Some devote great amounts of managerial time to talking at length – but the quality of communication must be measured by what people receive not what is sent. 

 

Creating Curiosity for the Change

 

Stimulating a deep curiosity for the change, and selling the benefits, are key issues needing to be promoted at every opportunity.  The 'communication' should create a compelling vision of what is to become and motivate people towards that future. 

 

Shaping a vision that people can work towards is a core activity, and is not just the responsibility of the senior team. It is only through the interaction of all those involved in a structured process that specific visions can be defined.

 

Stage 3: Aligning Constituencies

 

Time should be devoted to ensuring that everybody involved in or affected by the change is aware of who does what, when, where and how.  This requires a plan for action with specific measures and timeframes with milestones. 

 

By examining how stakeholders and constituencies interact, it is possible to smooth the transition and prepare for objections in advance, which leads to the detail in the next stage. 

 

Here it is important to work out the specific motivations and degrees of cooperation between various constituents or stakeholders.  It is important to work through the core constituents which would include, your staff, staff representative groups, customers and user groups, suppliers, pressure groups, regulatory bodies and the media.

 

A 'communications strategy should be in place and regularly supported and updated to appeal to the interest of each of these groups.  A blanket communication strategy and message does not work.  Each interest group or constituent will have different needs and priorities and require specialist input on occasion. 

 

Orchestrating and aligning these constituencies is critical in order to make the change work.  At this stage, we mobilize all resources to make sure that the vision each stakeholder or constituent will formulate is consistent with the visions of others. 

 

This is a massive communications exercise often not practiced by those of the ‘rational-technical’ school of change management.  Here, we are focusing attention on the vision of what the business is to become and should make special cognizance of the style or mindset and behaviors that are reflected in that vision.

 

Remember Change is a Political Process

 

Aligning commitment means we have to gain sufficient support from all those who are core actors, constituents or stakeholders affected by the change. 

 

Not everyone will be on your side all the time.  We have to establish a critical mass of support and at the same time treat each of the constituents as individual groups with special and specific interests and needs. 

 

We have to address these differing needs at the same time as ensuring the core message is not diluted or the direction misaligned.  

 

What we are attempting to do is to win support to our overall vision and goals.  At the same time, we are also seeking out any possible resistance and, finally, making every effort to persuade, cajole and negotiate when and where required to educate and inform. 

 

At every stage in the Rapid Improvement process we have to emotionally engage the interest and motivations of others and this can only be achieved when we recognize we are operating possibly in a highly charged political arena with constituents with different goals and objectives.

 

Stage 4: Shaping an Implementation Plan

 

Change has, all to often been introduced into business without being project managed.  There is frequently an over reliance on the training Workshops or the application of tools, rather than relating to the overall implementation and installation of the project. 

 

People need to know where they and their team fit into the process.  They need to know the leverage points for change and how one factor causes another to work – and they need to know just as much about the benefits of the change as the features of what is to happen. 

 

Change should be a ‘strategic process’ that is managed from the top, but all to often the management of change is down to mysticism and accident rather than design. 

 

We need to create and practice a solid methodology so people can see where they are going – understand the disadvantages of staying the same way – comprehension the direction the business is pursuing, and have a clear understanding of when the future desired state can be achieved.

 

This stage is when all the major drives for improvement are activated.  It is often the time when Training Workshops are initiated, major launches are held to promote particular activity, problem-solving groups are trained and the drive for continuous improvement starts. 

 

Relentless rather than Continuous Improvement

 

I use the word 'relentless' often because this is a characteristic of this stage.  We are beginning a journey.  We have planned sufficiently. 

 

We have led the project.  We have developed a credible and persuasive communication strategy and cascaded to all constituents. 

 

We have identified where resistance may reside and taken action to win those doubters over to our way of thinking.  Only when we have completed these vital actions in Stage 1-3 can we really focus upon this period of learning, education, development etc. 

 

In too many instances, companies fail to commit to the first three stages and just launch themselves headlong into training.  The result is predictable. 

 

There is some heightening of activity and interest in a new initiative but because it has not been well planned, it will become 'flavour of the month' - yet another change initiative that failed, another fad that did not work!

 

Stage 5: Sustaining Change & Relentless Improvement

 

The proposition is that most change initiatives don't work or they do not achieve the synergies for which they were originally created.  The reason is we fail to plan for change with an attention to detail especially within the wider 'political-behavioral' perspective.  Change is not a 'rational-technical' process.

 

Experience shows that for change to work, it needs to be sustained and supported by key people in the business.  It is not enough to run or launch an event and believe it will cascade along without further stimulus. 

 

Effective change needs to be fueled by enthusiastic people, feeding back success stories of how the change has benefited the organization.

 

Change is not a single inoculation to the system.  It should be a transfusion of positive energy injecting new life-blood at the right time into those areas of the business that need rapid revitalization. 

 

We must also remember that as we are feeding one particular initiative, other projects may also be competing for attention and scarce resources, taking the attention of people away from your project. 

 

Sustaining a drive will determine the effectiveness of the initiative, and will tell us how well we managed to institutionalize the change into the organization to become “business as usual”.