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Experiencing Change? Bon Voyage

Acceptance, Change Strategies, Employee Involvement, Organizational ChangeComments Off

One of our trips along the East Coast states.

We enjoy traveling as a family and have driven thousands of miles from Michigan through much of the United States and as far as Acapulco, Mexico! While traveling long distances isn’t easy or always pleasant, in the end every journey is an adventure we all enjoy and remember with fondness. Our children have become accustomed to long road trips and look forward to each new adventure. Everyone helps with the planning and preparation. We all accept the fact that we will be driving for a long time in a car with some inconvenience but that the expected outcome offsets the hassles common to long road trips (which are many!).

But for a long journey to be successful and enjoyable, we have to have 1) a good reason to travel, 2) a destination everyone wants to go to, and 3) a good plan to get there.

So, Everybody Embraces Change?

Acceptance, Employee Involvement, Organizational Change, Resistance2 Comments

Once, I was invited to present at a Leadership Development Program hosted by a major university for a large corporation (my topic was organizational change). The host facilitator of this program got the group started in the morning by asking participants to take a few minutes to introduce each other at their table and make a list on a flip chart of the assets they brought to the organization.

I listened with interest and curiosity to each table report out. Without exception, each of the eight groups reported that one of the assets they brought to their organization was being ‘agents of change’ or ’embracing change’ or some form of that. This was interesting because at the time I was working with this organization and the reports were that ‘change’ was something this organization struggled with. I was there, to speak on the topic!

The Soft Stuff is Really the Hard Stuff! Really!!

Change Strategies, Culture Change, Employee Involvement, Organizational Change, Resistance, StakeholderComments Off

This is the second post of the series “5 Reasons Why a Change Management Strategy Matters“

Have you ever tried pushing noodles with chopsticks? I’ve heard organizational change described as just that, pushing noodles with chopsticks…frustrating! Why? Because it’s hard!

To illustrate…I had three separate conversations recently with colleagues who described this phenomenon. In one case, the company wants more collaboration among highly skilled and highly paid professionals who are not used to working like this, and are not welcoming the change. In another case, the board of directors is not seeing what’s crystal clear to the chairman, and therefore, not going in the direction the chairman believes they should go. In yet another case, the business is in need of some clearly needed and logical improvements, but the politics involved have stalled any progress forward. In every case, they are confronting the same ‘soft’ issues. All workable stuff, all soft stuff. All hard to deal with.

At Best Places to Work, Trust, Pride, and Camaraderie Overshadow Pay?

Employee Engagement, Employee InvolvementComments Off

The Great Place to Work Institute just released their list of the 25 Best Multinational Workplaces. And once again, critics and believers are out in full force touting these ‘great news’ or denouncing such ‘corporate propaganda.’

According to the article in the USA Today, “Firms that rank high on the consulting and research group’s lists of great employers have three traits in common, he says: employee trust in management, pride in the company and camaraderie with colleagues.”
“At the best companies, even the lowest-level employees know they are part of the team,” Tolovi says. “They know that they have a common goal.”

‘People Resist Change’ …Really? Maybe Not

Acceptance, Change Strategies, Employee Involvement, ResistanceComments Off

That people naturally resist change is a common held view and one we hear all the time!

But one that does not explain why people adopt new technology faster than never before. Just think about all the madness around the iPhone 5, which was much ado about nothing after all! Still, according to technology news outlets, about half of ALL cell phone users are planning to upgrade to the new iPhone 5 (when it finally comes out). Die hards of all types of technology campout outside stores before opening day to be the first to get the coveted new toy! OK, so, that’s not everyone. But does that look like people resist change? No, I don’t think so.

The Role of the Six Sigma Black Belt Part II: The Expert

Change Strategies, Employee Involvement, Leadership, Lean Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, Organizational Change, Resistance, Teams1 Comment

This is part of the series The Role of the Six Sigma Black Belt. The concepts and ideas presented also apply to other improvement professionals and leaders implementing improvements in an organization.

The Expert Role

Companies that are serious about their Six Sigma initiative spend significant resources in training and certifying BBs (typically a two-year process). Thus, Black Belts become tool experts in using the technical tools of the Six Sigma methodologies (DMAIC or DFSS). They might also be subject matter experts (SME) if they are assigned projects within their own functional group. Finally, they may also be process experts as they are often selected because of their background as engineers, manufacturing professionals, or some other process focused discipline.

The Role of the Six Sigma Black Belt

Culture Change, Employee Involvement, Lean Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, Organizational ChangeComments Off

The title of this series refers to the Six Sigma Black Belt, but the concepts and ideas expressed here apply equally to any improvement professional and leader trying to implement improvements in an organization.

Part I: The Question

Early in my career I had the chance to become trained and certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt (a trained practitioner of process and quantitative tools to improve process performance by practically eliminating errors and variation in a process). The company had fully embraced Six Sigma and selected a number of individuals to participate in a two-year rotation program to become certified Black Belts.

Black Belts were a “selected” group of experts “deployed” to save the company (ok, that’s a bit dramatic). Needless to say, the whole movement was not without controversy and though the company did achieve good success there were lessons to be learned. 

Confidence over successful organizational change falling

Culture Change, Employee Engagement, Employee Involvement, Organizational Change2 Comments

Based on a survey of 1,100 business leaders, the Regus/JBA study shows that 83% are expecting change but only 61% feel confident it will be successful based on past performance. This leaves a “change gap” of 22%, the report states. Read more… http://www.management-issues.com/2009/8/14/research/confidence-over-successful-organizational-change-falling.asp

My take…3 keys to increasing confidence in change:

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