Change Management News

Often my work in change management takes me to companies that want to use a lean manufacturing or sometimes Lean/Six Sigma. I claim no expertese in that discipline. I get called in to help them work with the human aspect of those types of changes. Why would people resist something as sensible as lean or Lean/Six Sigma? And what does it take to build support?
I am always looking for ways to increase my knowledge of the specifics of changes like these, even though I will never put myself in a position of advising people on the technical aspects of lean.

Gabriela Drescher who is an expert lean manufacturing. If you are interested in learning more about this subject, I suggest that you visit her website: ImplementLeanManufacutring

She provides clear (plain English) definitions and descriptions. I think her site offers a good orientation to lean.

If you are a consultant, you oughta read this piece from The Independent (London)
Gary McKeone: The creepy cult of management consultancy This guy is funny and cynical — and has a lot to say about how some people see our work. I think his words are worth remembering.

I was visiting a forum on the lean.org site and responded to someone who asked, how he can get upper management to support lean. (Makes no difference if its lean or any other idea — getting upper management to listen seriously can be a challenge. Here is my response to him.

Here’s how I look at influence (and you’ll see how the ideas of others fit into some of these categories: Read the rest of this entry »

(This is my response to a Human Resources blog that was promoting training as major support in change management.)
I agree that organizations need to be savvy about change management. But, change management training is a bad investment of money and time.

1. Training is a poor substitute for leadership. When training is used as the primary way of engaging people in change, you put the new initiative at risk. Training supports leadership, not the reverse. Without leadership people learn skills but lack a focus to apply them. Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting post on Maximum Customer Experience Blog using the example of the challenge of getting a child to take out the trash has lessons for those who try to influence others at work.

My friend, Rich Harwood wrote a blog post yesterday titled The $100,000 Flop. He talks about his fantasy of going into a community and openly discussing a big failure. Showing people that its possible to discuss flops and learn from them. I like the way he thinks.

Thanks to Dr. Richard Borough’s blog for this:
Researchers have found that storytelling is far more convincing to an audience than rational arguments, statistics, or facts. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a managerial recruiting service in the UK, one in five assignments were focused on change management. ONREC.COM

I am amazed that companies are deciding that change can be led by outsiders. People’s relationship to the ones leading the change is a critical factor in the success of many changes. Hiring from the outside suggests that this person can build trust in his/her thinking, commitment, fairness, etc. instantly. I think they are badly mistaken. what have you seen out there? Do you agree with my assessment or not?

Cost cutting by downsizing is a risky strategy. Even a small reduction in force “can unleash an exodus of valuable employees.” Here’s the really scary part. Companies that laid off half of one percent found that turnover rate was 13 percent. (Turnover in companies that didn’t downsize was 10.4 percent.)

The Academy of Management Journal report cited in Business Week. 4/21/08.

“Rapid prototyping helps people to experience a possible future in tangible ways. These include rough physical prototypes of products or environments, or enactments of processes and service experiences, as well as the internal infrastructure and business plans that will be required to deliver them. It allows a very low-risk way of quickly exploring multiple directions before committing resources to the best one. Read the rest of this entry »

The blog, Mcontainer talks about the change management challenges in software development. The author suggests that we need to consider Enterprise 2.0 (just as the web now embraces Web 2.0 as a way to highlight the importance of conversation and community on the Internet.) The post ends with an inspired line: The risk is to close the Zoo and re-open the Museum.

Interesting post about mandatory safety helmets for professional baseball coaches in  Lean Blog. Coaches are complaining about this new rules even though one of their colleagues was killed last year and there have been many near misses over the years. The top complaint (according to this blog post) “Nobody talked to us.”

Why do we keep failing to talk to the people who we want to influence us? It still makes me shake my head.

You’d think that promoting safety in a plant would be an easy sell. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. I just came across the Chemical and Safety Hazard Investigation Board (CSV). They have prepared a series of safety videos. One that they recently posted covers the tragedy at the BP plant near Houston where 15 were killed and 180 were injured. The video shows what happened — and without moralizing or turning it into a typical training video you can see many places where different actions could have saved lives.  It is quite sobering.  Read the rest of this entry »

I came across a fine and thoughtful post managing anxiety in the face of change. Although it was written about newsrooms, the wisdom applies in any big organization. I urge you to take a look. Managing Anxiety

And be sure to read his post on “Newsroom Culture and Change.” Read the rest of this entry »