What's Missing in Organizational Change Theory and/or Practice?

This question was recently posted on the Organizational Change Practitioners discussion board on LinkedIn. Here is my reply:

"To me, the missing piece is 'completing the change' by effectively 'completing the transition' from the old state to the new state. In my opinion, most of the focus is on 'making the change happen', and once that's done little attention is placed on the transition (pain, feelings of loss, emotional support, fear, etc,) to ensure long term success of the change. This is frequently the case with IT-enabled change!

Not completing the transition usually results in significant/long-term dips in post change productivity, poor morale and can undermine the entire change effort. In many cases the cultural changes never happen as a result of this short-sightedness.

So, more attention needs to be placed on change transition vs. change management... William Bridges authored Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change almost 20 years ago. It's a great book, but often ignored. This finishing touch to the change process needs to become a key, recognized component of the practice of change management."

Cheers and warm regards,

Jim

Here are Two Excellent Change Management YouTube Videos

I highly recommend the following YouTube change management videos - great messages!

• Cisco - Change Management Training Video - this is an excellent video for showing change impacts and how individuals successfully adjust. Perfect for Change Champions and Sponsors to view early in the planning process. Great for targets of a change to view to see a successful outcome. http://bit.ly/PpUeA
• Luc Galoppin - What is Organizational Change Management? This is an excellent overview of the major components of a change management project. The perfect elevator speech! http://bit.ly/bUMtSq

Enjoy!

Why Use the Term "Change Management"?

I have balked at using the expression "change management" for many years. It just didn't seem right. How can you really manage change? You lead it. You facilitate it. You embrace it. You pray for it. You avoid it. You dutifully accept it. You really can't manage it… right? So, after considerable thought, I decided to post the following provocative question on my favorite LinkedIn change management discussion boards:

"What is the best term is to replace "change management"? Many practitioners agree that this is a poor choice of words to describe the process. What is your vote? Why?"

Brave post, eh?

There were over 300 responses to this question. Here is a sampling of some of the proposed replacement terms:

• Change Preparedness
• Leading Change
• Change Enablement
• Building Capability and Capacity
• People and Organizational Transitions
• Business Transition Management
• Business Change Management
• Business Operations Enablement
• It's really just Leadership, isn't it?
• Organizational Change Management
• Managing Transitions
• Organizational Development
• Visioneering
• Organizational Transformation
• Organizational Effectiveness
• Organizational Behavioral Change
• Business Readiness
• Transformation Management
• Managing Change
• Nexting
• Facilitating "organizational lifestyle" change
• Business Transformation Enablement Program
• Resistance Management
• How about "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down", or maybe Transition Management?
• Metamorphosis Management
• Making Things Happen
• Change Facilitation
• Human Transition Acceptance Management
• Change Acceptance
• Sustainable Change Implementation
• Next Level
• Transformation Process Management
• And the list goes on… many more…

There were also many postings by those who supported keeping "change management" as the cornerstone phrase:

• "It's the most commonly and universally accepted term."
• "Why change it - what purpose will it serve?"
• "Changing it will only cause more confusion!"
• "If it isn't broken, don't fix it!"

After evaluating the diverse (and often confusing) alternatives, I have decided to change my long-standing dislike for the term "change management". That's right… I'm changing! I am now using change management to describe my change consulting offerings.

As one of the respondents stated: "Change Management, like Rock 'n' Roll, is here to stay!"

Why fight it? Just do it well!

Cheers and warm regards,
Jim Markowsky

To learn more about X-Factor Solutions, visit our web site at http://www.x-factor-solutions.com/.

What process is at the leading edge of learning organizations?

Open Space Technology, developed by Harrison Owen, provides a framework of time and space for people to self-organize their own process and work on issues they feel passionate about, and for which they will take responsibility. People really enjoy participating in an event where their opinions matter, and where everyone's responsible for raising issues they find important. Open Space enables groups of any size to come together to:

• Solve complex problems and burning issues
• Launch organizational change initiatives
• Respond to challenging and changing customer needs
• Adjust to dynamic market and economic conditions
• Become better at what they do
• Explore possibilities
• Design or redesign business processes

Open Space Events:

There are generally three time structures for Open Space events:
1-day – results in a dynamic idea exchange and summary
2-days – results in a dynamic idea exchange, summary of ideas and specific recommendations
3-days – results in a dynamic idea exchange, summary of ideas, specific recommendations and the prioritization of action plans

How Open Space Events Work:

Most Open Space events are predefined by a Single Question that will be discussed during a 1 to 3-day meeting. The question has to be selected and crafted carefully by the management team, and supported by the Open Space facilitator. It should address a burning or conflicting issue that will ensure diversity of opinions and passionate engagement of the participants. Participants then create Focus Topics to discuss the Single Question and they are placed on a Topic Wall and scheduled for discussion. Participants can then attend any of the discussions they would like to participate in, and they can come and go as they wish.

One Law and Four Basic Principles:

Open Space utilizes a very simplistic self-organizing process that allows an organization to move quickly and involve a diverse group of players from any level or function of the organization. It does this by using One Law and Four Basic Principles:

One Law:
The "Law of Two Feet" is about one foot of passion and one foot of responsibility. If a participant is not contributing or enjoying a Focus Topic discussion where they’re at, they move on to another group where they will have the passion to participate.

Four Basic Principles:
1. Whoever comes are the right people. Only those who are present can contribute. Although the invitation list might limit the number of participants, an Open Space conference is open for anyone invited that is interested in the subject.

2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. All we have to deal with is what is.

3. Whenever it starts is the right time. Follow the energy flow… when it starts it starts… just go with it. Things get started when the creative energy starts to flow.

4. When it’s over, it’s over. Although time and place are predefined in an Open Space event, clocks play a very minor role in setting the pace. The participants decide how much time is needed to work on a subject – ten minutes, thirty minutes, two hours, one day – or not at all.

In Summary:

Although Open Space Technology was developed over 20 years ago, it is still a leading edge technology for engaging employees and bringing about self-organized and innovative results in a very compressed timeframe. For more information or development and facilitation of an Open Space workshop, contact Jim Markowsky at 740.804.1354 or jcm@x-factor-solutions.com.

Breaking News - X-Factor Solutions Discovered on Mars. Now on YouTube!

Click below for details:

YouTube, Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm20OJjl5lE
YouTube, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep1nx8YdTGw
YouTube, Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAqI8CcAR64
I used Xtranormal ( http://www.xtranormal.com/ ) to create the videos. It's free and you can upload your videos to YouTube with the click of a button.

These videos only took 1/2 hr. each to create. What a fun way to get a message across!

To learn more about X-Factor Solutions, visit our web site at http://www.x-factor-solutions.com.

Enjoy!
Jim

Survey Results: What is the single most important trait of a successful Organizational Change Consultant in todays economy? Please only list one!

Survey conducted by Jim Markowsky, X-Factor Solutions (www.x-factor-solutions.com/). Participants were members of the Organizational Change Practioners group on LinkedIn - a group of over 5,000 global OCM professionals (there were 70+ responses). Frequency shown in brackets:

1. (4) Agility – intellectual fleetness of foot; adapt on the fly; fluidity; adapt to internal and external environment; be as good at Plans B, C, D, E as Plan A.
2. (4) Listening – generative listening; discovery by listening and collaborative thinking; without it you cannot start the change journey; the client will tell you.
3. (3) Confidence – positive body language, building it with client; attitude and behavior.
4. (3) Facilitating – generative thinking with client to see possibilities; of collaborative learning process.
5. (2) Questioning – requiring client to see themselves as they are and as they want to be; asking the right payoff questions.
6. (2) Results – we are paid to produce; what the client is paying for.
7. (2) Systems Approach – wear systems glasses.
8. (2) Truthfulness – integrity; bring up the difficult issues
9. (1) All of the following:
10. Awareness
11. Billable
12. Chaos – comfort
13. Clarity – of focus
14. Communication – two way and ongoing
15. Conceptual and global thinking Dialogue – around tough and delicate issues
16. Directionally correct
17. Expectations - clarifying
18. Experience
19. Extraction – of salient points from client… reading between the lines
20. Faith
21. Flexibility
22. Gap analysis – utilization to implement needed changes
23. Influencing
24. Innovative solution – getting out of the safe zone
25. Integrity
26. Intentional – 100%, while radiating agility
27. Journey – preparation and setting expectations with client
28. Live and Practice Change – day in and day outObservation – includes active listening
29. Opportunistic – there are opportunities durin this downturn
30. Outcome – develop clear and concise with client
31. Patience
32. Perception
33. Persistence
34. Realism
35. Reflexivity - reflect and help client make sense of change
36. Saavy – navigation of the organization to get things implemented
37. Seeing – really seeing and not force-fitting
38. Sense-making – in complex situations
39. Synthesis – process and activity
40. Teamwork – collaboration
41. Tenacity – in the real value of the end state
42. Vision – ability to hold
43. Wisdom – to see the truth

A Guide to Leading a Self-Organizing Change Process

I have facilitated 6-7 self-organizing change initiatives - mainly in medium-sized organizations, or groups within very large organizations ($25 - 250M). These projects have been highly successful. Here are the steps that I used:
1. Get strong support (license) from a key leader (COO, CEO, VP... ).
2. Pull together a cross-functional team of volunteers that want to make a difference.
3. Perform a current state assessment with this team.
4. Create a vision with this team.
5. Perform a gap analysis with this team.
6. Agree on key action steps to achieve the desired state with this team.
7. Launch time-bound projects for each key action step, with a person responsible to achieve the desired result.
8. Celebrate milestone (action step) successes.
9. Stay the course - have a senior executive sponsoring the overall program (supporting, not managing).
10. Ensure a senior executive is giving recognition, providing encouragement and communicating successes.

This 10-step process works!

Copyright (C), Jim Markowsky
Copy and/or distribute with permission with credit to Jim Markowsky, X-Factor Solutions
Visit our web site at: http://www.x-factor-solutions.com