Can Change be Funny?

Sure, if it happens to someone else!

Need a little chuckle about change? Visit the Highly Irritable blog and read about one mother’s struggle with her son. (This is a blog you will want to bookmark for its entertainment value alone!)

How often do we do something and expect one result, but actually get something entirely different? We can laugh about it when it’s a Canadian kid who likes hockey equipment, but doesn’t play. It’s usually much less funny when we miss the mark:

• A key customer rejecting a business proposal.
• An employee or our boss reacting unexpectedly.
• Our spouse misunderstanding our actions.
• Our kid making a mess of one of our suggestions.

In each of these cases, one of the easy ways to understand the actions is to say “They’re crazy!” and move on to recovery action. It absolves us of any responsibility and puts the blame clearly on the other person.

Of course, the issue is that very few of us are truly crazy. We all behave rationally, following our own particular logic in any situation. If we are trying to implement change, it’s critical to understand that logic.

You can correct those unexpected situations by approaching change with three things in mind. First, listen carefully – to both words and actions. People will tell you how they are thinking and what they want to see happen. Second, hold out the possibility that you may be wrong. For most of us, it’s tough to keep an open mind – especially when we have come to our own conclusion. Finally, all of this works much better when we genuinely want to help and connect with the people around us. It’s a quality that cannot be faked and will energize the search for the best solutions.

Those solutions usually involve the ability to bring alignment into complicated situations. Often those situations involve alignment on both personal and professional levels to achieve the best results. They involve multiple — often conflicting — goals between individuals, departments, and/or organizations. Time and personal effort is required to bring about proper alignment. That alignment creates durable and rugged solutions, resulting in lasting change.

So let’s keep our sense of humor about change. We’ll need it in order to make it through tough situations!

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Read the Vallon blog this week to learn about Kim Meek’s transition from corporate executive to entrepreneur. It’s a transition we may all need to experience.

The Future of Faith in Business

Harvey Cox, a professor from Harvard University, presented a terrific talk on the future of faith. His speech to the Westminster Town Hall Forum, here in Minneapolis (hear the talk), followed the outline of his book of the same name and painted an optimistic picture for people of faith. One of his key points was that religion is changing and becoming a more personal experience, shifting away from strict dogma. People are searching out and embracing similarities between religions, drawing strength from those similarities and rejecting firm rules and hard boundaries.

These same trends are impacting businesses across the economy. No longer are employees or customers willing to accept the dogma or hard rules of the past. “That’s policy” doesn’t cut the mustard in dealing with issues when alternatives are as close as the Internet. The options available have never been greater…and neither have the opportunities.

Customers can shop anywhere. The Internet makes it possible. This ability is driving products and even services to commodity status. Only genuine, tailored, and unique solutions provide meaningful differentiation. Companies must create close relationships in order to identify and take advantage of those opportunities.

Employees play a critical role in creating those relationships. They are as smart and capable as ever, loyal and wanting to make a difference for their companies. Modern technology makes it possible for teammates throughout an organization to connect and discover new ways to provide value for their customers. As leaders, it’s up to us to create the environment where these connections can be made and creativity unleashed. When we do, good things happen. When we don’t, the same technology that creates opportunities also makes it possible for our employees to find new places to work.

It’s an exciting time to be a business leader. These trends are making companies more honest and responsive to their stakeholders. Employees in these companies are more engaged and productive than ever before. The solutions these teams are creating are better and more effective for customers than ever before. Great companies are riding these trends.

Are you?

Improv to Innovate?

We’ve all heard about the value of high performance teams – those groups of people working together who make Superman’s tall leaps look like child’s play. Last week I learned about a new group – Ensembles – that make high performance teams look like beginners. Ensembles create an environment beyond teams, where reduced inhibitions allow creative solutions to flow freely, support between members builds true trust, and the entire process creates tremendous energy.

The Second City has turned out some of America’s best comedians during its 25 year history in Chicago. John Belushi, Martin Short, and Mike Myers are just three of the dozens of recognizable names to play the stages on Chicago’s north side. The organization prides itself on its unique brand of improvisation. Now, The Second City is helping business leaders get more from their organizations by applying the same improvisation basics to situations at work.

The team from The Second City opened one of their theaters to the MENG organization to show us how we can put their ideas to use in our lives. They gave us four ideas that can help all of us improve our work with people around us and move us closer to working as an ensemble.

The first of these was the drive to eliminate the fourth wall. In the improv world, the fourth wall is the separation between the cast on stage and the audience. Much of The Second City’s success derives from their ability to actively engage the audience in their routines. The cast prepares ideas and basic storylines, but key areas are left blank in order for the audience to contribute their ideas; like the subject of the blues song the cast will sing or the contents of an imaginary box. These contributions allow the audience to share ownership of the skit and have a vested interest in its success.

The same ownership and vested interest can exist in the workplace. Leaders must set basic direction and lay the frameworks for success, but it’s critical that we all work to tear down that fourth wall and involve as many people as possible in building the organization’s future. Engaging these people improves the ultimate decision and facilitates execution of final plans.

The second lesson was to always accept what is given to you. How often do we answer questions or comments with “yeah, but”? The “but” almost always stops the discussion in its track and closes the possibility of building on the original idea. Instead, accept what you are given by replying “yes and…” Just that simple change validates the idea and starts to build momentum for the conversation and the thought process.

Another hindrance to the free flow of ideas is the way we approach suggestions and solutions. Often we can find ourselves in positions where we try to prescribe a particular solution, rather than looking for the best solution. This can happen when we tell people what they should do, rather than suggesting solutions. Language again plays a critical role and the words “Have you thought about this?” can make a huge difference in how your suggestion is received.

Finally, the best results always come out of an atmosphere of support. Improv artists at The Second City work as part of an ensemble. Their ability to support, encourage, and push each other produces cutting-edge results. Individuals work to take the best from each other’s ideas and look for ways to reach new heights, and pick each other up along the way. The ensemble truly understands that the group is only as good as its weakest player.

How much better could your organization perform as an ensemble? Your group can reach its potential by pulling coworkers into key decisions, accepting and building on the ideas already in motion, creating a free flow of ideas, and establishing an atmosphere of trust and support. That sounds like a terrific place to work!!

A Great Read: A Manifesto for 21st Century Information Technology

 Bob Lewis is one of the most practical and entertaining advisors in the IT world. His expertise spans more than 20 years, seven books and more than 650 columns – each helping modern executives effectively address the technology based issues facing their companies.

Mr. Lewis’ latest effort, A Manifesto for 21^st Century Information Technology, is a terrific book for anyone trying to make a real impact within an organization and will become the gold standard for IT professionals trying to make their systems perform business functions. He provides practical insights for real impact by taking on flawed conventional wisdom; encouraging us all to be courageous in a smart way; and reminding us that everything happens through people.

Most of us work very hard to make sure our areas of responsibility serve our customers and happen as efficiently as possible. We want to make sure that the people who rely on our work are satisfied with our efforts and that we deliver as efficiently as possible. We want to do a good job. Lewis points out that traditional approaches have fundamental flaws in their assumptions. Operations set up to serve “internal customers” miss the point. The organization’s purpose is to serve real customers and internal functions must be aligned in order to make that happen effectively and efficiently.

Traditional management and measurement systems create happy islands. Individual operations within the organization serve their internal customers and focus on delivering efficiently. These happy islands may deliver on their goals while the organization struggles to reach its goals. Lewis illustrates this phenomenon with a factory example where the CEO tells the leaders of his functional areas to maximize their efficiency and profitability. Sales and Marketing sells profitable contracts. The Supply Chain delivers raw materials at the lowest possible cost. Manufacturing produces at maximum efficiency. Distribution delivers efficiently. To make a long story short, everyone is happy, but the customer receives large quantities of product at the wrong time; finished product is either out-of-stock or overstocked; and raw material inventory reaches record levels. None of the executives wants to jeopardize their bonus by making their function inefficient. The story demonstrates the need to suboptimize individual operations in order to make the entire organization efficient and effective.

Lewis points out that these heuristics break down because it is almost always necessary for individual units to operate at less than peak efficiency in order for the organization to thrive; and that focus on internal customers sacrifices overall efficiency and coordination in order to maximize internal satisfaction on individual projects. Instead, the organization should use a strong focus on the external customer in order to coordinate efforts and effectively position the organization in the market.

Attacking these issues in non-traditional ways requires intelligent courage. Lewis introduces an extremely useful way to insure that these initiatives stay on track and gather the support they need. He posits that we should manage East, West, North, and South within the organization. East refers to establishing relationships with our peers, understanding their needs and building alliances in order to making new initiatives effective. To the West is how we satisfy the people who rely on what you do. North is how we manage and align with our bosses and their needs. Finally, South is the reverse of North: how we deal with the reflective faces reporting to us. Lewis provides the practical tools for making the most of people in each direction, enabling us all to move forward with intelligent courage.

The usual books would stop here, providing the theories and activities that can make you and your organization more effective. Instead, Lewis forcefully and correctly makes the point that all results and all change happens through people. Using involvement strategies is not just a nice thing to do; it’s also a powerful business strategy. He emphasizes how difficult and critical it is for leaders to communicate and engage people in everyday operations and ongoing initiatives. Leaders almost always underestimate the time and effort needed to effectively communicate with everyone in their organizations. Instead of having a united vision of the future, the organization fills the communication gaps with their own interpretations, leaving a disjointed picture of needed actions, hindering the ability to coordinate action.

A Manifesto for 21^st Century Information Technology lays out a powerful framework for transforming IT and changing organizations. Bob Lewis does a terrific job of encouraging all of us to challenge flawed conventional wisdom; move forward with intelligent courage; and engage the people around us to make a meaningful difference in our organizations.

It’s a terrific read for all of us making a difference in today’s organizations.

Command & Control v. Innovation Incubation

The market says it is extremely difficult for long-time “command and control” managers to make the changes to develop an innovative organization. These changes require more engagement from – and more freedom for – employees to generate the ideas and energy that fuel the innovation engine. Most experts claim these changes are nearly impossible to make. We disagree. Our approach makes it possible for these leaders to make the changes that deliver the results they want.

 

Our approach uses three distinct phases to help leaders create innovative organizations. In the Definition stage, leaders define the change they are seeking and lay the foundation for the innovation effort. The Individual Development stage generates multiple ideas and develops those ideas with a series of small bets on their success. The final stage, Organizational Development, moves the most promising ideas through a more structured, multi-disciplined development stage. The end results are developed projects that are ready for traditional market introductions.

 

Definition

 

The organization’s leader should be ready to instigate change by laying the needed foundation and providing the direction critical for the organization to follow. This requires a couple of basic decisions: the type of innovation you seek; and basic ground rules for how the organization will move forward.

 

The type of innovation should be aligned with the organization’s risk profile. Breakthrough Innovation (products or services that create new industries) usually comes with a greater than 95% failure rate. On the other hand, Maintenance Innovation (making incremental improvements on existing products and services) is successful over 90% of the time, but may not create the innovation necessary for a successful future.

 

Leaders are responsible for matching the company’s risk profile with the innovation sought. We have ways to minimize costs and financial risks, but the underlying risk of failure remains a constant. Ideas will fail. Make sure you understand the failure you are willing to support and its cost.

 

It will also be important to design a basic blueprint for introducing and guiding the innovation effort. If command and control has been your management mantra, you must have a personal and organizational strategy for breaking out of the old patterns. The broader and more open you can make this strategy the more prepared you will be for the new situations that will arise. The strategy must clearly outline expectations in terms of participation, outcomes, and new behaviors.

 

For example, one company we know created a change environment and generated new perspectives by changing the functional responsibilities of the senior management team. Every member changed offices and took on one of their teammates roles (including the CFO). The change in roles altered two key dynamics. First, each leader was a novice in their new area of responsibility. This allowed them to freely ask questions and develop a new perspective. Second, the changes pulled the management team together, as members sought out advice from their predecessors in order to make a smooth transition. These two dynamics opened the senior team to new ideas and set the example for the remainder of the organization.

 

The leader must build the foundation for change, based on mutual trust, active engagement, and passion for new ideas. Your people must understand what you expect from them and what changes they will see to confirm that change is taking place. This also provides the opportunity for employees to “call you out” on deviations they see from their expectations. They will see deviations, either because conditions demand a different approach, or you have slipped back into old habits. Both of these situations are great moments for communication, correction, and deeper understanding of the objectives. These are leveraged moments where commitment strengthens or cynicism builds, depending on leadership reaction.

 

Individual Idea Development

 

The objective of this stage is to make small bets on as many good ideas as possible. Generating good ideas, each with passionate sponsors, is hard work. The easier the organization makes it to pursue these ideas, the more likely it will be that they see the light of day. Evaluation and screening at this point in the process should be kept to an absolute minimum. Instead, we should be looking for ways to create enthusiasm for good ideas so that they can begin to develop from thoughts into genuine business opportunities. One way to do this is to ask those with ideas to find other people in the organization who also believe in the idea. These ad-hoc dyads or small groups create the energy and enthusiasm good ideas need to succeed. If these champions are found, then the team can be supported with financial and other resources.

 

These other resources include time away from regular duties, the opportunity to attend classes or seminars to learn more about the possibilities, and support from experts who are available to help the group organize their efforts and make meaningful progress. The Definition phase should provide for these resources and set aside the money necessary to make them a reality. Remember, our objective is to make many small bets, rather than one large bet – still these bets cost money.

 

Proper execution of this phase will create many new business ideas, but more importantly, it will also generate the energy and enthusiasm required for the overall change effort. As people become more engaged with particular ideas and see the receptivity to new ideas, the innovation effort will gain a momentum of its own and begin to unleash the creative energy of your employees. That energy will then generate the new ideas that can start the process over again. Done right, the process becomes a virtuous circle, reinforcing and improving itself.

 

Organized Development

 

The best ideas eventually reach the point where they merit more than ad-hoc support. When that happens, simple cross-functional project teams make sense to create the support structure necessary to develop these ideas more fully. These teams should remain nimble and focused on making their ideas viable business opportunities.

 

Critical to making these teams work is an unusual role we call the Super Synthesizer. The Super Synthesizer is a person with unusual talents, connecting the passion for ideas with the skills necessary for them to succeed. They are straight-shooters with the ability to cut through confusing information and details in order to find unique solutions and approaches to difficult problems. They seek the truth without regard for internal politics, which makes them vital members of a team trying to create new ideas. When allowed to function effectively, Super Synthesizers can quickly clear the path for good ideas and see the critical limiters in less promising ideas. Their talents save time and money in the incubation process.

 

The end results of this step (and the complete incubation process) are emerging ideas ready for more traditional development efforts. The process increases the probability that the organization funds the projects most likely to generate the innovation needed to create market advantage. Small bets early in the process, combined with energetic exploration, put the company in solid position to make the correct bets when the stakes are higher.

 

Organizations implementing an incubation process can transform their innovation efforts from risky, big-bet, high failure propositions into a systematic process that uses the law of large numbers to create numerous smaller bets on promising ideas, diversifying the risk of the innovation effort. Even strict “Command-and-Control” leaders can use the system to develop the skills necessary to create a truly innovative organization.

 

We are passionate about innovation and the impact it can have on companies, their owners, and their employees. We would welcome opportunities to discuss the topic in more detail. We love to hear new perspectives which usually drive us to deeper understanding of the issues.