Unexpected, Proposed and Planned Changes - Change Control Types in Life Science Environments

Regulated change control (i.e. change control enforced by the FDA, ISO, etc.) may appear to be the control of only one type of change. In other words many professionals may mistake change control to be the control of unexpected changes as life science research and manufacturing processes progress and move forward. This idea however, though essentially true, is only a partial "chunk" of the change types with which a change control system should be equipped to manage. Unexpected changes, as deviations or nonconformances, should undoubtedly be documented, controlled and analyzed but two other types of change should be considered as well in a large array of highly regulated environments.

Proposed Changes
Depending on the industry in question, proposed changes may be those changes suggested by management, the quality department, manufacturing, etc. Other companies may allow all employees to propose changes or in other words file change control requests. Regardless of the type of proposed changes that are filed many regulated companies must adhere to specific processes in order to manage them.

Medical device companies for instance must test and approve proposed changes before change can be implemented and when changes are implemented their status records and process results must be tracked and analyzed closely. For medical device companies these requirements apply equally to investigational devices.

Proposed Changes in Various Areas of Compliance
The control of proposed changes is not only necessary in manufacturing environments but is also a factor during GLP regulated studies and clinical research trials. Companies are right in assuming however that stakes are still high in manufacturing departments. In fact, a recent FDA article Change Control: Best Practices for FDA-Compliant Medical Device Manufacturers states that "Manufacturers have to control changes in all of the major areas in which they operate or function, including processes, product formulation and design, raw materials, equipment, facilities, utilities, computer systems, batch records, SOPs, analytical test methods, work instructions, master device records, specifications and policies."

What departments will take responsibility for proposed changes?
Depending on the company, a variety of departments may be involved in the management of proposed changes. R&D will be especially involved in the review and approval of proposed changes within the manufacturing environment and other R&D professionals may also play a part in managing proposed changes to non-clinical laboratory studies or clinical research studies.

Planned Changes
When careful planning of future studies or manufacturing processes occur, there are often a small myriad of planned changes that can be predicted. These changes may result from the proposed changes already mentioned in this article. These will be the proposed changes that have already been tested, accepted and are planned for action. These changes may seem like they are essentially "wrapped up" but in all reality they are changes that require the coverage of additional (and carefully designed) tasks documented within the company's change control SOPs and procedures. For example, the article Change Control: Best Practices for FDA-Compliant Medical Device Manufacturers also states the following:

"It is common sense that change control covers planned changes. The company must review and approve them before and after they're made, and all proposed changes should be tested and approved before they are implemented in manufacturing - even one-time changes. Moreover, manufacturers must have an approved rework procedure in place before they can reprocess product for clinical trials or commercial sale."

The rework procedures mentioned in the FDA article are an essential companion to planned changes as they provide a pillow to any unexpected mishaps.

Contractors and Planned/Implemented Changes
Changes that have been undertaken by contractors to a medical device manufacturer for example must be reported to a representative(s) of the manufacturing company. The procedures acted upon to report these changes must of course be documented by the manufacturing entity that initially hired the contractor organization.

Conclusion
It may be helpful for life science companies to think of change control as the management of unexpected change across company departments and across various levels of compliance but instead as three types of change that must be continually managed within the same dimensions.

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TRIZ - Local Quality

"Newsworthy does not necessarily go to the worthy," proclaimed Dean Rotbart.

We had just started Day One of the incredibly intriguing Academy course, "Newsroom Confidential," taught by Dean, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist for the Wall Street Journal, and I was already awestruck by how inaccurate conventional wisdom is in regards to the world of Public Relations.

Rotbart's session was truly an eye-opening experience. Throughout the two-day course, Dean's ideas continued to scream "Local Quality," although I'm pretty sure he had never heard of TRIZ. Like most of the great minds, Dean was applying these principles unconsciously. Below is just one of his insights into the PR world:

Know Me or No Me

By Dean Rotbart

I borrowed the headline for this column, 'Know Me or No Me,' from the March 2002 edition of Continental Airlines' in-flight magazine.

The catchy title caught my attention on a recent speaking trip to New York, where the subject of my remarks, as it often is, was how companies and executives can get more positive news stories written and broadcast about them.

Based on all the money and staff resources that large publicly held companies devote to media relations, you'd think they'd be awash in positive press. Most aren't.

Indeed, getting good press is seldom directly correlated to the size of the wallet you are willing to empty on public relations firms, PR newswires, fancy schmancy press kits or even high-paid media consultants such as me. When it comes right down to it, Know Me or No Me, is really the complete answer to successful media relations.

Companies and PR agencies seldom take the time to really get to know the news organizations and journalists who they are pitching. Communications executives are so busy doing PR the wrong way, they can't make the time to do it right.

But media relations is a misnomer.

Good press, in reality, is built on one-to-one relationships. What the rest of the "media" think doesn't count.

When you have a story you'd like to place with a national news organization, you only have to make two correct decisions to succeed.

1) Which news organization is most likely to WANT this story? (Not which news organizations do I most want to cover my story?)

2) Which reporter at the correct news organization is most likely to WANT this story? (Not which reporter would I most like to have cover this story?)

That is it! Everything you need to know to succeed at media relations. Know Me or No Me. The rest, as they say, is commentary.

As I mentioned previously, Dean's wisdom relates directly to Local Quality.

Local Quality involves changing an object, system, or service so that the product has different features in different environments. As Dean explained, the best press releases are tailored to the publication and the journalist. The writer understands their audience's likes and dislikes, and in the case of the press release, the initial audience is the reporter or editor. Although the press release is written with the ultimate goal of distribution to the masses, the release must first make its way past the gatekeeper. To accomplish this, the Local Quality of the release must appeal to the gatekeeper.

The lens of Local Quality is usually applied in one of three ways:

1. Change an object's structure from uniform to non-uniform, or change an external environment or influence from uniform to non-uniform.

a. i.e. Using a temperature gradient rather than a constant temperature

2. Make each part of an object function in conditions most suitable for its operation.

a. i.e. Creating a lunch container with special compartments for hot and cold or solid and liquid foods.

3. Make each part of an object fulfill a different and useful function.

a. i.e. a Swiss Army Knife

Catering to the Audience

Local Quality plays a role in every industry, not just public relations. Almost every object, process, and system can be modified so that it has different functions in different environments or appeals to a specific, unique audience.

Look at a standard #2 or mechanical pencil. When people are writing or sketching on a piece of paper, they usually need two tools: a writing utensil and an erasing device. With that in mind, most pencils have two components, each intended to fulfill the user's specific needs. The tools used to complete each function are centrally located, with the lead at the bottom and the eraser at the top.

Adjustable wrenches are another application of Local Quality. The tool can be modified to fit whatever bolt size you are currently working with. Rather than forcing consumers to purchase many different sized wrenches for different sized bolts, someone came up with the idea to enhance the Local Quality of the tool to make it suitable for multiple uses.

Precision fertilizing also applies this principle. Farmers analyze their soil and put down a different fertilizer recipe based on that specific area of soil's needs. Each area of the farmer's land receives the exact combination of nutrients and fertilizer necessary to produce the greatest crop output.

Surfing the World Wide Web

I use the lens of Local Quality in my Web site design and content. I have several versions of the site, each one customized for visitors of a specific foreign country. The local quality of the site has to be modified to make sure that the content and appearance of the site will appeal to the cultural needs and preferences of users. That way, the site will be just as attractive and informational to a visitor from Chile as it is to a visitor from Brazil.

I spend a lot of time (probably too much time) tweaking the site and changing the colors, content, and design to make the page's local quality effective regardless of the culture and language of the user.

Local quality allows you to tailor and customize your product, process, system, or service to meet the specific needs of your customer. The product has different features in different environments, so that you are able to provide the functions or features your clientele need most.

How can you use Local Quality to improve your product and anticipate your customer's needs?

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5 Benefits of a Simplified Change Control System that Encourages Employee Participation

Change control is an aspect of almost every regulated life science environment. Change control systems allow company employees to quickly observe anomalies that could be harmful not only for company profits but for human lives.

The control of change, though of the utmost importance, needs to be simple. A recent FDA article Change Control: Best Practices for FDA-Compliant Medical Device Manufacturers states that "From a common sense point of view, the system has to be easy to use. If it is so complex that employees feel as if they need a Ph.D. or 30 years of experience in the industry to figure out whether or not to file a change control request, they will avoid or try to get around it. The system for classifying changes must also be simple and easy to use."

In essence, the FDA is observing that those companies with simplistic, easy to understand change control procedures are those that are more likely to succeed in an environment that requires constant change control vigilance.

Why does a simplified change control system benefit life science companies? Some of the following benefits that stem from a simple change control system may clues to the answer:

1) Entry Level Employees Feel Confident Acting in Accordance with Procedures

One benefit of a simple change control system is that almost every entry level employee will feel immediately comfortable acting on change control procedures. In other words, he or she will have a good idea of what to do and what not to do.

To check whether or not a change system is sufficiently simplistic, managers should observe whether or not entry level employees actually file change control requests and whether the change control requests filed by entry level employees are in line with company standards. Change control managers should also observe whether entry level employees easily comply with change control related SOPs and related documentation. If they don't, chances are strong that the employees don't necessarily require more training but that the change control system needs to be simplified.

2) Easy Training

When change control documentation is clear and the system is simple, change control training should be uncomplicated.

To determine whether training is simple enough for entry level and experienced employees to understand, real-life scenarios should be conducted and readily observed by trainers. Exams should also be administered and should be written in language that will be readily understood by entry level employees. If most employees are not performing very well on exams and if a level of increased change control confidence does not manifest itself after training, then chances are strong that the change control training courses need to be clarified.

3) More Reporting

No company wants an enormous amount of change requests to be filed on a regular bases but a slightly increased amount of change control requests may reflect the increased willingness of employees to respond and participate in the change system.

Increases in reporting may be noted after a change control system is simplified, or clarified but if a company already assesses their own system to be significantly simplistic they may want to consider incentives for "watchful change control eyes." These incentives may result in change control requests resulting from issues that may have been previously ignored.

4) Employee Communication

When a company seeks to simplify their change control system and encourages occasional (and scheduled) comments from employees, employees are not only encouraged to consider change control more carefully but also enjoy the pleasures that productive communication within a workplace always generates. Many employee comments may also result in "edits" to the change control system that may not have been readily apparent to management as necessary measures.

To increase employee communication, change control meetings should be scheduled at regular intervals and participating employees should be duly rewarded for suggestions that result in helpful shifts in company practice.

5) Advocacy as QA Back-Up

Designating high-level employees (such as someone in IT or in manufacturing) as advocates for change control participation discredits the "bad guy" image associated with some QA personnel and encourages employees to participate in change control procedures. In change control as in other areas of expertise, more heads can certainly be better than one.

Conclusion

Though processes controlling change can make or break billion dollar enterprises they should remain effectively simple and should in addition encourage employees to participate more readily in change control practices.

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An Organizational Change Pattern

The following companies have very little in common at first sight: DSM, ING, Wolters. They are all multinational corporations but operating in a diverse number of sectors: (Bio) Chemical industry (DSM), Finance (ING) and Business Publishing / Information providing (Wolters).

Yet there is something interesting about their CEO...

A closer look will reveal that they share an interesting feature in the area of change management. All current CEO's come from a company that was first taken over by the organization. Mckinstry from Wolters came from CCH later Wolters USA, Feike Sijbesma from DSM came from the company Gist Brocades and Michel Tilmant from ING came from BBL the Bank in Belgium that was taken over by ING.

All these three companies have been involved in some kind of a change. For ING and Wolters the change was very much concentrated on the organization of the business. The culture of Wolters changed to a more competitive and performance oriented organization, ING change to a more global blend. The change for DSM has been more oriented to the business. DSM was originally a company with a (high) fluctuating business that was sensitive to economic cycles, the company has refocused its business to bio based chemical production and is able to gain more constant (growing) profits.

In all three cases it was not only the current CEO that made the change possible, but its former position had to do with this change. The CEO of DSM had a background in biotechnology from the company Gist that was taken over. ING and Wolters have recruited there new CEO from a company that was taken over previously.

This is a pattern of a very well planned change. Business continuity is a main driver for organizations, but the business is continuously changing too. In choosing the CEO from a benchmark company or "benchmark" organization the company reaps a twofold advantage. Not only the business is continued, but the underlying organization will automatically change into the right direction.

© 2008 Hans Bool

Adding Value For Business Success

Organizations are discovering that the traditional 'command and control' style of management is no longer effective in today's environment. Today's businesses require rapid response, leveraged creativity, resilience and individual effort in order to remain competitive. Retaining key valued staff requires much more than just satisfactory remuneration and is critical to company success.

Think for a moment about the most exceptional manager or leader who has influenced your life or career. If you were to name four key qualities about that person that made them exceptional, what would they be? Chances are that leader had the characteristics of a good coach ie: supportive, a good listener, patient, empathetic, articulate, creative and challenged you to stretch yourself.

Coaching promotes creativity, breakthrough performance and resilience, giving organizations an effective way to handle continuous change.

Successful organizations such as Hewlett Packard and IBM have recognized coaching as an essential management competency and have included coaching in their leadership development to enhance employee performance and development.

So how do you develop a coaching culture within your organization?

Geoff Morgan and Andrew Banks of Morgan & Banks recruitment agency fame suggest that 'the final part of the human capital equation relates to your organizational culture and how you actually train, support and supervise people on a daily basis.'

Managers and leaders can develop their competency in coaching by increasing their awareness of relevant concepts and tools, practicing coaching in the workplace and hiring their own coach to build on their own strengths and continuously improve themselves.

Employees who are coached for performance rather than managed to perform are more committed to the outcomes of their work and achievement of organizational goals. Imagine what a difference you could make in your business if you used a coach approach.

In today's marketplace, adding value is key to business success. Successful coaching adds value to employees, who then add value to their company by giving their very best.

Resisting Change

I have been fortunate to have visited a lot of companies in my lifetime as a consultant. I have also participated in several nonprofit groups, many of which are well established and steep in customs and tradition. Interestingly, a lot of these organizations operate on autopilot when it comes to executing procedures. So much so that whenever someone suggests something new as a means of expediting a process it is often greeted as if it were heresy. After all, "That is the way it has always been done." I'm sure we have all heard this on more than one occasion and is the earmark of a bureaucracy.

What I find interesting is when you run into a situation where people have been doing things wrong for so long, they think it is right. Actually, such situations evolve slowly over time as people are replaced by new workers who are not properly trained or are less skilled than their predecessors. Consequently, small changes creep into the process which corrupts it. Nonetheless, over time it becomes a natural part of the process and is deemed as proper. If left unchallenged, these processing anomalies become a part of the standard operating procedure, which even though they are being performed erroneously, people tend to steadfastly defend.

Challenging the status quo is a daunting task. As Voltaire astutely observed, "It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." Even if you have identified a problem with an existing process or can recommend an improved way for performing it, you will inevitably have to contend with the wrath of the defenders of the status quo who will resist any change whatsoever. As creatures of habit, there are a lot of people who do not embrace change easily and treat it suspiciously. Some will even go so far as to politically sabotage any hint of change.

As we all know, change simply for the sake of change is madness, but we certainly would not make any progress if we didn't periodically challenge the status quo. Change is a natural part of life which I believe many resist unnaturally. Using the standard cop-out, "That is the way it has always been done," is simply a lame excuse to preserve the current system. It should therefore come as no surprise to see a lot of organizations suffering from dry rot in their operations thereby affecting their ability to compete or serve their customers adequately. Even though people tend to be inflexible in terms of addressing change, we must all face the reality that if there is anything constant in life, it is change.

Managing the March Toward Change

My firm works with national and international corporations to assist in identifying the need for change, establishing its direction, and managing the difficult work involved in instituting cultural change processes and keeping change aspects aligned within the total organization*. Initial advice to clients is to step back from the day-to-day demands of the organization's operations and to take a serious look at what will be required of the march toward change. Our experience has taught us that if change processes are viewed in terms of marching toward a set of desired goals, then specific pathways can be established, timelines for the journey set, and measurements kept relating to cost and its change effectiveness.

Every modern corporation is currently working on various forms of organizational change. Most of these will be dramatic changes that result in reforming the companies. There are five basic precepts of change that we've described for our clients' benefit in providing guidance as their organizations are reformed. We advise that their management teams review and assess these precepts at the beginning of the process and use them to guide all efforts of the march through to process completion.

One: Understand the Direction - We spend up-front time with our clients in determining what the change demands actually mean. Most companies have daily challenges to their current operations - in the form of complaints by customers or through evidence that market placement is not optimal. There is the temptation to institute changes as these demands are felt. However, the concerted approach is superior because it allows the company's managers to understand what the changes mean when taken as a whole and viewed from the standpoint of the organization's complexity and its relationship to its market environment. An important first step in instituting effective change is to take both the long view and the short view of change - that is, scan the operating environment and compare the data gathered to the short-term specifics of the organization. It is only when the two are juxtaposed that the organization and its cultural meaning for the future will come into focus.

Two: Find the Forward Path - If changes are attempted before the full impact of the direction is understood, tangential and unproductive paths are frequently the result. Our work is focused on assisting clients in discovering what stands out as the big steps necessary to set the organization on a different and more productive path for the future. The best decisions for change are made by analyzing the value of each change potential in order to look at change in the amalgamate - that is, how things can best be instituted to allow all the moving parts to act in concert - the best decisions for change are made. Corporate change valuation is assessed at this stage in order to carefully define the benefits and cautions of each change opportunity and to select the pathways best aligned for forward movement. The forward path must be the one that embraces the very best advantages and opportunities for the organization when all possibilities are scrutinized together.

Three: Select the Best Actions - Once the strategic directions for the organization have been established, good attention must be paid to selection of the best actions for implementing the plan. It is critical at this point to take the time to select appropriate tactical approaches that will be able to fulfill the organizational mission. If the company's tactics are aligned specifically with mission and if these tactics resonate with those who will carry them out, the chances of instituting successful changes are greatly enhanced. Actions must be sought that will be integral to the overall functioning of the organization and that will bring greater organizational solidity as the change process develops. Tactics that hold good potential for being executed well also have high potential for contributing to a successful change completion.

Four: Select the Best Actors - Planning for effective change requires that a premier team of actors will be available to carry out the designated actions. This is perhaps the most over-looked factor of change processes. Companies often make the assumption that change will easily be possible once a good plan has been developed. For years, my firm's professionals have been following corporations' repeated failure to implement change processes. Form these experiences there is good evidence that trying to overlay a new plan onto an employee workforce simply will not work. Rather, to implement a new plan for change requires that there be a sound practice of employee cultural orientation and development, and that these include processes of assessing employees for their strengths and abilities to contribute to the change opportunities. Once the employee force has been re-formed, with the best complement of good actors selected for appropriate placement within the company, change institution can proceed as planned.

Five: Select the Best Metrics - The last step that must be taken before a concerted change effort is undertaken is to select the metrics that will be embedded with the process to track the changes and to measure progress. Reliable processes for measurement and analysis will be needed to determine if changes are following prescribed courses and achieving desired outcomes. For our clients we suggest selection of highly effective metrics such as Earned Value Management Systems and Critical Path Management to assure change achievement. Once these processes are established, the data that are generated will be critical to assessing the change processes and making revisions where necessary to keep the change moving down the preferred path.

These five precepts require sound action by the organization's leaders and its members before the change process, itself, is instituted. Considering the analogy of a march toward change, a leader will need to take seriously the organization's need for marching together to engage in change efforts. In addition, before the hand is raised to signal the start of the march, each of the five digits - representing the five precepts of change - must be ticked off as having been fully engaged. If you are considering change in your organization, and you can say that all five stages have been accomplished, by all means, signal the start of the march. Dramatic changes will then be realized by the time you reach your destination.

*See Dr. Blair's book, ALL THE MOVING PARTS: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Managing-the-March-Toward-Change&id=1054718

Should I Leave or Should I Stay?

This is how most relations end: "first you find someone "new," then you end an existing relation. More ethically would be to do it the other way around, but that is without taking into account one important element...

"Should I leave or should I stay," is a question asked by millions. For example, in a relation when you wonder to continue, to improve or to change. Or at work, to invest in your current job, in relations with people or to search for something else.

And what it the recipe? What should you do?

Much depends on who you are, who you want to be and what you situation is.

Who you are: are you a jobhopper than you should worry too much. Especially when you are still young. An international company recently took a measure in which it demanded people to stay longer at the same position. Job rotation was part of the culture, but the downside was also noticeable; the culture scored low on responsibility.

How responsible are you?

But responsibility on itself is not a factor that should keep you bound to one job or relation.

What do you want in life, is a question you should ask yourself. Again the jobhopper. If you are young there is no reason to think too much about the future, but if your life is a patchwork of jobs, relations that make no sense than you should wonder. If you are happy with it.

Emotion is what's keeping people from taking the leap. You have a feeling that what you are doing is not really what you want, but you don't have a concrete idea of what the real alternative is. Then you have a problem.

You need to know that your current situation is not the right one. You need some idea of the (near) future and than the only thing that is missing is a first step.

Back to the relations...Why people leave easier after they have got something (a job) or someone (a relation) new - in mind - is the about the opportunity.

Quitting something without an alternative will make life more difficult than required. If you are in a relation and you suddenly find someone else it is because you were "open" for it. You had already decided to leave, but you were waiting for the right moment.

Should I leave or should I stay ... You probably already know the answer.

© 2008 Hans Bool

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Should-I-Leave-or-Should-I-Stay?&id=1056538

That Plan Won't Work

Every F16 in the world has to go to a facility at Hill Air Force Base in Utah once a year for maintenance and painting. Several years ago I went to the base to conduct a session about the facility and the painting procedure.

As we went through my sensible design process, where you look at a problem from all 5 senses, people were like, "What? Painting F16s doesn't taste or smell. This is stupid."

In spite of the crew's protests, we went through the five senses anyway, and soon discovered that one of the biggest challenges the crew was facing was thirst. The hangars are huge, 100's of yards long, and there are only a few water fountains, located at the ends of the building. The crew was stuck in their stations doing their jobs. Walking to the water fountains took too long, and people were getting thirsty.

The solution seemed obvious. I said, "Put an engineering order out and have more water fountains installed."

There was an immediate uproar.

"We can't do that! Engineering orders take forever - and we don't have the funding for more water fountains."

Unphased by their negativity, I asked, "Who's the supervisor in the room?"

When the guy raised his hand, I said, "OK, I know you have a $2,500 limit on your credit card because I know how these things work. Go buy 20 Igloo coolers, have maintenance fill them with ice water every morning, and then distribute the coolers around the facility."

My idea certainly wasn't earth-shattering, but the team probably never would have come up with a simple working solution to the problem if they hadn't used the concept of sensible design to think about their process from the perspective of each sense.

Viewing a problem specifically through each sense individually can really break new ground. And the break doesn't have to be earth shattering.

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Successfully Leading Organizational Change - A Sure-Fire, High-Energy Blended Approach

Are you faced with leading a significant organizational change and need options for successfully making it happen? If so, then take a moment and consider a blended approach that provides the structure and energy to dramatically change your business organization.

At this point in your career, you already know there is no single theoretical solution that addresses organizational change with practical ease. If that were the case, you would not have found your way to this article. Planning for effective organizational change is not as simple as clicking your heels together or jumping on a flying carpet. Planning for effective organizational change is more like Merlin mixing the right ingredients into a carefully concocted blend to create the desired result.

A blend of John Kotter's eight steps for Leading Change combined with the power and influence represented by Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence (EI) will provide a deliberately powerful blend of structure, high energy, and dependable results. Let's look at each independently, then, blend the concepts together into a practical, effective approach for affecting successful organizational change.

The eight steps for leading organizational change put forward by Kotter are:

Create a sense of urgency by examine market and competitive realities. Use a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to target opportunities and targeted strategic plans.

Put together a guiding team by assembling a group with the power and influence to lead a change effort encouraging the team to work together and set the behavioral example.

Create Visions and Strategies providing direction to change initiatives combined with tactical strategies building a "road map" and "trip plan" to others in the organization.

Communicate to achieve buy-in using a multi-media approach, which indicated the new behaviors that will be expected and rewarded.

Empower others to act upon the Vision and Strategies by removing obstacles, changing systems and structures that undermine the vision. This is a time to encourage and reward prudent risk taking and unconventional approaches, ideas, activities, and actions.

Produce short-term wins that highlight the desired behaviors and performance, which will lead to the realization of the vision and organizational change.

Build momentum by leveraging the credibility of visible change to reinforce continued change and continue to reward the adoption of new behaviors. Hire and promote those that adopt and exemplify the desired change behaviors.

Nurture a new culture by promoting and rewarding alignment with the changed organization, focusing on the value of the connections between the new behaviors and organizational successes.

Now that you have the benefit of John Kotter's structured eight-step approach, let's look at the concepts behind Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence. Once you understand the theoretical concepts, you will likely be able to identify someone you know as a master of these skills.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in yourself and others (Mayer &Salovy, 1997). In business settings, we usually see or describe the characteristics and behaviors of EI leaders as inspirational, empathetic, charismatic, motivating, compelling, or enigmatic among others. This personal characteristic and ability is stronger in some business leaders than others. Perhaps now, you are thinking about specific business leaders you know who were stronger or weaker in the use of this leadership trait and ability. As an organizational change leader, EI traits, skills, and abilities combine harmoniously with John Kotter's eight steps for Leading Change. Both are vital to creating and maintaining effective organizational change.

Finally, we're ready to put it all together. Like a well-written Baroque Sonata, we have been through the allegro beginning, the deeper, ominous, theoretical middle, and are ready for the lively finale! As an organizational change leader, your role throughout the eight-step change process is to blend the traits, characteristics, and behaviors associated with EI to provide a sure-fire, high-energy approach to successfully choreographing organizational change. Your investment in the deft use of EI abilities will be the adhesive that binds the structure of the eight-step approach with the emotional intensity and enthusiasm of the EI approach.

Neither structure nor charisma alone will carry the day when it comes to making the high stakes organizational changes required to be innovative, remain competitive, or provide shareholder value. Let you passion, intensity, excitement, and enthusiasm for the changes show. Recognize, inspire, and reward others through your own sincere expressions and feelings. Evangelically deliver the vision and strategies along with a message of empowerment and action. Lead or participate in celebrating the early wins and their direct relationship to the desired change-related behaviors and outcomes. Exuberantly share the credit for a successful transformation with all the affected stakeholders with the joint charge of sharing the responsibility for sustaining and building upon a sure-fire, high-energy successful organizational change.

For additional leadership guidance please visit www.Leadershippinnacle.com

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Run Charts

Adding the element of time will help clarify your understanding of the causes of variation in your processes. A run chart is a line graph of data points organized in time sequence and centered on the median data value. The patterns in the run chart can help you find where to look for assignable causes of variation.

What can it do for you?

Histograms or frequency plots can show you the general distribution or variation among a collection of data points representing a process, but one histogram or one frequency plot can not show you trends or help pinpoint unusual events. Sometimes, a normal-looking distribution will hide trends or other unusual data. To spot those trends, the data must be considered in time order. Plotting data on a run chart can help you identify trends and relate them to the time they occurred. This will help you in your search for the special causes that may be adding variation to your process.

Run charts are especially valuable in the measure and analyze phases of Lean Six Sigma methodology.

How do you do it?

Select a characteristic from one of your processes. This characteristic could be presenting a problem because excessive variation often drives it outside of specification limits, or it could be a cause of customer complaints.

Measure the characteristic over time intervals and record the data. Note the time or the time period that is associated with each data point.

Find the median data value. To do this, list the data values in numeric order. Include each data point, even if it is a repeat value. If the number of data points is odd, the median is the middle value. If the number of data points is even, the median is halfway between the two values nearest the middle. For example, if the collected data points were: 5, 1, 18, 8, 12, 9, the ordered values would be: 1, 5, 8, 9, 12, and 18. The middlemost values are 8 and 9. The median is the average of those values, or 8.5. (Remember, the numerically-ordered data is only for determining the median. The data must be plotted in time order on the run chart to be of any value.)

Set up the scales for your run chart. The vertical scale will be the data values, and the horizontal scale will be the time. Make the horizontal scale about two to three times the distance of the vertical scale.

Label the vertical scale so that the values will be centered approximately on the median and so the scale is about 1 ½ to 2 times the range of the collected data.

Draw a horizontal line representing the median value.

Plot the data points in sequence. Connect each point to the next point in the sequence with a line.

Some special cause variation reveals itself in unusual run-chart patterns. These clues can direct you in your search for causes. Count the number of runs. Runs are sequences of points that stay on one side of, either above or below, the median line. One way of counting the runs is to circle these sequences and tally them. Another way of doing this is to count the number of times the run-line crosses the median, and then add one. Compare the number of runs you count to the accompanying chart.

Numbers of runs outside the range shown for the number of data points are statistically unusual.

Too few runs (below the lower limit) generally indicate that something cyclic is systematically shifting the process average.

Too many runs could point to a problem of consecutive, over-compensating process adjustments or indicate that the data points actually came from two sources with different process averages.

Look for sequences of ascending or descending values. Seven or more continuously increasing or continuously decreasing points indicates a trend that is shifting the process average. When counting points, ignore any points that repeat the previous value. Repeated values neither add to the length of the run nor break it.

Search for seven or more consecutive points on the same side of the median line or 10 of 11 points or 12 of 14 or 16 of 20. (Ignore any points that are exactly on the median.) Such a sequence indicates that something has occurred to shift the process average in that direction.

A sequence of 14 or more data points alternating up and down suggests a variation related to sampling (such as one reading early in the day and one reading toward the end) or that the data is coming from two sources with different process averages (such as from two machines making the same part.) In looking for up-and-down alternation, ignore any points that are exactly the same as the preceding point.

A sequence of seven or more points with exactly the same value usually should signal you to look for a special cause. While it is possible that your process has improved to the extent that the existing measurement technique is no longer sensitive enough to measure variation, it is usually more probable that a gauge is stuck or broken or that someone is making up the data.

Now what?

Run charts can be very valuable in helping your search for sources of variation. They are easy to plot and easy to interpret. The sampling is uncomplicated, and there are no statistical computations to make. They can also be applied to almost any process or any data.

On the other hand, they are not an instant indicator. They are best used for spotting trends; short shifts in the process cannot always be detected with run charts. In addition, special causes that produce general piece-to-piece variation will not be readily detected on run charts.

Finally, a simple run chart cannot establish the natural capabilities of a process, so it isn't possible to use one to predict what specifications a process can actually meet. To do that, you need to create a control chart, a run chart with statistical control limits.

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Organizatonal Behavior and Change and The Creation of the False X

Douglas McGregor identified two possible beliefs a manager might have about what motivates people - Theory X or Theory Y. A belief in Theory X suggests that people are motivated by iron handed autocratic leadership. But those who believe in Theory Y believe that motivation is intrinsic: people want to work, they want to do well.

Much of the literature since McGregor's important book, The Human Side of Enterprise in 1960, suggests that the practice of Theory Y has a greater potential to improve productivity.

Sadly, much organizational change gives lip service to Theory Y - get people involved, listen to them, give them power and authority - but, in fact, leaders' actions are really Theory X in Y clothing. This creates an organization full of False Xs. People respond to autocratic role in the workplace by resisting it in some form - doing just enough to keep leaders off their backs. A client once called it "malicious compliance." Or, people resist actively - strikes, sabotage, or they leave.

Leaders see this opposition or "laziness" and assume that their Theory Y practices didn't work and shift to a more overt Theory X approach. This creates a deadly spiral since the next change and the one after that will get harder and harder to manage well.

What if We Took Theory Y Seriously?

If we used Theory Y as our guide, then organizational changes would look different than they often do. (Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful approaches to change such as Whole Scale Change or Real Time Strategic Change, Future Search, Open Space Technology, Kaizen events, and so forth, but they account for a small fraction of the changes that occur in organizations.)

I identified four phases in the life of a major change and tried to show how they could be treated through a Theory Y lens.

Make a Case for Change. People need to see for themselves that a change is needed. They need to be treated like the adults they are and be given access to trends, opportunities, threats, and numbers that drive the business. In contrast, many changes just pile on reams of paper and endless PowerPoint presentations hoping that will help people see the need for change.

Get Started on the Right Foot. Many times organizations introduce change at this stage. They get resistance because they failed to "make a case for change." It's hard for people to feel involved if they don't understand why a change is needed. Leadership sees this confusion, anger, apathy, etc. as a sign that they need to force the change on people. That's called getting started on the wrong foot.

Keep the Change Alive. This is a tough point in the life of most big changes. It is easy for leaders and others to forget that this change is still urgent and should still be a top priority. This phase is all-but-ignored in even the most enlightened writing on change management, so I got interested in this phase. I believe a Theory Y approach would invite employees and middle managers to help contribute to the success throughout the process. And that includes encouraging them to use their own initiative to find ways to keep the change moving forward.

If you click on this link you will find some preliminary writing on ways to address this phase. I hope that you will consider adding to the literature on this critical point in the life of a major change.

Get Back on Track. The good news is that this phase is avoidable if the other three phases are handled well. But, when things start to derail, it is easy to go Theory X - threaten, come down hard, fire people -- and this just makes matters worse. But, let's say that an organization does face this problem, then approaches like GE's Workout can be helpful. WorkOut invites people to identify the problems and come up with solutions. The approach respects the people and the problem and actively seeks ways to involve them in turning things around.

Most organizations talk a good game. Their vision and values statements reek of Theory Y platitudes. But holding the mirror up to ourselves and seeing that our actions speak otherwise is the first - and most important - step in creating strategies that can engage employees.

Maximize Profit While Minimize Costs

Assessing organizations does not have to be time consuming or cost a lot of money, and consists of qualitative and quantitative analysis. It requires a multi-task analyst to get the job done quickly and at no cost. Qualitative assessment begins, as you approach the organization, and before you park your vehicles, evaluate the location of the organization, in terms of target customers, raw materials availability, consumer accessibility, product recourses, and ease of marketing. After parking your vehicle, and as you walk into the building, focus on the customer service relation. Assess the relationship between the employees and the customers, employees and employer, and team work among employees. How are you welcome, do you receive attention, how do they attend to their customers, and do you see any courtesy on the part of the employees and employer?

The next level is to move ahead and ask organization related questions. Interview the employer, employees, and when possible pass out a survey for confidential information. It is important to know whether the organization is family owned or not. It makes a whole lot of difference in the world. If it is, the culture will be different regarding employees' loyalty, rigidity in expansion, afraid of change to new ideas or technology, and organization abuse by family members. Also, which member of the family has ultimate control of the business? Some family members run their business with their hearts rather than their heads. Individuals in this category only care about keeping the business running without consideration of the cost control, account receivables and payables. Most of this information usually comes from employer or one loose employee in an organization, who is willing to give out valuable information that will enhance the value of the organization. Assessing an organization is an indirect investigative job, but in this case is for the benefit of the organization.

The quantitative assessment involves the evaluation of the financial statement. This includes the balance sheet, income statement (P&L), and cash flow. Evaluation of each document will give a general idea in a nut-shell of how organization is performing and where it stands. A look at the last three or four year financial statement will give an average of an organization's financial standing. Calculating all the key indices will show where the linkages are, and the contributor of the linkages.

By the time the analysis is complete, the following review would have been taken: labor cost, administration, operations, overhead, break-even utilization, sales and marketing, cash flow management, tax planning, web site, material cost, productivity, incentives, cost controls, material flow, organization re-engineering, possibility of expansion and globalization if applicable. These areas will give a snap-shot of how the organization could be improved.

Evaluation will be performed to determine the problems and the cost associated (soft and hard problem costs) with them. Again, these potential problem costing areas will need to be calculated: productivity, pricing, safety, advertising, quality control, communication, meetings, training, employee turnover, compensation, incentives, depreciation, proper financing, purchasing, overtime, margin mix, material wastes, cash management, billing procedures, collection procedure, and sweep account. At the end, focus will include the following: lost profits; lost income; excess inventory; scrap, waste, rework; productivity; debt load; attrition; and hidden cost.

Managing Change Successfully - Six Layers of Resistance

Why is there resistance to change? Are people just naturally perverse, or are there concerns which if understood and correctly dealt with will create the buy-in required to turn resisters into supporters and generate the momentum needed to overcome the gravitational pull of the status quo?

There are six layers at which resistance can occur.

We Do Not Agree on the Problem

Go into any poorly performing organisation and ask people from various functions what the issues are. In all likelihood, within each function you will find different opinions as to what the problem is. The situation is not unlike the six blind men in the rhyme, who went to see the elephant. Each honestly describes his experience, but none of them captures the essence of the whole.

This is why different initiatives are launched in each department to try and solve the different problems. But if we remember that organisation are systems and departments/functions are interacting parts of a whole, we then realise a more holistic approach is needed. This is where the method outlined in the last article is useful. Through a combination of rigorous logic and experience based intuition, we build tight cause effect relationships that lead us to the core problem.

Usually disagreements as to the problem disappear once this approach is used.

We Do Not Agree on the Direction of the Solution

If a problem is long standing, its persistence indicates that there are conflicts preventing its successful resolution. An example of such a conflict is where management proclaims quality as number one and generally supports actions that guarantee quality until sales volumes are threatened. Then the quality mantra is quickly abandoned - especially if we are talking about the last quarter of the year. When the pressure eases early in the new year, quality becomes important again.

Another case is the conflict between delegation - to improve speed of operations and customer service on one hand, and control - to contain costs on the other hand.

By questioning the assumptions behind each of the conflicting positions, erroneous paradigms can be unearthed and thus the basis of the conflict eliminated. Thus a particular direction for solving agreed problems can be pursued. A powerful tool for resolving conflicts is the Evaporating Cloud which is part of the TOC logical tool set.

We Do Not Agree that the Proposed Solution Resolves the Problem

Even with the problem and the general direction of the solution agreed, it may be difficult to convince stakeholders that a particular solution completely solves the problem. In this case just as logical cause effect relationships can be used to construct a diagram to represent the problem (as described in the last article) so also can they be used to construct a diagram logically relating the proposed solution to the new desired states.

Thus such a logical description can be used to convince stakeholders that all the original problems are eliminated when the solution is implemented. Yes But... the Proposed Solution Will Create Other Problems

It is not unusual that the designer of the solution is blind to the shortcomings. So even though stakeholders now agree that the solution solves the stated problem, they may claim that it creates other problems in their place (like the case where eliminating a pest causes a proliferation of other undesirable creatures that it preyed upon).

The solution here is to acknowledge the concern and then work with those affected to eliminate it by the same logical process already described. Involvement of affected stakeholders creates even stronger buy-in. At this point every one is ready and willing to go ahead, but...

Yes But... there are Huge Obstacles to Implementing the Proposed Solution

The solutions proposed may require skills, resources, technologies, approvals that are currently unavailable. The obstacles are attacked in a step by step manner. The outcome of the process is a sequence of prerequisites needed to overcome the obstacle and thus implement the solution.

At this point there is complete buy-in along with a plan for executing the required changes.

Unverbalised Fear

At the end of the day, any residual resistance is most likely due to unverbalised fear - a vague feeling of unease arising from the fact that we will be doing something entirely new. Leadership is what is needed here to provide the inspiration and confidence to go forth and just do it!

How to Construct Histograms

An important aspect of total quality is the identification and control of all the sources of variation so that processes produce essentially the same result again and again. A histogram is a tool that allows you to understand at a glance the variation that exists in a process. Although the histogram is essentially a bar chart, it creates a "lumpy distribution curve" that can be used to help identify and eliminate the causes of process variation. Histograms are especially useful in the measure, analyze and control phases of the Lean Six Sigma methodology.

What can it do for you?

A histogram will show you the central value of a characteristic produced by your process, and the shape and size of the dispersion on either side of this central value. The shape and size of the dispersion will help identify otherwise hidden sources of variation. The data used to produce a histogram can ultimately be used to determine the capability of a process to produce output that consistently falls within specification limits.

How do you do it?

1. Decide which Critical-To-Quality characteristic you wish to examine. This CTQ must be measurable on a linear scale. That is, the incremental value between units of measurement must be the same. For example, a micrometer or a thermometer or a stopwatch can produce linear data. Asking your customers to rate your performance from "poor" to "excellent" on a five-point scale probably will not.

2. Measure the characteristic and record the results. If the characteristic is continually being produced-such as voltage in a line or temperature in an oven, or if there are too many items being produced to measure all of them, you will have to sample. Take care to ensure that your sampling is random.

3. Count the number of individual data points. Add the values for each of the data points and divide by the number of points. This is the mean (or average) value.

4. Determine the highest data value and the lowest data value. Subtract the lower number from the higher. This is the range.

5. The next step is determining how many "classes" or bars your histogram should have.

To make an initial determination, you can use this table:

Number of data points Number of classes

under 50 5 to 7

50 to 100 6 to 10

100 to 250 7 to 12

over 250 10 to 20

6. Divide the range by the trial number of classes you selected. The resulting number will be your trial class interval (the horizontal graduation or width) for each bar on your chart. You may round or simplify this number to make it easier to work with, but the total number of classes should be within those shown above. In determining the number of classes and the class interval, consider how you are measuring data. Increase or decrease the number of classes or modify the class interval until there is essentially the same number of measurement possibilities in each class.

7. Determine the class boundaries. You can do this by starting at the center of the range. If you have an odd number of classes, center the middle class approximately at the mid-point of the range, then alternately add or subtract the class interval to define the other class boundaries. If you have an even number of classes, begin the process of adding or subtracting the class interval at approximately the center of the range.

8. Tally the number of data points that fall in each of the classes. Add the frequency totals for each class. This number should equal the total number of data points. Divide the number of data points in each class by the total number of data points. This will give you the percentage of points falling in each class. Add the percentages of all the classes. The result should be approximately 100.

9. Graph the results by beginning with the lowest measurement-value class. Make the bar height correspond to the percentage of data points that fall in that class. Draw the bar for the second class to the right and touching the first bar. Again, make the height correspond to the percentage of data points in that class. Continue in this way until you have drawn in all the classes.

10. Draw a vertical dotted line through your histogram to represent the mean value of all your data points.

11. If there are specification limits for the characteristic you are studying, indicate them as vertical lines as well.

12. Title and label your histogram.

Now what?

The shape that your histogram takes tells a lot about your process. Often, it will tell you to dig deeper for otherwise unseen causes of variation.

The symmetrical or bell-shaped type of histogram: The mean value is in the middle of the range of data. The frequency is high in the middle of the range and falls off fairly evenly to the right and left. This shape occurs most often.

The "comb" or multi-modal type of histogram: Adjacent classes alternate higher and lower in frequency. This usually indicates a data collection problem. The problem may lie in how a characteristic was measured or how values were rounded. It could also indicate an error in the calculation of class boundaries.

If the distribution of frequencies is shifted noticeably to either side of the center of the range, the distribution is said to be skewed. When the histogram is positively skewed. The mean value is to the left of the center of the range, and the frequency decreases abruptly to the left but gently to the right. This shape normally occurs when the lower limit, the one on the Left, is controlled either by specification or because values lower than a certain value do not occur for some other reason.

If the skewness of the distribution is even more extreme, a clearly asymmetrical, precipice-type histogram is the result. This shape frequently occurs when a 100% screening is being done for one specification limit.

If the classes in the center of the distribution have more or less the same frequency, the resulting histogram looks like a plateau. This shape occurs when there is a mixture of two distributions with different mean values blended together. Look for ways to stratify the data to separate the two distributions. You can then produce two separate histograms to more accurately depict what is going on in the process.

If two distributions with widely different means are combined in one data set, the plateau splits to become twin peaks. The two separate distributions become much more evident than with the plateau. Examining the data to identify the two different distributions will help you understand how variation is entering the process.

If there is a small, essentially disconnected peak along with a normal, symmetrical peak, this is called an isolated-peak histogram. It occurs when there is a small amount of data from a different distribution included in the data set. This could also represent a short-term process abnormality, a measurement error or a data collection problem.

If specification limits are involved in your process, the histogram is an especially valuable indicator for corrective action. The histogram shows that the process is centered between the limits with a good margin on either side. Maintaining the process is all that is needed.

When the process is centered but with no margin, It is a good idea to work at reducing the variation in the process since even a slight shift in the process center will produce defective material.

A process that would have produced material within specification limits if it were centered is shifted to the left. Action must be taken to bring the mean closer to the center of the specification limits. A histogram that shows a process that has too much variation to meet specifications no matter how it is centered. Action must be taken to reduce variation in this process.

A process that is both shifted, in this case to the right, and has too much variation. Action is necessary to both center the process and reduce variation. This is a picture of the statistical variation in your process. Not only can histograms help you know which processes need improvement, they can also help you track that improvement.

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Push-Back - When Your People Resist Change

Change has become such a constant in the workplace that we are beginning to delude ourselves that everyone likes it. Although some people do thrive on change, it is a stress for most. I'd like to share with you some ideas that other managers are finding useful in lessening resistance to change.

Open up 2-way communication. Really 2-way. I saw a well meaning manager spend most of a meeting convincing his employees that a proposed re-structuring was going to be a good thing. Caught up in his own enthusiasm, he left only 5 minutes at the end for questions. Many of the employees walked out grumbling. It's scary to invite questions because you don't know what will come up but it's scarier - and less effective - to avoid that dialogue. When change hits, run Q&A meetings, get together small focus groups at lunch, send out surveys.

Listen. To what? To facts and feelings. When you listen to the ideas people have about a change, you foster commitment for that change. But you need to give them an opportunity to have their feelings listened to as well. One company, preparing for a departmental move, posted the layout of the new location in the employee lounge and invited staff to give suggestions on how to best use the new space. Not only did employees have their ideas listened to, the posted layout also became a focal point for them to share their feelings about the move: "I really hate to move; I like this place. But, you know, if we have to, why don't we use that space for..."

Sell the change. A common mistake I see is that management oversells the positive side of change and looks at it solely from the company viewpoint - "We're going to save money." What's in it for the employees? I watched a Vice President field questions at a meeting called to familiarize people with a changeover into a more technologically-driven workplace. One employee said, "We're already understaffed. Where am I going to find the time to learn this new technology?" The answer was, in my opinion, masterful: "It will be time-consuming. The thing is that this is the direction our industry is going in. Without this change, in a couple of years we may not have a company or jobs. In the long run, this is your security."

Help people give up the past. We humans use ceremonies to help us mark important changes in our lives. When introducing change, build a ceremony around bidding farewell to the past. In one high tech company I worked with, a group of engineers finished a project - the creation of a prototype. The project leader knew that his staff was still thinking and talking about modifications to the finished model and he wanted to prepare them for the next project. He physically took the whole team to the mail room to "ceremoniously" send off the package with the prototype. His staff was now more ready to move on.

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How You Can Become an MVP and Increase Your Business Profits!

You can become the Most Valuable Player in your business when you work to develop and implement a bottom up mission, vision, and purpose strategic process. As many business advisers and business consultants will tell you; you will start to see profit increases to your bottom line within 6 months, and, over the course of 18 months to 3 years, see some serious performance and profitability increases.

How can that happen? Simply put, ask this question of yourself and your coworkers.

How widespread is your MVP?

Oftentimes when meeting with a business owner I ask him to explain their MVP - no, not in an athletic sense, as in Most Valuable Player, but a business sense - their Mission, Vision, and Purpose. Once that is explained, I will ask him a follow up question - on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how many of your employees understand that MVP?

Think about it, if you can comfortably quantify your MVP (even if the number is low), you have the capability to improve performance and efficiency in your company. Having your fingers on the pulse of your employees' perspective is an essential first step in increasing corporate performance.

It continues to impress me that many small and medium sized businesses do not have an MVP. That is right, no mission, no vision, and no purpose. When I ask that question I get a nervous laugh or chuckle. It reminds me of the time worn phrase - you can't get there if you don't know where you are going. I am sure you can think of countless variations to this theme.

The FOR WHAT PURPOSE

Of course the business owner who does not have that MVP also may not have a specific revenue and sales goal, may not know if his business is profitable, may not know if his product or service pricing is competitive to the marketplace, and may not know if his marketing strategy is targeted to the right market. Can you think of more examples?

The WHAT

Many times business owners tell me, as their business advisor, that the MVP does not get developed because it is too difficult to get their hands around, to understand. Great point!

So how can you define mission, vision, and purpose in a way that is understood by every employee?

• MISSION is an internally focused statement, as viewed from the outside, in other words, it conveys to your client who you are, what you will do for them (achieve their vision), and why they should do business with you instead of anyone else.

• VISION is an externally focused statement as viewed from the inside and answers the question: What will YOU (your business) achieve in the absence of all obstacles. Begin your thinking with "I will or we will."

• PURPOSE quite simply, is expressed as your overriding reason for existing.

The WHO and HOW

First, ask your employees if they are willing to help you develop your business MVP. Assisted by a business consultant, develop a facilitated discussion and process with your employees. The process, in short form, starts with your employees being asked to assess their current understanding of the company's mission, its vision, and its purpose (discovery). This requires some background explanation on what an MVP is, uses illustrations of other corporate MVP's for comparative purposes, and allow the facilitator to begin structuring a participative and inclusive process.

Next, ask your employees to discuss whether the company's mission, vision, and purpose are being pursued as efficiently as they could (analysis)? It is during this process that employees will start to make very critical observations about specific business practices and situations. During this phase of the process your business advisor will make every effort to ensure all comments are respected (the facilitator's credo in this instance is - there are no bad ideas). This phase needs to be followed with a careful, yet distinct transitional series of questions that suggest that negative observations need to be turned into positive observations that can enhance or improve the observation.

Finally, your business advisor will ask your employees to suggest methods to improve their own connection to your business MVP (prescription). It is during this phase that employees will need to develop specific methods. With proper guidance, I have found employees become fully engaged in brainstorming practical ways to improve the MVP as well as their connection to it.

In all instances, this process will provide comments and suggestions that are useful well beyond the strategic development process. You will find your employees quite eager to comment on marketing, sales, production, inventory, human resource, and other business strategies to help propel the company forward.

The WHY

The process of asking an employee's opinion and asking further for improvement ideas itself will enhance an employee's engagement and affinity to the MVP, especially if their ideas are respected and acted upon. You can also engage the employee through a personal development program that enables them to become more efficient and more aligned with the business MVP. Remember the person/future fit and its positive impact on corporate performance? A small investment now can pay dividends over the long term for employers.

So, let's ask the question one more time. What is your MVP? And, on a scale of 1-10, how many of your employees understand it? What steps do you take to increase that number? Let me know.

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Change Creates Opportunity

A few changes here and there never hurt anyone. Change keeps things fresh and new. Change for me started with an innocent comment.

At a recent presentation I was told "you don't look like your internet picture." I wasn't sure how to interpret the comment. Perhaps the stress of the past few weeks was showing on my face. Guess it was time to do some changes. I went out and got a drastic haircut.

I told my hair stylist it was time for a change and gave her free rein with the scissors. The next comment I received went like this, "Wow! Zelda, you look ten years younger."

Don't get caught in a rut. Mix things up in life. Do you travel to work each day using the same route? Do you eat out at the same restaurants? Make the same dinner week after week? Try attending a new business or social club, just to meet new people and contacts. Mixing things up a little can create change and open doors for great things to happen.

Change is growth and growth offers opportunity. Change means one door closes and others are opening. Are you ready to leave the past behind and start a new venture? Sometimes we begin on one path and unexpected twists and turns lead you down a totally different path than the one you set out taking. There are times the path you are led down are a much better path to follow.

My friend started a small gift basket business many years ago. She started selling gift baskets when the industry was in its infancy. She focused on selling to corporate clients. Soon those clients began to ask if she would include their promotional products that contain the company logo. She began to include their pens, coffee mugs and other personalized products. Recognizing there was an industry devoted entirely to promotional products she began to sell the promotional products to her customers and that opened a new revenue stream for her gift basket business.

There came a point in her business venture where the profits of selling promotional logo products was the bigger money maker and not the original gift basket. Once she realized this, she changed the structure of the business. The more profitable path was promotional products and thus she changed the marketing and soon gift basket sells got smaller and smaller while the logo product sells grew enormously.

During this tight economy look at what you are doing. Are there other products that complement what you are already doing. Explore other paths to follow. Look for new ways to do what you are already doing. Perhaps you are seeking a better job, better health, a way to make some investments. Look at all the possibilities and explore the opportunities. You never know where those paths may lead. Don't be afraid to take a leap of faith. As long as your moving forward the road will get you where you want to go and the road just might be better than the one you started traveling.

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What Changed Your Cheese?

GOD, grant me the Serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

and Wisdom to know the difference.

-The Serenity Prayer

In software and technology implementation projects, there needs to be something called "Change Control". And why is this needed? No matter how thorough the business analysis job or how complete the project plan, there's always something that needs to be changed or added after the fact. Users and potential users of the system or technology change their minds. Or think of something that they absolutely cannot live without. Then from the technical side, the developers, programmers and implementers discover things that are incorrect or just won't work. Programmers or testers find things called "bugs" - which is techie talk for errors or system glitches. After all, that's what quality, quality control and testing is supposed to do - Find things that will cause less than desired results.

Testing and quality is key. And it needs to start at the beginning. Once the technology requirements are finalized, you have the basis for test scripts that can be used throughout the implementation process. There will be change. So, there needs to be an orderly process for incorporating changes and corrections / fixes.

One reason is that iy helps everyone on the project is in sync. It avoids duplication of effort. And, it's less disruptive when there are multiple environments (development / test versus live / production) or multiple releases versions. It's an essential piece of the communications plan. Change control is a recipe for success. And, back to the Serenity Prayer: the introduction of new systems, features or functionality is something that can be controlled. And the smart project manager has the courage to mandate a change control process.

What we cannot change is people and how they react to change. Change, even positive change, creates stress - another thing we can't change. What we can control is the implementation and use of programs and techniques that ease the pain and stress of change. And that's called Change Management.

I worked for the telecommunications superstar, Lucent Technologies, right before its big fall from financial grace. I was fortunate to be in the CIO organization which was lead by a very visionary executive Earnestine Barnes-Linder. She encouraged us to prepare for the changes that she so wisely foresaw. Earnestine even distributed copies of the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Dr. Spencer Johnson. I attended a workshop by the author and was less than impressed. But, when I finally took the time to read the book, it was indeed outstanding. Mr. Johnson is an expert on individual and organizational change. The book gave insight into how to recognize that your cheese or goal had moved and provided suggestions on how to work through the feelings and adjust to change. However, there are other books that provide more substance and detail on stress and change management techniques.

Noble & Associates Consulting and its consultants have years of experience with software and technology implementations. The whole point of any new system is to change or improve some process, capability or results. Since there is always change and people are stressed by change, then change management should always be a consideration in project funding, planning and management.

So what's the cheese?

* For an individual, it might have been owning a home. The current mortgage crisis may be moving that cheese.

* For others, it might be life long employment with a company paid pension. The economy and corporate mergers, acquisitions and downsizing may be moving that cheese.

* For production managers the cheese may be efficient operations and on-time deliveries. Disruptions in the supply chain, broken processes and quality problems may be crumbling that cheese.

* The corporate executive may have thought that the least and greatest system or technology was the cheese. However, cost overruns, unrealized functionality and out of sync processes could be slicing away at that cheese.

* For the average employee, the cheese may be to feel like they are competent and even expert at doing the job. The introduction of a new system or technology, and the need to learn new ways of doing things, could be the last straw.

In the final analysis, it doesn't matter what caused your cheese to change. Change happens. Stress happens. Deal with it. Consider implementing stress management and change management programs.

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Doing Change Is Easier For Some Than Others!

Why is it that some of us find change hard, and for others it's just part of the job? To answer this, let's look at what attracts us to a job in the first place. For many of us, our job keys into deeply held belief systems. It may be too strong to say we all have a vocation. But in choosing one career over some other we have often unconsciously responded to some fundamental driver. Becoming a banker may have attracted us because we found money and finance inherently fascinating; or we may have seen finance as a route to becoming rich. A civil engineer may have found the challenges of major construction projects quite awesome as a child (I am still fascinated by observing skyscrapers during the construction process!). A nurse may be responding to a deeply held desire to help and care for people in need. A surgeon may have found the challenge of repairing human tissue and bone both exciting and satisfying.

So, many people - perhaps, arguably, most people -are attracted to a job because of its content. Nurses want to nurse; surgeons want to repair and reconstruct; bankers want to do deals and create financial innovation; engineers want to build.

In our initial encounters with our jobs, what excites us is learning about the job and, simply, just doing it. We are less interested in how the job might be done differently. This is not surprising, since we don't have enough experience.

Yet, even with experience, some of us still want only to "do" and have little interest in exploring alternative ways of "doing". Such people are focused on the job's content and not much (or not at all) on how the job is done. But they are most often very committed and are often - and rightly - seen as stars in their chosen line of work.

Such individuals are held up as exemplars. And that is just fine. Mozart wasn't interested in finding a better way of composing. He just composed.

Enter, now, the change agent or change consultant, intent on finding more effective or more efficient ways of operating a business. The change may be seen as critical to improving customer service, or even to ensuring the survival of the business.

However, changing what happens is changing what real people do. Change agents tend to use words like "process", "outcome" and "benefit". Those people whose focus is on the job and its content will often find this language profoundly threatening and alien. If change agents in organisations don't recognise this, those whose only focus is the job and its content may well find such language a real and significant deterrent to engagement in change.

Such antipathy to the language of change also extends to the language of change measurement. Measuring the effect of change is bread and butter to change agents; it's the way to determine if change has been successful. But words like "metric", "benefit" and "value" often sit uneasily in the lexicon of those whose sole focus is job content.

The language of change therefore begins to assume characteristics that many who need to be motivated by change will resist: "benefit" sounds like it's to do with money, and "outcome" may feel like the language of the annual appraisal. Change Programme Managers, fresh from a course to learn about change, may also feel uncomfortable talking the language of change, thus impacting their credibility and their authenticity as a change leader. "She's been on a course - watch out" is a cynical but not uncommon cry from team members that will quickly reinforce dislike of change. These difficulties can combine in real situations to seriously compromise the possibility of success in change projects.

Change leaders must therefore find approaches to change that avoid such traps. A starting point is to think about job content first. Demonstrating that you are serious about understanding what a professional's job is, and showing interest in its nuances is a great starting point for gaining acceptance. Only then can you begin to lead a team's thinking around how they can find better and more productive ways of operating.

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Leader's Role - Creating an Environment for Revolutionary Change

Leaders have accountability when confronted with the need for change to create an environment for change.

The nature of the environment they must create is dependent upon a significant early choice for revolutionary or evolutionary change.

Most leaders I have known who have opted for revolutionary change have, in twenty-twenty hindsight, commented that they should have done more, earlier and faster.

One exception that I know of was the restructuring of labour relationships in a petroleum storage, packaging and distribution facility.

The need for change was palpable. Poor management decisions over a period of fifteen years had left the packaging plant operating at an average of one fifth the productivity of the national average. Not one fifth less, one fifth of the average.

The causes were numerous. Bad investment decisions combined with poor labour relationships and poor measurement and rewards for performance were the key contributors.

At any time the plant could be closed and products transported in from another state over 2000 km away and the company still be more profitable. The union involved appeared intransigent at a state level with regard to change.

However, the distribution of more than 40% of the state's bulk fuel supplies was at risk if a strike was called. The same union covered the bulk fuel filling facilities as well as the storage, packaging and distribution facilities.

Other unions at the facility did not normally support each other with strike action but often did if "brother unions" were seen to be under threat.

The mere threat of a strike affecting the state's fuel supplies had always sent the state based management, the national board, the state government, motoring organisations and the nation's media into a frenzy. Hence, nothing was ever done.

The situation needed revolutionary change.

Without detailing every event, let me translate the lessons we learnt from getting a revolutionary change right into principles of developing an environment for revolutionary change.

Voice a powerful call for change

Revolutionary change needs a powerful reason. That reason must be believable and imminent.

The powerful call for change was about choices for the future.

The packaging and distribution site would close some time. It could not carry on as it was. With change in labour practices which met the award, investments could be made in equipment and training to make the future more secure. Adequate productivity levels would create export opportunities and more work.

The choices were to work together and change conditions to match the agreed award as every other location did or close within twelve months.

Be transparent

Revolutionary change requires brutal honesty. Everyone must e clear about choices, consequences an the activities being undertaken. Rumours and misinformation kill change. Revolutionary change does not have the luxury of time to unravel misinformation. .

Every question was met with an honest answer. We did this even when the honest answer was what we knew people did not want to hear. That rule applied for employees, supervisors, managers, politicians, lawyers, judges, board members and the media. Sometimes the answer was, "I will not tell you that". However, answers were never fabricated to throw people off track of our plan.

Change the game

If you are attempting revolutionary change, do not do what you have already done. There must be a "shock" factor with revolutionary change.

We had tried the route of the arbitration commission many, many times. It always ended in compromise. We had always been the first party to call on the arbitration commission to make a ruling.

This time we followed a landmark industrial case in Australia, the Dollar Sweets case. We did not call on the Arbitration Commission. Instead, we made our position clear and asked for negotiations with our people and the union on how we might implement the outcomes that were needed. When the almost inevitable strike came we continued to talk directly to our employees by sending letters to their homes by courier.

When the strike continued and our premises were picketed to stop other unions from legally going about their work, we applied in the civil courts to end the illegal pickets, not the arbitration commission to end the strike.

Work at Speed

Revolutionary change must be completed at speed for two reasons. The cost of inaction to the organisation is too high. The cost of uncertainty to the people undergoing the change and their families is too high.

We planned what we expected to happen and the alternatives to our expectations as usual. However, where we would usually leave a week between making a request of a union member, board member, lawyer or politician and anticipating an answer, we had planned and insisted on time frames of days or hours.

People worked around the clock to make things happen at what appeared abnormal "working hours" speed.

Allocate roles

One person cannot orchestrate revolutionary change. Roles must be allocated and adhered to. Roles are allocated based on competency and authority only.

We had a board that knew its role was to make decisions involving the national interest of the company, not the hour by hour minutiae. We had a full time professional communication manager and media spokesperson planning and executing communications, not the senior manager or the industrial relations manager. We had a team doing nothing other than contingency planning. We had a local management team with a clear mandate for making hour by hour decisions.

Plan for contingences

Unintended consequences sink many change programmes, whether they are evolutionary or revolutionary.

Whilst the consequences may be unintended, they are rarely unpredictable.

Our contingency plan consisted of a decision tree going over ten A3 pages. Our preferred decision path was or the first decision of our employees and union officials being to enter into positive discussions

Our expected decision path was that the union would refuse to negotiate and make decisions to draw us into the arbitration commission. That path was shown in a red line.

Every possible decision that could be made by any stakeholder had two or more responses by one or more other stakeholder. Every possible alternative had a response organised even though it was unlikely to be used.

The board, the management team and specialists such as the communications manager had a copy of the contingency plan. Whenever a decision was made, the alternative responses were clear and the probable future three or four decisions were also known.

The contingency plan was update daily for actual decisions made and detailed analysis of probable future decisions by all parties. It was republished daily.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Revolutionary change is by its nature, fast paced. Communication needs to keep pace, not only with the change being implemented but with people's emotions, rumours, misinformation and preferred communication styles.

We had one-to-one meetings, telephone hook-ups, fax-outs and letter drops and interviews with broadcast media almost every day. All communication was vetted by a communication team to ensure consistency of message.

We never lost sight of who we needed to communicate with the most, our employees. We went to extraordinary lengths to be sure that we were always able to communicate with our employees.

History shows that we did have a six week strike. The other unions did not participate. We did, however, make the changes we needed to make. We did retain high degree of loyalty amongst our employees and confidence of the board as a result of adhering to the principles for revolutionary change outlined above.

The revolutionary change period lasted six weeks and then gradually changed to an evolutionary style.

Whilst I am not an advocate of revolutionary change, sometimes it is necessary. When it is necessary, change must be driven and the strong principles above adhered to.

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Eight Uncommon Approaches to Better Presentations

Somewhere in your organization someone will give a presentation today. It may be you, the person in the next office, or someone who works in another department. Even if you work solo, there are times when you will be the presenter.

Few would argue that being able to present effectively - whether you're presenting to two or two thousand - is an important skill. And since it is such a commonly needed skill, there is plenty of advice available to you - books, courses, websites, tools, techniques, as well as the advice of so many others who "just want to help."

Yet with all this advice, a large percentage of presentations still aren't very effective. In fact, many are downright awful; not providing the desired responses from the audience - or any response at all. (Wouldn't you agree?)

The advice in this article will be a little different.

Rather than sharing the common wisdom with you - which must not be working very well if so many presentations are still so poor - I will share some uncommon advice. Think about it this way - if you try some uncommon advice, you might get uncommon results. Given the overall record of the common presentation, that will likely be very good!

More visuals, less words. Your PowerPoint presentation has too many words, on every slide (and there are probably way too many slides too - but that's another article). Visual aids should be visual. Start replacing the words on your slides with images. And not just pie charts and line graphs, but pictures and images that help tell your story.

More emotion, less logic. It takes more than logic to move people. Give your audience the facts they need, but don't overload them. Make sure you speak to the emotional part of people as well. Talk about why, and not just how.

More stories, less "facts". We read books, watch TV and buy movie tickets because we love stories. When you create stories around your presentation or include relevant and passionate stories as a part of your presentation, you will be more successful.

More focus, less scatter. If you can't put the key concepts and ideas of your talk on the back of an envelope or on one side of a 3x5 card, your message is too scattered. Hone in on your key message; know exactly what it is. If you don't know it, how can you expect your audience to know (or remember) it?

More preparation, less "I'll wing it". Giving an effective presentation takes preparation and planning time. Too many people give poor presentations because they simply rely on their slides and muddle through. If you want to be a more powerful presenter, you must be prepared.

More belief, less bluster. Let your passion for your topic, your message and your recommendations show! If you believe in your message, let people know that through your words, actions, body language, energy and more.

More audience, less you. Hopefully you aren't giving your presentation for your benefit, but for your audience's. So, focus more on them. Worry less about how you look or sound and more about helping them understand your message. If your focus is all about you, stop reading - none of these points will help you. A presentation should always be about the audience.

More you, less fa?e. No, this isn't in conflict with the last point; you will be a more effective presenter when you are real, genuine and sincere. Drop the posturing and be real. Your audience will appreciate it, and they will listen and trust you more.

You've just read eight pieces of uncommon advice. But reading them isn't enough. You need to apply at least one of them to your next presentation. When you do, you will be more confident and will achieve more of the results you desire. You will have an audience that has heard and understood your words and takes action because of the presentation.

Potential Pointer: If we want to better at anything - including presentations - sometimes we need to do things differently than everyone else. Following the crowd will, at the very best, allow you to only be incrementally better. Taking a different approach can lead to breakthrough success.

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