The Seagull Management structure is Flying in — Dump all the Changes — Fly Out!! The correct structure is The Management of Change` over a period of time that works for each change that is taken on board. Always share the changes and time periods and allow enough time for the changes to work before proceeding to the next change.

THE MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE = THE SUCCESS FACTOR GLOBALLY

Change is intensely PERSONAL. For change to occur in any organisation, each INDIVIDUAL must think, feel, or do something different. Even in large organisations, which depend on thousands of employees understanding company STRATEGIES well enough to translate them into appropriate actions, leaders must WIN their followers one by one. Think of this as 30,000 people having conversation experiences and ending up at a predetermined place at the same time. Small wonder that corporate and even Small and Medium Enterprises change is such a difficult and frustrating item on virtually every company’s agenda. The Management of Change can be simple, so read on and see why!

The problem (challenge) for most executives is that managing change is unlike any other managerial task they have ever confronted. Most Chief Executive`s and Chief Operating Officer`s have NEVER experienced managing change or NEVER been trained to manage change. One CEO at a large company told me that when it comes to handling the most complex operation problem (issue), he has all the skills he needs. But when it comes to managing change, the model he uses for operational issues doesn’t work. ” It’s like the company is undergoing FIVE medical procedures at the same time,” ” One person is in charge of the ROOT-Canal job, someone else is setting the BROKEN FOOT , another person is working on the DISPLACED SHOULDER, and still another is getting RID OF THE GALLSTONE, each operation is a success, but the patient DIES OF SHOCK!

The problem (challenge) is simple, we are using a MECHANISTIC MODEL, first applied to managing physical work, and superimposing it into the new MENTAL MODEL of TODAY`S knowledge organisation. We keep breaking change into SMALL PIECES and then managing the pieces. But, with change, the task is to manage the DYNAMIC, not the pieces.

The challenge is to innovate MENTAL WORK not to replicate physical work. The GOAL is to teach thousands of people how to think strategically, recognise patterns, and anticipate problems (issues) and opportunities before they occur.

Managing change is not like operating a machine or treating the human body, one ailment at a time. But of these activities involve working with a fixed set of relationships. Most organisations today find themselves under-taking a number of projects as part of their change effort. But the key to the change effort is not attending to each piece in isolation; it is CONNECTING and BALANCING all the pieces. In managing change, the critical task is understanding how pieces balance off one another, how changing ONE element changes the rest, how sequencing and pace affect the WHOLE structure.

One tool that companies can use to provide that critical balances is THE TRANSITION MANAGEMENT TEAM, a group of company leaders, reporting to the CHIEF EXECUTIVE, who commit all their time and energy to managing the change process. When that process has stabilised, the TMT disbands, until then it oversees the change effort. Managing change means managing the conversation between the PEOPLE leading the change effort and those who are expected to implement the NEW strategies, managing the organisational context in which change can occur, and managing the EMOTIONAL connection that are ESSENTIAL for ANY transformation.

The TRANSITION MANAGEMENT TEAM has eight primary responsibilities. This team is not, however, solely accountable for fulfilling these tasks.

1) ESTABLISH CONTEXT FOR CHANGE AND PROVIDE GUIDANCE

The CHIEF EXECUTIVE and other executives establish the company’s strategic vision. The TRANSITION MANAGEMENT TEAM makes sure that everyone in the organisation SHARES a common understanding of that vision and understands the company’s competitive situation. By organising discussions throughout the organisation the TMT spreads the company’s vision and competitive situation so that INDIVIDUALS and TEAMS can accurately align their OWN activities with the company’s new overall direction.

2) STIMULATE CONVERSATION

Most old, larger companies have formalised their operations in such functional ISOLATION that conversations across levels or functions RARELY take place. Instead, people have grown accustomed to presentations followed by inquisitions. Moreover, when resources are scarce and time pressures are severe, conversation often seems a luxury. Yet most change efforts are fundamentally about moving INFORMATION across old and obsolete boundaries. Consequently, organising early conversations between different parts of the company and making those conversations an important, sanctioned part of the change process is a CRITICAL task for the TMT. Early, open-ended conversations often result in the most PRODUCTIVE OUTCOME, conversely, project leaders who press for early results and close off conversation inside the company, usually get to the end of a project with LITTLE to show in the way of NEW insight or real breakthrough thinking.

3) PROVIDE APPROPRIATE RESOURCES

The TMT has TWO TYPES of significant power;

1. The power to allocate resources to make things happen,
2. The power to kill projects that are no longer needed.

The first category, the TMT does command time and budget. Frequently, change efforts falter because the people who are drafted to play important roles in leading teams work only on the margins. As a result, the team never has a real process owner or receives adequate attention. The TMT can change that, it can designate individuals who take on the authority and are given the time and resource to do the job properly.

The TMT can also kill off old projects that no longer have a high priority. In many organisations, the operating maxis is OLD PROJECTS NEVER DIE, THEY JUST GET UNDERFUNDED . Nobody is willing to make the TOUGH decision to cut a project that has outlined its usefulness. The result is a lot of projects that are more dead than alive but still distracting people and using resources. The TMT needs to be the TOUGH-MINDED terminator of these projects.

4) CO-ORDINATE AND ALIGN PROJECTS

As company’s shift into fast-paced change programmes, task forces, teams and projects proliferate. One result is a great deal of enthusiasm, energy, and activity. Another is confusion. Even if every activity is valid and necessary, the problem is that they don’t seem to fit together. The TMT has two tasks;

1. Co-ordinating and aligning the projects into building blocks that fit together;
2. Communicating to the whole organisation how the pieces align so that others can see the larger picture and appreciate that there is a coherent plan.

5) ENSURE CONGRUENCE OF MESSAGES, ACTIVITIES, POLICIES AND BEHAVIOURS

One of the major complaints of people in organisations undergoing a transition is the management does not ” WALK THE TALK “, they say “EMPOWERMENT” and then shoot down every new idea that comes from their employees. The TMT`s job is to be on the lookout for inconsistencies that undermine the credibility of the change effort. The message, the measures, the behaviours, and the rewards must match.

6) PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR JOINT CREATION

Most change programmes today embrace the concept of EMPOWERMENT , but never get around to defining it. In some companies, empowerment essentially is, ” Do what I say and act as if you like it.” In others, it is interpreted to mean, ” Everybody gets to vote on everything”. My working definition of EMPOWERMENT is a TRUE opportunity for employees throughout the company to create the future TOGETHER.

That means ensuring that ALL employees, whether Directors, Managers, Factory workers, or Technical staff, have the information they need to make CORRECT decisions and take appropriate actions. Clearly, the TMT cannot do ALL the communicating and teaching, it is the Designer, co-ordinator and support source for that learning and creation.

7) ANTICIPATE, IDENTIFY AND ADDRESS PEOPLE PROBLEMS

There is a reason why the guide and the communications and human resources teams are ALL represented on the TMT, PEOPLE issues are at the HEART OF CHANGE. For example, a change that involves delayering, changing job descriptions or compensation also requires advance notification and long lead-time. COMMUNICATIONS and HUMAN RESOURCES are critical to success, yet there are routine shortages of talent, diversity of perspective, pounds and share of mind. Cross-functional teams in communications and human resources represent an OPPORTUNITY for gathering and distributing information, both horizontally and vertically, throughout the organisation.

8) PREPARE THE CRITICAL MASS

Given the complexity of scale-up from creating the pilot to making it the norm, it is important to design into the work from the very BEGINNING the resources and strategy necessary for replication and learning transfer. Most teams will need guidance on how to do this as well as help to make sure that what they are doing FITS with other activities.

The organising element of all these activities is the HARD WORK of EDUCATING, TRAINING and preparing the organisation to think, feel and act differently. In companies where change is successful, the leaders look at the whole mobile and the congruence of operations and emotions. It is far easy to equate change with specific tasks when the TMT manages the content and the process, the operations and the emotions; it provides a powerful lever for change.

The real contribution of leadership in a time of change lies in MANAGING the DYNAMICS, not the pieces.

The fundamental job of leadership is to deal with the dynamics of change, the confluence and congruence of the forces that change unleashes, so that the company is better prepared to compete and to be more successful.

The right People = Performance = Productivity = Profit

Fresh thinking requires a vision to see beyond the conventional. When you combine excellent quality with outstanding value for money you will begin to realise the full potential of creative and well presented business solutions. Together, the sky`s the limit. Have passion to learn and let the knowledge help you to be successful in life

Take on board this great publication for your success: `The Achiever’` https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-achiever-dr-colin-thompson/1142883855?ean=2940186720324

Now go and be successful…

Throughout my article series, The Role of a CHRO in CEO Transitions, I’ve discussed how the CHRO can be an influential part of a major leadership transition. I’ve shared strategies for creating a connection, educating on the HR function, and integrating the CEO into the organization. Once these steps have taken place, a relationship has been formed between the CEO and CHRO that creates the opportunity for collaboration on a strategic level.

At this stage, the question becomes: How do you best collaborate with the top leader of an organization on people initiatives? The short answer is that each scenario will be unique, depending upon the circumstances.

Speaking personally, our new CEO Tom Watson and I have been colleagues at BKD for quite some time and have developed an effective working relationship. Tom understands my priorities for our people, and I have also taken the time to understand his strategic priorities in his role as a Regional Managing Partner and now as a CEO. This type of relationship enables me to approach him with new ideas and bring him in easily when we launch a major HR initiative. If you don’t have experience working with your new CEO in the past as a colleague, or if the new leader is an external hire, your challenges may look completely different.

Regardless of your circumstances, there are four guiding principles that can be applied across the board to collaborate effectively with your new CEO or other senior leader:

Understand the Business

First and foremost, it is critical that you have a deep understanding of the business you are operating in. This includes the core business model, operations, competitive landscape, and organization strategy. When you understand how the business works, you can work with your CEO more effectively and have productive conversations about how people initiatives will influence the overall success of the organization and increase its competitive advantages.   

Connect the Dots to Their Strategic Priorities

In the first article in this series, Relating to Your New CEO, I shared the importance of learning the new CEO’s top strategic priorities and vision for the future. When collaborating with the CEO, connect the dots back to these priorities when you are collaborating with them on HR initiatives. Here’s an example of how you might frame up the connection between an HR initiative and a strategic priority:

“I know the organization is looking to expand and has some aggressive growth goals in the next fiscal year. I think to accomplish this, we will need an increasingly diverse workforce that can provide a variety of perspectives and connect with a wide range of clients. As a result, we’d like to put together a specific HR strategy to attract diverse talent to our organization.”

Speak Their Language

Along the same theme of connecting the dots to strategic priorities, it is important to speak in terms that the new CEO will resonate with. The highest executive within an organization will likely be focused on the following key elements (along with others):

• Revenue growth
• Business expansion
• Profitability
• Shareholder returns

When you are working with the CEO, it will be important to incorporate these concepts into the planning process when you are discussing your goals and aspirations with people initiatives.

Ask for Their Input and Implement It

One of the most important aspects to building a connection with a senior leader in an organization is to actively seek out their input. By doing so, you are communicating that you understand the value of a different perspective and are open to feedback. Secondly, and more importantly, strive to implement their feedback into your strategy and initiatives. As an HR leader this will help communicate a sense of unity between you and the CEO to your team, which supports your credibility and gain buy-in from your team.

Collaborating with Your New CEO: Questions to Ponder:

1. What could you be doing differently to collaborate more effectively with your CEO?
2. What challenges have you overcome in collaborating with your CEO?
3. How have you worked to understand your business as an HR leader?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

It will have taken an unprecedented pandemic to realize the damaging effects of several decades of strategies which were certainly profitable in the short term, but which created multiple dependencies, ultimately destroying value in the long term. We can measure today the impact of localizing 80% of the world’s production of masks in one province in China, a country in which 70% of smartphones’ production is also located. We are rediscovering today the full meaning of the word value, which comes from the Latin valor, value, derived from valere, to be worth, to have value, to have virtue.

In 2018, by measuring the human capital of each country and comparing it to the one it had in 1990, with an indicator that combines the skills, experiences and knowledge of a population with its state of health, a study(*) concluded that there is a correlation between investment in education and health, and better GDP growth.

Beyond public policies at the level of a country, looking at corporations, the effects of the pursuit of profit at all costs have been measured more than once in the 21st century, from the Enron scandal in 2000, to more recently the most serious crisis Boeing has ever gone through in 104 years of history with the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX. The choices of investments of companies as well as those of States contribute or not to the common good, and to sustainable value creation. There will undoubtedly be a “before” and an “after” coronavirus, which will push States as well as businesses to question their long term strategy and their wider purpose.

About the Author: Nandini COLIN

Senior Advisor, thought leader, change maker. Click to view Nandini’s short bio