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By M. Isi Eromosele
Today, more than ever, change is essential to satisfying
expectations. Customers expect higher product and service quality than the
price they’re willing to pay to acquire those products and services. More than
ever, employees expect security in their jobs. Shareholders expect that today’s
investments will yield a higher rate of return over a shorter timeframe.
In light of today's competitive pressures and a rapidly
changing environment, to not change is to give way to one’s competitors. Hence,
it is crucial to understand that to improve means to change. To improve means a company must:
- Provide products and
services that solve customers’ problems
- Release products and
services consistent with market demand
- Reduce variability in
our processes
- Have measurements that
indicate success relative to achieving our goal
- Reward people for their
contribution to change
What to Change?
From a list of observable symptoms, cause-and-effect is
used to identify the underlying common cause, the core problem, for all of the
symptoms. In organizations, however, the core problem is inevitably an
unresolved conflict that keeps the organization trapped and/or distracted in a
constant tug-of-war (management versus market, short term versus long term,
centralize versus decentralize, process versus results).
This conflict is called a Core Conflict. Due to the
devastating effects caused by Core Conflicts, it is common for organizations to
create policies, measurements and behaviors in attempts to treat those negative
effects that, when treating the Core
Conflict, must be removed, modified or replaced.
What to Change To
By challenging the logical assumptions behind the Core
Conflict, a solution to the Core Conflict is identified. This is only the
starting point for the development of a complete solution – a strategy –
for resolving all of the initial symptoms, and many others, once and for all.
The
strategy must also include the changes that must be made alongside the solution
to the Core Conflict to ensure that that solution works and that the
organization is restored to its “best possible health.”
Respectively, these are
often the changes to the policies, measurements and behaviors identified in What
to Change?, as well as the organization's strategic objectives.
Lastly, the strategy is not complete until all potential
negative side-effects of the strategy have been identified, and the means for
preventing or mitigating them become key elements of the strategy. Trimming
these negatives side-effects allows an organization to intentionally and
systematically create strategies that are a win for all those affected.
Construct an Implementation Plan with strategic components
that will:
- Resolve
the negatives constraints that are causing the undesirable effects
- Align
with your Strategic Objectives that the particular process is a part of
- Identify
what specific changes are needed within your internal policies and
procedures of your system the ensure that the constraints are eliminated
- Quantify
the positive results that will accrue from your implementation
How to Cause a Change
Taking into consideration the unique culture which exists in
every organization, a plan is developed to transition an organization from
where it is today to realizing the strategy. In other words, a plan for
successfully implementing the strategy is created, including what actions must
be taken, by whom and when.
Because resistance to change can block even the
most perfectly laid strategies and plans, building active consensus and
collaboration, or buy-in is crucial.
- Build
a Strategic Objective Plan that chronicles the path to be taken towards
implementing the future plan that has been devised. Refine the details of
the processes that need to be changed and set specific milestones
- Create
a detailed interdependent implementation plan using components of research
results of the current problem that have been identified
- Start
implementing a detailed plan to achieve the
collaborative process needed to achieve positive results
M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance
Copyright Control © 2012 Oseme Group
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