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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Bold changes require bold leadership

Learning & Innovation - June 28, 2008

By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM

Bold changes require bold leadership

The big benefits I get from attending ASTD International Conference & Exposition are exposure to new ideas, learning from HRD thought leaders and practitioners from all over the world in formal sessions and informal chitchats with fellow delegates, access to service and product providers and freebies like books, magazines and the all-time favorite ballpens of all sizes and colors.

At least once a year I get a copy of Training Magazine. And the June 2008 issue had for an exclusive cover story Harvard guru John Kotter's penguin fable and on how to lead bold change. This is a good article because it was a Q&A and not just a review of the book. So I quote here some interesting parts of the interview (Dr. Kotter's answers) by writer Lorri Freifeld's equally interesting questions.

The other interesting features are: Keeping Forced Ranking Out of Court (on deploying the system in organizations effectively, consistently and fairly.)Sara Boehle, Across the Board (on how smart, seasoned executives and board directors benefit from training) by Gail Dutton, Certify Me (Holly Dolezalek), Meetings CPR (about compelling meetings) by Gail Dutton, How Secure is Your d

Ata? (help plug internal data leaks) by Kelly Shermach, and many others. Get a copy of the magazine and the book.

Lorri wrote: "The fable, Our Iceberg is Melting, is about an emperor penguin colony in Antartica. One day, a curious bird discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home (iceberg), but no one listens to him. The characters in the story all can be found in organizations around the world. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action in the face of seemingly intractable obstacles.

"Dr. Kotter: Change is an anxiety-producing thing. We never cease to be amazed at the creative ways people invent to jump ahead and develop better futures for small groups, for large organizations, and for themselves personally. Humans can (sometimes) be even more clever than penguins.

"Organizations have problems with all the steps to successful change (increase urgency, build the guiding team, get the vision right, communicate for buy-in, empower action, create short-term wins, don't let up and make it stick), but most people often get it wrong at the beginning. They think they've moved beyond the first step, which is urgency. People around them seem to have it, but two levels down, they don't. Or they see people scrambling around--frenetic activity with meetings and projects--and think they are accomplishing something. But all that activity often is driven by anxiety or anger, not urgency. In addition, people scampering around the building don't see the complacency in the organization.

"In smaller companies, the more change programs can cover the whole organization--there's a direct analogy to the 250 penguins in the book. In global organizations, it's rare to move 42 million people in 72 countries a step to the left. Instead, it tends to work in pieces. They get something rolling and are noticed by other parts of the company. If you can get different rates of change going, the whole thing starts to move.

" Fears hold people back. They've seen people get whacked in the past or they think that things are working fine, so why change? Find a way to purposely disarm the fears. Humor is great for this.

"The point is there is no permanent iceberg. Life is going to change, so just get used to it. It can be fun. You're going to be moving. You may end up living on something other than an iceberg, but even that may turn into an iceberg. The ultimate solution--nomadic existence in which the penguins move from iceberg to iceberg--was an analogy that what sustains you is going to change.

"My iceberg now is that when you get good at something you are tempted to stay in that box forever. I'd like to help the world get 100 million people to lead organizations and their own lives better through the work we're doing. Another of my icebergs is convincing the people working with me to move forward with me. Then you have to identify the people around you and match them to characters."

www.learningandinnovation.com; innovationcamp@yahoo.com


Thursday, June 19, 2008

Shifting frame of reference

Learning & Innovation - June 21, 2008

By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM

Shifting frame of references

One of the best things that happened at the 2008 ASTD International Conference & Exposition in San Diego early this month was having Malcolm Gladwell as a keynote speaker. Again Gladwell astonished the attendees with his precise and sharp observations of a lot of things we don't usually give a second look, analyze them with his thoughtful journalist mind and come up with a conclusion that is at once simple and profound.

His first two book were the thought-provoking bestsellers, The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference and Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. Gladwell was named by Time in 2005 as one of its most influential people.

In his keynote speech, Gladwell talked about his upcoming book (for release this November), The Outliers: Why some people succeed and some don't, where he explains the roots of achievement. "We pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from; that is, their culture, their family, their generation and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing." He writes about two kinds of innovators and creativity. He used the metaphor of artists Picasso and Cezanne to explain his point.

He called the Picassos of this world as conceptual innovators. They have one big bold notion, but they are not able to replicate their original audacious idea. He recalled that when Picasso was young, he produced such imaginative and overconfident artwork, but as he grew older his work became less remarkable. On the other hand, Cezanne took a long time to master his art, but along the way he developed deep knowledge and technical expertise and produced significant works of art after decades of patient toiling and continued to do so in his old age. Gladwell referred to Cezanne as an experimental innovator.

For sure, there are Picassos and Cezannes in our midst. There are those who show a lot of promise early on and there are those who bloom late in their careers or personal life. The experimental innovator loves to experiment, uses the trial and error method, pursues a series of technical experiences and grows on the job. The conceptual innovators dazzle with their genius and soon run out of ideas.

One big implication of this shift in frame of reference forwarded by Gladwell is for business leadership, people management and parenting. This new theory renders aptitude tests as useless. This theory proposes a greater flexibility in assessing people to avoid mismatch of people and actual demands of the job. Leaders need to regard people as blank slate and trust in their abilities. Among successful people--how many opportunities did they get? How many lucky breaks?

On the other hand, Gladwell said that parents don't have to be amazing; they just need to be not bad. Children don't need to go to the best school to succeed, they just need one heroic help.

One other implication, according to Gladwell, is the futility of planning, What is needed is business is flexibility, structure and a very powerful nurturing culture. Companies must be willing to wait and take chances.

This new way of looking at things will surely give us lots of food for thought and completely shake some of our firm beliefs.

www.learningandinnvoation.com; innovation camp@yahoo.com


Thursday, June 12, 2008

Accelerating rate of change

Learning & Innovation

By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM

 

Accelerating rate of change

 

At the ASTD 2008 International Conference & Exposition in San Diego last week, I had the opportunity to listen to one most engaging speakers, Elaine Biech (pronounced Bik) on designing and implementing change management effort in organizations.

 

She said that the accelerating rate of information in our information-rich society is directly related to the accelerating rate of change.  This means more decisions and an increased number of choices.  We make so many decisions to purchase a telephone today much more than we needed to do 15 years ago.  Purchasing something new may require weeks of research with changes occurring right before your eyes.

 

She gave the example of buying a telephone today and that you need to make the following decisions:  Landline or cell?  Caller ID?  Digital answering?  Speaker phone? Voice-activated dialing?  Camera phone?  3G? Internet capable?  Bluetooth capable?  Video and music capable?  GPS?  PDA combination?  Radio?  Television access?  Text messaging?  Picture messaging?  Which carrier? What plan?  How many minutes?  Free minutes?  Carrier-to-carrier plan?  Family plan?  OFW plan?  Replacement phones?  Warranties?  Insurance?  Ringer choices?  Headset?  Battery life?  Charger?  Car charger?  Other accessories?  And most important, what color?

 

Ms. Biech says that the increased amount and rate of information has placed not only individuals but more so organizations on ever accelerating paths of change.  She shared this change model from her book, "Thriving through Change:  A leader's guide to change mastery" (ASTD Press 2007). 

 

First, challenge the current state:  collect and analyze data, determine organizational readiness, establish change management roles, build a business case and establish a sense of urgency.

 

Second, harmonize and align leadership:  consider your change leader's qualities, select a change implementation team, create a compelling change vision, explore alignment and design a change communication plan.

 

Third, activate commitment:  design the implementation plan, build a critical mass, predict reactions to change, plan to manage resistance and attain buy-in to the vision.

 

Fourth, nurture and formalize a design:  understand how change affects the system, select appropriate metrics, conduct a risk assessment and select appropriate implementation and planning tools.

 

Fifth, guide implementation:  encourage involvement, identify ways to promote short-term gains to build momentum and determine ways to increase motivation.

 

And Sixth, evaluate and institutionalize change:  evaluate the change effort, institutionalize change elements and review organization's culture.

 

Ms. Biech says you can never communicate too much during a change initiative.  During a change effort, employees have similar questions:  what is happening, why do we need to change now?  How will it affect me?  How can I get more information?  Keep these questions in mind as you design, refine and implement a change communication plan and as you continue to work through the change process steps.

 

As graphic artist and children's book illustrator Mary Engelbreit puts it:  If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.  Or this quote by John A. Simone, Sr.:  If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change.  If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change.

 

www.learningandinnovation.com; innovationcamp@yahoo.com

 


Thursday, June 5, 2008

Day & age of shifting changes

Learning & Innovation 
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM

Day and age of shifting changes

USA is asserting itself as a thought leader.  There are conferences and discussions on various subjects going on simultaneously in different parts of the country simultaneously and one after the other.  For example, there are book fairs every month in different states and in Los Angeles several literary events like the BookExpo America  (BEA) and Leimert Park Book Fair came at the heels of each other.  Then there are meetings and symposia on various aspects of the arts, sciences, technology, medicine, and others.  The annual International Conference and Exposition sponsored by American Society for Training and Development happened June 1-4 in San Diego while that of the Society for Human Resource Management will happen on June 22-25 in Chicago.  Rotarians from all over the world will convene in Los Angeles this June 15-18.

I observe that one common major topic for all these meeting of minds is change--evolutionary or small developmental changes and revolutionary or quantum leap changes.  Some of this changes involve shifts in direction and mindsets.  When directions and mindsets change, actions, behaviors and emotions change and so do needs, wants, expectations, products and services.

At BEA, Jason Pegler, CEO of Chipmunk Publishing, talked about changes in printing method from the traditional to digital.  This shift in method could mean a cleaner, healthier work environment for workers and faster turnaround of products, but it might also mean loss of job because lesser number of employees could work on multitasking machines.

A more radical shift is in the delivery of products, from hard copy to electronic copy.   However, publishers are not too keen on the idea.  They say that people could share a hard copy to one person at a time.  They might photocopy the book, but it might be too expensive and not comfortable to read.  A digital copy could be uploaded on the Internet and downloaded by any number of readers or one digital copy could be sent to so many addressees in just one click.  The digital book might not be a sound business proposition.

In the news nowadays here in San Diego, California, are shifts in ways of doing businesses and in lifestyle to help cope with the still-rising cost of gasoline.  GM announced that it will close four truck and SUV plants and rethink its gas-guzzling Hummer options to either sell or kill the brand.  It will also pursue its production of an all-electric car, build new global compact car for Chevrolet, produce high-efficient engines and improve its operations.   USA Today reports that what is happening to GM is another sign that the auto industry faces a bleak reality:  "The days of big wheels are over."

Argus Research analyst Kevin Tynan was quoted by USA Today, "Hummer was always about being the biggest, most rugged, most ridiculous thing on the world.  What that says to me is that for this brand to stay competitive,  it has to move away from its mission statement.   The 15-year trend of SUVs and pickup trucks is over, that's what everyone is saying today. "

GM is not just changing, it is shifting its direction and mindset.  GM CEO Rick Wagoner says,  "Higher gasoline prices are changing consumer behavior, and they are significantly affecting the U.S. auto industry sales mix."

The same issue of high pump price is being used by some other companies to drive sales.  USA Today reports that among them is upscale Callaway Golf, with an "increase your driving distance" giveaway of gasoline cards up to $100 with the purchase of select drivers.  "Tee price of gas is a concern for everybody,"  Callaway spokeswoman Michele Szynal says.  "If  people are considering buying a non-essential product like a golf club, this helps ease the guilt."

Other companies going for more mileage from gas, according to USA Today, are Charter Communications ($25, $50, $100 gasoline cards to customers who go online or upgrade its TV, Internet and phone services.) and Chrysler (car buyers cards good for a fixed price of $2.99 per gallon for up to 12,000 miles a year for three years).



Day & age of shifting changes

Learning & Innovation 
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM

Day and age of shifting changes

USA is asserting itself as a thought leader.  There are conferences and discussions on various subjects going on simultaneously in different parts of the country simultaneously and one after the other.  For example, there are book fairs every month in different states and in Los Angeles several literary events like the BookExpo America  (BEA) and Leimert Park Book Fair came at the heels of each other.  Then there are meetings and symposia on various aspects of the arts, sciences, technology, medicine, and others.  The annual International Conference and Exposition sponsored by American Society for Training and Development happened June 1-4 in San Diego while that of the Society for Human Resource Management will happen on June 22-25 in Chicago.  Rotarians from all over the world will convene in Los Angeles this June 15-18.

An observation is that one common major topic for all these meeting of minds is change--evolutionary or small developmental changes and revolutionary or quantum leap changes.  Some of this changes involve shifts in direction and mindsets.  When directions and mindsets change, actions, behaviors and emotions change and so do needs, wants, expectations, products and services.

At BEA, people are talking about changes in printing method from the traditional to digital.  This shift in method could mean a cleaner, healthier work environment for workers and faster turnaround of products, but it might also mean loss of job because lesser number of employees could work on multitasking machines.

A more radical shift is in the delivery of products, from hard copy to electronic copy.   However, publishers are not too keen on the idea.  They say that people could share a hard copy to one person at a time.  They might photocopy the book, but it might be too expensive and not comfortable to read.  A digital copy could be uploaded on the Internet and downloaded by any number of readers or one digital copy could be sent to so many addressees in just one click.  The digital book might not be a sound business proposition.

In the news nowadays here in San Diego, California, are shifts in ways of doing businesses and in lifestyle to help cope with the still-rising cost of gasoline.  GM announced that it will close four truck and SUV plants and rethink its gas-guzzling Hummer options to either sell or kill the brand.  It will also pursue its production of an all-electric car, build new global compact car for Chevrolet, produce high-efficient engines and improve its operations.   USA Today reports that what is happening to GM is another sign that the auto industry faces a bleak reality:  "The days of big wheels are over."

Argus Research analyst Kevin Tynan was quoted by USA Today, "Hummer was always about being the biggest, most rugged, most ridiculous thing on the world.  What that says to me is that for this brand to stay competitive,  it has to move away from its mission statement.   The 15-year trend of SUVs and pickup trucks is over, that's what everyone is saying today. "

GM is not just changing, it is shifting its direction and mindset.  GM CEO Rick Wagoner says,  "Higher gasoline prices are changing consumer behavior, and they are significantly affecting the U.S. auto industry sales mix."

The same issue of high pump price is being used by some other companies to drive sales.  USA Today reports that among them is upscale Callaway Golf, with an "increase your driving distance" giveaway of gasoline cards up to $100 with the purchase of select drivers.  "Tee price of gas is a concern for everybody,"  Callaway spokeswoman Michele Szynal says.  "If  people are considering buying a non-essential product like a golf club, this helps ease the guilt."

Other companies going for more mileage from gas, according to USA Today, are Charter Communications ($25, $50, $100 gasoline cards to customers who go online or upgrade its TV, Internet and phone services.) and Chrysler (car buyers cards good for a fixed price of $2.99 per gallon for up to 12,000 miles a year for three years).