Managing Organizational Change
Practical Strategies For Leading During
Turbulent and Challenging Times
The Main Objective –
Maximizing Value to Your Community
Frank P. Saladis PMP, PMI Fellow
Past President NYC Chapter, Past Chair PMI EDSIG,
Community Involvement Lead - IT & Telecom COP
Frank P. Saladis PMP
•
Background
– AT&T Long Lines
– AT&T BCS and Corp. ITS
– Cisco Systems
Professional Services
– International Institute for
Learning
– Past President PMI® NYC
Chapter
– Author -10 books
– Community Involvement
Lead – IT & Telecom CoP
– Founder International PM
Day
– PMI Person of the year
2006
2
A Thought About Why We Are Here
Leadership meetings and other project management related
functions are continually preparing us for a greater role in our
communities. We are not only gaining experience and improving
our leadership capabilities, we are also becoming mentors,
people who have the ability to help others find ways to make a
difference in their lives, in their businesses, and in their business
community.
Thereby, we are all making a difference
Project Leaders Believe In:
 Community
Bringing members of the project management
community together for knowledge sharing is an
effective method for advancing project management
expertise and to facilitate steady and positive
personal growth.
 Engagement
Listening to, and building on, diverse viewpoints
enables creativity and generates new possibilities
and opportunities
Session Objectives
 Provide a foundation for developing strategies to
manage organizational change effectively
 Provide techniques that will improve the community
leader’s ability to create value adding change
 Improve the capability to create a change ready team
 Apply tools and techniques that will enhance
personal leadership effectiveness.
Quote of the Day
“There is no force more powerful in modern
business than productivity”
UTC CEO George David (United Technologies Corporation)
Human Pathology – A Management
Metaphor
• Leaders and Managers
– Diagnose problems
– Determine the organization’s ills
– Prescribe courses of action
• First, do no harm – a fundamental precept for physicians since
Hippocrates is appropriate for business leaders as well
• Change an organization through an understanding of its formal
and informal attributes – Its organizational DNA
Leadership Lessons Learned from Skilled
Physicians
• The effective leader understands how to avoid broad-spectrum
applications when tweaking just a few elements with finesse and
sensitivity can lower the pain and raise the game
Strategy and Business, Leaders, Do No Harm, November 2013
3 Key Strategies for a Sustainable Course of
High Performance
• Strategic clarity and coherence
– Articulated and communicated required capabilities
• Resource Alignment
– Continued investment in capabilities critical for success
• Supportive organization
– Structure
– Incentives
– Decision rights
– Skill sets
– Culture
How Ready are you for Growth? Booz & Company, Ashok Divakaran and Vinay Couto
Eight Elements of Organizational Design
• Formal
• Informal
– Decisions
– Norms
– Motivators
– Commitments
– Information
– Mid-sets
– Structure
– Networks
You can’t simply shift people around and
expect to truly change the way they work
PMI | Presentation Title
Let’s Get Settled
• Introductions
• Network
• Share
• Relax a bit
• Listen
• Change seats
Indicators That Life Is About To Change
 Merger, Acquisition, Divestiture
 New product or service
 A new leader, boss, manager
 New technology
 New project
 New requirement
 New customer
 ________________
Organizational Change Within Your
Organization or Community
• Significant changes
– Planned
– Unplanned (surprises)
• Impact of the change
– Short term (immediate)
– Long term
– Consider brand, employee / member perception,
relationships, teamwork, attitude,
– Positive or negative effect (damage, opportunity)
• Lessons learned
What Project Managers are Telling Us
The Key Competencies of a Project Manager
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Communications Skills-verbal, written, text
Leadership Skills
Organizing Skills-planning, time management
Interpersonal Skills
Negotiating Skills-Diplomacy and mediating
Team Building Skills
Technical Skills
Emphasis on
professionalism in
planning and execution
Personal Assessment: Consider Your Current
Capabilities and Your Future Opportunities:
1. To do all aspects of my leadership duties well, I need to improve
_______
2. If I were better at _______, I would excel relative to my peers
3. If I improved _______, I would resolve an ongoing problem
4. Feedback from several sources indicate I should improve _______
5. In the future, my organization will need more people who are effective
at _______
6. To advance to the next level of leadership within my organization I
should learn more about ______
7. The reasons why I should continue my personal development include:
____________________
Thoughts About Change
 People don't resist change. They resist being
changed!
[Peter Senge]
 If you want to make enemies, try to change
something. [Woodrow Wilson]
 Change is the law of life and those who look only to
the past or present are certain to miss the future.
[John F. Kennedy]
The Reality Of Change
Scenario
Value if Everyone
Value if no one
Adopts the Process adopts the process
Process change that
$ 125,000
impacts a workgroup of 15
0
Technology change that
impacts 150 employees
$ 780,000
0
Transformational initiative
that impacts 1,500
employees
$ 1.655,000
0
A new process creates no improvement unless individuals follow the
process. Likewise, a new tool or system delivers no value if individuals
do not use the tool or system
“90 % of project problems are caused by
people, not machines, tools or equipment”
Dr. Harold Kerzner, Ph.d
Organizational Level Impact of Poorly
Managed Change
•
Costs:
•
Productivity plunges (deep and sustained)
•
Loss of valued employees
•
Reduced quality of work
•
Risks:
•
Impact on customers
•
Impact on suppliers
•
Morale declines
•
Legacy of failed change
•
Stress, confusion, fatigue
•
Change saturation
Achieving The Desired Results
• The essence of change management is to encourage and
enable the individual transitions resulting from a project or an
initiative
• At the most basic level, if individuals don't adopt and embrace a
change, results will not be achieved
• The more effectively we can enable and encourage those
individual transitions using change management, the more
successful our projects and initiatives will be.
Developing your personal plans to improve how you manage
change
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
ASSESSMENT
Assessing Your Change Management
Skills – Score 1,2,3 or 4 for each question
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I try to anticipate and lead
change within my
organization
I make full use of the latest
worthwhile IT
developments
I take any competitive,
technological, and market
changes very seriously
I look for opportunities for
radical as well as continual
change
I like to be different and
seek productive ways of
creating difference
6. I take an open minded
approach toward new ideas
and possibilities
7. I link change to any known
needs of the customer
8. I keep my change philosophy
simple and concise
9. I involve customers and
suppliers in my plans for
change
10. I make a full and careful
business case for changes
and change projects
Assessing Your Change Management
Skills
11. I break change projects
down into manageable
components
12. I consult widely in the
process of deciding on
strategy and action
13. I obtain people’s agreement
to the actions demanded of
them
14. I use and develop teams as
the basic units of change
management
15. I use quick-fix changes for
instant results early in the
change program
16. I plan well ahead for the
long-term payoffs of change
17. I am careful not to create
over-optimistic expectations
18. I seize the opportunity to
reward, celebrate, and
encourage successful
change
19. I make sure everybody
knows the answer to “What’s
in it for me?”
20. I have effective and
adaptable contingency plans
available
Assessing Your Change Management
Skills
21. I anticipate adverse reactions and
plan how to deal with them
22. I use well-designed pilots and
experiments to test my change
plans
23. I share relevant information with
colleagues and staff as soon as
possible
24. I work closely with like-minded
people who are eager to change
25. My own behavior is flexible and
highly adaptable to changing
needs
26. I encourage people to speak their
minds openly and to air their
concerns
27. I tackle resistance to change
promptly, fairly, and vigorously
28. I use quantitative measurement to
obtain the results I want
29. I review and revise the
assumptions that underline the
change plan
30. I ensure that thorough training
keeps people up to date with
change
31. I start the next change project as
another draws to a close
32. I use self-appraisal to check on
myself and the organization
Analysis
• 32-64 : You are resisting change or are unsure of
its potential benefits. Overcome your fears and
learn to plan for change
• 65-95: You understand the need for change –
Now you must develop your skills to achieve it
successfully
• 96-128: You are a skilled agent of change.
Remember that change is a never-ending
process so keep planning ahead
Essential Managers, Managing Change, Robert Heller, DK Publishing Inc. New York
It is not necessary to change.
Survival is not mandatory.
~W. Edwards Deming
Change is inevitable - except from
a vending machine.
~Robert C. Gallagher
Prepare yourself and your team to become
change ready
When you are through changing, you are
through. ~Bruce Barton
Predictions – What’s Coming?
 Look ahead
 Your career
 Project management methods
 The next PMBOK ® Guide – 900 pages?
 New credentials – ACP? PgMP?
 Technology
 PMI ® - What is changing?
 The global economy
 Energy
Dealing With Change
• Change is almost always disruptive
• It can be traumatic
• People often avoid it if they can
• It is part of organizational life
Be Tolerant of Mistakes
Zero defects is an alien concept in
Managing change and transition.
If people waited until changes could be
performed perfectly, they would never
make the change
No such thing as an error free approach
That’s Inconvenient!
Change occurs through vision…
And bold ideas!
Noticing Small Changes
Early Helps You Adapt To
Bigger Changes That Are
To Come
Who Moved My Cheese?
Cheese Philosophy
The quicker you let go of old cheese,
the sooner you find new cheese.
Movement in a new direction helps
you find new cheese.
Old beliefs do not lead you to new
cheese.
“Imagining Myself Enjoying New Cheese Even
Before I Find It Leads Me To It” -Haw
Lessons Learned About Change
If you were assigned as a “change mentor”……
• Reflecting on your personal experiences with
change (organizational change, change that
affected people you know, leaving a job, starting
a new business, other significant change events)
what lessons would you pass on?
Sources of Change
Wants, needs,
causes
New
Creates new
opportunity
Influences
Enterprise
Environmental
Factors
Top Drivers of Change
1.
Consumer preferences
2.
Energy costs
3.
Tax policies
4.
Reverse innovation
5.
Non-traditional competitors
6.
Extended enterprise risks
7.
Exponential growth in information flow
8.
Long-term growth strategy / Globalization
9.
Succession planning – exit of baby boomers
10. Generation values – BB, GenX, Gen Y, Millenials
11. Technology
Bloomberg Business Week
Change Can Be Destructive
 Change can kill the spirit of an organization
 Change often leaves job commitment lying
wounded and weak
 Change puts heavy demands on the
organization
 People tend to avoid change
Managing Change and Transition, Harvard Business Essentials
Stages of Reaction To Change
 Shock
 Defensive Retreat
 Acknowledgment
 Acceptance and adaptation
Managing Change and Transition, Harvard Business Essentials, Harvard
Business School Press
Lessons Learned About Change
1. Change involves numerous phases
2. Skipping steps only creates an illusion of speed
3. Critical mistakes in any phase can be
devastating, slow momentum, and negate
previous gains
4. Even the most capable leaders often make at
least one big error
Harvard Business Review on Change, Leading Change, John P. Kotter
Lessons Learned About Change
Most successful change efforts begin when:
You look very closely at your company’s
competitive situation, market position,
technology, and financial performance
You observe trends, declining margins, and
emerging markets
You communicate this information broadly and
dramatically
You motivate people to engage in aggressive
cooperation
Harvard Business Review On Change, Leading Change, John P. Kotter
Key Points About Change
• Don’t under estimate the difficulty of driving
people out of their comfort zone
• Don’t over estimate your success in increasing
the urgency of a change
• Have patience. Don’t eliminate the preliminaries
• Change demands leadership. Beware of too
many managers and not enough leaders
Harvard Business Review On Change, Leading Change, John P. Kotter
Paving The Way for Successful Change
How Do You Become Change Ready?
Think
Differently
Instead of repairing something to get it back to the way it was
before, we need to ask ourselves: How can we fix things and
make them better than before?
Change Can Charge Up an
Organization
 Change is part of organizational life
 Change is essential for progress
 Change opens doors
 Change encourages creativity and innovation
 Change can create the momentum to reinvent an
organization
Transition Management:
Remove Doubt, Cynicism and Disillusionment
 Provide employees with a strong sense of
purpose
 Justify the challenge of the change
 Provide a vision and mission that will inspire
 Employees won’t get emotional about
“increased market share” or 20% reduction in
cost”
 Create a genuine belief in the need to change
Barriers to Empowerment
Relationship Management
Formal Structures
Make it difficult to act
Bosses discourage
Actions aimed at
Implementing the
new vision
Employees understand the
Vision and want to make it
a reality but are boxed in
A lack of needed
Skills undermines
action
Personnel and information
Systems make it difficult to act
Source – John P. Kotter, Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press
Leadership: Set Expectations Intentionally
 Assign responsibility for results
 Hold people accountable
 Assigning responsibility indicates a level of
trust between leader and team member
 Assigned responsibility is associated with
personal worth and abilities
Leadership
 An organization is change ready when:
Leaders are respected and effective
People feel personally motivated to change
The organization is non-hierarchical and
people are accustomed to collaborative
work
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Communicate Relentlessly










Specify the nature of the change
Explain why
Explain the scope of the change, even if it contains bad news
Develop a graphic representation of the change project that
people can understand and hold in their heads
Predict negative aspects of implementation
Explain the criteria for success and how it will be measured
Explain how people will be rewarded for success
Repeat, repeat, and repeat the purpose of change and actions
planned
Use a diverse set of communication styles that is appropriate for
the audience
Make communication a two way proposition
A Basic Enterprise Change Model
 Company culture, values, and behavior
 Vision and Business imperatives
 Communication
 Leadership (to drive change)
 Execution
 Follow-up
A Project / Program Change Model
 Business imperatives
 Clearly defined objectives
 Leadership
 Change Control process
 Communication
 Execution
 Follow-up
The Handwriting On the Wall -Haw
 Change happens
 Anticipate change
 Monitor change
 Adapt quickly to change
 Change
 Enjoy change
 Be ready to change Quickly and enjoy it
again and again
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson, M.D
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York
Conclusions and Summary:
The Main Objective –
Maximizing Value to the Business
Stop focusing on what you can’t
control and address what is
Important –
Your business and your projects
Taking Action
 Three main areas of leverage
1. Improve processes
2. Improve the effectiveness of human
resources (human capital)
 Working smarter through leadership
 Cross training – greater flexibility
 Promote an adaptive attitude
3. Utilize technology
 Increased efficiency
Lead The Way
 Build a multi-year productivity improvement
plan
 More efficient and faster methods
 Training – Leadership, influencing, innovation
 Replacement of old technology
 Business justification for new projects, products,
and services focused on customer benefits and
value to the organization
A Plan of Action
•
Determine how exposed
•
obligations
your business is
•
Review and update your
•
–
•
Obtain payments and
collect unpaid bills
business plan
–
Prioritize your financial
Planning is
continuous
•
If you are not
planning, you are
planning to fail
•
Control inventory
•
Review staffing
cutting measures
requirements
Review your cash flow
situation
Take appropriate cost
•
Maintain a positive outlook
•
Consider discounts
A Plan of Action
• Invest in your employees through
performance reviews, coaching, mentoring,
communicating, training
• Acknowledge excellent work
• Examine your leadership style and adjust to
create a committed and change ready
organization
Summing Up
• Enlist the support and involvement of key
people
• Develop a realistic implementation plan
• Support the plan with consistent behavior
• Develop an “enabling structure”
• Celebrate milestones
• Communicate relentlessly
International Project Management Day
• 7 November 2013
• www.internationalpmday.org
• We are attempting to plan a worldwide event
that connects project managers in an effort to
enhance awareness of the value of the
professional project manager
References and Source Material
• Managing Change and Transition – Harvard
Business Essentials
• Conquering Adversity – Christopher Novak
• A Survival Guide to The Stress of Organizational
Change – Price Pritchett and Ron Pound
• Firing Up Commitment During Organizational
Change, Price Pritchett
• Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson M.D.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York
• Harvard Business Review on Change, Harvard
Business School Press