Change Whisperer on ProjectManagement.com

“I wouldn’t give a fig for simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.”?Oliver Wendell Holmes

What does breakthrough innovation look like?

Let’s start with a common reference point. Say, something boring made stunning.

Something you thought you would never use, like, or buy that you suddenly reconsider.

A friend sent me this great video(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdvxQj7b_ds) of modular, multi-purpose furniture. “Yawn,” you say? Look again.

This stuff is elegant and remarkable:

• Functional: Tables serve as seats or desks. Bed units are also wall units, desks, sofas, etc. Still yawning?  Wait, this is not your grandmother’s Murphy bed.
• Breakthrough design: A Murphy bed takes up 12” of wall space with a box spring adaptation—it weighs 450 lbs, but operates at a finger touch on a hydraulic lift; a built-in desk does not have to be cleared to fold down; end tables turn into dining room tables to seat eight.
• Quality: Designs have minimal moving parts, solid steel construction; they work with finger-tip ease and have a life-time warranty.
• Modern and complementary: Not only does the bed itself have unique and modern style but there is also an entire line of complementary pieces.  And entire apartment can be outfitted with the style and additional space-saving benefits.
• Differentiator: This changes the way one thinks about multi-purpose furniture, and can change the way the user lives in his or her space.

Everything about this furniture is deliberate, thoughtful, and optimized. Look again at the hinge on the bunk bed at 4:24?it is below center so that the bed folds under the shelf. Even big parts like the fold-down double bed work silently and move effortlessly. 

“Complete Design”

Yes, the end product looks so elegant as to be simple. However, as Ron Barth explains, the furniture systems represent “complete design.” They are the culmination of multi-discipline collaboration: every design involves a furniture designer, a mechanical engineer, and a hardware company. This requires collaboration of a higher order.

Something tells me that achieving this level of innovation (balancing creativity, precision, and quality) has inherent challenges. There are three competing value systems and design criteria to balance. And there is risk on the order of magnitude of: “Can this be done?” and “Will it sell?”

This is not for the faint of heart.

Characteristics of the innovation experience

My own experience with product development involved:

• Researching current market and known market needs and forecasting nascent needs
• Envisioning a product that does not exist in that market as yet
• Working across the organization to design and plan
• Delivering (think pig in a python)

These include and go by many names and disciplines, such as market research and strategy, product management, marketing management. Even project management is brought in for execution. However, one thing was crystal clear: a journey of this kind is not linearand not that predictable.

Innovation requires many different professionals in a process that is intentionally disruptive.

Intentionally disruptive

One can either take a big risk and go for the “big bang” (long development and launch full product) or do more rapid-cycle development. Either way, there are always unknowns, and skeptics abound. One must be constantly re-building commitment in the core team, selling the vision across silos, horse-trading for scope (and resources), modifying and re-prioritizing and re-planning. It is quite the ride.

The changes these products bring often alter the way people do their jobs internally. They disrupt individuals’ expectations and can require them to shift their beliefs and behaviors.

As an example, rolling out online banking for retail customers (I know—it seems ancient now but it was only 15 years ago) changed the way individuals banked and changed the face of banking. Among the changes? Less traffic to branches; more and different inquiries to call centers; different types of fraud and money laundering.  All of these required role and process changes in the organization.

The old-school approach to product development (pretty much top-down, big bang) was complex enough ?now, however, there is pressure to keep market share by rolling out change quickly, even if in smaller pieces. 

Now forward-looking organizations run a multi-year, rolling roadmap of product development that provides for frequent new product roll outs. Just think about Apple’s track record since its first mp3 player.  Internally, organizations may be preparing multiple upgrades on the same products concurrently.  This level of complexity creates high levels of change, and corresponding stress and anxiety.

Where do breakthroughs come from?

Imagine that to develop and executive your strategy you need to go beyond the core delivery team to call on the brightest minds across your organization, across your supply chain, across your customer base.

It almost makes me giddy—all that potential is thrilling and daunting at the same time.

The first mindset shift is getting people to maintain two concurrent frames of reference:

1. Preservation and Optimization: operational efficiency and quality on current daily operations.  This is the safe place for most current leaders.  They are good at it; they derive authority and identity from it.  Bonuses and promotions have been dependent on delivering consistency.
2. Change, breakdown, re-engineer and re-build: In the design phase there is a need to challenge everything—every premise, every workflow, and every output. This is often difficult for those who designed the current version even while it is thrilling for those newer to the team. In the execution phase, the experience is completely different for start-ups vs. established offers.  Let’s go down the path of replacing an established offer?organizations typically prefer to build a concurrent offer and then transition customers off of the old and onto the new.  This requires organizations to run two offers for the period of the transition.  

These two priorities (stability and change) are in conflict with each other and balancing these on a daily basis puts some bandwidth stress, both emotional and physical, on leaders and their teams.  

The dream and the reality

Imagine that you can create a customer experience unlike anyone else’s?so simple, seamless, and optimized that your organization is the obvious choice, that even emotional loyalty to an organization that could/would deliver that is outweighed by the pure superiority of the experience itself. 

Organizations say they are trying for that every day?yet “stuff” gets in the way:

• General comments: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” “We tried this before and failed,” “So thisis the latest fad?it will blow over.”
• Fear and insecurity: “Will I have a job after this change?” and “WIIFM?”
• Power and ego: “What will my domain look like when this is done?”

The secret weapons: understanding, alignment, and commitment

“Simplicity on the far side of complexity” begins with the leadership team.

It begins with a full and detailed understanding of both the dream and the reality. Most organizations assume this. And we know where this leads.

Most organizations assemble the leadership team to develop and anoint the strategy, and then they parse out the components and expect that it will all synchronize. But it doesn’t.

Conner Partners, with over 40 years of execution experience in observing patterns of winners and losers, has revealed a few potent interventions. Leaders often do believe in the strategy. However, commitment at the outset is usually a superficial “uninformed optimism” that breaks down quickly.

A fuller exploration of the strategic intent and the moving parts of the execution plan up front reveals the conflicts that need to be addressed and resolved.

This is work?it challenges the “stuff” that sabotages strategy. The investment in developing explicit, deliberate, and thoughtful alignment around the impact of the strategy pays off. In that process, real commitment can begin.

On the other side of the strategic intent work we see a much more sober, but clear and committed team. Their understanding of the challenges, the opportunity, and the plan forward is crystal clear. It is a form of simplicity on the other side of complexity.

In the next post we’ll look at the nature of dynamic and collaborative breakthrough innovation.

Related Posts:

• Breakthroughs in strategy(http://gailseverini.com/2013/03/03/breakthroughs-in-strategy/)
• Honk if you love innovation. Quotes and resources on innovation (http://gailseverini.com/2013/01/01/honk-if-you-love-change-quotes-and-resources-on-innovation/)

Really—do you need 20 great quotes, 10 tips, or 8 more guidelines?  Implementing strategy is hard work that can’t be distilled to a few pithy quotes. 

You don’t need shallow platitudes. You need deep insight and sober resolve from battle-scarred resources.

Want your kids to grow up? “Stop cooking with cheese!”

There is a fantastic commercial that suggests kids live at home into their forties because the cooking is just too good.  Check it out here http://www.tvspots.tv/video/41104/DAIRY-FARMERS-OF-CANADA--BEDROOM

Feel the pain

In the commercial, the only ones who feel the pain and are prepared to make a change are the parents.  They go to extreme lengths to send their “kid” the message?to create some pain for him.  The strategy is consistent with best practices in change management?the change target needs to understand the logic and needs painful consequences. In the commercial, whether the kid gets the message or not, the pain threshold for him is not high enough. 

Find insight and resolve

This is not the same thing as attempting to create fear.  Many cheesy renditions of the “burning platform” suggest that you need to make people afraid in order to drive them into change. The original intention of that catchy phrase was to convey that what one needs is “resolve.” (The kind of resolve you see dawning on the parents.) Check out the original thought leadership here “The Real Story of the Burning Platform” (http://www.connerpartners.com/series/the-burning-platform).  

And by the way, when you go deeper, to more fully understand change, you can appreciate that there are actually four different types of burning platforms and different approaches for executing successfully. Imagine how much more effective you can be with that kind of insight.

Find Hope

So are you feeling the pain of inadequate change management? Are cross-silo leaders paying lip service to objectives? Getting compliance but not commitment? (Or worse, malicious compliance?) Seeing entrenched resistance?  

Stop cooking with that fattening, feel-good, cheesy advice. 

Resources and related posts:

Some places where experienced practitioners hang out:

• Organizational Change Practitioners Group on LinkedIn (at last count the largest community of OCM practitioners, at 31K)
• The Association of Change Management Professionals (http://www.acmpglobal.org/default.asp? )
• The Change Management Institute (https://www.change-management-institute.com/)

Other related posts:

• “What’s missing in Strategy Execution?” and the Strategy Execution Methodologies (http://gailseverini.com/2012/03/02/securing-roi-in-break-out-strategy-a-review-of-execution-methodologies-post-1-overview/)
• Change Management Conferences 2013 (http://gailseverini.com/2012/10/13/change-management-conferences-2013/)

And, in case you still like cheesy lists, here are a few more from me:

• Top 10 Competencies of Change Leaders (http://gailseverini.com/2012/08/30/top-10-competencies-for-change-leaders/)
• Top 10 Competencies of Change Agents (http://gailseverini.com/2012/09/13/top-10-competencies-for-change-agents/)

“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.” Albert Einstein

Kids these days have a phrase: “FAIL.”  It means something like “epic failure” and describes scenarios often so common or standard that when someone fails it is all the more astounding. A huge pop culture industry has evolved around those occurrences that are particularly funny. It started with shows like “America’s Funniest Videos” and now “Ridiculousness”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridiculousness_(TV_series)http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridiculousness_(TV_series)) takes it to the next level.

Seems to me that someone could make a show around “FAIL” in organizational strategy.

How can we all get out of this fail loop?

This little rant is inspired by an excellent post from Bill Fox called, “Jump, Rinse, Repeat.  Why do we keep implementing change like this?”(http://leadchangegroup.com/jump-rinse-repeat-why-do-we-keep-implementing-change-like-this/).

Cliff jumping

Bill starts with, “It’s like going to the edge of a 50-foot cliff and jumping when all you’ve witnessed are others ahead of you jumping away. As a result, you don’t see what they did before they jumped, what the landing area looks like, or what happened when they landed!”

Why do we keep implementing change like this? The cliff-jumping metaphor is a great one and it makes my response obvious: Because it's more fun and there are relatively few consequences. I am only being a little glib. Having spent 20+ years in strategy execution as an internal and external consultant in several dozen organizations, I have come to believe that there are systemic issues, as in “built into the systems and culture of the organization.” 

These systemic issues are bigger than individual leaders alone, and changing the system seems like such an impossible challenge that the only option is to keep jumping within the system.

The reality in the back rooms

In back rooms, people will tell you: "this is the third time we are taking a run at this strategy," "people may get fired but that's rare," or "those who get fired are the ones charged with executing the strategy and not those who designed it." There is little connection between the ideal strategy for the organization and the feasible strategy for the organization. 

Those in execution are always preparing the contingency decoys. They have to—it’s a survival technique. In other words, the initiative fell short because x competitor changed its strategy, there was a y change in external environment (economic collapse, FX rate blind side, etc.) or z supplier failed (delivered late, over budget, or inferior product). 

The real problems are more like:

• Executives are required to focus more on quarterly reporting than they are on three-year strategic plans. This spawns compromises that always undermine the long term.
• This is too much change for the organization (i.e., bandwidth, adaptation capacity)
• The inter-dependencies (read cross-silo) are not well understood
• Leaders are not fully committed because they have to hedge for survival, promotion, next move, etc.

Three suggestions to “jump” the system

Stop leaping from strategy into execution

I know, it feels like plenty of time is spent upfront, yet we still fail, so stay with me.

Invest more time in better planning. Expect that this learning investment can be amortized over several years.

Try a few different things, like:

• Play through the strategy with the whole team and probe the cross-functional implications
• Bring those who are executing the change into the strategy process and make those designing strategy work in the business, on the floor. 

Jettison “creative tension”

The notion of “creative tension” suggests that when executives have to compete (for ideas, resources, power, etc.), they perform better. This is a fallacy.

The only way to succeed going forward is to collaborate—it produces the best ideas and optimal cooperation within the whole organization. To some extent, this can be accomplished by alignment and tools like Balanced Scorecard but, apparently, there are limitations.

Internal competition is toxic to collaboration. Collaboration is a major culture change?invest in it appropriately.

Stop firing people for failing—fire for incompetence

Failure and incompetence are actually qualitatively different, but they’re hard to differentiate. You want to keep competent people who failed, so that the organization does not make the same mistake next time.

If we always do what we always did…

The obvious answer is this: if we want different results, we have to do different things. 

Alas, what may be obvious is not simple.

“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”?Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Isn’t that what great leadership does—teach us to long for the endless immensity of the future?

That is not nearly as easy as it sounds. It is about more than the typical prescription for “vision.”

Actually, more great leadership is what I long for these days. I long for strategic leaders who have oceans of imagination, energy, momentum, and resolve. You don’t see it so much as you feel it, and are swept in by it. It aligns with your values and calls your best self forward. It reminds you of what is possible—what you are capable of.

This is not about charisma, with its shallow veneer and gloss of likeability. It is about something much deeper—personal commitment.

Great leadership inspires words such as “legacy,” “visionary,” “influencer,” and “exemplar.” Most leaders have heard this calling, even if it has been reduced to a whisper.

And, yes, before all the scholars and trainers get agitated, there are excellent leadership techniques, skills, and capabilities. But those will only empower the underlying motivations.

Real leadership is about who you are, what you stand for, and what you dream about.

Most of us are capable of drawing on this, but we get sidetracked. We become disappointed, frustrated, and disillusioned. We sell our souls for job security, bonus, and promotions. We fear change and what it might mean for us. We lose our capacity to dare.

There is a way back.

The heart of a great leader keeps beating on the dream of making a difference.

We are waiting for you.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

Are you also longing for leadership? Send this post to your leaders as encouragement and a vote of confidence. Post it in the cafeteria or in the gym, “share” it, “re-tweet” it—get the message out there. Make your own voice heard. Talk to your leadership; ask them what inspires them and what their greatest hopes are for the organization, for your community, for the economy. Ask how you can support them.

Are you a leader who has lost the spark? What first intrigued you? What did you think you might be able to do? What would you do if you had nothing to lose? What is the future that you want to live into? Please, re-discover the leader in you.

Are you an emerging leader? Yes, you are. Walk tall. Get up when you stumble. Be bold.

Are you a follower? Don’t wait. There is a leader in you. Be a voice of hope and determination. Lead discussions on future possibilities.

Above all, look to the future.

We have been hunkered down for a couple of years following the recession. 

In early 2012, I was hopeful that organizations would break back out. However, it seems to me that this is only happening in pockets.

There are a few brave souls on the horizon, however.

Train wrecks dominate

There is plenty of bad news (think crises like the sub-prime catastrophe and Barclays LIBOR manipulation, arguably caused by weak leadership  [more here “8 High-Profile Financial Scandals in 5 Months” http://abcnews.go.com/Business/high-profile-financial-scandals-months/story?id=17023140#])

I find myself longing for great leaders?for the potential that they see, and the energy they can generate.

Real inspiration in the face of adversity

I have been impressed with a few leaders in the last several years. I don’t necessarily agree with all of their views or approaches (in fact I may disagree with some). Rather, it is their determination and willingness to stand on their truth that impresses me. 

• Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO, Starbucks for “Create Jobs for USA” (http://news.starbucks.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=572)
• Antony Jenkins, Group Chief Executive, Barclays for being willing to take on Barclays’ culture in the face of the LIBOR scandal (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-barclays-boss-sets-values-plan-081032258--finance.html)
• John Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods for trail-blazing ethical business as documented in the new book co-written with Rajendra Sisodia “Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business”

There are many other less-famous leaders who toil every day to make a difference. We are privileged to work with many, but can’t tell their stories without breaking confidentiality agreements.  I will, however, share a quote that sent chills down my spine, spoken by one such leader: “I may not be forgiven for launching this strategy.”  We all knew in our bones that this strategy was an imperative?that it might not work.  We still worry (although we don’t dare say it) that it might damage the organization.  Still, he perseveres.

So I am curious. Who inspires you?

Please share names, stories, links in the comments section.