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‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
January 26, 2008
‘Even those professionals that really welcome change and are energized by it also find it difficult and stressful to deal with.’ ?Hank Paulson, chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group and U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee.
THE PROBLEM: Although some people like making changes, no one likes being changed.
Generally, change management issues focus on employee groups. But what about the managers that are supposed to lead the change efforts? Recent studies show that they often dig in their heels as well.
According to separate articles published recently by the Journal of Marketing and the management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, psychological factors come into play that cause leaders to cover up their mistakes, glorify and rationalize old but trusted ways of doing things, and close their minds to new methodologies and innovation.
The brain naturally pushes back when told what to do. This is attributed to homeostasis, the movement of organisms toward equilibrium. ‘It?s really a subconscious process,’ said Richard Staelin, business professor at Duke University?s Fuqua School of Business. ‘It?s really the way humans go about making decisions.’
And as managers age and have more to protect in the forms of position, credibility and respect, they unconsciously work harder to confirm their prior opinions and ward off risky change. Whether backing off an exuberant young employee, finding fault in the latest training program, or punching radio buttons looking for a familiar tune, they reinforce the tendency to be ’stuck in our ways’ and close-minded to change.
However, the psychologist Dean Keith Simonton found that the closing of the mind isn?t necessarily due to age. It often relates to how long the person has worked in one discipline. Simonton found that scholars who switch disciplines seem to get their openness rejuvenated.
It’s not chronological age that closes us off to change but ‘disciplinary’ age.
In addition, the neuroscientist Marion Diamond has shown that one of the surest ways to trigger adult neurons to form new connections is to place the organism in a stimulating environment. Maybe companies should explore how all employees should ’switch hit’ and make big changes in their jobs or careers every few years.
FIVE BRAIN SHIFTING TIPS:
1. The more people are pushed, the more they resist for the sake of resisting. They lose sight of why they resisted in the first place. Instead, invite people to try on new possibilities and to participate in a safe and judgment-free dialogue related to the change.
2. Although people don?t like to be told what to do, they do experience an adrenalin-type rush of neurotransmitters when they figure out how to solve a problem themselves. Many managers are taught to coach employees to discover their own paths to change. They also need this coaching from their higher ups. Also, hiring an executive coach to help illuminate these blocks in thinking and actions can help a manager to stay alert to fresh possibilities.
3. When asked to make a change, ask the person who made the request to describe the desired outcome in observable terms. If you can see the outcome, you are able to activate the creative centers of your brain. It is easier to define solutions, goals, and actions when you have a mental map. On the other hand, if you can?t hold the picture, it?s hard to get on board with new ideas.
4. At the first signs of your own stubbornness or sabotage, you should ask yourself, ‘What is at stake here, really?’ Is it really a bad idea or do I stand the chance of losing credibility, control, or career predictability by accepting this change? Is there any truth to my fears? Remember, it is much easier to rationalize than to be honest with yourself. This is also where a coach can help.
5. Make change a normal function in your company by stressing the learning of new jobs and the frequent shifting of responsibilities (with purpose of course). Do this in the spirit of growth and discovery. Allow people a voice in how their direction is changed. If the brain gets used to change, it will less likely perceive it as a threat.
Hopefully, when managers come to understand their own resistance to change and the pain they feel when change is forced on them, they will become more understanding and tolerant of the difficulties their employees face as well. With this new found compassion, they can discover new ways of working and being together.
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Marcia Reynolds has spent over 25 years teaching and speaking to audiences world-wide. She specializes in helping people to understand how their brains work so they can make better choices about their behavior, their communications, and their impact. Speaking in over 11 countries, she has been recognized as an expert in emotional intelligence since 1997.
Reynolds is the author of Outsmart Your Brain: How to Make Success Feel Easy and the audiotape series, Being in the Success Zone. Her insights have appeared in Fortune Magazine, Health, Christian Science Monitor, Harvard Management Update, Entrepreneur, Cosmopolitan and The New York Times, and she has appeared on ABC World News, NPR and Japan Nightly News. You can read more at www.OutsmartYourBrain.com or contact her at Marcia@OutsmartYourBrain.com
December 29, 2007
Most MBA classes concentrate on change management at the Corporate Board Room and CEO levels and yet for every corporate board of directors there might be hundreds or even thousands of outlets and subdivisions. Change Management cycles are equally as important to same store sales, company profits and efficiencies at the unit level.
If the team members and management at the store outlet level do not work together then the store is not efficient, sales slack and the system crumbles. If on the other hand at the store level everything is running smoothly at all stores then the Corporate Board Members look like geniuses, take all the credit, retire on the Golf Course and write a management book.
Indeed the corporate level folks are partly to thank or to blame for the management at the unit or store level and yet without proper training and team work at that level nothing good will happen and the customers will know it and sales will drop off too.
Goals and conditions along with mission statements must be set and agreed upon by verbal, written and social contract between managers, assistant managers, swing-shift managers and team leaders of each department at each store or outlet. If not the system breaks down and everyone loses, especially the shareholders. Consider all this in 2006.
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‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
November 2, 2007
One of the most important places to ensure that change management situations go correctly will be at the regional management level and with those managers who are overseeing the corporate outlets for a large area. Often when the regional manager leaves, moves to another position or trades with another regional manager we find that all the information that they know about goes with them. Smooth transitions are necessary to ensure proper succession and productivity during the process.
Severe problems have been seen at the regional management level when a regional manager dies of a heart attack, quits the company without notice or is moved to a different part of the Company, which is in a terrible situation. Of course for the company, which moves their regional managers around to put out fires in other regions, often they end up causing conflicts and gaps in management skills from where these managers were but left to fix another region.
This means that the region they left will not be performing up to its ability in the marketplace and cause a problem with same-store sales in that region and hurt the profits of the corporation. Likewise when the regional manager is moved to a different region there is already a problem there and those store sales are also in decline. Playing musical chairs with regional managers can lead to a change Management disaster if they are not properly handled. Please consider all this in 2006.
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‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
Any time there is a change in management at the corporate level it can cause a conflict with productivity, efficiency and innovation. For those companies that rely on innovative spirit to propel their profits such decreases can spell disaster for the department or division. Consider if you will a project manager who is rapidly reassigned to another division or another important project.
The project team may not gel as well with the new brand new manager and that means the efficiency in productivity in the project flies out the window. Worse off, often we see a decrease in the innovative spirit and that can cause a disaster and even cause the project to fail. All too often we find that project managers in large corporations become part of the innovative backbone of the endeavor. If there are rapid changes this can cause a disarray amongst the employees and put the project behind its scheduled goals.
As the team works to make up for lost time the motivation can also be lost and therefore the innovative spirit is simply not there when and if the team runs into a problem that is not easily solvable. And change management case studies especially in cases with project managers involved decreases in the innovative spirit must be considered. Think of this in 2006.
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‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
Often there are times in business when corporate managers and executives need a little shake up and that means to shed the dead weight that is not up to the performance standards that are required to run the company efficiently. When this happens it is of the utmost important to get rid of those executives or corporate managers who cannot cut the mustard.
If employees, executives or managers who are up to snuff, but perhaps not well liked are the ones that get the ax then this becomes a political event and other top-notch employees who are giving 110% in everything they do will stop taking risks because they are afraid they might be next to go. This causes increased primate politics and favoritism and only makes things worse.
In fact in case studies after Chainsaw Al had done his dirty work in large corporations it was noted that many middle managers all the way up through executives stopped taking risks, because they were afraid if they did the wrong thing they would be fired. Businesses must take some risk in the marketplace because the only constant as we know is change.
When you were involved in a dynamic market there will be changes and the executive management team will need to deal with these changes and take risks and find new ideas to handle the challenges. If change management is not fair and honest with a good measuring stick then you risk the problems of executives and managers afraid to do their job and take the necessary risks to succeed in the marketplace. Please consider all this in 2006.
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‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
One of the biggest concerns and the reason why so many consultants and MBA business schools study change management is because it directly affects the productivity of the company and the efficiency and the use of the organizational capital, which has been already established at the management levels.
How does change management affect the productivity of a company or corporation? It is simple really, you see, when a manager who is well-liked is moved to a different part of the company, leaves the company because he is disgruntled with his superiors or is fired due to lack of performance or corporate politics you can begin to see the dynamics and complexity of change management and human behavior.
If the manager was not performing and was let go, then perhaps he was too easy on the employees and the new manager may not be well-liked and therefore this could cause productivity to decline. Perhaps the manager was not performing because he was a jerk to his employees and productivity was not up to speed. A new manager put into place with the proper management skills will see a direct and immediate increase in productivity in this case.
If an efficient manager was moved to a higher position in the company or slotted into a different management position and productivity could drop if the new manager does not pick up or shadow the old manager to ensure a smooth transition. Needless to say change management very much affects the productivity of a company and executives would be well advised to consider the social aspects, productivity and efficiency of any change in management. Please consider this in 2006.
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‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
Change management and fast-moving high-tech companies can be devastating for the efficiency and innovative spirit of the company. All too often high-tech executives will find other work and leave the company to go work for another corporation. Most sophisticated high-tech companies understand this dynamic and therefore you strategies such as stock options and golden handcuffs to keep their managers and executives in place as long as possible.
Wall Street is also concerned with change management and fast-moving high-tech companies and they realized that when there is corporate shakeup at the executive level this could interfere with the company’s productivity, efficiency and therefore profitability. Remember shareholders equity in quarterly profits are the most important thing to Wall Street and if the company cannot beat the Street with increased per-share earnings then there will be held to pay in the stock price.
Of course if there are executives or management teams, which are not working out in the various departments or divisions of the high-tech company there does need to be some shakeup of management otherwise it will run amok. High-tech fast-moving companies must move fast in the marketplace with their products, as well as with their corporate management teams to keep the pace up. Please consider all this in 2006.
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‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
October 25, 2007
Anyone who has spent time in software development organizations knows that some teams seem to achieve superhuman productivity, and some teams just can?t seem to get anything done. I think that the ratio of productivity can be hundreds to one, no matter how you measure it. What is it about Highly Effective Teams that lets them make so much progress with so little effort? Here are some the characteristics of these super-teams.
- Highly Effective Teams have effective leaders ? and followers
Leaders of Highly Effective Teams know their team members well, and how to give their teams direction and get compliance by motivating each individual in his or her most effective way. Leaders may step aside to let a team member with more experience take the lead for a particular task. Team members are comfortable taking direction from more than one source at a time, sorting out the priorities and contradictions, and doing the right thing with a minimum of supervision.
- Highly Effective Teams share an explicit goal
Each team member may have his or her own personal goals, but all the team members understand the common goal, because they all helped to define it. Team members are willing to temporarily set aside their own goals to help the team meet its overarching goal.
- Highly Effective Teams are always learning
Highly Effective Teams never assume that their way of working is the only effective way: they are constantly learning new techniques from each other, from other teams, and from books and experts. Highly Effective Teams even learn from their own mistakes ? when something goes wrong they figure out what happened and make sure never to repeat it.
- Highly Effective Teams aren?t afraid of conflict
Members of Highly Effective Teams have learned that they are all responsible for the quality of the team?s work, so they are not afraid to challenge design assumptions, or to point out programming errors, or to suggest better processes. But they know how to disagree with respect, and to receive suggestions in the spirit they were offered, and to compromise when necessary.
- Highly Effective Teams are always innovating
Team leaders and members are always looking for a better, more efficient way to get the job done, and they are willing to experiment with new techniques and processes. Even when the new technique is no improvement, the team learns something that they can apply later.
- Highly Effective Teams celebrate early and often
Members of Highly Effective Teams know that developing software is akin to running a marathon, and requires patience and endurance, so they get in the habit of celebrating small forward steps. Getting the first clean build, or solving a nasty bug, or getting a 10% performance boost might be an occasion for pizza and beer after work.
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About the Author
Bruce Taylor is the owner and principal of WorkingInUnison, an Organizational Development consulting firm located near Boston, Massachusetts. Bruce helps software organizations of all sizes to create low-stress, supportive, adaptable working environments, so that the engineers, leaders, and managers can work as effectively as possible. He provides executive coaching for senior managers who are creating superior organizations, management coaching for technical leaders who are adapting to new agile practices, and individual coaching for engineers who are upgrading their skills. Bruce has a Masters in Computer Science from Duke University, a Masters in Community Psychology, and a Certificate in Job Stress and Healthy Workplace Design, both from the University of Massachusetts. He can be reached at http://www.workinginunison.com or at brucetaylor@workinginunison.com.
October 24, 2007
What do you mean with change? Who is affected? Why it happens? Where? Or, when? When exactly does something change?
The amount of sun light that you may receive throughout the year is a variable linked to seasonal development. If you start to observe this seasonal cycle at the beginning of the winter season, than the days -? that part of the day with daylight — will increase every day, but only with a differential of seconds or minutes. Than, before the summer is even started the lengths of days start to shrink again.
Maslow developed the theory of human motivation, more famous for the ? ?hierarchy of needs? often depicted as a pyramid of which the lowest level hold the most basic needs. Like animals we need to breathe, drink (water), rest and eat. But could you imagine an animal to feel sad because of an underexposure of daylight?
Now for the sake of understanding change you might wonder when, during this cycle of day light variations, is your mood affected. The amount of daylight we receive affects all of us, but we are able to adjust to this change. It are small changes that scale on a daily bases, but all of a sudden, we acknowledge the effect of autumn. People that are prone to the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) are not able to adapt to these changes. For them ‘…the darker half of the year brings a heavy veil of sadness. They become depressed, listless, chronically fatigued, and their mood does not rebound until March, when the daylight extends to early evening.’ (http://www.sciammind.com/article.cfm? articleID=000241B3-2975-132F- A8CA83414B7F0000&pageNumber=1)
If you are not prone to this disorder, you are able to adapt to these small changes. Then the question is; how do you do that? What is your tactic? Do you adjust to the fall of autumn by evaluating the previous ended summer and that you can do with a change… That you have had enough sunlight? … That you can appreciate the value of each season?
This is probably why there are seasons (although not everywhere). Human culture has put order in the life around us, and seasons form part of this. It is our culture that provides a way to handle and confront the natural environment around us. Although you will not notice the difference in length of a single day on June 21st, 22nd or 23rd . we do celebrate the change on one specific day and we are able to prepare ourselves for the next season.
You can be prepared for a change, but still you do not know what you will feel like when the particular day ?arrives.? At the moment it is hard (for those living in the northern hemisphere) to imagine the winter again, where you are all dressed up …But all of a sudden, one day in October you may feel tired and depressed. Now you probably think, ‘that will not happen to me,’ but you cannot be sure.
Only prepared.
? 2006 Hans Bool
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