They went into the ark two by two. The go down the isle in a wedding two by two. We buy … two gloves, and two shoes. Some things “just come in pairs.” Not identical pairs, but in many cases functional pairs … like in the ark. Functional pairs, a left glove and a right glove, to give protections to both hands … same function by mirror images of each other … fitting together, matching and complementing each other. Mis-matches don’t work: two left gloves … or a well-sewn right glove and a “barely ...

Nowhere is Business IT alignment more critical than in the implementation of an Enterprise IT system. Nowhere is senior leadership more critical for good BITA. Failure to get the senior executives into the game almost dooms the implementation from the beginning. System advocates who really believe the system will help the business do better business have the responsibility of getting senior execs on board and playing useful roles. Implementation of an enterprise system is a top-down ...

I am hearing a lot about Business IT Alignment. What is it and how do I get it from my company? Answer: Business and IT can be said to be aligned if two conditions are regularly met: 1. IT can consistently be employed to strengthen or raise the performance of the business…and 2. IT systems can be put to work in the business without employee “angst.” Making money for the business without employees having to work and fret for 80 hours a week should be the primary driver behind ...

Question: I am hearing a lot about Business IT Alignment. What is it and how do I get it from my company? Answer: Business and IT can be said to be aligned if two conditions are regularly met: IT can consistently be employed to strengthen or raise the performance of the business…and IT systems can be put to work in the business without employee “angst.” Making money for the business without employees having to work and fret for 80 hours a ...

When a chemical company makes a change to its physical plant, it is usually pretty obvious. There is likely to be construction work clearly visible to managers and employees alike for weeks, if not months. When construction and testing are complete, it is rare for anyone to be surprised that the new facility is expected to be utilized. Watching construction progress is a favorite pastime of many employees on the job. But beyond providing entertainment, watching construction progress helps ...

Begging for Time “I don’t have time to do my job today, much less have the time to [learn a new computer system, serve on another change task force, be interviewed by 26 kid consultants, attend a company forum to listen to our CEO answer stupid questions about why we have to change in order to meet a competitor’s price]. I am not against changing the way we do business … I get it … to stay competitive we all have to make changes. The plain truth is that I just don’t have the time … and I can’t ...

What makes change so difficult for some employees? Answer: Many changes in business are not difficult … as a radio personality often says, "I can do it with half my brain tied behind my back." Some changes are difficult, no doubt about it. One concern is that we are making change more difficult by giving it a reputation of difficulty. For example, see the quote below about change coaching (us): Essentially, Rock said, “The goal of coaching is to change the brain. You’re facilitating ...

No word has been used more often in the last decade. No word is more accurate in describing what is (and has been) happening in the world of business. I wish I could say that no word excites and motivates more people in business…but such is not the case. “Change” is a word that many hear with fear and dread. To many, change means frustration, discomfort, exhaustion, and even failure. There are few people who have not had a bad experience with change in their place of business. If one announces ...

We are currently implementing a change in our production scheduling. We just got started and, already, we feel lost in the details. What do you suggest? Answer: There are a lot of details in the implementation of any major change. You must keep track of those details, organize them, and turn each detail into a scheduled action item. Three indispensable tools include (1) a template that can help identify and organize the details and (2) a critical path project scheduling system (like MS ...

Why are Holland & Davis consultants always bringing up “the organization chart?” What does our company’s organization chart have to do with the process changes we are trying to make? Answer: The organization chart is the business-standard representing the pattern of official positions, relationships and responsibilities. With an organization chart, one can find his own reporting relationships, as well as see the officers who are directly responsible to the owners of the company. With regard ...

The discipline of Change Management can be viewed from two perspectives: from the change manager’s point of view and from the point of view of the workers who are undergoing organizational change. Both perspectives are important and demand active attention if an organization and its workers are to experience successful organizational change. Change Manager’s Perspective For the change manager who is responsible for executing an organizational ...

How can I keep the executives in my company focused on the very change they said the company needs and they said they want? Answer: Energy conservation. To make change happen, executive intent and energy are both needed. Execs must be clear on what they intend for the company and they must supply the energy needed for change with their verbal support, their presence, their hands-on actions, their time and their access to company resources. The problem comes when the cycle time of a change ...

A thud is the sickening sound of failure, an indication that something has gone wrong. When you are flying in an airliner, you really don’t want to hear a thud, particularly a loud one. As practitioners of change engineering, we have had the occasion to hear a thud as well, an indication that something is about to go wrong. Of course we have trained ears … and what sounds like a thud to us doesn’t always sound that way to others in the organization trying to change. Here are three ...

We have all heard the clever detective say, “To get to the bottom of this mystery, we must follow the money.” Consultants often use a similar rule of thumb: “To discover the cause of the business problem, find the pain that management is feeling.” Sometimes that’s a good idea … but sometimes it is not. Sometimes the pain point may not be the problem; it may be a case of “referred pain.” Wikipedia defines referred pain as “an unpleasant sensation localized to an area separate from the site ...

We have all heard the clever detective say, “To get to the bottom of this mystery, we must follow the money.” Consultants often use a similar rule of thumb: “To discover the cause of the business problem, find the pain that management is feeling.” Sometimes that’s a good idea … but sometimes it is not. Sometimes the pain point may not be the problem; it may be a case of “referred pain.” Wikipedia defines referred pain as “an unpleasant sensation localized to an area separate from the site of ...

I have seen so many change models that they are starting to look all alike. If you could add “a missing piece” to many of these models, what would it be? Answer: The one piece that’s missing from many models is what I call the ethics of change, specifically asking for sacrifice from others when big changes are needed, but not showing an equal willingness to sacrifice in the offices behind the glass doors. A good example was the past CEO of American Airlines, Don Carty,* in changing AMR ...

What does the whole idea of Powerball have to do with change management? The answer is everything... if you are talking about successful organization change, on time, on target, and on budget. You see, it's really a power game,despite what you might hear from organizational behaviorists. What do I mean? Who makes the call on what cities will be served by an airline? The CEO and the Director of Operations … not the chief pilot, not the pilot’s union, not the chief weather man, ...

In the construction industry, there is a concept that is universally understood: “build to spec.” The definition of the concept is pretty straight forward. The owner of an asset under construction uses technical resources to help define the specifications of the asset to be built. Those final specs become the basis of the “blueprint” for the asset. In order to adhere to the build to spec concept, the actual construction project is conducted so that the blueprint is followed and all ...

Our company is hot on the trail of a new business strategy. Any words of wisdom? ANSWER: Yes, develop the smartest strategy you can ... and then slam dunk the implementation. Plan from the beginning to validate your business strategy and then to get it into “full play” in your organization. Executives might have an excuse to develop a strategy that turns out not to have been the best idea. Strategy development will always be hampered to some degree by “external uncertainties:” ...

Delegation has been a highly studied and publicized topic over the last few decades. The general conclusion of most management advocates is that, as managers, we ought to do more of it. Fortunately, that is good advice for management’s “Run the Business” role … but, unfortunately, delegation means a quick and sudden death in a manager’s “Change the Business” role. Run the Business; Change the Business Managers today, in a time when change is the rule and not the exception, must play two ...