Staying Current, Staying Sane
I love Sue Shellenbarger’s WSJ column, Work & Family. I especially enjoyed reading “Don’t Be The Office Tech Dinosaur” (
http://on.wsj.com/ZvTbn0
). So you can imagine my delight when she reached out for my thoughts on the subject.
A reader asked Sue how to stay current while maintaining sanity. Here’s some of the advice I gave her:
¨ Embrace being a late adopter. Companies release over 15,000 new applications every week, and MobileWalla estimates that there are 2.1 million apps just in iTunes and GooglePlay. This says nothing about the volume of new devices churned out daily. Because many of these companies build solutions to be sticky, it can be a nightmare transferring beloved pictures, contact information and other vital information to the next provider. So let the newcomers work out their bugs and fight for survival. Then go with one of the winners.
¨ Put the internet to work for you. Search “best new technology,” or “top web apps 2013,” and you will find summaries from a variety of publications and industry experts. Then you can scan for what interests you most.
¨ Talk to people. Ask a simple question: “What tools do you find most useful?” I’ve asked colleagues, strangers at the airport, and parents at my son’s school. To a person, they have been eager to share. These interactions introduced me to a smaller, lighter laptop, an excellent corporate finance system, and an aggregator for social media. And they taught me to use my phone.
¨ Take advantage of professional societies. Industry organizations consistently publish articles addressing technology trends. If you geek out on a particular technology, likely you can find a user group associated with it. These are great for solving real problems you might be facing in the moment.
You can read Sue’s full response to the reader here:
http://on.wsj.com/11bSNQj
Get Moving
To paraphrase the law of inertia, an organization at rest tends to stay at rest. And an organization in motion tends to stay in motion. If you need to move a large number of people in the direction of an important change, you need that momentum.
But how do you get it rolling? With two levers: getting immediate action that drives our desired outcome and creating visible success to reinforce it.
Action. Pick easy behaviors that are important to the change. Support people, so they know exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to know when they get the behavior right.
Success. Reward those who complete the behavior – the reward depends on the situation. It might be a system response, a tangible reward, feedback from a supervisor, or public recognition. Spread stories of team and individual success. Focus the organization’s attention on these “wins.”
Our goal is habit – behavior that is self-perpetuating. Once the right behaviors are a habit, and you layer a number of those across the organization, you have momentum.
Here’s an example of a manager working on part of his “momentum plan” for the change.
- Send an email, reminding my team of the reason for the change, and telling them that we’re starting in small steps. Lay out my “action-success” plan for them.
- Every Monday, email my team with a behavior I want to see that week. Give examples and ways to tell they’ve done it right.
- Throughout the week, informally recognize that behavior when I see it.
- Thursday, send an email asking for stories about how this behavior worked, during the week.
- Feed the stories back to the team. Call out great performers. Be enthusiastic! Create some buzz!
- Every day: Remember the key to focusing attention: Keep it simple!
Weekly Action Plan (sample)
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | |
| Monday email: | Open every meeting with your intended outcome. | Close meetings with round-robin agreement. | Close meetings asking what other department should be involved. | Determine a decision that can be made at a lower level, and delegate it. | Call someone who isn’t implementing as agreed. |
| Thursday | Ask for stories. | ||||
| Friday | Share stories. Call one person to commend them or ask them to step up. | ||||
Sample emails
Monday
Subject: This week, open all meetings with your intended outcome.
Team,
We’ve spent eight hours discussing effective meetings. Now it’s time to put it into action. We’ll take this in small steps that add up to our vision.
This week, please open every meeting by defining your intended outcome.
On Thursday, I will ask you for examples of how it went – good, bad, indifferent. I’m looking forward to your stories!
Regards,
Tony
Thursday
Subject: How did your meetings go?
Team,
This week I asked you to open every meeting by defining your intended outcome.
How did it go? I’m interested in specific examples, good and bad, of your experience.
Thanks,
Tony
Friday
Subject: FW: Pam did a good job starting her meeting.
Team,
Here’s John’s experience from Pam’s meeting (see below). Good learning here for all. Pam, I love your idea of the flipchart page and circling back at regular intervals. John, thanks for sharing! I appreciate the leadership from both of you.
Thanks,
Tony
© 2013 Emerson Human Capital Consulting, Inc.
Death By Analysis and Droppings
Many years ago, the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) wanted a new training curriculum and I was assigned to help. The analysis phase included a detailed review of their existing materials — thousands of binders and books, wedged into a windowless room and covered in dust and mouse droppings.
This couldn’t be the best use of my time, or their money. Was there no curriculum map for the existing programs? Or maybe an instructional designer who could distill the learning approach during an interview? Apparently not. My client had told me to read each of these musty tomes. I was going to die in this place.
The binder room also included a ten-inch television airing daytime soaps for the enjoyment of Venus, the woman supervising those providing janitorial services.
One day I heard Venus on the phone:
“It’s on fire? Is it still on fire? Go check and call me back.”
Alarmed, I tried not to look like I was eavesdropping when the phone rang again.
“A supervisor? Ok. Let me know what happens.”
Back to Luke and Laura. The phone rang again.
“I’m glad you took care of it.”
Sensing a near-death experience, I had to pry. “Venus, what on earth is going on?”
“Well, someone in the cafeteria tossed a cigarette in the trash can and started a fire. My girl watched as the staff consulted procedures. They were required to call a supervisor, but they couldn’t reach anyone. They sent someone, but to get there he had to take the elevator and change to another elevator bank on the way up. It was taking a long time. So finally my girl took the fire extinguisher from the wall and put the fire out herself.”
The staff had resolutely followed the procedure and nearly burnt the place down. The process seemed logical, but the cleaning lady’s gut told her there was a better way.
Suddenly, I wanted to be that cleaning lady.
I needed to outsmart this analysis process. I developed a list of “clues” to instructional soundness, to quickly assess whether the courses were usable or not. Armed with my checklist, I flew through the binders and culled the good from the bad.
I was learning to use my head and trust my gut. My client was overwhelmed and that’s why they’d hired me to do the analysis. I decided to deliver what they needed, not what I was asked for. Starting with that project, putting out fires became my specialty.
Stay tuned! Next week we share the checklist.
Trish’s essay was originally published in Real World Training Design, by Jenn Labin, from ASTD Press.
© 2013 Emerson Human Capital Consulting, Inc.
Above the Fray
We were driving home from Lake Tahoe and stopped at a rest area just north of Colfax. As we left the car, we noticed an elderly couple work their way to the car next to ours. The man walked with a cane and his wife moved slowly to the passenger side escorting her mother, who appeared to be in her late eighties.
When we returned, a small crowd had gathered between our two cars. The mother had fallen, slamming her head on the pavement. Someone had called for help, and a woman was holding the mother’s hand. The mother was in near panic, “I hit my head. It’s bad; I heard it.” We found our first aid kit, gave them water, and tried to sooth the panicking family.
In short order, the fire department arrived with a crew of four or five. An EMT asked the woman a series of questions, “What year is this? What day of the week is this? Do you have children? What are their names?” The woman relaxed. One of the crew took notes. Another person began to guide cars around the parking area, making room for the crew to work.
Later, I asked my friend Paige, a member of the Santa Clara fire department, about what I had witnessed. She explained that each crew member has a specific role, but can flex to meet whatever other teammates need, in the moment. I mentioned the member with the clipboard, to which she said, “Oh, that’s the captain.” He was assessing the situation, leading from within.
I also remarked on the interaction between the EMT and the victim — how she relaxed once he took control — and guessed that it would have been so different had he shared her fear. Paige laughed, “Oh yes, we have a saying for that: ‘This is not your crisis.’” It means that to maintain calm, one must be calm — be above the fray.
As professionals in the transformation business, there are lessons for us. We are often responsible for dealing with high-wattage situations. We must arrive with a highly trained team — each member acting based on clear roles, but able to proactively assume whatever role is necessary, in the moment. We must assure those hit by acute change that we have the situation under control as we assess the circumstances. I’ve noticed many in our field ask the “victim” what they think we should do, and how we are doing in response. As professionals, we’d do better to assume the authority required to ensure our charge is safe and stabilized. Our response impacts whether a business dies or thrives.
© 2013 Emerson Human Capital Consulting, Inc.
Your First Impression
“You have one opportunity to create a first impression.” This truism is particularly relevant for major change initiatives.
It’s human nature to wait – to reserve support until you see whether a program will be successful. If it reeks, the team takes the blame. If it’s got legs, there are 10,000 owners.
Establish that sense of success in the first three months – immediately after the initiative has been blessed and announced. That’s the window of opportunity to create adoption and momentum for the change.
Here’s what must happen:
First, create reference points. Describe what this change will be like, and what it will not be like. We compare every new experience to what we already know. Comparing is a hard-wired survival skill: Will this experience bring food or death? It’s absolutely critical to create the right comparison, or our stakeholders will create it for us.
Which projects had that sheen of victory? Describe how this new change is like those. Which left a bad taste behind? Describe the critical differences between your initiative and the duds. Be specific. Tell stories. As soon as it begins, plant your project on the right side of your organization’s history.
Years ago, a major retailer hired me to help implement PeopleSoft. For the third time. And guess what? Virtually every stakeholder I encountered asked the same question: “How is this different from the other implementations?” In the absence of the right comparisons, people had decided this project was like those that had failed. I was in a defensive position and damage had already been done. Since then, I’ve learned it’s more powerful to find positive examples and metaphors that resonate with my stakeholder groups. I jump into that space they’re trying to fill, and provide the right comparisons. It changes the conversation.
Second, capture those who are already “all in.” Every organization has a small percentage of people who are weirdly and enthusiastically drawn to anything new. They are the daredevils — the first penguins to plunge into the icy Arctic; if the daredevils aren’t devoured, the early adopters enthusiastically follow. Identify those who might be most positively predisposed to your project, and give them a feel-good interaction with the change. It’ll tip organizational momentum in your favor.
Third, use “operant conditioning.” Define the trigger, the behavior and the immediate reward. A trigger is the context that causes a person to respond in a particular way. The behavior is what we want people to do in response. The reward is anything good – positive feedback, a happy interaction, or a treat. According to Dr. Edgar Schein, if a group engages in a new behavior, and has an immediately positive experience, they will repeat it. If they repeat it often enough, their behavior creates culture. Driving behavior through conditioning directly impacts culture and enables the ongoing success we’re looking for.
We can actually design adoption and momentum for our change. Defining reference points, getting the early adopters, and rewarding the right behaviors – regardless of the change – creates that early glow of success.
“A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
Mark Twain
“Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.”
Oscar Wilde
© 2013 Emerson Human Capital Consulting, Inc.
Change Management Myths for 400, Alex.
The first myth: that there has to be a drop in performance after a change event. There doesn’t. And there shouldn’t. The fact that we expect one creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Remember the four-minute mile? It was assumed to be an absolute limitation of human performance until Roger Bannister broke it. He broke it because he did the hard work of preparation, and because he believed he could. And after he believed, other elite runners followed. Roger Bannister had taken the teeth out of 4:00.
Setting the expectation that there will be a drop in performance is giving your power away, just as those runners used to. It’s creating a haven for sloppy change interventions. Drops in performance don’t have to happen. They happen when we have not:
- Clearly defined the performance required after the event. In other words, we have not described the specific actions each person must perform differently on Monday morning.
- Mapped the before and after, from each individual’s point of view. For example, where are the resources people used to depend on? What new resources are in their places?
- Let people practice the skills needed for these new actions. We haven’t let them try, fail, use the new tools and resources, and find a way to succeed.
- Convinced our people that they need to perform these new actions – that the change is vital to the organization and there’s nowhere to go but forward.
- Demonstrated success, so they won’t be afraid to go “all in.”
Anything new here? Nope. But here’s the issue: we have spent our days believing in the performance drop, and working to minimize it. What if our change planning made the drop unacceptable? What if the metrics we talk about, but never measure, included an immediate timeframe to adoption: start-to-success within three months?
These steps take significant effort and attention to detail. They require a pitbull’s commitment. I suspect we’re afraid to step up to the task. And we’re afraid to demand the same of the sponsor whose neck is on the line for delivery.
We’re afraid because we’re looking down. We expect hard times, lower performance, and lots of confusion and adjustment after the change. So our sponsors and our people hesitate.
What if, instead of asking them to weather the dip, we ask them to move upward and only upward? What if we tell them that, after all that ground work (in the bullets above), we’ll be stepping UP, not down? When an executive has gone to the board for a transformational change, make sure they know how to lead the team in this way. Their careers are in the balance. Give them the option to support you in doing the right work so your organization steps up — only up — to new levels of success.
© 2013 Emerson Human Capital Consulting, Inc.
Are Your Experienced Workers Getting the Most from Technology?
Tom Searcy wrote another great piece for Inc.com: Help Older Workers Adapt to Changes. He asked our team for input and we were delighted to help. Check it out, here.
© 2013 Emerson Human Capital Consulting, Inc.
