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Changing change management

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Gettler, Leon. ‘Changing Change Management’. Acuity 2.3 (2015): 48.

Five tips from management guru Tom Peters on how to make change management programmes work by Leon Gettler

TOM PETERS , one of the world’s most influential management thinkers, burst on to the scene 33 years ago with the publication of In Search of Excellence, an analysis of what sets successful companies apart.

He wrote this business book with fellow McKinsey consultant Bob Waterman and it became the model for other business writers. Originally it was self-published. More than 25,000 copies were sold directly to consumers until Warner bought it and sold 10 million more.

The book launched Peters on the path to becoming a global, jet-setting guru. The man The Economist called the “uber-guru” took to the world’s lecture circuits, his manic rants flowing through rooms like a river of electricity as he urged businesses to annihilate hierarchy and bureaucracy, to blow up organisations and drive innovation, to foster uniqueness and celebrate chaos.

Peters was one of the first to take to the blogosphere, in 1999. His Twitter output is prolific, added to his relentless calendar of speeches and client engagements, At 72, he shows no sign of slowing down.

Peters is scathing about the 70% failure rate of change management programmes. As he says, permanence is the last refuge of those with shrivelled imaginations so change has to be brilliantly managed.

He has five tips to make change management programmes work.

  1. “You have to want the change to occur so much, and excuse my American vernacular, that you are willing to take almost an infinite amount of shit along the way because change programmes, if they are significant, are rocky.The notion of a CEO or a person running a 500-person division ordering a change process, getting someone to develop a new system, implementing the system and have all go well with great profitability, the odds of that are as close to zero as can possibly be.”
  2. “Idiots fight enemies, geniuses build alliances. People running change programmes including CEOs need to spend 90% of their time with allies and 10% of their time with enemies. You don’t convert enemies with a radical change programme until you’ve got a lot of evidence underway, so ‘ally developing’ is the key period. You have to recruit them, you have to spend an incredible amount of time with them, you have to respect their input to the point that the change you’re trying to process might not look like what you began with, but it’s all about allies.”
  3. “Don’t let them nail you for the little crap. Save your energy for the important stuff and don’t allow yourself to be written off for silly trivial reasons.”
  4. “Start prototypes as fast as you can. The programme you implement will only vaguely look like the one you propose. You’ve got to learn stuff fast along the way. Forget planning and start acting. Just keep accumulating the wins and the losses. If you’re in a staff job like CIO or CFO, let the line people do the selling, not you. The guy you want in front of the chief executive officer, you want the guy who runs the distribution centre who has implemented your program and done a fantastic job with it. The more you stand on the back row and the more they get the full credit, the faster the changes will occur.”
  5. “It all gets back to tenacity. There are resilient people in the world and there are those who aren’t so resilient. Churchill did once say the ability to succeed is the ability to go from screw up to screw up without loss of nerve. Churchill had 60 years of problems and four good years. We remember him for four good years, as we should.”

WORLD BUSINESS FORUM

Tom Peters is speaking at the World Business Forum, sponsored by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, in Sydney 27-28 May 2015. wbfsydney.com

LEON GETTLER is an independent journalist, author and public speaker.

A Cut Above

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Andy Mclean. (2015). A Cut Above, Acuity. 1 (4), p50.

If your business stakes its reputation on delivering high-quality services or products, then it’s essential you have the capability to execute-especially when the clock is tacking and deadlines loom.

Andy Mclean writes, there are a number of lessons that leaders can apply to any business aiming to deliver premium quality.

  1. Lead by example

Whatever size your business is, there’s no substitute for getting among your people and customers. If you lose touch with the way people experience your business, you will make poor leadership decisions

  1. Never, ever accept second best

If your business trades on being premium, you cannot afford to compromise on quality at any stage. Get your suppliers and your staff into a mindset that only the best will do.

  1. Leak from the outside in

“Innovation stems from looking at the business from the customer’s perspective.

  1. Collaboration creates dedication

Giving your staff input keeps them interested and gives them a stake in what you are doing. It also means the business never stands still, it’s evolving. And it encourages a culture of problem solving too. So get everyone’s ideas on the table.

  1. Listen to loyal customers

“Whatever industry you work in, repeat business is golden. Marketers always say that it’s easier to retain customers than to attract new ones. So if you have loyal customers, take the time to find out why they keep coming back to you. Their insights will help you hold onto them, and help you find ways to develop similar loyalty from other customers.

 

For more details on this article, please see acuitymag.com

7 Business Habits That Drive High Performance

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Nicholas S Barnett. (2015). Seven Business Habits That Drive High Performance. Acuity. 2 (1), p46-p47.

Why do some professional service firms continue to outperform their competition?
Why do some continue to grow and others decline and become less relevant?
Why do some retain and grow their client base while others lose clients and shrink?

Yes, there are short-term initiatives to give firms a boost, like hiring one of the more senior specialists from another firm or taking on a whole term form a competitor. Bust a sustained advantage over competition. It means embedding certain important things so deeply in the culture and DNA of the firm that your competitive advantage and way of life cannot be replicated. So what those few important things.?

Those seven habits are:

1. Live an inspiring vision

2. Communicate clear strategies

3. Develop your people

4. Go out of your way to recognise your people

5. Genuinely care for your people

6. Listen and adapt to your customers’ needs

7. Continually improve your systems

For more information about this article, please see acuitymag.com