Archive for the 'Change Mgmt' Category

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Improving a Process

Published on March 17, 2005 in Change Mgmt and Process. 0 Comments Tags: .

How do you know when to reengineer a process? I get this question posed to me during every engagement, usually about a specific process, and mostly from company executives and managers whose business has stagnated. As people start to view processes as a critical success factor for business, they naturally want to improve their processes to better fit their way of managing the business.

Business management is process management. If your management style does not include process management in your organization, it should.

Here are some factors to mull over when deciding how to handle a process change:

  • size of the change,
  • number of and specific people involved,
  • your organization culture,
  • single or multiple organization involvement,
  • complexity of the current process,
  • can technology be applied,

  • impact of results you seek.

You must question each step of your process. Getting down to whether or not each step adds value to the overall process, is a painstaking process in itself. Ask yourself when deciding to reengineer, whether you have the knowledge, the time, and the patience to walk through all the steps one by one, probably with multiple groups multiple times. While your department, division or management group may have something to gain, another group may end up feeling like they lost. Remember, just because you have figured it out and realize great savings can be had, your peers and associates may well take some hard convincing. So improve that process when you see huge gains from cutting or mutating many steps, when your change may make the difference between success and failure, or when adopting a new technology will allow you to leapfrog your current, out of date, processes.

To Blog or Not To Blog

Published on March 6, 2005 in Change Mgmt. 0 Comments Tags: .

There have been several well documented blogger firings from companies in the recent press, and it brings up many questions of legality, morality and human resources. There’s a good article at Workforce Management, but you’ll need to register for free to read it. Bloggers Find The Ax is Mightier Than The Pen recounts some of these recent firings and the questions that arise.

Do employees have the right to post online commentaries about their employers and jobs? Is it wise for employers to restrict these sites? And what happens when employees step over the line and post something that’s embarrassing or detrimental to co-workers or the company?

You’ll find some examples of employee blogging policy and recommendations from attorneys on how employers can address the Internet activities of their employees during and after work, while not infringing on employee rights.

Companies must understand that this isn’t just a random hobby that a few people are engaging in. It’s becoming a mainstream and widespread form of communication. Employers must recognize that unless they accommodate blogging, they risk losing good people.

I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of this!

Re-Invent Your Business

Published on December 15, 2004 in Change Mgmt and Process. 0 Comments

An organization, be it a business, a school, a non-profit agency, is a collection of processes. These processes are the natural activities you perform that produce value, serve customers and generate income. Managing these processes is the key to the success of your organization.

Unfortunately, most organizations are not set up to manage processes. Instead they manage tasks. Think about it. Isn’t your company organized around functions. . .the accounting department, the engineering department, the sales department, the customer service department?

As a result, people tend to focus on departmental concerns instead of the company-wide needs of customers. Sub-processes evolve within departments without consideration of other functional areas. Layers of communication and management are created to ensure desired outcomes, thereby adding to costs and lengthening cycle and customer response times.

Inefficiency and waste become part of the system. They rob your organization of profits, productivity and its competitive advantage. But, there is a way out.

Process mapping is a simple yet powerful method of looking beyond functional activities and rediscovering your core processes. Process maps enable you to peel away the complexity of your organizational structure (and internal politics) and focus on the processes that are truly the heart of your business. Armed with a thorough understanding of the inputs, outputs and interrelationships of each process, you and your organization can:

  • Understand how processes interact in a system
  • Locate process flaws that are creating systemic problems
  • Evaluate which activities add value for the customer
  • Mobilize teams to streamline and improve processes
  • Identify processes that need to be re-engineered

Properly used, process maps can change your entire approach to process improvement and business management. . .and greatly reduce the cost of your operations by eliminating as much as 50% of the steps in most processes as well as the root causes of systemic quality problems.

As you put your plans and goals for 2005 together, re-invent your business.

Think Before You Link

Published on November 13, 2004 in Change Mgmt and Technology. 0 Comments

Via New England Project Services, I came upon an article in ComputerWorld, “Hi, I’m from IT and I’m here to help!” The story reminded me of some stupid thinking on what technology can do for you.

In the IT systems integration business, you see a lot of silly things. Some of the more absurd are the extremes to which companies will go to get unnecessary network connections between systems.

Consider a 20-year-old encounter with a potential client. They wanted to enable four workstations in a workgroup to share two printers. (Yes, I know, this is simple now. But back then…) The customer bought the printers, necessary drivers, queuing software, protocol stacks, network modules and hub ports. The cost of the printers: less than $450 each. The cost of of the network components and software to enable the workstations to share printers: $4,000.

There are times when IT systems integration is the wrong thing morally, physically and financially. I encountered this about 15 years ago when a client had a site a couple hundred miles from headquarters. The remote location was way out in the boondocks somewhere and they wanted a high-speed (19.2k) network connection between sites. Research showed that about $250,000-worth of phone equipment was needed for the hook-up. The phone company was charging them for changes required at their central office. And why did they need this? So that payroll files could be sent from the main office to the remote site twice a month. My recommendation: $20/month for floppy disks and FedEx!!

Not everyone needs technological solutions. A tremendous amount of money is expended in the name of user productivity on technologies that are rarely used. Obviously, technology is not always the solution.

Common sense should be the first indicator when deciding whether to install or change information technology. Not a study, not a massive committee meeting or a consultant’s report. Just a clear common-sense statement of why the systems are necessary, why now is the time to install it and how it will improve the workplace. The changes should start out small and grow. Just THINK before you LINK!

Politics and Numbers (continued)

Published on November 2, 2004 in Business and Change Mgmt. 0 Comments

Here’s a good article in Forbes, The Good Old Days, about manufacturing and lost jobs and why you shouldn’t care.

We shouldn’t be so admiring of the factory jobs of yore. They were dreary, low-paid and repetitive and gave rise to strikes for a good reason. The safer course is to admire the machines that were made, but be thankful that today Americans have better jobs designing phones and selling boom boxes.

We have lost jobs, gained jobs and changed jobs over and over again — not because of some individual or political party, but because that is the way business and economic cycles work. Always be prepared. . . .and don’t whine about it.

Headed for Trouble

Published on October 17, 2004 in Business and Change Mgmt. 0 Comments

The National Federation of Independent Business warns to watch out if your small business exhibits these six signs of potential trouble:

  1. Checking and savings balances have dipped below normal averages.
  2. The sales “pipeline” is slowing and sales staff is reporting fewer productive sales calls than in the past.
  3. “Bread-and-butter” articles of inventory have remained unsold for longer-than-expected periods.
  4. Payments to suppliers are continually delayed or put off altogether.
  5. Upper management retracts set plans for all types of growth and development requiring additional funding.
  6. Banks and other loan providers ask for additional information on financial statements and loan requests.

Older workers heed entrepreneurial spirit

Published on September 30, 2004 in Business and Change Mgmt. 0 Comments

It’s surprising how many new small businesses have started after the wave of downsizing the past several years. Some entrepreneurs have been forced into it, while others have chosen a different form of retirement. Houston Chronicle.com – Older workers heed entrepreneurial spirit

Starting a company for the first time after 50 might seem challenging and risky, but for downsized or burned out corporate executives, it can be the best — sometimes the only — way to earn a living. And although being a middle-aged entrepreneur requires many adjustments after serving in the corporate world, many find it’s quite rewarding.

Although I’ve always been entrepreneurial, having started and sold, or closed, several companies and businesses, the “present” one is always the best. And no matter what I’m doing, I always think, “I should have done this years ago.”

Why a Consultant?

Published on July 19, 2004 in Change Mgmt and Process. 0 Comments

A very common question I hear is, “on whom should I rely to help with my strategy, systems and processes?” This is a good question, because managers and executives can turn to technology vendor’s, accountants, attorneys, management consultants, system integrators, in-house staff — or some combination of these.

I have the interesting perspective of having participated in business process re-engineering from the point of view of a systems integrator, a technology vendor, a management consultants and the in-house staff of a company. There is a time and place to go with different combinations.

For many small firms seeking to implement a change or just review its processes, it is an almost automatic choice to turn within itself and use it’s own in-house people. This is usually a pretty smart move. Your own people are interesting in learning new skills and procedures and to make themselves more marketable. Unfortunately they lack the experience of “been there, done that” or as project managers call it, lessons learned.

So the in-house approach works best when combined with bringing in a coach, mentor and/or consultant. Bringing one or two of these consultants on to work with or train the rest of the staff can be a great strategic move. They’ve seen many products, vendors and processes and have been there and done it many, many times before. But make sure the consultant isn’t biased to certain products, technologies or processes. Conduct an open and frank discussion with the consultant or the consulting firm’s project partner about whether or not the consulting company gets a commission for the recommendations they make, and make sure the results of that conversation are in your contract.

One of the biggest hurdles implementing or changing your processes is understanding your company’s workflow. It always amazes me how many companies do not have this well documented. Business process re-engineering will require changes to your processes and ideally will improve existing workflow inefficiencies. Consider investing in objective research and documentation before making any changes.

There is no single project plan that will work for every organization or implementation. However, I would encourage you to explore the following items:

  1. Invest in objective research and document your existing business processes. Find out what the core business problems are.
  2. Bring in a consultant when you really need help understanding your company’s business processes and to help with an overall strategy.
  3. Avoid outside consultants with conflicts of interest.
  4. Send your staff to training (general and problem-specific). Define new business processes to prepare for.
  5. If you plan to run the project in-house, think about bringing in a project management adviser to help.
  6. Anticipate the impact of changes to the business. Determine risks vs. rewards.

Is Bill sweating yet?

Published on June 15, 2004 in Change Mgmt and Technology. 0 Comments

The June 2004 issue of Inc. has an interesting article by Alan Deutchman – Bill’s Excellent Adventure – a story about Microsoft’s anxiety over Linux.

…But despite its long history of dominance, Microsoft faces a looming threat from Linux and the insurgent open-source “free software” movement. Linux could do what the Justice Department couldn’t: end the era of Microsoft’s near monopoly and strip a sizable chunk of its sales and profits in the coming decade.

I’m managing one organization’s migration from MS to Linux. We’re about halfway through the five-year project – slow, steady steps. The motivation – money. This non-profit just cannot afford licensing costs. So as the old NT and 98 machines can’t be upgraded to the latest XP or W2003, they have plenty of life for Linux –which just doesn’t take as much resources.

So it’s a mixed environment. We’re at about 50/50, Linux vs. Microsoft, and Linux is winning on the dependability front. The biggest issue is change management, the die-hard Microsoft OS and Office users just don’t want to change, causing quite a bit of anxiety. But after a couple weeks or months, they’re converts and can easily move between the operating systems without any major issues.

With mighty IBM putting its clout behind Linux, some small businesses are starting to convert, often with impressive results. Satellite Records, a 35-employee music retailer in New York City, made the switch after IT director Steve Shapero found Microsoft’s software simply too high-maintenance. …Other customers were motivated by cost savings from not having licensing fees.

As the technology world turns….

The Power of Why

Published on May 22, 2004 in Change Mgmt and Process. 0 Comments

One of the most powerful words in the English language is why. When asked as an interrogatory, why has the power to change assumptions, preconceptions and mindsets. It has the power to initiate change as well as the power to affirm the right course. It is a word that should be used frequently but with great care. When used the proper way, it can be one of the most effective tools a leader can employ. And it’s totally free.

Used with discretion, why is a powerful tool. Read all about the why in leadership communications in Darwin magazine’s The Power of Why