Change in 7 Steps

Change in 7 Steps
(How a Big Dog does it)

Before he pulled the limo’s door closed he looked up at me and said, "I’ll send the steps to your phone. Give me about 15 minutes." He then looked at the candidate standing beside me and said, "You’ll do! Work it out with him," he said nodding toward me. He added a quick "Thanks" then smiled and waved to a couple of passersby that recognized him. With that he drew the car’s door closed as it pulled away from the Four Seasons toward O’Hare.

The candidate and I stood on the windy sidewalk watching the car. It had been a long interview. I hadn’t been hired to find the candidates for the job. This time I had been sent a short list of high profile managers to entice into possibly working for the fellow in the car. Most of the people on the list receive this newsletter so it was pretty straightforward. I did the video screening interviews then set up and facilitated the final interviews like this one. This was all done quickly, with no fanfare, and with the discretion clients have come to expect from me. (Go here to read about our philosophy and methods for typical executive search assignments.)

Leaning against the wind the tall candidate looked at me. "I guess that means I got the job." He paused and added, "Right?"

I put out my hand and shook his. I nodded. "Oh, yes," I said. "Congratulations. You’re in for an interesting 48 months." I looked around him and signaled the doorman. A cab materialized almost out of thin air. As the candidate climbed in we shook hands again and I said, "We’ll get the letter out tonight."

A moment later he was headed toward Midway. I turned and went back into the hotel. Taking the elevator up to the Seasons Lounge, I ordered a drink and waited in one of the cushy chairs.

The conversation that afternoon had ranged from Little League to the Army’s concept of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) to the difference between action and change. "Action is often meaningless," the client said in his well known matter-of-fact manner. "Change is what counts." We explored the importance of getting inside your competition’s decision cycle, the value of "ground truth" and the importance of empowering all your teams with what he (and the Army) called an electronic, real-time RCP, or Relevant Common Picture "so that everybody makes decisions from the same information" (the candidate had implemented a similar system with such granularity he could predict what his competition was going to do even before they knew). Like I said, it had been an interesting afternoon. There was a reason my head throbbed.

The PDA in my jacket pocket vibrated. I took it out and downloaded the e-mail. Here is what it said (Note: some of the text was in a different font-you could tell I wasn’t the only person to get a version of this particular missive. Also, I’ve cleaned up the "exotic" spelling. The list is reproduced here with his permission and it can be forwarded by any CorpWar reader that wants to.)

Tal, I have found there are typically at least 7 stages to making a change in an organization. I always try to do all of them since over the years I’ve found skipping any of the stages reduces the chances of eventual success. This isn’t just for the big glory moves either. It works at all levels. All my managers understand and use the list.

Time. The change has to happen soon. Make sure you get across why it’s a good thing. If you have communicated the benefits properly you shouldn’t need your boot tips.
Team. I get a team together, preferably where everybody knows and has worked with each other, to see the thing through, soup to nuts; from the idea all the way through to the eventual consumer, whether internal or external. Pick the team wisely. Make sure there are some dissenters-you don’t want everybody thinking alike. You need the idea to be rigorously challenged internally. I use that Gen. Patton quote you sent out last year. [Parcon note: that quote is here.]
Vision of the future. Convey your vision to your teams. If you don’t have a vision, work with your trusted resources to develop one. If you still don’t have one, do your shareholders a favor and help find your replacement.
Communication. Make sure everybody in the enterprise/group knows what the vision is.
Empower. Make sure everybody can move their area toward the vision. This way you can converge on it on multiple tracks. There should be a lot of work in parallel. Think digital. Analog is yesterday.
Interim goals. If the vision is too far off people may not be sufficiently motivated. Dial in sub-goals so they can occasionally taste their own momentum toward the ultimate prize. People prefer to reach for what they can actually touch. It’s ok to keep it beyond their grasp, just not too far or too often.
Reinforce. When the change has been achieved keep it high profile until it is assimilated into the organization or group. Get it organic as soon as possible. It has to be part of the walls. Part of the mindset. The culture.

Get a contract to that guy. I like him. As you said last night, “He gets it.”

With that I turned off the PDA, paid the bill and left for home. Interesting day.

Change in 7 Steps (How a Big Dog does it)

Change in 7 Steps
(How a Big Dog does it)