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April 2024
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ENGAGEMENT CREATES SUCCESSFUL CHANGE6/16/2018 Engagement is the lubricant to effective change management efforts.
Once the solution has been identified and a plan has been set in place, the question now is how to implement the plan and ensure that all the stakeholders are in the same page and would be able to support it. The engagement process is very similar to many change management process in many organizations, be it in the public and the private sector. It starts with understanding and knowing who are the authorities who need the approval of these mechanisms so that it is set for adoption throughout the organization. Who needs to lead, articulate, and champion this at the public level? They hold the accountability role. It is with them that the buck stops, so to speak. The second tier of engagement in the organization is the middle management and the staff. They need to be on board in the whole process. At the implementation stage, they need to fully agree and provide the best support or facility to ensure its successful implementation. The third tier of engagement is the public. It could be your shareholders, stakeholders, volunteers, constituencies, customers/clients, and other important public entities that have a clear stake in the process. They should be engaged throughout the process but in implementation, they should have a clear role to play - to be involved, to support, to be informed/updated on the progress, etc. They hold the keys to wider support from the communities they represent, can speak on behalf of your organization, and can oftentimes, clear the cobwebs of doubt, negativity, and pessimism about the changes that are being espoused. The engagement process can be a long process for very complex projects and initiatives involving multi-stakeholders with varying degrees of involvement and agenda/interests. It could involve a considerable amount of staff time, financial resources, and even public media campaign to solidify the changes in the minds of its target audience. It cannot be rushed though. Taking the time to really get down to the target audience and create trusting and open dialogue bridges an otherwise hostile and indifferent crowd. The key is to create the environment where people can trust the changes are for the better, that it welcomes their inputs and participation, and encourages healthy debate and discourse. Between planning and implementation, the engagement is a must and cannot be taken out from shortcut purpose. When this is done carefully and wisely, the long-term benefits outweigh the initial short-term growing pains.
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ACQUISITION CONUNDRUM6/16/2018 Acquisitions are fraught with many challenges, some inherited, some are newly created because of the transition, and some are mixed of both.
When an independent organization has been subsumed by another organization, the transition is never without instability and difficulties. The challenge for most executives is to create the environment where the transition provides the best avenue to sort things out - the past, the present, and the future scenarios. The past - the subsumed organization is probably facing some challenges before the transition happens. This is compounded when the transition occurs. Personnel is confused, maybe upset, and completely feeling powerless to feel any sort of consideration about the changes that will take place. Maybe, some are against the move, some are in favor, and some have to leave the organization. Maybe the organization in question is completely disorganized and suffering from many organizational crises. When this is the case, the headaches and ills are transferred unfortunately. Compounded with the transition, this can create a plethora of toxic and unhealthy behaviors which can lead to underperformance or non-performance of certain important keys tasks in the organization. The present- the acquisition process with all the strategic and tactical considerations can boil down to two main things; 1) the preponderance of the acquisition- weighing the risks and the benefits to the organization taking over; 2) the long-term alignment to the strategic goals of the organization- could be a growth strategy or for another altruistic/ and non-economic reasons. Whatever the basket of perceived benefits, the present need is to review what works, did not work, and what needs to be retained, removed, and revised. To chart the future that is aligned with the organization, strategies must be developed fully with change management in mind. Without the former, the latter becomes arbitrary, myopic, and rudderless. Without the latter, the former tends to fail big time. These two needs to come hand in hand, like a glove to the hand. Where are you now in your acquisition or change management efforts? Have you considered these processes to keep your strategies front and centre and not be drowned by the sea of good intentions? Tell me what you think!
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IMPLEMENTATION IS THE STRATEGY6/15/2018 Planning is very abused these days. I want to challenge many companies, non-profits, governments, and citizens to stop planning for the sake of planning.
Create clear implementation strategies that are tied to performance goals, department goals, and management goals, in order that these plans actually get to be executed. 90% of plans fail because it is very good in paper and never implemented. Executives forget to integrate the plans into their day-to-day forecasting, predicting, management, supervision, and strategic considerations. So much money in billions is wasted on planning retreats that 1) do not yield any meaningful implementation; 2) put the plan to backburner because there is no political will or resource to fund it; 3) become irrelevant as days, weeks, months, years pass by. A decent plan with a great execution detail and clear accountabilities can get you somewhere between 15-20% improvement from your current state. It’s better than those grandiose plans that gathered dust in the shelves. |