Do you remember when you graduated from college? I’m guessing if we try really hard, we can remember all the way back then. Like you, I was filled with excitement and had so many questions after I graduated, ranging from what my first projects would entail to how soon I might be able to be promoted. While everything was new, naturally, all of us were filled beyond capacity with questions about nearly every aspect of that first “real” job.

However, sadly, over time, for many of us, this natural curiosity dissipates. In fact, within many organizations we are encouraged to “shut up and do our job” versus slowing activity down to ask clarifying questions.  This is unfortunate since that exact sense of wonder is exactly what so many organizations need to innovate, reinvent, remain relevant to customer and employees, and just stay ahead of the competition.

Over years of consulting and being involved in a number of diverse industries, I believe one of the best tools we have as business leaders, organizational change leaders and business analysts is asking a well-crafted question (and of course carefully listening to the response). Based on the response given, or the response you do NOT get, both verbally and non-verbally, this well-crafted question is one of the most valuable tools you have at your disposal and should be used on a daily basis.

At TSI, we’ve crafted a handful of questions that we use both internally and with our clients.  While some of these may seem basic, these questions have yielded insightful, poignant responses time and time again.  And based on this information, we’ve made remarkable progress in refining our clients’ strategic direction and even more so, in implementing key changes that make a difference for these organizations.

Here are 7 questions that we use with regularity. Some of these are intended for discussion with small groups and others are more appropriate for individuals. Regardless of the audience, feel free to leverage these for your own transformation needs and ask these questions with regularity, ranging from daily to monthly:

1. What specific organizational goals related to growth, quality, customer service, efficiency and profitability do you have that shape the context of how the organization, or parts of it, should improve?
2. What specific targets or metrics do you have for each of these goals?
3. What is your personal “brand” and what evidence do you provide that makes your brand apparent to those around you? How is this brand working for you?
4. What threats exist that you must address to be competitive and grow in the manner you are expecting?
5. What area in your organization operates in largely the same way as it has for the past 5 years or more? Does that hold it or other areas back?
6. What do your customers say your organization’s key overall strengths are? Relative to any differences in price, how “bullet proof” are your key customer relationships?  How differentiated is your product or offering?  How about your business model overall?
7. What is going well at your organization that you can possibly replicate in other areas?

On a different level, another tool that organizations find useful when they need to take a step back and see the forest through the trees is the Business Model Canvas. The Business Model Canvas was proposed by Alexander Osterwalder based on his book: Business Model Ontology. Here is a link where you can create one for your organization.

This way of thinking, leveraging well thought out questions, has served TSI well over the years. Hopefully these questions will elicit valuable responses for you as well. Feel free to send us your favorite to tsi@transforming.com or post a comment.

The post 7 Questions to Keep your Organization Relevant appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Over the last 30 years, I have seen a lot of buzz words and management fads come and go. The area of organizational change has certainly generated more than a few new acronyms and theoretical approaches during this timeframe. Many of us are involved in and responsible for making change stick in our respective organizations. In a world where the majority of programs and projects fail due to a lack of focus on the people side of the equation, we all ask “what’s the secret formula for success?”

At TSI, our seasoned group of performance improvement consultants considers the following fundamentals as three basic elements needed to drive and sustain organizational change:

1. Impacted people must clearly understand what they need to do differently,
2. Those impacted need to gain the skills, knowledge, confidence and tools to successfully perform their new roles, and,
3. The right people need to be incented and held accountable for achieving measurable and sustainable results.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  If it’s that simple, why do so many efforts fail? Well, chalk a lot of it up to human nature and the challenges that can come along whenever people assemble under boxes on an organizational chart.

To increase your odds of successfully driving organizational change, consider the following best practices:

• Getting people to adopt and sustain change takes more than the traditional communication and training tasks. Not to say that these two areas aren’t important, but other levers often need to be pulled. Determine if your change program includes all the right elements, no one size fits all.
• Involve influential stakeholders early in process and solution analysis and design. This increases the likelihood of effective requirements definition up-front with increased downstream buy-in, understanding and adoption. Focusing on business processes, while keeping the end customer in mind has proven itself to be a valuable framework time and time again.
• Communicate a clear and simple business case for change. Don’t assume people will figure it out on their own. In fact, assume they will not. And even if some individuals won’t agree with the reasons for change, they will appreciate the upfront effort to share critical information and will be more likely to follow early pioneers and adopters. In addition, celebrate and reward wins wherever possible, small and large, as part of an on-going communication strategy.
• Assign dedicated roles/teams to assess operational readiness, develop migration/transition plans and support successful cut-over and sustainment of the new solution and/or environment. An effective way to get from point A to point Z is to define Z, work backwards to A and assign responsibility for executing the tasks needed for the successful transition.
• Pilot and test solutions before full roll-out and incorporate lessons learned in subsequent implementation waves. Fail small and learn vs. fail big.
• Try out agile and fast approaches (e.g., SCRUM and Work-out) to rapidly design and implement small chunks of change. In today’s fast moving economy, many groups do not have time for long, drawn out change exercises.
• Finally, identify and actively involve the right sponsors and advocates in your change efforts. Don’t be afraid to prod leaders for active involvement and support, they will appreciate your focus and discipline on important goals and objectives.

Keeping the 3 basic tenets of successful change management in mind and following the above best practices will pay huge dividends to you and your organization. At TSI, we are always available to help rapidly power up and enable your efforts. We would love to hear about your challenge and what works in your companies.

The post 3 Overarching Requirements for Successfully Managing Organizational Change appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.

– Sun Tzu, Military Strategist

Creating Project Management Principles

The basic principles of project management are fully extensible from the smallest initiative to the largest program. The key is that project management practices should be understood as principles: accepted or professed rules of action or conduct. It is on this belief that I encourage my clients to establish project manager guiding principles, as well as construct project management frameworks (not detailed, step-by-step methodologies). By maintaining the governance rules at the highest level, the organization maintains the flexibility to scale the implementation of principles based on specific needs.

For example, one of the project manager guiding principles could be:

The project manager is responsible for creating and delivering a written update of accomplishments, challenges, issues, and plans at appropriate level of detail. This update is to be sent to the appropriate stakeholders on an agreed-to regular basis (e.g., weekly).

While this principle does not define the format or the appropriate level of detail, it clearly establishes that for every delivery initiative with an assigned PM (regardless of project size) there will be a status report. It is surprising to me that this type of foundation and guidance is not practiced in many companies. Project managers are often left to decide for themselves whether and how they will track issues, report risks, actively manage dependencies, or if they must meet regularly with their sponsors. Regardless of the size of the project, each PM will be held accountable. 

Scale the Project Principles to Size

As Sun Tzu reinforces, “Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.” To paraphrase, once the principles are established, the implementation can be adjusted to the size of the need. An overall program plan for a global project will include a higher level of detail than a specific, detailed plan for implementing a single project within the initiative. This adjustment to scale is critical. If a program does not adjust its implementation approach, one can expect to see a plan at the program level that is tens of thousands of lines long. This level of detail is off-putting for many of the executive sponsors leading the initiative. A program plan can lose its value as a conglomeration of details with little to no meaningful summary, accommodation in visibility, nor tailored executive information. Without changing the signs and signals, as well as differentiating between the focus needed to implement vs. the focus required to lead, governing bodies may make missteps when initiating planned practices.

Standardization and the Value

Standardization and rigor are key to establishing guidance for your project managers. The ability to adapt while applying standards (based on scale) is crucial to successful implementation. While success statistics are not overwhelming, 70% of projects with standardized practices are successful, according to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession study. One of the reasons that the success numbers are so low – and decreasing over the past four years according to the study – is that many of the respondents said their organizations do not fully understand the value of project management.

Unfortunately, I have witnessed this lack of understanding firsthand. In one company, there was a recognized need for structure in delivery. The PMO was assigned to implement a more structured level of delivery for the company.  As a result, standard templates and control processes were defined, and an authoritarian rule was cast over projects. However, the organization did not clearly establish the value proposition of the PMO. In addition, there was not sufficient organizational change management around levels of rigor, articulation of the principles for success, or the appropriate scalability for implementing standards across the organization. Therefore, the PMO was the red tape that hindered delivery, instead of the grease that enabled success.

So Why Do You Care?

Creating standards is important. Scaling implementation is key for success – one size of operating model does not fit all. Articulating the value of the standards is imperative.  An PMO should create standards, allow for flexibility in their use, and communicate and engage organization in the value proposition.  Creating and implementing a scalable set of standards becomes an internal sales process to convince the company of the value to be attained.

To borrow from French writer and military veteran Francois de la Rochefoucauld, 

The height of ability consists in a thorough knowledge of the real value of things… 

As we look to improve the capabilities of our delivery teams, let us focus on the established principles, clearly articulating the value they deliver. From there, we implement based on the scale of the situation.

Interested in learning more about project management? Discover more about project managers and project management office today.

The post The (Undeniable) Value of Project Management Principles appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

7 Questions to Keep your Organization Relevant

Graduation is in the air – hopefully you can feel it too.  I’m guessing if we try really hard, we can remember all the way back to when we graduated.  Like you, I was filled with excitement and had so many questions after I graduated, ranging from what my first projects would entail to how soon I might be able to be promoted.  While everything was new, naturally, all of us were filled beyond capacity with questions about nearly every aspect of that first “real” job.

However, sadly, over time, for many of us, this natural curiosity dissipates.  In fact, within many organizations we are encouraged to “shut up and do our job” versus slowing activity down to ask clarifying questions.  This is unfortunate since that exact sense of wonder is exactly what so many organizations need to innovate, reinvent, remain relevant to customer and employees, and just stay ahead of the competition.

Over years of consulting and being involved in a number of diverse industries, I believe one of the best tools we have as business leaders, organizational change leaders and business analysts is the asking a well-crafted question (and of course carefully listening to the response).  Based on the response given, or the response you do NOT get, both verbally and non-verbally, this well-crafted question is one of the most valuable tools you have at your disposal, and should be used on a daily basis.

At TSI, we’ve crafted a handful of questions that we use both internally and with our clients.  While some of these may seem basic, these questions have yielded insightful, poignant responses time and time again.  And based on this information, we’ve made remarkable progress in refining our clients’ strategic direction and even more so, in implementing key changes that make a difference for these organizations.

Here are 7 questions that we use with regularity. Some of these are intended for discussion with small groups and others are more appropriate for individuals.  Regardless of the audience, feel free to leverage these for your own transformation needs and ask these questions with regularity, ranging from daily to monthly:

1. What specific organizational goals related to growth, quality, customer service, efficiency and profitability do you have that shape the context of how the organization, or parts of it, should improve?
2. What specific targets or metrics do you have for each of these goals?
3. What is your personal “brand” and what evidence do you provide that makes your brand apparent to those around you? How is this brand working for you?
4. What threats exist that you must address to be competitive and grow in the manner you are expecting?
5. What area in your organization operates in largely the same way as it has for the past 5 years or more? Does that hold it or other areas back?
6. What do your customers say your organization’s key overall strengths are? Relative to any differences in price, how “bullet proof” are your key customer relationships?  How differentiated is your product or offering?  How about your business model overall?
7. What is going well at your organization that you can possibly replicate in other areas?

On a different level, another tool that organizations find useful when they need to take a step back and see the forest through the trees is the Business Model Canvas.  The Business Model Canvas was proposed by Alexander Osterwalder based on his book: Business Model Ontology.    Here is a link where you can create one for your organization.

This way of thinking, leveraging well thought out questions, has served TSI well over the years.  Hopefully these questions will elicit valuable responses for you as well.  Feel free to send us your favorite to: tsi@transforming.com or post a comment.

The post 7 Questions to Keep your Organization Relevant appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..