Change Management: How Your Leadership Can Separate Business Symptoms from Problems
Change Management: How Your Leadership Can Separate Business Symptoms from Problems
In the book "Fail-Safe Leadership" by Linda Martin and Dr. David Mutchler, the authors address some of the change management challenges every organization faces on a daily basis regardless of size through a simple leadership audit. This audit or organizational survey allows the decision-makers to begin that separation of symptoms from problems and recognizes that these issues are due to leadership issues within the organization.
The good news is that you can construct your own survey. First, identify the basic general shareholders within any organization. These may be separated as follows:
Customer Service Employees
Production Employees
Sales Employees
Support and Technology Employees
Executive Management
Management & Supervision
External Customers
Vendors/Suppliers
Community
Place these as separate columns across the sheet of paper leaving the far left column for the common management change issues.
Then begin to list the changes issues facing your organization in the far left column. These may include the following, but are not limited to just these issues:
Accountability
Can't do attitudes
Consensus driven decision making
Disconnect between training and results
Duplicate work efforts
High waste of resources, time or energy
Inconsistent goal achievement
Inconsistent quality work
Limited diversity of thought (no out of the box thinking)
Missed results consistently
No alignment of efforts
No direction
No focus
No or limited motivation
Personality conflicts
Poor communication
Poor teamwork
Power struggles
Reactive vs proactive thinking
Time management
Turf wars
Work ethics
Now review each change issue and place a check mark in the box if it is an issue for that specific group. Quickly, you will see where you need to plan and execute aligned solutions.
For example, if the accountability change issue is only being experienced by the customer service employees then a solution focusing only on this group of shareholders makes sense. However, if at least two or more of the shareholders are experiencing accountability issues, then the solution must address all involved if the organization truly desires to reach the desired end results.
By recognizing up front that the solution must meet all the involved shareholders prevents the common "silo-solution" that appears to breed additional silo solutions. Organizations must have aligned and coordinated efforts. Silo solutions are just the opposite.
Why this audit is called a leadership audit is because leadership must be the vehicle that drives the change in the organization. Hence, it is leadership's responsibility to conduct the audit. Usually after conducting this simple assessment, the executive leadership team may determine that a full organizational assessment is required. Implementing such an assessment should be
Aligned to a national quality criteria such as Baldrige
Affordable
Documented for a proven history (reliable and valid)
Quickly executed
Representative of all levels within the organization
Verified with one on one face to face interviews
P.S. If you find numerous check marks within your leadership audit, this does not mean that you have poor leadership, but rather some gaps in your leadership. Now is the time to close those gaps so that you can reach that next level of success.
Change Management How Your Leadership Can Separate Business Symptoms from Problems - To learn more about this author, visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website.
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To build a business demands that the leadership know how to separate the symptoms from the problems to drive the needed organizational change. Unfortunately, many small business owners, entrepreneurs and executives due to poor communication and no strategic plan create expensive silo solutions that actually diminish the energy and ability to achieve organizational goals.
In the book "Fail-Safe Leadership" by Linda Martin and Dr. David Mutchler, the authors address some of the change management challenges every organization faces on a daily basis regardless of size through a simple leadership audit. This audit or organizational survey allows the decision-makers to begin that separation of symptoms from problems and recognizes that these issues are due to leadership issues within the organization.
The good news is that you can construct your own survey. First, identify the basic general shareholders within any organization. These may be separated as follows:
Customer Service Employees
Production Employees
Sales Employees
Support and Technology Employees
Executive Management
Management & Supervision
External Customers
Vendors/Suppliers
Community
Place these as separate columns across the sheet of paper leaving the far left column for the common management change issues.
Then begin to list the changes issues facing your organization in the far left column. These may include the following, but are not limited to just these issues:
Accountability
Can't do attitudes
Consensus driven decision making
Disconnect between training and results
Duplicate work efforts
High waste of resources, time or energy
Inconsistent goal achievement
Inconsistent quality work
Limited diversity of thought (no out of the box thinking)
Missed results consistently
No alignment of efforts
No direction
No focus
No or limited motivation
Personality conflicts
Poor communication
Poor teamwork
Power struggles
Reactive vs proactive thinking
Time management
Turf wars
Work ethics
Now review each change issue and place a check mark in the box if it is an issue for that specific group. Quickly, you will see where you need to plan and execute aligned solutions.
For example, if the accountability change issue is only being experienced by the customer service employees then a solution focusing only on this group of shareholders makes sense. However, if at least two or more of the shareholders are experiencing accountability issues, then the solution must address all involved if the organization truly desires to reach the desired end results.
By recognizing up front that the solution must meet all the involved shareholders prevents the common "silo-solution" that appears to breed additional silo solutions. Organizations must have aligned and coordinated efforts. Silo solutions are just the opposite.
Why this audit is called a leadership audit is because leadership must be the vehicle that drives the change in the organization. Hence, it is leadership's responsibility to conduct the audit. Usually after conducting this simple assessment, the executive leadership team may determine that a full organizational assessment is required. Implementing such an assessment should be
Aligned to a national quality criteria such as Baldrige
Affordable
Documented for a proven history (reliable and valid)
Quickly executed
Representative of all levels within the organization
Verified with one on one face to face interviews
P.S. If you find numerous check marks within your leadership audit, this does not mean that you have poor leadership, but rather some gaps in your leadership. Now is the time to close those gaps so that you can reach that next level of success.
Change Management How Your Leadership Can Separate Business Symptoms from Problems - To learn more about this author, visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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