“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” John M. Keynes
Leading Organization Change
“Lynn has got great style and charisma, down to earth and just connects with folks on so many levels. I highly recommend his services, particularly for organizations undergoing substantial change. I’ve gotten to know him over the past year and find his insights to be invaluable and spot on.” Executive at Morgan Stanley
Overview
Our Leading Organization Change (LOC) seminar is designed to help managers and individual contributors better respond to organization change driven by market upheaval. The program focuses on improving communication around the nature of change and enhancing the resiliency of management and staff during change, both developing and supporting real change leaders.
The goals of the Leading Organization Change seminar include:
- Improving the quality and timeliness of communication about the nature of change in the organization;
- Developing an understanding of how the predictable dynamics of change affect both the individual and the organization;
- Creating specific strategies to minimize the potential decline in productivity associated with change;
- Improving retention of critical or key people during times of rapid and dramatic change;
- Changing the mindset of people to overcome resistance and accelerate the positive impact of change.
… leading to the creation of a more change-adaptive and resilient organization culture.
Note that this is, hands-down, among the most difficult and emotionally complex topics from an organization development perspective. It is here that our expertise and years of experience in implementing this program differentiate us from the competition.
Content
The program focuses on the behavioral side of the productivity equation. LOC clarifies the linkage between key organizational initiatives, the marketplace imperatives driving these changes and the impact of corporate culture (values and behavior) on an organization’s ability to adapt to change.
LOC was initially developed using material from change management experts during the re engineering of European Support for a large investment banking firm. Subsequently, other organizations and functional areas adopted the program to help them maximize performance during major change or realignment initiatives (specific activities like re-engineering, outsourcing, off-shoring, reorganizations, clarification and reinforcement of mission/vision/goals, merger integration, downsizing etc.).
Using research from the Harvard Business School, an assessment of the firm’s corporate culture is conducted in each seminar. The business case for developing a more change adaptive culture is made clear. Participants then work in small groups to develop strategies to overcome the most counter-productive aspects of the organization’s culture (for example, overuse of consensus decision-making, aversion to risk-taking). Content includes models to demonstrate the impact of change on productivity, the developmental phases of transition (sources of resistance to change) and strategies to improve the effectiveness of communication at each stage of the process.
Myths around change are reviewed and discussed in the context of the business group attending, frequently leading to development of more effective communication strategies for management. Participants frequently develop tough questions, together with recommendations on vital topics to be addressed by senior management during the closing debriefing.
The program is designed to run 1.5 – 2 days at a fast pace. A closing debriefing with senior management is built into the Day 2 schedule. Duration, timing and content can be tailored to meet the needs of the business.
Outcomes for Participants
This seminar is primarily a communication vehicle (vs. skill building process). Participants should come away with:
- A clearer sense of the nature of change, how it affects the firm, as well as how the firm tends to respond to change, and the impact of change-adaptive corporate cultures on performance,
- Acceptance of the compelling business case for building a more change-adaptive organization, a better understanding of their role in helping the firm achieve this objective and a specific action plan for improving performance,
- An enhanced capability to deal with rapid change at the individual and organizational levels (resilience),
- A better understanding of the type of communication necessary to move an organization through change more rapidly,
- An opportunity to reflect on their own behavior to date with respect to how they respond to change, and how they might need to modify their behavior going forward to become even more productive employees and effective managers.
Lynn Reed has extensive experience in conducting this program globally – in London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Zurich and others – with excellent results. Target audiences have included very senior management groups down through analyst and professional track groups. The content is appropriate for both front and back office personnel. It can be conducted for functionality aligned or cross functional groups based on need. We strongly recommend initially targeting “change leaders” vs “good managers” for participation in this program.