Implementation Insights Blog

Implementation Management Associates help organizations around the world achieve large-scale, complex change. This blog discusses our insights into organizational change.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Innovation Without Implementation Leads Nowhere


If your organization is like most, there is enormous emphasis on implementing innovation across the enterprise. Market-leading products, business process improvements, ground-breaking strategies, new markets, new green technology implementations--- all offer substantial potential for increasing market share and competitive advantage. Remember that by its very nature, innovation suggests speed. The greater the speed, the greater the chance for success. But without a structured process for implementation, the best idea is likely to fall flat or stall out.

Innovation is Complex

Most innovation is dramatic, large-scale, and a highly complex organizational change, with multiple interdependencies. The challenge of actually implementing innovation is arguably just as difficult as the process of creating the innovation itself. There are ways, however, to facilitate the implementation, applying structure, rigor, and business-discipline to all the elements required for success, including the human side of the changes represented by the innovation.

In many organizations, this typically means offering up a downward stream of one-way communication about the innovation. But communication and implementation are not synonymous. In fact, the probability of successful implementation of innovation is significantly enhanced when systematic attention is paid to six critical elements, all represented in the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM).



Six Areas of Need for Implementation Attention

These six elements are:
1. Defining the Change, meaning getting alignment around the scope and business case for the change, including the business, technical and human objectives for the innovation, described in a succinct yet compelling Business Case for Action.



2. Building Change Agent Capacity, meaning development of a highly-qualified, highly-skilled network of Change Agents who will implement the changes around the innovation at the local level. Remember that even if the innovation is developed at the corporate level, implementation is at the local level.



3. Generating Project Sponsorship, meaning a network of Sponsors who are reinforcing the desired new behaviors associated with the innovation down and across the enterprise.



4. Creating Target Readiness for the Change, meaning that you are preparing the organization by surfacing and managing resistance to the innovation. Innovation is disruptive, so even if it represents forward progress and what would be considered “positive”, resistance is inevitable.



5. Building a Communication Plan, meaning application of multiple delivery methods that communicate the changes around the innovation in the Frame of Reference of the Targets, with feedback loops built in so that you can gather data back from the Targets.



6. Developing a Reinforcement Strategy, meaning there are positive consequences for those that demonstrate they are “on the bus”, and negative consequences for those that continue to work in the old ways. These reinforcements must be meaningful for the Targets, and applied with immediacy and certainty.

Compared to the cost of the innovation itself, the investment in a business-disciplined and structured framework for managing the human side of the implementation is small, but the return is great.

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posted by Implementation Management Associates at 9:01 AM 0 Comments

Overcoming the Fear of Business Transformation


Two caterpillars are crawling side by side across the small open space of a home garden. A butterfly swoops down, and nearly touches them. One of the caterpillars, with a palpable sense of fear, exclaims, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things.”

This story is an analog for enterprisewide organization change. You know the type. It’s where we seek to dramatically reposition ourselves in the market place, or to revitalize our workforce, or implement culture change, or fundamentally redirect organizational strategy and resources. It’s the type of change that fully challenges our collective resilience. It’s the type of change that fails 70% of the time.[1]

It can fail because we select the wrong strategy. But that’s the exception. Business transformation changes such IT or healthcare transformation sub optimize because we simply do not execute strategy successfully. We over spend the allocated budget, or we over shoot our target end date, and/or we don’t deliver the essential functional or operational requirements that are expected. Alas, we don’t get the ROI for our time, money, and effort.

The Essential Ingredients for Successful Strategy Execution

Execution misfires because we lack the implementation structure, the leadership discipline, and the organizational courage to stay the course. Absent these three essential ingredients, our employees disengage and offer durable resistance to change. Organization transformation scares employees because they don’t know how they’ll end up, but they know they’ll be different. Just like the caterpillar they become fearful. Without an employee’s commitment to change their behavior, there is no change. Why not? Because, as almost everyone knows, all physical, financial, and intellectual assets are inert without people.

Though the odds of success are stacked against us, they are not insurmountable. The right implementation structure, one that helps ensure aligned and disciplined leadership, and the necessary employee reinforcement to motivate long term employee engagement, will beat the odds.

Implementation Management Associates, Inc. (IMA) has a developed a structured process called Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM). It is tactical, repeatable, business focused, and based on common sense. It includes a set of data-driven tools that measures the risks you will encounter when a business transformation initiative is launched. It also provides the architecture to develop the strategies and tactics to mitigate the complex set of implementation barriers inherent in transformational change.

AIM and Transformational Change

Just a few examples of key issues that would be considered when applying AIM and its tools to a transformational change are:

Define the Change -- who are the key stakeholders, how are they impacted, and what critical behaviors must be adopted to support business transformation?

Generate Change Sponsorship -- deploying a purposeful approach to gaining and sustaining widespread and aligned leadership commitment across the enterprise.

Develop Target Readiness -- developing a strategy to effectively manage resistance to change at all levels of the organization.

Build a Communication Plan for Transformational Change -- targeted communication that speaks directly to the various organizational frames of reference, thus enabling all employees to answer the “What’s in it for me?”, “What’s going to happen to me?” type questions more quickly.

Genuine business transformational change is profoundly difficult and complex. Its impacts are fully comprehensive. It can require strategic changes to structure, operations, and technology. Further, it typically demands changes in employee expectations, perceptions, behaviors, and/or skills. Moreover, the climate for transformational change is generally comprised of divisive politics, strong emotions, and entrenched resistance to change. This complexity can only be managed with a structured approach that purposefully provides practical and relevant implementation solutions. Absent a structured approach there will be no transformation, instead the outcome will “unrealized vision”, for as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they are executed.”

[1] Beer, M., & Eisenstat, R.A. “Developing an organization capable of implementing strategy and learning.” Human Relations, V. 49, 597-619, 1966.
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posted by Implementation Management Associates at 7:23 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Tips for Managing Resistance to a Positive Change

Tips for Managing Resistance to a Positive Change
Actions you can take to manage resistance on your project

While our first reaction to resistance to change may be to quash it as quickly as possible, resistance is not necessarily all bad. Any change brings resistance with it, whether the change is positive or negative—so it’s unrealistic to think you will ever eliminate resistance. Resistance is inevitable, even when the change is positive and will make the lives of individuals brighter. When brought out into the open, resistance can help us surface problems, find errors, or improve on ideas. But resistance can only be managed when it is overt. If you can’t see it or hear it, you can’t manage it.
What is Resistance?
The sooner and the more we know about why people are likely to resist a particular change, the better job we can do in applying tactics to manage it. That’s the reason why IMA’s Target Readiness Assessment can be such a valuable tool in identifying, measuring and surfacing resistance. We can use this diagnostic tool to develop a data-based plan for managing resistance.
In simple terms, resistance is just an attempt for an individual to protect or defend his or her own Frame of Reference. All changes bring with them a level of disruption of the status quo. It’s tempting to think that if the change increases efficiency, simplifies operations, saves time, offers greater functionality or provides any other business process improvement (like Six Sigma-driven improvements) , the targets of the change will open their arms in warm welcome. No amount of logic, however, addresses the fundamental resistance that is part and parcel of human nature.
Resistance to a positive change can manifest itself in several forms. Individuals may remain silent, or may simply work-around the new technology or process. In its more malevolent form, resistance may take the shape of sabotage or other types of malicious activities.
Recommended Tactics
Keep in mind that resistance slows down project implementations, so if we can apply tactics for identifying, surfacing, and managing resistance, we are working to accelerate project success and Return on Investment. So it is wise to develop a strategy for managing resistance, and this is indeed one of the essential steps of the AIM methodology. If you are dealing with a positive change, here are some tactics you can apply:
  • Don’t oversell the benefits of the change. Communicate realistically that problems existed before, and this change is not a magic bullet
  • Acknowledge that there is both positive and negative data
  • Develop a problem-solving climate. Even if targets aren’t involved in the “what” of the change, have them involved in the “how”
  • Create a safe atmosphere so that you can surface the resistance. This is not a one-time event, but a continuous process
  • Build confidence by communicating progress
  • Separate the content of the resistance from the process. Even if you disagree with the content, recognize and reward the fact that resistance is being brought out into the open
As agents of change, we can help our sponsors understand that we can’t combat resistance, but we can use it to our advantage. By applying the AIM methodology, we offer specific and practical tactics that will lead to implementation success, completing projects on time, on budget, and with all technical, business, and human objectives met.
IMA’s Readiness Assessment is tool you can use to measure and pinpoint the sources of resistance on your project or initiative. For more information on how we can help you conduct a Readiness Assessment in your organization, call 800-752-9254 or 303-996-7777.

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posted by Implementation Management Associates at 3:46 AM 0 Comments

Managing Resistance is a Core Competence


Whether a change is perceived as negative or positive, reluctance to change is inevitable. It’s not all bad -- take advantage of its good side. It’s helpful and necessary project feedback. However, you must work with it - it’s not something you overcome or beat down, nor is it ever solved. Remember, people will resist not only the content of the change, but also the method of the change.
Speed is a Competitive Advantage
The speed with which an organization can change is as much a competitive advantage as best in class manufacturing operations or world class supply chain processes. How quickly an organization assimilates change is a distinctive competence in today’s market place.
A number of variables influence the speed of organizational change. One of the key ones is organizational/individual resistance. Managing resistance effectively is paramount to accelerating change adoption and project implementation -- i.e., moving well beyond merely coping with change. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, it’s obvious that managing resistance is a greater challenge and a more critical organizational skill.
Ineffective resistance management slows down, and sometimes derails, implementation efforts. Approaches such as discounting resistance, denying it exists, or trying to beat it down, paradoxically exacerbate resistance and thus increase the organizational/personal costs of the change.
The impact of unmanaged resistance is clear -- implementation efforts are more likely to be over budget, behind schedule, and not to expected specification. In other words, “you don’t get the change you thought you needed.”
Though resistance is inevitable, it neither has to be interminable nor a barrier to implementation. Indeed, it can be a solution and not just a nagging problem. Purposefully managing resistance increases communication, promotes genuine involvement, builds resiliency, and creates opportunity for buy-in to occur. It’s an essential and high impact tactic for accelerating change.
Two Essential Paths
Resistance management has two paths -- systemic and transactional. The former consists of the purposeful and strategic approach that guides intervention at the organizational level. It’s the accepted frame of reference for how resistance is be viewed and attended to. The latter is the one-on-one, eye-ball to eye-ball interaction with a resistor. It’s the personal, emotional, and personalized dialogue about the source of, and solution to, one’s reluctance to “get on board” with the change. Both paths are essential.
The systemic path is the one less traveled. Few implementation teams have the discipline to proactively consider the sources of resistance throughout the life of a change effort. Most, by default, are put in the position to at best react in fits and starts to the symptoms of resistance, but seldom to its sources. Meanwhile, the transactional path suffers from travelers who simply do not have the interpersonal awareness, social skills, patience, or empathy, to work with resistors. The Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) deals with both paths with specific strategies and tactics for dealing with resistance.
As counter-intuitive as it might seem, overt resistance is better than covert -- because if you can’t see it, you can’t manage it. Reward (don’t shoot) the messenger. No retribution for diverse opinions, o.k.?
Read our new White Paper on Managing Resistance to Change. Email Paula Alsher, Vice President, Client Solutions at paula.alsher@imaworldwide.com for a copy.

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posted by Implementation Management Associates at 3:44 AM 0 Comments

Managing Resistance is a Core Competence



Whether a change is perceived as negative or positive, reluctance to change is inevitable. It’s not all bad -- take advantage of its good side. It’s helpful and necessary project feedback. However, you must work with it - it’s not something you overcome or beat down, nor is it ever solved. Remember, people will resist not only the content of the change, but also the method of the change.


Speed is a Competitive Advantage


The speed with which an organization can change is as much a competitive advantage as best in class manufacturing operations or world class supply chain processes. How quickly an organization assimilates change is a distinctive competence in today’s market place.


A number of variables influence the speed of organizational change. One of the key ones is organizational/individual resistance. Managing resistance effectively is paramount to accelerating change adoption and project implementation -- i.e., moving well beyond merely coping with change. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, it’s obvious that managing resistance is a greater challenge and a more critical organizational skill.


Ineffective resistance management slows down, and sometimes derails, implementation efforts. Approaches such as discounting resistance, denying it exists, or trying to beat it down, paradoxically exacerbate resistance and thus increase the organizational/personal costs of the change.


The impact of unmanaged resistance is clear -- implementation efforts are more likely to be over budget, behind schedule, and not to expected specification. In other words, “you don’t get the change you thought you needed.”


Though resistance is inevitable, it neither has to be interminable nor a barrier to implementation. Indeed, it can be a solution and not just a nagging problem. Purposefully managing resistance increases communication, promotes genuine involvement, builds resiliency, and creates opportunity for buy-in to occur. It’s an essential and high impact tactic for accelerating change.


Two Essential Paths


Resistance management has two paths -- systemic and transactional. The former consists of the purposeful and strategic approach that guides intervention at the organizational level. It’s the accepted frame of reference for how resistance is be viewed and attended to. The latter is the one-on-one, eye-ball to eye-ball interaction with a resistor. It’s the personal, emotional, and personalized dialogue about the source of, and solution to, one’s reluctance to “get on board” with the change. Both paths are essential.


The systemic path is the one less traveled. Few implementation teams have the discipline to proactively consider the sources of resistance throughout the life of a change effort. Most, by default, are put in the position to at best react in fits and starts to the symptoms of resistance, but seldom to its sources. Meanwhile, the transactional path suffers from travelers who simply do not have the interpersonal awareness, social skills, patience, or empathy, to work with resistors. The Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) deals with both paths with specific strategies and tactics for dealing with resistance.


As counter-intuitive as it might seem, overt resistance is better than covert -- because if you can’t see it, you can’t manage it. Reward (don’t shoot) the messenger. No retribution for diverse opinions, o.k.?


Read our new White Paper on Managing Resistance to Change. Email Paula Alsher, Vice President, Client Solutions at paula.alsher@imaworldwide.com for a copy.

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posted by Implementation Management Associates at 3:44 AM 0 Comments

Execution, Speed, and Adaptability are Top CEO Concerns


As Agents of Change we are always seeking Sponsorship for our implementation efforts. Too often it seems we are simply “tilting at windmills”, fighting an unwinnable battle. Our Sponsor’s attention to implementation is easily diverted because of short attention spans, or by competing priorities, market shifts, succession issues, and organizational politics. However, the winds of change may have shifted in our favor, along with the frame of reference of our Sponsors.


A recent Conference Board Survey* of 190 chief executives, chairmen and company presidents suggests that concerns have shifted; i.e., while excellence in and consistency of strategy execution remain the top executive priorities, they are now followed by “speed, flexibility and adaptability to change.” This is particularly significant because the ranking of these latter priorities increased 100% over last year's results. Moreover, nearly half the respondents expressed a “special” concern for the need to mitigate organizational risk attendant to today’s extraordinary scope of change. This latest prioritization ranking is, of course, tied to the current global economic crisis.




For us Agents, a window of “contracting” opportunity has opened. Sponsors may now be increasingly motivated to engage in implementation as “owners” and not just as “renters”. Two rules of thumbs can help guide us through our dialogues with Sponsors. First … it is always easiest to obtain Sponsorship when you are solving a problem for your Sponsor. And, second, if the “problem” is not understood, then there will be resistance to the solution.


In terms of the first rule, we must identify the Sponsor’s pain level re concern about the effectiveness of strategy execution. Establish agreement that “the how to” of implementation is likely to be a problem. Once that is agreed to, we are positioned to leverage the second rule of thumb. At this point the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) is more likely to be perceived as an obvious solution to the problem. In other words, it increases the probability of a successful/consistent execution of organizational strategy, while adapting to changes quickly and flexibly. The moons are really aligning in our favor -- AIM will help to address the top three executive concerns simultaneously.


Once the AIM solution resonates, then develop a substantive contracting plan. Remember, your plan should consider the following steps:


  1. Identify who the full complement of Sponsors is by completing a key role map

  2. Determine the timing/sequence for engaging Sponsors

  3. Assure that they are “educated” on the role of the Sponsor

  4. Contract for high leverage behaviors, i.e., express, model and reinforce

  5. Contract to cascade Sponsorship down the role map

  6. Contract to re-contract

  7. Contract to provide leaders with feedback on their effectiveness as Sponsors

The immediate next step is to start the dialogue. Do something with the data! If you have access to and relationship with key Sponsors, get on their calendar. If not, develop a communications campaign to champion the survey results to key players. Lobby opinion leaders directly. Leverage existing meeting forums for agenda time. Don’t allow this window of opportunity to close without having gained implementation traction.




*Tuna, Cari, WSJ, “Executives Shift to Survival Mode”, November 20, 2008.

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posted by Implementation Management Associates at 3:37 AM 4 Comments

Are Your Continuous Improvement Programs Delivering on their Promise?


One of the most significant stumbling blocks that business process re-engineering initiatives encounter is in the deployment phase of the process improvement process. There is logic and data to suggest that although statistical analyses can improve organizational effectiveness, reduce unnecessary activities, increase productivity, and reduce costs, no process improvement or culture change will occur unless solutions can be implemented through to utilization and Return on Investment. The application of the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) dramatically improves the likelihood of success for Lean and Six Sigma initiatives.


Beyond selecting the right projects, business process re-engineering will only be successful if the improvements are properly implemented and achieve long-term adoption. Successful deployment of process improvement initiatives such as Lean Production require the selection of the right people for implementation (Agents); the right leadership (Sponsors); the right personal recognition and environmental supports (Reinforcement); and the right methods for identifying and managing resistance to changes (Readiness for change).


Application of the AIM Methodology enables Lean and Six Sigma teams to apply the same process framework approach to what is often considered to be the softer side of process improvement. The methodology offers a robust set of tools and measurement diagnostics, along with a structured framework for managing the human elements of continuous improvement efforts. This is supplemented by organizational learning to provide practical tactics and strategies that will increase internal capacity to implement more quickly.


To improve your own organization’s Lean and Six Sigma results, IMA (Implementation Management Associates) recommends the following specific actions become part of your business process re-engineering protocols:


  1. Apply the same data-based approach to the human elements through use of diagnostics such as the Implementation History Assessment, Implementation Risk Forecast, Sponsor Assessment, and Change Agent Assessment to identify implementation barriers

  2. Define the desired behaviors (who will need to do what differently, and how well will they need to do it) up-front so that they can be measured and reinforced on the back-end

  3. Develop implementation plans that blend technology and business process improvements with structured, hard deliverables for the human elements, including key role maps, impact mapping, a Sponsorship Strategy and a Reinforcement Strategy that can be seamlessly managed

  4. Re-define the role of the Sponsor from providing high-level support based on organizational position to providing three specific actions: Expressing, Modeling, and Reinforcing the desired behaviors

  5. Develop a Readiness Strategy that specifically includes actions for sourcing and managing Resistance to changes resulting from Lean Six Sigma analyses

These five actions will significantly increase the effectiveness of your continuous improvement initiatives. And as we all know, these efforts are more important than ever to organizational effectiveness and perhaps, even organizational survival.

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posted by Implementation Management Associates at 3:25 AM 170 Comments