Management Business

I’m an expert on change and leadership, but my most popular speaking topic this
past year, and also the one I’m already getting the most requests for in 2006, is
“Creative Collaboration.” This is because my corporate clients around the world (two
of next year’s programs are scheduled for the UK and Belgium) are realizing that
successful organizational transformation is increasing dependent on employee
engagement – which, in return, is increasingly linked to employee participation in
the change process.

It requires a village – or at least a workforce. Over the past 23 years, I’ve caused a
number of very talented leaders, and one thing I understand for sure: As talented like a
leader might be, he (or she) can’t transform an organization, a department or a team
without the support and engagement of others. Whether the change involves
creating services, services, processes – or a total reinvention of methods the
organization must look, operate, and position itself for the future – success dictates
that the individuals influenced by change be involved in the change in the very
beginning.

“I think that individuals will challenge any leader who states, ‘here’s where we’re going!’
before asking the question ‘where do you consider you should be going?’ Probably the most
powerful leadership technique is to allow the audience arrive at their very own conclusions
about what the challenges and solutions are.”
Joseph P. Pieroni, President, Sankyo Pharma

Visioning is a team sport. Today’s best leaders guide their organizations
through transformation not through command and control, but through a shared
purpose and vision. Leaders adopt and communicate a vision of the future that
impels people past the boundaries and limits of the past. However, if the future vision
belongs only to top management, it’ll never be a highly effective force for change. The
power of a vision comes truly into play only when the employees themselves have
had some part in its creation.

“We created a vision for future years by engaging everyone for the reason that conversation. Vision
facilitators guided the process for the national organization, at each and each
affiliate, and one of the different constituents — medical directors, clinic directors,
educators, etc. Although my views were strongly represented, everyone’s input was
considered. It makes sense a cohesive vision that’s owned by the whole organization.”
Gloria Feldt, President, Planned Parenthood Federation

Diversity is vital to harnessing the full power of collaboration. Experiments in the
University of Michigan discovered that, when challenged with a difficult problem, groups
composed of highly adept members performed worse than groups whose members
had varying levels of skill and data. The reason for this seemingly odd
outcome is due to the strength of diverse thinking. Group members who think
alike or are been trained in similar disciplines with similar bases of knowledge run the
chance of becoming insular in their ideas. Rather than exploring alternatives, a
confirmation bias gets control and members often reinforce one another’s
predisposition. Diversity causes individuals to consider perspectives and possibilities
that would otherwise be ignored.

This is excerpted from the letter to Marriott managers from the Lodging
Director of Diversity: “We must begin to see diversity as an focal point in our business
and encourage the special talents and diverse perspectives of each associate to
produce quality service of superior value for all of our customers.”

Relationships are key. The successful outcome of delegating change management to
teams depends on how well you have developed trust-based relationships among
team members. All too often, in the rush to begin with the project, we put
people together and let them know to “get to work.” This approach proves under
productive, as the group hasn’t had time to discover one another’s strengths and
weaknesses nor to build up a typical understanding and vision for the project.

Some tips about what a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) employee needed to say
while participating on a conference panel about collaboration in catastrophes: “We
must know others before cooperating in desperate situations. If we are strangers inside a
crisis, that’s a Serious problem.”

And, by the way, when I’m called on to share my insights on “Creative
Collaboration,” it’s not only to discuss it — but additionally to facilitate a real
session.

That’s because today’s corporation exists in an increasingly complex and ever-
shifting ocean of change. As a result, leaders need to rely as part of your on the
intelligence and resourcefulness of the staff. Collaboration isn’t simply talking
concerning the have to seek input from employees. It comes down to actually giving them
ownership of change efforts and acknowledging the fundamental truth – that none people
is smarter than all of us.

Managing alternation in our lives and in our businesses is vital in the modern environments in which we live. There’s much to learn from that old and cantankerous Dickens character, Mr Ebenezer Scrooge himself…

The truth is, although he had an outward persona of grumpiness, deep down somewhere there was a guy with a heart, seeing his life drift from him.

We all do this to some degree – to hide away our true selves behind a veil of something we are at ease with. Sometimes we appear intimidating, cruel or even harsh. We steer clear of the intimacy we actually seek, due to past experiences.

For old Scrooge, this became clear with the visit from the three ghosts, in addition to things i discover the most scary of all, the visit of Jacob Marley, his former partner, who seemed doomed to be stuck in that no-mans-land world between life and the ultimate infinity.

So, what went down then?

Firstly, Scrooge was reminded of who he may become if he carried on as he was. Marley gave him the illustration of the end result of carrying on with his current behaviours.

Secondly, the Ghost of Christmas Past happened by. Showing Scrooge his almost forgotten past, where often he’d experienced the enjoyment that truly is possible, yet for a lot of us is lost and overwritten by the experiences we now have, once we grow through childhood and adult life.

Thirdly comes along the Ghost of Christmas Present, where Scrooge becomes conscious of opportunities every single day, perhaps even every hour, that we all have, yet our frame of mind makes us miss them. Awareness of these possibilities is very one step, yet whenever we begin to take the time to notice, we can easily change our behaviours for the better, not just for ourselves, but by others too.

Finally, the ambiguous Ghost of Christmas Future. Does it happen, or perhaps is there an option? Where Scrooge will end up if he doesn’t make some changes. Interestingly, whilst Scrooge laughs along with the Ghost of Christmas Past and enters those wonderful experiences of his youth, he’s not smiling anymore when it comes to the future. And, even more oddly, it would appear that the effect on others, what can happen to Tiny Tim, hurts and frightens him probably the most.

So what can we study from this? Quite a bit actually…

* Our past holds the clues to who we might be.
* We get stuck into one way of thinking which does us no favours.
* Concentrating on money (remember he’s a miser!), is definitely an escape a lot of us choose.
* There are possibilities each day to obtain more from our lives – to become authentic with ourselves.
* The near future is impacted on by our behaviours and actions – we can make a difference.
* There is much pleasure for ourselves in helping others – it is not an action that causes us pain!
* We now have choices to make and they’re entirely within our hands. These are decisions we are making every single day in our lives.

Managing change becomes all the easier when we realise what we should had, where we’re now and what might become people later on, unless we choose differently. It truly is up to us – and that’s the challenging part.

Above all, this enchanting story is well worth the read at the moment of year – there are lots of more interesting lessons to understand.

In addition to a delightful Christmassy story too!