Archive for the ‘Meeting Notes’ Category

Meeting Notes from Inside Influence: Leading Change from the Middle

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

At the May meeting, Heather Stagl of Enclaria LLC focused on the role of the internal change agent.

When we typically think of leading change, there are two parties:  the leader and everyone else.  The common statistic quoted for leading change is a 30% success rate for initiatives.  Add a change agent to help implement the change and the success rate drops to 20%!  The primary reasons for the reduction in effectiveness are mismanaged roles and relationships.  It turns out that being responsible for implementing change without having the authority to get it done is a tricky job!

Heather shared the role of the change agent, and how the relationships should best be managed.  She followed up by defining two main ways to influence organizations from the middle:  personal influence and structural influence.

During one of the exercises, attendees brainstormed a list of structural influence strategies, or the systems, processes and tools we use to influence change.  Click here to download the list (PDF).

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Meeting Notes on The Future of OD

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

DSCN0772We were pleased to welcome the Executive Director of OD Network, Dr. Peter Norlin, to our August OCA meeting on Saturday.  He joined us live via Skype and conference phone from Michigan (that’s him on the big screen TV).

Using the Whole-Scale(tm) Change model developed by Dannemiller Tyson and Associates, the meeting was designed to begin a dialogue about the future of the OD field and what that means for us as practitioners.  The results will lead into OCA’s strategic planning process.

Dr. Norlin shared with us his view on the future of the field.  Some predictions he made were:

  • There will be culture implications as organizations face having as many as 4 generations simultaneously at work.
  • Work will consist of employees that do not fit into organizational boundaries, due to outsourcing arrangements.
  • There will be a diffusion of OD expertise into different internal jobs in organizations.
  • As practitioners, we will need to help employees deal with escalating anxiety and fear, as change occurs more rapidly.

The second half of the meeting focused internally to answer the questions, “What does this mean to me?” and “What do I need from OCA?”  The answers to those questions, plus the results of a questionnaire to be sent to the rest of the OCA community, will be used to help OCA plot its path forward.

Thank you to those who participated!

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Notes on Helping Organizations “Tune-Up” For the New Economy

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

At our July 18th OCA monthly meeting, Jane Goldner, PhD, presented “Helping Organizations ‘Tune-Up’ For the New Economy.” With her 10 Point Checklist and attractive sports car metaphor, Jane encourages us to “get under the hood” of the organizations in which we work, and use the checklist to gear-up for high performance in the New Economy.

Through this easy to understand yet power-packed approach, and metaphorical use of the flashy sports car, Jane engaged us in conversation and case studies for helping organizations tune-up.

Many of us walked away with Jane’s new book on the subject for further reading.

There are 10 Checkpoints plus additional safety tips. We’ll name a few here. All of Jane’s slides are now available on our OCA website.  Members may access them here.

Checkpoint 1: Periodic Maintenance

Checkpoint 2: The Core, Chassis

Checkpoint 3: Leadership, Steering Wheel

Checkpoint 4: Customers, Engine

Checkpoint 5: Strategic Thinking, GPS System

Plus five additional Checkpoints…

For more information, visit www.thegoldnergroup.com.

Have your own notes or comments to add? Please share them using the comments section below.

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Notes on Exceptional Networking

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

On June 19, at one of OCA’s quarterly meetings that are held on Friday instead of Saturday, Wendy Kinney presented “Exceptional Networking” in her trademark red hat.

Here’s but a drop out of the deluge of information Ms. Kinney provided about marketing yourself through networking:

There are four drawers in your marketing filing cabinet:

  • Attraction marketing (advertising)
  • Interruption marketing (cold calls)
  • Endorsement marketing (word of mouth)
  • Customer service

When networking, you should have one association you go to for each of the drawers.

Ms. Kinney also shared with us many ideas for how to stay in touch, through verbal, visual and hand-to-hand methods.  The key, she said, is to determine each person’s preferred method of contact and customize your approach to suit each.

She also showed us her Stay In Touch System and how and why it worked.

For more information, visit www.readysetgomakemoney.com.

Have your own notes to add?  Please share them using the comments section below.

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Notes on The Power of Workplace Culture

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

On May 16, Terri Kruzan of Culture Consulting presented “The Power of Workplace Culture:  Identifying culture using a qualitative approach.”

Ms. Kruzan started the meeting with an exercise, with examples of “cultural artifacts” from three different companies adorning the walls.  The artifacts included photos and awards that you might commonly see on the walls of an organization.  Identifying the underlying values espoused by the artifacts is one way to determine the culture of an organization.

She explained that an organization’s culture is not good or bad, it just is.  When evaluated in relation to the desired goal of the organization, the culture will either help or hinder it.  She also shared a culture alignment map:

Current Culture >

Strengthen, Redirect, or Add >

Values, Behaviors, Attitudes >

Desired Culture

In order to determine the current culture, infer and shape the culture from behaviors and practices down to values.  Then, determine the underlying assumptions – the unwritten and unquestioned beliefs held by the organization.

For more information, visit www.cultureconsult.com.  The presentation slides are available for members here.

Have your own notes to add?  Please share them using the comments section below.

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Notes on How to Accelerate Successful Implementations

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

On Saturday, April 18, Dr. Byron Fiman shared with the OCA group his Accelerate Implementation Methodology, or AIM.

Dr. Fiman was very generous with information, and included success factors and barriers that he had studied over the years.  He suggested that at the beginning of a project, we identify strengths and barriers based on a survey of history – since history is the best predictor of the future.

The Road Map for change included 10 AIM steps:

  1. Define the Change
  2. Assess the Climate
  3. Identify Change Approach
  4. Generate Sponsorship
  5. Develop Target Readiness
  6. Create Cultural Fit
  7. Build Agent Capacity
  8. Develop Reinforcement Strategy
  9. Build Communication Plan
  10. Prioritize Action

Dr. Fiman also provided each attendee with a copy of the Sponsor Assessment, which included Expressed, Modeled, and Reinforced behaviors that change sponsors should demonstrate in order to successfully implement strategy.

For more information, visit www.orgchange.net.  The presentation slides are available here.

Have your own notes to add?  Please share them using the comments section below.

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Notes on OD in the Public vs. Private Sector

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

On Friday, March 20, Jim Lientz, Chief Operating Officer of the State of Georgia, spoke to a larger-than-usual crowd at the OCA meeting.  He shared some of the challenges of organizational change in government, and offered tips on what has been done in the current administration to move toward the goal of being the best managed state in the nation.

According to Lientz, Georgia is currently the ninth largest state with 9.5 million people, with expectations of being the fifth or sixth largest in the next few years.

Lientz repeated many values statements, showing how these principles have been ingrained in the State’s employees since the Purdue administration began in 2002:

  • Principle centered leadership
  • Customer focus
  • “Faster, friendlier, easier”
  • “Teamwork, communication, accountability”
  • Measurement and fact-based decision making

He shared many examples of the state becoming more well-managed.  He and his team implemented a number of new systems, such as fleet management, real estate management, and improved processes such as the accounting close.  Claiming that “it all starts with people,” Lientz shared his approach to leadership development and culture change.

Have your own notes to add about this presentation?  Please use the comments below to share.

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Notes on Balanced Scorecard – Introduction and Case Study

Friday, February 27th, 2009

At the February 21 meeting, Heather Stagl presented an introduction to the Balanced Scorecard methodology developed by Drs. Kaplan and Norton.  The presentation concluded with a case study of a Balanced Scorecard implementation that Mrs. Stagl led at The Jel Sert Company, a consumer food products manufacturer based in West Chicago, Illinois.

The Balanced Scorecard has morphed from a measurement tool to the key management system for strategy execution.  The Balanced Scorecard system includes the development of a strategy map, a one-page visual representation of the strategy, which defines organizational success from four key perspectives:  Financial, Customer, Process and Learning & Growth.  The Balanced Scorecard system becomes a change management tool as the central component of creating alignment, developing a strategy-focused organization, and by implementing eight strategy management processes.

Mrs. Stagl’s presentation is posted in the members-only OCA Knowledge Base at the following link:
http://www.organizationchange.org/kbase/category.php?catId=122.  To become a member, go to the registration page.

As founder and coach at Enclaria LLC, Heather Stagl partners with individuals to equip them lead organizational change.  Most recently, she was Program Manager of the Office of Strategy Management Working Groups at Palladium Group, Inc., (formerly Balanced Scorecard Collaborative). In this role, she conducted executive training programs on strategy execution using the Balanced Scorecard method. Previously, Heather served as Director of Organizational Effectiveness at The Jel Sert Company, a privately-held, mid-size food products manufacturer in suburban Chicago, where she implemented Balanced Scorecard.

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Notes on The Art of Engagement

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

Frances Baldwin presentation at the OCA meeting today on the Art of Engagement was thought-provoking.  Frances encouraged attendees to pay attention to the Art of Hosting and recommended various resources on this topic.

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