Levers For Change

Years ago I read a book entitle "Strategies that Work". It's a great book that broke the strategic planning process down quite well with many practical steps for strategy formulation and deployment.

What has stuck with me for all these years was the list of "Influence Systems" that were laid out in the book. Through these influence systems the author made an effective case for the simple truth that in order for there to be change, things must actually change.

Below are these these influence systems or as I have come to call them, Levers For Change. A lever is a simple tool that helps perform difficult work more easily. For a lever to function it requires a fulcrum. One of the items below is the fulcrum, where it's positioned in the process for change makes all the difference in the leverage.
• Goals, Measures, Feedback & Performance Systems.
• Rewards, Awards, Recognition & Incentive Systems.
• Communication Systems.
• Competency Development, Training & Learning Systems.
• Organizational Structure.
• Senior Leadership (Behaviors).
• Rules, Policies, Protocols & Governance Systems.
• Physical Environment & Layout.
• Key Programs & Initiatives (LeanSigma, etc.)
• Staffing, Selection & Talent Development.
• Information & Knowledge Management Systems.
• Ceremonies & Events.

To realize strategies or any other change, there must be substantive changes made. The list above represents key areas where substantive changes may need to occur.

Our technique for culture change initiatives and strategic change initiatives is to use a "from... to..." analysis. This is a simple process where the client characterizes and describes the attributes / functionality of the influence system as it is today and re-characterizes the influence system in a way that better supports the desired change, state or strategy. This "from... to..." work provides a useful gap analysis and allows for powerful objectives, projects and initiatives for change to emerge and be clarified.

Senior leadership, by the way, is the fulcrum and having them "close to the work" adds significant leverage to any change.

In later blogs I'll expand upon these levers, describe them more fully and outline many of the different types (versatility) of work these levers can perform.

Culture Kaizen: Unique Approach to Culture Transformation

Overview. A quick look in the rearview mirror at the last 18 months has left many leaders with sweaty palms on the steering wheel, a rapid pulse and a strong sense of “I don’t want go through that again!”. For those that have survived or are still "white-knucklng-it" through tough terrain the challenge is now to transform significantly enough to conduct business in a new and more sustainable way. The next 18-36 months will present leaders with a unique inflection point for change and transformation. The LEAD Culture Kaizen is great way to start, course correct and or accelerate the transformational journey.

Kaizen, often associated with Lean, is a proven methodology to scrutinize and continuously improve business and technical systems. Our unique approach applies all the power and principles of Kaizen to scrutinize and transform the human system, the culture of the organization or work unit.

Kaizen relies heavily on simple and effective tools such as value stream maps, process flows, Seven-forms of waste, Five-S’s, time-value maps, etc. These tools are used to engage people in often non-intuitive concepts and to help them clearly "see" significant improvement opportunities in their technical systems and processes. During the LEAD Culture Kaizen we use simple and proven tools to help leaders and members "see" and grasp the often non-intuitive and unspoken culture change opportunities that can be the “make-it” or “break-it” factors for sustainable performance and transformation.

Organizational culture affects ALL business transformation initiatives (not just Lean) and efforts at three critical phases; implementation phase, adoption phase and sustainability phase. The LEAD Culture Kaizen is a powerful catalyst for change at any of these phases.



For more information on this powerful and unique approach to transformational change please click here

Creativity and Innovation Impact Session: Client Highlight

Last week we had the opportunity to collaborate with a client to design and facilitate a well received Impact session on Creativity & Innovation. For this process we partnered with long time friend and consulting associate Steve Zeisler.

The session was comprised of about 25 carefully selected "Innovators" (think six sigma black belts with an entrepreneurial twist) and senior "change leaders" from throughout the organization.

The highlights of this process and engagement were:
1. An overview of creativity and innovation.
2. Sharing and interpreting results from the Creative Styles Inventory.
3. A review and practicum of tools for innovation and creativity.
4. Sharing and interpreting results of Organizational Climate for Innovation Survey.
5. Innovation project selection, team formation and chartering.


1. An Overview of creativity and innovation. Most organizations today can't leave innovation to chance. The "kids in the garage" are out there, they have more channels to market than ever and they want your business. Together this group of innovators and senior leaders explored the explosive rate of change that is occurring around them and its implications to their business.

2. Creative Styles Inventory (CSI). We are all creative, but how we are creative can differ in some significant ways. Edison was certainly creative in his way, just as Einstein was creative in his own way. Neither was more creative than the other, but they were certainly different in how they were creative. Edison's creative preference called for a more structured approach and Einstiens's a preference for less structure. Both preferences are "good" and valid, but their process and preference for creativity is on opposite ends of a continuum.

For those whose roles require creative output, or who must lead teams and organizations wherein creativity must flourish, it is important to understand the human dimensions of creativity. The CSI helps us appreciate the continuum of human creative preferences and can help us approach creative challenges without personal bias and increased team effectiveness. Within the session participants received their CSI results and explored its implications to them as innovators and as change leaders.

3. Tools for Innovation and Creativity. Just as there is a continuum of human preferences for creativity, the tools we use for creativity can also be placed on a continuum from high to low structure. During the session participants were exposed to a continuum of tools. There are over twenty such tools and brainstorming is in the middle of the continuum. In addition to some tool practice, a take-away for the group was that for every creative challenge there is a "better" fit tool.

4. Organizational Climate for Innovation. Organizations that must innovate have to understand that the richness, volume and impact of their efforts will rise or fall on the degree to which the organization posses a healthy Climate for Innovation. There are nine (9) clear and measurable dimensions that differentiate Innovative organizations from those that are stagnate. During the session the group reviewed the results from the Climate for Innovation assessment we conducted prior to the Impact Session. Input was provided to develop strategies to strengthen the climate.

A take away for the group was that if we want innovative results, the process starts with nurturing a climate that stimulates contributors to think expansively, give their best insights and ideas. If winning in the market place is a war of innovation, Climate is a key force multiplier and key differentiator.

5. Innovative Project Selection, Team Formation and Chartering. With the benefit of all previous session elements and discussions, the group worked together to select high leverage innovation projects and begin team formation.



The graphic above captures additional considerations this Impact Session addressed. Effective innovation requires an integrated process, an innovative climate and the application of a wide array of tools/approaches. A key set of in-process (lead) metrics and key set of output performance metrics must also be developed to aim the innovation process in line with business needs.

I welcome your comments and questions. Please contact me if your organization, work unit or team would benefit from an Impact Session like this or any aspect of the process that has been highlighted in this blog. If your strategic need is not Innovation & Creativity, we can work with you to develop a change approach and Impact Session tailored to your needs.

Culture Change via Team Based Management: Client Case Highlight

Just last month I spent a week with a client I’ve been consulting with for about three years now. Typical of many of our clients and most organizations, they are wrestling with a few key issues:

• How to hold people accountable, ensure that employees are all “pulling their share”.?
• How to run effective and productive meetings?
• How to define and address poor performance?
• How to function as a high performance team?
• How to confront disruptive behaviors?
• How to select and hire the best people?
• How to make performance appraisals meaningful?
• How to stabilize processes and increase performance?

What is rather atypical and not like many organizations is WHO within this client is wrestling with the above sticky issues. You see, the folks who are tackling and managing the issues in this case are the hourly production workers. Read More

Guidelines for Survey Guided Development

Organizational surveys and assessments can be powerful tools for improving employee engagement and organizational effectiveness- or not. No doubt about it, some tools are better than others. However, this is one of those areas where a strong survey guided development process can compensate for a poorly constructed tool AND the perfect tool can be rendered useless by a poorly thought out or administered survey guided development process.

In our consulting work we use organizational effectiveness surveys because they can help assess how well an organization is functioning, how engaged or motivated employees are and any positive or negative trends that may be occurring. I like to initiate a survey guided development process at the beginning of projects to; baseline the organizations effectiveness, raise awareness and desire for change, increase engagement and measure the impact of change throughout transformation projects.

Below are just a few basic guidelines to follow when considering whether and how to make the most of your survey guided development process.

• Decide what you plan to do with the survey data and how you intend to feed it back before administering the survey. Our rule of thumb is to plan of feeding the results to anyone who responded to the survey.
• Survey results should be used for improvement.
• The survey used should be based on some interpretative theory or framework.
• The questions should be actionable.
• The rating scale should be consistent throughout the assessment tool.
• Ensure anonymity for people taking the survey. If using a paper and pencil type of survey, provide respondents with an a envelop they can put the survey in and seal it before handing it in, or a stamped addressed envelope to mail the survey back.
• Employees can take the survey on the organization, department or work group. We encourage “high fidelity” measurement by having employees take the survey on their work group. In this way we can easily provide high level reports as well as provide feedback at the supervisory / work group level.
• The time between taking the survey and feeding back the results should be as short at possible. We like to take no longer than a month to get some aspect of the survey results back to the organization to start the feedback and engagement process.
• The survey results should be fed back to the entire organization, not only the leadership team. Employees generally expect that when asked to take a survey that someone is interested in what they think and that this will lead to change.
• Leaders should be involved in feeding back the survey data to their organizations. While there may be a role for experts or consultants in the feedback process, leaders must be encouraged and prepared to demonstrate active engagement.
• We encourage linking survey results feedback with opportunities for managers and employees to help interpret the data together and collaborate on suggestions for improvement.

I welcome your input and dialogue on the list and if you would like to email me about how to increase employee engagement through the use of survey guided development, please send me a note to ksprock@aol.com.