Client Case & Highlight
Recently we had an opportunity to build a planned change consulting project for one of our clients. The impetus for this project was a major change in organizational structure accompanied by a high level leadership transition. It’s important to capitalize upon the windows for change these opportunities present.

The incoming leader astutely wanted to avoid the common “ash n trash” trap incoming leaders can fall into. “Ash n trash” is when the new leader focuses on finding fault with, criticizing and attending to the weaknesses of their new organization in an effort to build a case for change. The kind of burning platform that hurts. Focusing on weaknesses, problems and gaps has a way leading to people feeling exposed, dumb and defensive. Not a great way to build bridges toward a successful future.

Given the overall situation and the requirement for this process to be a more positive and building process, we developed an approach to strategic change using an Appreciative Inquiry approach to transformation.  This approach is based on positive psychology, no CRITICISMS, no PROBLEMS, no GAPs, it's a process of finding your strategic organizational strengths and amplifying them.  This is a great approach for helping new leaders learn about as well as set a positive tone for transforming their new organization.

The other really nice thing about an approach based on AI (click on the link above to better appreciate this) is that the process is viral, negating many of the difficult and typical failure modes and forms of resistance inherent in traditional approaches to change.  

One of the opportunities that emerged for the client from this process was a focus on Creativity & Innovation, a strategic capability that they had possessed, had lost touch with and committed to amplify. I’ll use the specific focus area of Creativity and Innovation to help make the process overview described below a little more concrete.

Below is a summary of some of the key steps and elements from this process. Phase I, II and III are most closely associated with AI and how we "got there". Phase IV and V are the phases that pertain to specific project implementations including increased Creativity & Innovation throughout the enterprise.  

Phase 1. Finding the Strategic Leverage.  Senior leaders were actively engaged in this phase and conducted carefully structured Appreciative Inquiry interviews with their staff, customers and other key stakeholders.  From this initial work the senior leaders identified four strategic capabilities to address, one of which was Creativity & Innovation.

Phase II. Tapping into Passion & Possibilities.  This is the viral part of the process. The staff who were interviewed by senior leaders (as well as others, about 25-30 people) then received some brief training and went on to conduct a handful (5) of structured interviews themselves.  We created a database to capture and compile the contents of the interviews to make it easy to extract intelligence. Effective and consistently constructed interviews are the key here. The client created a “portal”, a virtual space where all interviews could be shared and read by every employee in the organization. This second round of interviews took place over the course of a month. I can’t stress how powerful these client driven interviews are, how they raise awareness and start to shift thinking.

Phase III. Summit.  All interviewers, interviewees and other key stakeholders (150+ people) came together in an interactive summit. At the summit the interviews were shared and dissected in an effort to learn from and apply their collective wisdom for change.  Key areas for change were identified and Strategic Deployment Teams were chartered and launched. One of these teams was focused on Creativity & Innovation.

Phase IV. Impact Session(s).  Strategic Deployment Teams go through a JumpStart launch process to accelerate their impact.  Each Impact session is constructed of three elements- Concepts Lab in their area of strategic deployment (i.e. creativity and innovation), Opportunity / Strategy definition and Goal Setting , Project Selection, Scope & Chartering.  The creativity and innovation Impact Session is designed to bring about change through an integrated set of strategies.  These strategies are organized in the following "buckets";
• Climate & Leadership for Innovation. 
• Technology & Enabling Systems
• Education & Awareness
• Application and deployment of tools & capabilities.

Phase IV. Hoshin / Catch-ball Project Deployment.  Hoshin / catch-ball principles are used to align and manage the execution and impact of projects. The cycle time for this overall effort, including verification of results in one year.

I welcome your comments, insights and experiences about change and transformation. If you would like more information on how to design an approach for your organization or team, please push the Contact Me button.