One of the most common problems I encounter when coaching clients in effective change management is how to be more productive. There is a wealth of advice out there on tools and software and process, but for the harassed individual it often boils down to how they can increase their own personal effectiveness, and be more productive in their role.
I came across the infographic above via the NHS Leadership Academy @NHSLeadership on Twitter, written and designed by Anna Vital, Information Designer and author of many fine infographics.
It got me thinking about busy business change professional, and how they have to constantly juggle multiple priorities, finding their time eaten away by ‘stuff’ that demands their attention.
So in this article I offer a few observations on the headline statements in Anna’s infographic, as they apply to anyone managing or directing business change.
I’ll start right away by saying that I won’t cover all the strands mentioned by Anna: I am not saying that paying attention to clothes, food or the human body are unimportant, but anyone who knows me will quickly confirm that I am not the go-to guy for advice on those.
The other strands speak to me more directly about specific challenges facing those trying to bring about successful change in their organisations or in society.
We are too easily lured by the appeal of technology – to make communication ‘easier’, to organise activities, create schedules and to prioritise tasks. We see change professionals become servants of tools, spending unwarranted amounts of time finessing their plans, entering data, producing reports.
It’s time to go ‘lo-tech’: keep the tools simple (post-it notes, not electronic ones), keep the process intimate (workshops, walk-throughs, face-to-face sharing and challenging of ideas) and walk away from a systems-dominated approach, where you run the change process from behind a desk. One still needs thorough good process tools and a systematic method, but time spent developing a human-oriented approach with your stakeholders will always pay dividends.
Try this little thought experiment: by some devious means, I can double, triple or even quadruple the amount of time available for you to do your work. In this experiment we shall also miraculously preserve your free time for leisure, social and family interests. Now, did that solve the problem? Did you manage to get all the work done? Highly unlikely, as we are all familiar with Parkinson’s Law which indicates that we never end up with enough time to complete every single task. We constantly fool ourselves that it is not so, despite the regular frustration of an expanding to-do list.
It’s time to get ruthless, selecting and prioritising work through the three filters of
- strategic alignment (‘to what extent does this effort help take me in the direction desired for the business?’)
- value (‘how much will this effort help us to realise benefit from the change?’) and
- collaboration (‘how will this effort help foster support and engagement with the change stakeholders?’)
In making choices, it is important to think in terms of OUTCOMES, not outputs. A fine, shiny new process or system going live might impress at a superficial level, but we must not be charmed by that. We can do this best by visualising what we want the future state of the business to look like – in the most concrete terms possible – to look like, and then challenging how a given task contributes to that future.
There is another significant aspect to this, particularly pertinent to anyone working in change: you cannot move the mountain on your own. Actively seek out ways to share the workload, collaborate with others, delegate – these are all avenues for increasing stakeholder engagement by altering their role from that of passive bystander to player in the game. And to paraphrase President Lyndon B. Johnson’s rather crude advice for dealing with awkward stakeholders opposed to change (in his case, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover): get them more closely involved.
Doing easiest things first can be good for personal and group morale, by producing that feeling of achievement: that’s why they are called ‘quick wins’. We are also familiar with the dopamine rush that comes when we finally finish a piece of work. It can give us momentum to work on greater things. However, too often we see people get distracted by the easy-to-do. Parkinson’s much lesser-known Law of Triviality warns against the tendency to focus on the simple, rather than the important.
My own pet hate, inefficient meetings, is highlighted here: too often we disrupt the productivity of large numbers of people with poorly conceived and executed meetings. The paradox here is that we all know the Golden Rules of meetings, yet we persistently ignore them. I have a rule of thumb: if I want to achieve a successful outcome from a meeting or workshop then I should expect to spend at least three times the scheduled meeting time on preparation, including informal networking to pave the way. I should also expect there to be as much time involved again in follow-up actions. This is a great reminder to me to think carefully about the purpose and conduct of meetings, and to be very wary of a colleague cramming many meetings into one day!
Anna’s infographic also highlights the notion that perfectionism is a vice, not a virtue. ‘Good enough’ means exactly that – any more quality is unnecessary. Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, a driving force in the development of radar in Britain prior to the Second World War propounded a “cult of the imperfect”, which he stated as “Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes.”
Some important messages here:
- Visualise the business outcome (not just the end product!) and then you and the change team and stakeholders are more likely to move toward achieving it. It’s the same principle used by athletes.
- Start with something that is not fully thought through. There are two reasons for doing this: firstly, we are less attached to ideas and strategies that we have spent only a little time conceiving. Secondly, if our first attempt to articulate a direction is imperfect, even deliberately imperfect and controversial, then they will provoke challenge and allow different opinions to emerge. This is pure manna from heaven to the effective change manager – in these early conflicts and differences a more complete picture emerges, and groups can achieve informed and conscious compromise agreements.
- Similarly, a decision – any decision – will produce energy; indecision kills momentum, and in a change environment momentum is crucial to develop and maintain: when change loses momentum, it loses credibility in the eyes of the stakeholders.
- Finally, Anna’s advice about ‘writing to the author’ reminds me of a fundamental truth about change: it is not achieved on the executive floor, but rather down in the departments where people act and think differently. Followers of change follow a local leader, not some anonymous and distant senior manager. These departments have their change champions, their pioneers and risk-takers. These are the people who will translate the abstract goals into innovative practices. Such authors of change must be acknowledged, frequently and generously.
In conclusion, for the busy change professional (at whatever level in the organisation) needs to be able to hold up a mirror every now and then, and look at their habits and behaviours. Some are effective, and need to be reaffirmed; some are less helpful, and need to be sharpened up and refocused to productive ends; some are just plain wrong, and kill productivity – these need to be cut out of the weekly routine.
What advice do you have about becoming a more effective and productive change manager? Let me know your thoughts.
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