Technical Notes

Move through a large organization, and you will likely find many dedicated people who are working hard on company priorities that are designed to add value, grow the business or innovate. These organizations are targeting big things, yet individuals and teams can find themselves stalled in their quest for accomplishing the extraordinary. So often, when our firm is invited in to work with such companies, we hear people say, “We have a history of lots of take-offs, but we have very few landings.” ...

 

There is an ever-increasing demand today to develop real leadership in various enterprises. The rapid expansion of many companies, especially newer ones, has created a “gap” inside organizations that has management looking for ways to develop people within their companies like never before. The exponential expansion and growth of organizations has contributed to this is. This growth has seemingly taken place so quickly that it has surpassed the organization’s ability to look within its ...

 

 

The number one cause of failing corporate change efforts is ineffective implementation. Simple logic dictates that the very best of plans are worthless without implementation. One major consulting firm reports, from a five-year study, that of 20 companies for which they had done reengineering work, 11 failed to implement the changes. In each case, management had not effectively communicated and enrolled the employees who were needed to implement the planned changes. Management’s lack of ...

 

While management literature is excessive concerning the attributes of existing effective corporate cultures and presents useful change models for a cultural intervention, little is evident about common design principles, regardless of the business strategy or change model employed. Just as the 7-S model forms a general analytical framework for the integration of a company's competitive concerns, a similar analysis of change efforts isolating common factors would seem useful, regardless of the ...

 

This technical note is intended as an overview of alliances. We will address some of the most frequently asked questions about alliances. The point of view found in this note is a blend of our practical experience working with alliances, the research, and other professional literature. Strategic alliances are one of the most interesting strategic options available to businesses today. In principle, alliances are very appealing because they allow a business to accomplish with one or ...

 

ENROLLMENT: THE LEVELS, THE PLANNING, AND THE PROCESS For large-scale corporate change efforts to be successful, a good deal of communication and enrollment is always required. This is, of course, also true of company-wide projects or campaigns. Yet, three key areas of enrollment are very often neglected, misunderstood, or remain a mystery to many executives and managers. This document will cover those areas in some depth. I. The Levels of Enrollment II. Enrollment Planning ...

 

WHAT ARE BREAKDOWNS? Once a team has committed to producing breakthrough results, a breakdown is any circumstance or event that looks like it will hinder or thwart their success. By breakthrough results, we refer to unprecedented or extraordinary business results that represent a dramatic break from "business as usual". These are the types of results that: will make a significant contribution to the business; at first glance, seem impossible; although they may ...

 

Seldom does a week go by anymore in today's business environment without hearing about, reading about, or interacting with teams and teamwork. A team is a special kind of relationship. Yet, frequently, disempowering interpersonal relationships within teams halt progress or dominate team meetings. These unworkable relationships are often ignored or tolerated, while everyone tries to press on with the other tasks at hand. Relationship to a team is analogous to foundation to a ...

 

This technical note is intended to generate a platform for discussion regarding the design and conduct of large-scale organizational change initiatives. In our experience, transformational initiatives seem to move through certain phases or operating states from first contact with a client through to the point where the company is able to reliably generate an environment for breakthrough on their own. Key design elements required for success are summarized in the following table and then ...