Imparting the need to embrace change is not always an easy message to put forth. Your skills in guiding the audience through an understanding of how resistance arises and how it can be transformed into a positive force for change allowed for new information . . . relevant to the relationship between the Canadian forces and Canadian society.
David Kinsman
Lieutenant-General
Asst. Dept. Minister for Personnel
Canada Dept. of National Defense

Seeing A Crisis Before it Was Too Late

The Challenge: Leaders of a manufacturing company realized that they were going to face significant new competition over the next few years, from low cost providers located outside the US. When this happened, they could go out of business.

The bigger problem was that very few people in the company understood this threat. The machines ran 24 hours a day - every day of the week. People were happy. Except for the small executive team, few saw a need to change.

The Opportunity: My client realized that he needed to get lots of people to be as worried as he was about this possible threat.

Helping clients make a compelling case for change is the primary reason why we get invited into organizations. And there is good reason for that. Making a compelling case for change is the single most important thing you can do to build support for major new initiatives. And, sadly, this critical step is often ignored or glossed over.

The Results: I worked closely with him and his senior team to help them make a compelling case that major change was needed. Once managers, supervisors, and hourly employees saw that there was a crisis on the horizon, they were able to begin to develop strategies to counter this threat.

I conducted a survey to find out how big the gap was between the need that the executives saw and what the rest of the organization saw. We found that the gap was quite wide.
I advised the team on ways to describe their vision clearly and then we came up with ways to communicate the need for change as well as the vision.

The head foremen were the natural leaders in the organization. If they saw the need for change and talked about it, literally hundreds of others would probably come around as well.

We began by designing a meeting for the head foremen. The day was a mix of presentation and conversation. For example, instead of the ubiquitous PowerPoint shows, management found creative ways to get the message across - and engage the foremen in lively conversation. By the end of the session, most of the head foremen were on board and championing the need for change.

These actions helped build a strong foundation for change inside the company. As a result, management has taken significant actions to begin to simplify manufacturing processes, cut waste, reduce costs, and position the company for the coming challenges.

Keeping Change Alive from Start to Finish

The Challenge: A high tech company was having difficulty fully implementing new ideas. They were worried that they could slip behind the competition if they didn't get better at keeping new ideas alive from planning to implementation.

The Opportunity: If they could determine what was getting in the way of implementing new ideas, they had the skills, resources, and commitment to get real results from all these major projects they had under way.

The Results: We developed an assessment that helped them determine how likely they were to actually see benefit from these new initiatives. Although the results were sobering, we didn't end there. We supported management as they developed strategies to bridge the most critical gaps between where they were and where they needed to be.

Get Major New Initiatives Up and Running Quickly

The Challenge: A bank was implementing a new software system in the US, London, and Tokyo. The project leader was concerned that fiefdoms would wreck the project before it ever got off the ground.

The Opportunity: Just because fiefdoms wreck the plans of others, there was no reason why this bank needed to suffer the same fate.

The Results: I was invited to join a team of consultants to work on this challenge. We brought key decision makers together for three days to look at the goals of the project. Could these leaders get behind them? If not, why not? It was hard work, but by the time the meeting ended, the key stakeholders were on board for this major change.

One of the managers pulled us aside and told us that he had come from a competitor who had faced similar challenges. Their integration project had been budgeted at $14 million. They never had a planning meeting like this and the project had now cost nearly $22 million - and they weren't much further along than we were. And this project was just beginning.

People were skeptical and protective of their own turf for the first day or so, and than they shifted. They began talking - and then working - together on ways to make this new software system a success.

Get a Merger Back on Track When Things Started to Derail

The Challenge: A merger between two hospitals was not working. The CEO of one of the hospitals saw how much money was being lost by keeping up dual systems. And he was worried that the hospitals were missing many opportunities in the marketplace by not being able to combine their resources.

The Opportunity: Even though only about one-third of all mergers are successful, it doesn't have to be that way. With our help, the leaders who were trying to make this work could pay attention to the most neglected part of most mergers - the people.

The Results: We brought all managers together for a meeting to address critical issues. We began by letting each major entity talk about what it stood to gain and lose from the merger. Many expected the new executive team to feel like the winners. Surprisingly, all the lists of responses looked just about the same. Everyone saw some gains, all saw some losses. This revelation was a turning point. My associate and I could feel a shift take place in the room.

Conversations for the rest of the meeting were deeper. People began to catch themselves when they were speaking about "us versus them." They worked hard to find solutions that worked for the entire hospital. For months after the meeting, people referred back to the power of those conversations in helping them get started on the right foot.

People rolled up their sleeves and began to address these problems. This meeting was a turning point in the merger. Departments began to work far more collaboratively with each other. They began to think like a single entity.

Increased Ability to Get Six Sigma Implemented

The Challenge: Master Black Belts faced a challenge. They needed get much better at persuading people to apply Six Sigma in their manufacturing environments.

The Opportunity: The Master Black Belts knew the theories and had the tools down cold. If they could increase their ability to influence leaders in their company, they could then apply all the knowledge of effective ways to apply Six Sigma.

The Results: I adapted my Theater of Resistance workshop for them. For two solid days we applied theater improv techniques to the challenges facing them. You could see the ability to influence increase by the second day. Over the coming months our clients reported back that these two days were the most significant in their training - and that their ability to influence was a critical factor in their successful working with leaders.

Transforming Fear of the Future into a Compelling Vision of Where the Company Should Go

The Challenge: Earnings at a plant were down. Given the highly competitive global environment, it appeared that this downward trend would continue. This put the plant at risk with its parent company. Instead of tying up assets in this plant, the parent could choose to sell it - or even close it! The general manager believed that either of these outcomes would be bad for the people working for him. And yet, he realized that it is difficult to get people motivated with a negative vision.

The Opportunity: We tried an experiment. My client and I wanted to see if there was a more positive vision that could be used to guide the company. (It was an experiment, because neither of us knew for sure whether they would be able to identify something positive to shoot for.)

The Results: I worked closely with the senior team in an attempt to create a vision that worked for them. I applied a few techniques to get them to think differently about the situation facing them. As a result of their willingness to engage in these activities, a vision started to form. They honed it over the coming couple of weeks. And for the past few years it has been used throughout the organization as a way to focus the direction of the work.