How to Make A Big Change Happen: aka Making Elephants Dance

Part 1 Realizing Just What You Are In For
[This is going to take a few installments.]


Making elephants dance is no trick for amateurs. Neither is making a major organization change such as introducing SAP or any other "big thing."


So how does it happen without running off the talent, tanking the company, or giving the competition the break they were looking for?


Does one just bear down harder?
Make threats?
Promises bonuses if everyone will just wait and see if this bird will fly?
Make more threats?


Or trust in that tried and failed strategy called: "Hopium".


A big change or project is [really is] a big deal.


Most M&As fail: more than 60%. Bean counter's dreams of that bottom right cell on the spread sheet never quite come to fruition. The investment bankers who sold M&A have long ago ridden into the sunset in their new hot cars. You are left with what's left. Grief, pain, and yet-to-be-realized expectations.


And that last word, expectations, is where we are going to start.


Yep, after the "vision" has been surveyed and savored, after the dreams of "hopium" have swirled away, what we have left are expectations.


There are two kinds of expectations from two kinds of people with which one must contend.


First the expectations. There are those which have been spelled out in the agreements, contracts, press releases, technical specifications.....and those which have been omitted but continue to be held but which still will come into play when determining if the project and you were a success or.......or the reason you are now out of the loop and pursuing special projects, leaving to spend more time with your family, or just unavailable for comment. You thought you won, but somehow there was no ticker tape parade.


Next the people. There are those involved in the deal: the merger team; the action squad; the raiders; the project team; the red team, blah, blah, blah. All those people who are in the know, hope they are in the know, want to be in the know. And then.....and then there are people who are organizationally above you them and beside you them who form the contextual interface.


Ignore them and the change will fail.


But you ask, how can a project or big change be measured on anything but stated objectives, agreements, tech specs, ROI, measured progress, etc., etc., etc., etc. Silly rabbit!


Check the next post, Part 2, and I will start walking you through how to make a "big change" and use strategy and tactics which have worked and will work...and much better than furrowing one's brow, working longer hours, and searching for that elusive hit of "hopium."

Note: the actual field data used to generate these conclusions is based on the authors work as senior consultant with www.Bechtel.com, Proctor & Gamble www.PG.com, the Williams Companies www.Williams.com, www.ExxonMobile.com, the World Bank www.WorldBank.org, the United States Trade and Development Agency www.USTDA.gov, and Chief of Party at the United States Agency for International Development www.USAID.gov.


Note: If you would like a copy of the full article, please send me an email so requesting.