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Successful Transformation
A July 2008 McKinsey Global survey of 3,199 executives showed only a third of the respondents experienced successful step change in business performance in their organizations. This means that two thirds, approximately 2,111 participants, experienced investments made and opportunities lost. Take a moment to consider the organizational cost of programs that fail to realize the opportunity cost of the intended change? Those costs are considerable!
Some of the enabling tactics expressed include establishment of a clear program vision, taking time to plan the plan, stakeholder and executive champion involvement, communication, front-line involvement in planning and execution, and applying flexibility in planning and tactics deployed. Other success factors include the talent and expertise of those involved and ensuring the performance management plan reinforced the desired outcomes.
Now if you’ve been a reader of the ASIL newsletters, or have taken the time to review the ASIL Driving Complex Change® methodology, you know the correlation between the success factors expressed in the article and the ASIL approach. The ASIL approach is based on the premise that successful change comes from applying a program management framework focused on developing insight into a change program/organization’s direction, ability, incentives, resources, structure and planned actions. With this insight, a change architect increases their visibility into how best to improve the change plan, allocate or develop resources, apply structural improvements or incentives, or alter actions to increase program accountability, control and probability of success.
So why did two thirds of the businesses surveyed fail to achieve their planned organization transformational impact? Why not ask yourself that question for the change programs you’ve been involved in? I suggest it was due to a failure to consider, assess and understand your change capability in the context of the ASIL 6 pillars of successful change expressed earlier. Perhaps one, or more, of those areas had shortcomings that either derailed or delayed the program from reaching its full potential. Perhaps it was simply due to the need of balancing today’s priorities while juggling a future based program. Surely this is a common occurrence in today’s busy and competitive market. No matter what the reason, the opportunity is to alter your future approach and consider the lessons learned and expertise available to assist you in driving successful transformational change.
Managing change is the core value proposition of ASIL, Inc. Our Driving Complex Change® methodology and software is designed to empower companies with visibility and understanding into those factors that result in successful cultural change. We offer a variety of services to help you innovate and transform your business. We’re not simply theorists but pragmatic and experienced operational executives with a track record of managing successful change. Let us help you achieve new areas of profitability and success.
Contributed by Warren White
September 2008 Spotlight
Attacking Revenue Leakage
Have you ever received a water bill and wondered how can this be? We don’t use that much water. There must be a leak. Most Utilities companies will send out a technician and take a look to see if there are obvious line breaks or other areas where the water may be running or leaking. Much like your water that may be dripping away unknowingly until the bill arrives, business revenue suffers the same challenges and it becomes visible on the bottom line.
Revenue leakage is a term used to define the lost opportunity or potential revenue dollars that are lost and will not be recovered. This can happen in a variety of ways that can go unchecked for long periods of time. Take for example one of the most common forms of revenue leakage, giving your services away at no charge. It occurs everyday and usually starts with something small to satisfy the customer and then it gets bigger over time.
Another example of revenue leakage is under pricing your services. When you lose sight of the market value and the competitive nature of your services, it is likely that you will price below what the market will pay. In both of these examples trying to get people to pay after the fact is unlikely. The cost will still occur and without the benefit of the revenue the margins are reduced.
So how do you address these items before they occur? It begins with a level of diligence to understand your value proposition and how you deliver a competitive advantage to your clients. This is not a one time discussion point, rather it is part of the strategic planning process that should be reviewed and challenged each year.
In addition, building a culture and business controls that are keenly focused on providing value while ensuring that the revenue and margins are achieved is no small task. It can be a very daunting task to dissect the issues and then educate to develop a new culture. The obstacles for most companies are the time and skills to do it, yet the loss of revenue and margin are far greater.
Just imagine if someone sent you a bill each month for the revenue leakage you are experiencing. Not only would it be eye opening, but it would surely get addressed. Don’t ask or wait for permission, take charge now and begin to reshape your business success.
Contributed by Peter Pazmany
Industry Trends
Succession Planning – An Industry “Must”
What is likely to happen to an organization when a key leader vacates their position without succession planning in place?
There would be either no able successor or where there is, the successor is often either unprepared to handle the heavy responsibilities placed upon them; he/she simply does not have the ability to manage the organization in the way it needs to be; or the organization goes into turmoil due to lack of direction or conflict in the ranks. In other words, your business is put at risk.
Succession planning is identifying and preparing suitable employees through mentoring, training and job rotation to replace “key players” such as the CEO, CFO, Vice President, or Director within an organization as well as being considered for all key roles to ensure continued business as well as personal growth within an organization. Succession planning is a process whereby an organization ensures that employees are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the company. It enables your organization to identify talented employees and provide education to develop them for future higher level and broader responsibilities.
Proper succession planning can help prevent a business from being frozen or stalled while a replacement comes up to speed. It also helps avoid conflict among staff when a position becomes available. Without proper succession planning, the future success of the business is left to chance once a key position has been vacated. Under such a circumstance, if the business succeeds at all, it is by default rather than planned.
Succession planning establishes a process that recruits employees, develops their skills and abilities, and prepares them for advancement, all while retaining them to ensure a return on the organization's training investment. With good succession planning, employees are ready for new leadership roles as the need arises, and when someone leaves, a current employee is ready to step up to the plate. In the past, succession planning typically targeted only key leadership positions. Now, however, is should be considered as a part of the plan for every position within an organization to ensure personal as well as business growth.
Succession planning ensures that there are highly qualified people in all positions, not just today, but tomorrow, next year, and five years from now.
ASIL, Inc. is skilled in the practices of succession planning and can help your organization become resilient to planned or unexpected staff changes. Contact ASIL, Inc. to let them assess your needs.
Contributed by Michael Singleton
Our Software Products
Click on the links below to view ASIL, Inc.'s MAX Partnering® self paced software demonstrations:
Self Assessment Sample Questionnaire - This demo will enable you to respond to a small sample of self assessment questions focused on change management and create a Heat Map of your responses to see areas that may need attention. The Driving Complex Change® methodology addresses the six areas of Direction, Ability, Incentive, Resources, Structure, and Action that can impact your effectiveness of change management.
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