06.12.03
 By
Paul Glen
The first article of this series discussed the process of clarifying the desired
future state of your organization as the first step in improving the productivity
of your group. The clarification phase is the one most often skipped when trying
to deal with organizational issues. Managers commonly try to jump directly into
the second phase, planning, often with disastrous results.
This occurs for two distinct reasons. Firstly, most managers are by nature
people of action. They prefer to focus their energies on doing things rather than
pondering things. In many ways, this is what makes them effective. But planning
organizational changes without a clearly articulated goal often leads to the selection
of ineffective or even destructive actions.
The second reason that managers frequently jump directly to a solution without
a clarified problem is the availability and promotion of so many management tools.
Writers, consultants and research organizations regularly roll out new management
approaches claiming to have broken the secret code of leadership. They arrive
in magazines, books, seminars, white papers and marketing brochures on a daily
basis. You are probably barraged as I am by information on tools like CMM, extreme
programming, RUP, professional service automation, project management software,
behavioral analysis, communication training, leadership training, etc. |
Resources
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While most of these tools can be valuable in helping improve technology organizations,
few are precise about the issues that they address and the limited conditions
under which they should be used. So overworked managers under constant pressure
to improve their organizations often adopt the use of these tools without a clear
understanding of the problem they are trying to solve.
So only after completing the clarification phase are you in a good position to
begin planning how to improve your organization. Then you can select one or more
tools to use to improve the group function.
As you are selecting tools, its also important to recognize the full range of
options. Here is a short list of 15 categories of tools that you can consider
when planning to transform your organization along with a few notes on their strengths
and weaknesses.
1. Training Usually training (either technical or soft skills)
is the first thing that we think about, but it has only limited effects unless
combined with other reinforcement mechanisms.
2. Organizational structure change Restructuring can be a powerful
approach, but requires careful attention to both the new structure and the transition.
It is usually disruptive in the short term and you have to be willing to absorb
a short term productivity hit until the benefits arrive.
3. Policy change Policies can be useful tools. They are clear
directive statements. They are simple to issue, but hard to enforce and sustain.
Too many policies can combine to stifle an organization rather than to improve
it.
4. Process improvement Processes address the selection and
sequencing of tasks as well as the approach to how people work together mechanically.
Too often, managers try to use processes to mitigate cultural and human relationship
issues that remain unresolved.
5. Culture change Culture change can be a very powerful tool, but is
also very difficult to do well. Organizational cultures are remarkably resistant
to change.
6. Staffing change Sometimes, you really just have to move
people in and/or out of the organization. New blood can help transform a group.
So can jettisoning those toxic people who constantly infect others with their
bad attitudes.
7. Technical review Either at the enterprise or the project
level, a coherent fresh eyes view of your technology can reveal both technical
and human issues.
8. Compensation Rewards and Incentives Changes Adjusting
compensation plans is always difficult. Not only do the incentives change in often
unintended ways, but employees often have emotional reactions to the changes even
if they are largely improvements.
9. Strategy and Planning
For many groups strategic planning has become an annual ritual, but it
frequently becomes an exercise in tactical planning rather than true strategy
development.
10. Mission, Vision, Values The experience
of writing mission, vision and values statements can be a great opportunity for
debate and clarification for a group. But, leaders have to be cautious about declaring
grandiose visions that elicit more eye-rolling skepticism than aspiration.
11. New Technology Tool Implementation While rarely living
up to the marketing hype, there are many new technologies that can help improve
communication, collaboration, management, and monitoring.
12.
Assessments Psychologists and consultants have developed batteries
of tests and surveys that can help clarify the true state of your organization.
In addition to your gaining a better understanding of reality, the simple act
of asking the questions can help to raise awareness of issues in the group.
13. Coaching Over the past 10 years, the formalized process
of individual coaching has become common in the corporate world. It provides people
with a coach who serves as a safe sounding board and provides unbiased feedback.
A coach also helps hold people accountable for commitments they make.
14. Mentoring Mentoring differs from coaching in both content
and duration. While coaches allow the person being coached to drive the process
of individual improvement, mentors take a more active role in directing the progress
of the mentee. Mentors also work with their charges for long periods of time,
often years.
15. Outsourcing With the constant pressure
to reduce costs, many large organizations have turned to outsourcing, especially
outsourcing services overseas. This approach is an attempt to improve the ROI
on people not by improving the return on investment but by reducing the investment.
The jury is still out about what sorts of work can be successfully outsourced.
There is also a growing backlash with many organizations re-insourcing their previously
outsourced work.
The key to planning a successful organizational transformation is to select the
appropriate combination of interventions to meet the clearly articulated goals
around which you have already built consensus.
About the Author:
Paul Glen is the author of "Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver
Technology" (Jossey Bass Pfeiffer, 2002) and Principal of C2 Consulting. C2 Consulting
helps clients build effective technology organizations. Paul Glen regularly speaks
for corporations and national associations across North America. For more information
go to http://www.c2-consulting.com.
He can be reached at info@c2-consulting.com.
Read this newsletter at: http://www.CTOUpdate.com/2003/0612.html |
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