Focusing Change To Win Series – How Can You Lead to Thrive?

Series Introduction

This is the eighth in the series of highlighting contributions from 1072 Business Leaders and Consultants from 80 countries in 19 Industry Sectors detailed in our book Focusing Change to Win. Each blog gives some of the key findings and a sample of useful tips. In this blog we are focusing on How Can You Lead to Thrive? Here are the other book sections we are highlighting:

1. Why is this book important?
2. How is your “What” connected to your “Why”?
3. Why do people resist change?
4. Why bother measuring change?
5. How can implementing change gain competitive advantage?
6. Is your organization thriving or surviving?
7. How effectively are you communicating change?
8. How can you lead to thrive?

 

8. How Can You Lead to Thrive?

Clearly from this survey, leadership skills that focus change to win are at a premium. Today, change is the norm. It is neither random nor regular but hovers somewhere between. How these interrelationships arise and how they challenge organizations is not well understood (IBM & KMPG Surveys endorse this)

Why should leaders focus on their organization’s essence?

An organization’s essence is the amalgam of mission, vision, values, intent and ethics. These components should be the focus of aligning and realigning people rather than delivering the corporate directives after a strategic planning retreat. Sustaining an organization’s essence is a dynamic that requires everyone’s engagement to define and redefine under changing situations.

It’s only by leaders “inter-reacting” that they can develop people’s shared clarity about the organization’s essence – “what we stand for!” From shared clarity comes confidence, from confidence comes cohesion and from cohesion comes the freedom to decide and act. That’s how organizations will stay on track today. Many people making many decisions true to their organization’s essence.

It’s also expected that some employees (including some executives) will not “buy into” an organization’s Essence once it is clearly defined.  Leaders should then be ready for those employees and managers to transition out of the organization. This will benefit them and organizational cohesion

What are the dangers of using technology to increase control?

Technology increases the illusion of greater control which can feed a leader’s “Control Addiction”. More measurement equals more control. But measuring what is easy to measure can have the very opposite effect. The problem is that most of what is easy to measure has already occurred. What is difficult is dealing with the factors that are difficult to measure and with forecasting what is likely to happen down the road. We can’t spend more time looking through the “rear view mirror” when we have a winding road ahead of us. Technology’s cheapness and speed feeds this addiction with the past and “looking in the rear view mirror” by access to ever more data and information at the cost of acquiring knowledge and wisdom.

This condition is worsened by technologists clinging to largely sequential design and deployment processes which are not fully user or client inclusive, e.g. “Waterfall Process”.  Contrast this with agile processes which are fully supported by our contributors. See the link to comparing the Waterfall Process with Agile Methodologies.

Why do we have difficulty developing leaders that can thrive in today’s conditions?

Today’s conditions are not good proving grounds for the leaders we need. More of doing more with less, multi-tasking and the growing doubt that we may be doing the wrong things means that decision-making, and expectations are now more compressed. Consequently, entrenched expediency leads us into solving one problem so quickly that we find we have now created five more problems. We are so busy trying to solve problems there’s no time for “Where the hell are we going?” These conditions are not good for selecting or developing leaders who can work well under fluid and complex conditions.

How do we develop leaders that can thrive?

The tension between what Leaders want to achieve and their current culture prevents traditional leadership training from making a significant impact. For example, many leaders’ previous training has left them feeling that they could do a better job doing it themselves. Of course, too often this has not happened together with little sign that they have addressed their own or their junior leaders’ performance issues. The consequence is that leading up to a change they lack confidence and skills to handle the natural uncertainty that change creates. Consequently, they default to avoidance and expediency and as a result staff resistance rises morale suffers.

The conclusion is that Leaders need to develop a better framework to assess their competence to lead people, make the next and later changes more effectively.

In this section we outline how leaders can be developed to increase their chances of achieving both measurable short- and longer term results than traditional leadership training. It is based on approaches:

• Aligning People – Getting people on the Same Page
• Action Learning – Solving Difficult Problems while developing leaders’ skills

A Final Thought

Our position is that it’s only by energizing people and harnessing technologies better than anyone else that organizations can survive and thrive. Genuinely aligned, empowered and collaborative people will outperform the competition every time. A leader’s role is to create successful change that fulfills people and avoids human casualties. Leaders need to create working relationships that are rewarding not just superficially productive.

Action Points 7: Leading to Thrive

A Leader’s greatest impact is when they motivate their followers to action by appealing to their shared sense of their organization’s essence. Use these questions to rate your leaders’ abilities:

• To what extent do your leaders focused on developing rewarding not just working relationships?
• How reliant are your leaders on “command and control”?
• How well do they really engage those they lead?
• How well do they foster a culture of collaboration? Consider both internally and externally.

Leading to the Essence

Do your people know what your organization stands for? Specifically:

• How well understood is the organization’s essence? (mission, values, intent and ethics)
• How well aligned are my people with the Organization’s Essence and where it’s headed?
• To what extent do leaders use the essence to guide and coach their people?

Developing Leaders

• To what extent are you distributing and empowering leaders at all levels.
• What evidence do you see of true “inter-reaction” where success and failure are openly discussed?
• To what extent do they then take lessons learned and use them to repeat success and avoid failure.
• How well do they use processes to help people stand back, objectify problems and make people’s thought processes transparent?
• To what extent does the urgent drive out the important and mask how things accumulate, misalign and make each subsequent more difficult?

Problem Solving

• How often do your leaders try to solve complex problems with processes geared to “benign or simple problems”?

• How often do leaders face complex or wicked problems?

Leading Learning

• What expectations do we have of people to develop shared knowledge from similar situations?
• How much effort have you put into helping people express being puzzled or misunderstood?
• How well do they lead people on tackling problems and solutions by sharing understandings, resolving differences and producing agreed courses of action?
• How well have leaders, especially senior leaders, consistently expressed their expectations of learning to all levels across the organization?

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Developing Leaders for Effective Change

Leading in times of transition is at best a significant and complex challenge. At worst it can be a leader’s darkest nightmare. The tension between what leaders want to achieve and their organization’s culture often means that traditional leadership training has not equipped leaders to effectively lead the organization through major changes.
Too often previous leadership training and a history of failed change contribute to the tension between the forces for change and those for maintaining the status quo. Unfortunately, as each attempt to use training to improve leadership competence fails so do the chances of successful change decline.

One reason leadership training lacks impact (no matter how good) is the lack of rigorous and continuous linkage between advancing change and advancing competence. Consequently, leading up to a change, those expected to start the change become part of the problem, not the solution. Too often they are unable or unwilling to tackle rising uncertainty and resistance.

How can you re-engage managers and develop their leadership competence?
This blog looks at how you can develop both measurable short- and longer-term results based on:
1. Getting People On The Same Page by Aligning People and then;
2. Making Better Use of What You Have by using Action Learning to help managers solving difficult problems while developing their leaders’ skills.

Focusing Change To Win – How Effectively Are You Communicating Change?

Series Introduction

This is the seventh in the series of highlighting contributions from 1072 Business Leaders and Consultants from 80 countries in 19 Industry Sectors detailed in our book Focusing Change to Win. Each blog gives some of the key findings and a sample of useful tips. In this blog we are focusing on How Effectively Are You Communicating Change?   Here are the other book sections we are highlighting:

1. Why is this book important?
2. How is your “What” connected to your “Why”?
3. Why do people resist change?
4. Why bother measuring change?
5. How can implementing change gain competitive advantage?
6. Is your organization thriving or surviving?
7. How effectively are you communicating change?
8. How can you lead to thrive?

 

7. How Effectively Are You Communicating Change?  

The following is based on 684 contributors who chose to add comments on communicating change. Unsurprisingly, contributors see their people at the heart of any successful change process. They see gaining stakeholder commitment as a force multiplier of powerful change ambassadors. Essential to creating that commitment are leaders taking their people into their confidence with honesty and courage.

Surprisingly, however, our analysis also sheds light on some blind spots. Overall, contributors focus more on technique than systemic or strategic issues when communicating change. For example:

•  They (Leaders) lack the ability to motivate or hold people accountable….they do a poor job at this…..lots of saying nothing….People are told, not asked. 

Change Communication Blind Spots

Real change requires authentic communication and dialogue across all organizational levels. Although, employee’s resistance and disagreement are unavoidable, contributors show how it can be managed through multiplexed and constant communication. They stress that this only happens when change communication is centered on establishing and retaining trusting relationships. If employees feel fairness, they will trust more and trust is the glue of success.

So, what role does communication play in reducing change mistrust and cynicism among employees? Frequently, it’s people’s sense of fairness. The communication timing, involvement and sequence impact their sense of justice.

Where’s the Requiring Environment?

There seems little focus on improving alignment and change success. Issues like change management, communication, and change measurement were under 6% of contributors’ comments on communicating change.

Looking in more detail, a third of contributors said that they didn’t know of any change related communication or that their leaders don’t communicate enough.

For most contributors, real change is the outcome of authentic communication. They show how change can be managed through constant communication. Contributors often commented that trust in management was the only variable that significantly impacted change resistance.

However, comments on authentic communication and building trust seem to collide with those related to top down led change. Critical contributors point out that top down rests too often on leaders clinging to the belief that power, privilege and success lie in their core group. Whatever blend of top down and bottom up it is clear – one should be intentional and as one contributor said:

• Being solid in the values you hold as a leader that needs clearly articulating and solidifying with your change management team before you start planning. 

Our contributors are clear. Lay the groundwork for successful change before trying to carry out the next change. This starts with putting the change management team together before a specific change is planned. Then develop a shared governing set of values and design the change measurement framework.

Implementing Effective Change Communication Processes – A Questionnaire 

This 38 question instrument was developed from 755 contributor comments on implementing an effective communication change process. It is designed to engage those involved in change management and leadership in selecting relevant questions and then reaching a consensus on improvement areas.

• Analyzing Change Impacts
• Set-up Change Program with Metrics
• On-going Communication & Training

Action Points 6: Implementing an Effective Change-Communication Process

Based on your answers to the questionnaire above, use the following questions to develop your plan for developing effective change communication.

• Have you established an explicit set of shared governing values?
• How are you getting people ready for the inevitable change?
• Have you engaged stakeholders and change agents?
• Have you put the change-management team together?
• How do plan to align the team’s values of change and their expectations of one another?
• How are you going to improve leaders change communication skills?
• Who is going to ensure that real change will be the outcome of authentic communication?
• How are you going to ensure that all your people know and understand your change rationale?
• How are you going to monitor employee’s sense of fairness and trust? (Remember: trust is the glue of success.)
• How are you going to establish dialogue between groups and individuals, in often tense situations?
• How are you going to establish and monitor your change’s requiring environment? Is there a set of aligned change expectations between leaders and each individual?

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Meeting Today’s Leadership Challenges in a Complex World

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN COMMERCE, IT & MANAGEMENT VOLUME – III, ISSUE – IV (APRIL, 2012 (ISSN 2231 – 5756)

Abstract

Today leading in a complex world is one of the hot topics being discussed across organization and conferences. Every one faces complexity both in a small or large-scale industry. This complexity is driven by uncertainty and accelerating change. For organizations to thrive in this rapid challenging business environment, leaders must learn to adapt and embrace the complexity, to see it as opportunity to achieve uncommon result. This chapter present valuable insights about KPMG study confronting complexity. It identifies factors that cause complexity. It also suggests ways through which a leader can address complexity and turn it into competitive advantage.

Authors Kelly  Nwosu and Nick Anderson

1.0 Introduction

The challenge with managing complexity and leading in a complexity world has become an excuse for some business people to keep the status quo, to abandon thinking ahead and to push strategy to one side, because they don’t believe it can be flexible and responsive enough to help them in a rapidly changing world (ED, 2011). But, most organizations that succeed in the midst of complexity are those that think differently and turn the potential challenges into a competitive advantage. They also see it as an opportunity to make their company more efficient. According to the recent study confronting complexity conducted by KPMG International, the study reveals that more than 90 percent senior executives across 22 countries say their organization’s success depends on managing today’s complex business issues. Yet, less than half executives believe the actions they are taking to manage complexity have been very effective (KPMG, 2011). On the other hand, the IBM survey on global CEO’s also show that the language for reducing complexity has change, CEO’s are now talking about how to transform complexity into an opportunity to gain competitive advantage (Balkan, 2011). In our research, we were able to identify what complexity is all about, factors that cause complexity and actions to discuss the issues of complexity. In particular, this chapter covers three parts. Part 1 focuses on managing complexity while the second part focuses on leading to the essence then part 3 focuses on leading learning.

For the full article please go to  www.ijrcm.org.in

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN COMMERCE, IT & MANAGEMENT  (ISSN 2231 – 5756)

Avoiding the Pitffalls of Strategic Planning

Introduction

Getting people focused and committed on implementing a strategy has never been more difficult as von Moltke said:

Strategic plans do not survive first contact with the enemy, and hence must be always open to revision.

In today’s competitive environment every action has many reactions that aren’t easily anticipated.  This is probably a major factor why 60% of change initiatives fail in North America and why something is going wrong with strategic planning.

One area that many executives either ignore or only pay lip service to are the cynicisms that previous initiatives strategic planning have accumulated in the organizations psyche. Here are some that you ignore at your peril

Crucial to understanding your people, as Peter Senge describes, is identifying  where people are on the apathy-commitment continuum. He identifies two areas of personal need that they want satisfied in their working lives:

• personal benefit which comes from compensation, benefits, position, recognition, or other non-tangible benefits
• personal sense of fulfillment of their life’s purpose, vision, or calling.

Leaders need to grasp how well each person’s attitude and their contribution is met directly by company goals or objectives. Then they can assess where people sit on the apathy/commitment continuum. Any misalignment between personal needs and your strategy will generate unproductive or  counterproductive behavior, if not actively managed

What’s changed in Key Account Management in 15 yrs?

Back in 1995 I worked with my client Peter Barlow then VP Global Account Management and Major Projects for APV (Food Process Engineering Company) on developing a Major Account Management System. Now over 15 years on I ask:

What’s changed in Key Account Management 15 years on?

Building and maintaining profitable relationships with your most important customers is more challenging than ever. The stakes are even higher of investing reduced resources on a few customers (accounts) with that nagging doubt of “backing the wrong horse”

“… (Managers) often don’t realize or understand how markets change and believe sales to be just how it was fifteen years ago.” (TACK Sales Leadership Survey 2011)

“Doing business with and actually making money from your largest strategic ‘partners’ has never been more difficult….Only a few corporations are getting it right.” (Richard Ilsley, SMCG 2010)

This blog takes a hard look at strategic, key or major accounts (KAM) and why many senior executives remain concerned 15+ years on. To do this retrospective I have drawn on several current experts in the field including a paper by Richard Ilsley of SMCG, TACK International and Mercuri.

Getting the Best out of the Matrix

Introduction

For 40 Years few have challenged Matrix Management’s viability. Most writers remain convinced that a matrix approach is superior to a hierarchy, but why hasn’t it been more successful? This blog looks at pointing the reader to answer:

How do ensure we get the promised rewards of the Matrix?

First,  a definition for SHRM

In a matrix structure, an employee reports to two managers who are jointly responsible for the employee’s performance. Typically, one works in an administrative function, such as finance, HR, information technology, sales or marketing, and the other works in a business unit related to a product, service, customer or geography.

The matrix model is a network of interfaces between teams and the functional elements of an organization. As its simplest it is:

 think horizontal – think vertical – think interface.

Here are some of the challenges facing those thinking of improving or moving to a matrix based organization.

Complexity, the New Normal! 1: Aligning Leaders for a Complex World

Every one faces complexity driven by uncertainty and accelerating change. It is the “New Normal” making leadership more demanding and in demand.

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Leadership on its Head

Accelerating Complexity places extreme demands on leaders. The leader’s ability to relate, energize, and develop their followers is critical to empower them to act without direction. It’s a competitive imperative and requires a new balance of more effective and affective leadership. It’s the ability to produce results by being affective. That ability to influence people, in the way they think, feel and act is now paramount

As Peter Senge said Leaders “…cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition, or head and heart, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg…”

So, this month I deal with what leaders need to do – the easier bit. Next month, I cover the tougher piece on how leaders need to lead transformationally.

Ensuring Oilsands Project Success – Whitepaper

Authors: Brant Sangster, IMC (former Sr. VP Oilsands Petro Canada),Dr. Paul Clark, IMC (former CEO Nova Chemicals Technology, Board Member NRC, CCEMC),Dr. George Jergeas, Dept of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Nick Anderson, Senior Partner, PDS Group, Editor: Rolf Wenzel, IMC, Director Business Planning

Overview

Mobilizing armies of skilled labour from diverse locations and cultures, moving large equipment into remote locations in harsh climatic conditions and managing to budgets while costs are escalating make oilsands projects among the most challenging ever undertaken. Perhaps the most critical success factor  in managing such complex projects is establishing and developing productive relationships. This key factor is very difficult to measure yet is cited repeatedly as the number one reason for project failure. Consistently,  project  managers’  expectations  of,  colleagues,  teams,  subcontractors,  workers  and project  partners  are  substantially  different  from  what  they  actually  think  is  expected  of  them.    Such misalignments result in expected tasks not being completed in the way required for project success, tasks  being  completed  in  a  sub-optimal  sequence  or  excessive  time  invested  on  “low  return”  tasks. These  misalignments  cascade  into  scheduling  conflicts,  delays,  cost  overruns,  personnel  turnover, increased stress, safety and legal issues.

The take-away: New methods have been developed for the gathering and analysing of expectations from both the expectation originator’s and expectation receiver’s point of view. This enables the diagnosis of misalignments critical to project success, and facilitates the timely conversations required to align expectations and to keep projects on track before they become critical variables. Resource and competency gaps are exposed  and addressed. High achieving managers can be identified. A culture of communication, alignment and accountability can be measured and developed.

Listen to an introduction by Nick Anderson

CONTENTS

1.0 Oilsands Projects – What Makes Them Unique

2.0 Why do Projects “Fail”?

3.0 Expectation Alignment for More Effective Project Planning and Execution

4.0  Case Study – Large Construction Project

5.0 Project Teams as a Neural Network – The Foundation for a Culture of Alignment and Accountability

6.0 The ROI for Oilsands Projects

1.0 Oilsands Projects – What Makes Them Unique

The Opportunity

With over 170 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, the Alberta oilsands represent a unique opportunity for North America to achieve a greater degree of energy independence in a low risk operating  regime.    Total  oil  supply  from  Western  Canada  is  expected  to  grow  from 2.4 million barrels  per day  in 2005  to  over  3.6  million barrels  per day  (bbl/day)  in 2015,  an increase of 50%.  This requires an investment of between $94 and $125 billion.1 While  some  bitumen  reserves  are  accessible  using surface mining  techniques,  most of the recoverable reserves  are  deeper  and  accessed  using  Steam Assisted  Gravity  Drainage  (SAGD)  technology  that requires far less surface land disturbance. While not without  reservoir  risks,  SAGD  enables  operators  to expand  production  more  gradually  than  mining operations because the minimum economic size of a SAGD  project  can  be  scaled  down,  perhaps  even below 10,000 bbl/day.

 

Suncor Oilsands Plant

The Challenges

Size – These large projects are large, with capital budgets currently ranging from $250 million to $7  billion,  or  US$25,000  to  US$70,000  per  flowing  barrel.    Projects facilities range  in  size from10,000  bbl/day  to  over  100,000  bbl/day.      Every day  of  schedule  slippage  could  cost between $1 million and $10 million in lost revenue. Complexity  –  These  projects  are  characterized by  a  large diversity  of functional  areas  each with  separate  project  managers, budgets  and  schedules.    There  are  many  project  elements, requiring  a  long  build  schedule  with  the  possibility  of  multiple  EPCs  and  many  and  diverse suppliers and contractors.

For example: Designing and constructing a $3-billion oilsands project can involve the following:

(Why Cost and Schedule Overruns on Mega Oil Sands Projects?, George F. Jergeas, Ph.D., P.E.1; and Janaka

Ruwanpura, Ph.D., PQS2; Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, ASCE / February 2010)

Engineering effort:

• 3.5 million work hours at a cost of $100/h.
• 40–50,000 design drawings.
• 10–20,000 vendor and shop drawings.

Construction effort:

• Typically runs at 5,000 work hours for each million dollars invested, i.e., 10–15 million man-hours at $85–$100 per hour for a $3 billion project..
• Supported by 500–800 staff personnel.
• Labor force of 10,000 workers with a turnover of 30,000 people. (Even using the lowest North American average estimates of replacement costs for $8.00/hr employees of $3,500, this equals a cost of $105 million!)
• Organize order, store, and retrieve 80,000,000 material items.

Procurement and transport logistics challenges to a remote location can be  exacerbated by long lead  times  on  key  equipment,  increasing  the  risk  of  scheduling  conflicts  and  slippage. Personnel training, scheduling and logistics are complex and include continuous flights bringing workers in from Eastern Canada and elsewhere.   There are complicated communications lines among the functional areas, contractors, locals business and governments.  The  involvement  of  multiple  equity  partners  with  substantial  financial  interests  adds  another level of accountability and can be a bottleneck in decision making.  Partner communications can add significant project overhead and makes it more difficult to respond to change, or innovations arising mid-project that could benefit the project.

Climate – Harsh climatic conditions affect productivity, health and safety, and project costs, especially for workers unused to working in these conditions. Health & Safety – In addition to working in a harsh climatic environment, cultural and language barriers with foreign workers can affect safety.  High turnover and inexperienced workers pose dditional safety risks.

Labour – Availability and Productivity – As projects begin to ramp up again, the risk of shortages of experienced project managers and skilled labour may again increase.  Personnel retention was a major issue during the construction boom up to 2008.  The cost effective integration of aboriginal  contractors  requires  special  attention.    The  balance  between  union  and  non-union labour must be planned and managed.   Housing and the cost of living are expensive in the Ft. McMurray area. Workforce scheduling and logistics are a major challenge and there has been  lack of  cooperation among operators  in this area,  largely based on concerns around  losing personnel to other projects.

Environmental – Oilsands projects have become the centre of media attention in the past few years.  Thus, even the design and construction phases of these projects must demonstrate a proactive stance, rather than just compliance.

“In summary, future oil sands projects are going to be more complex due to both a set of external and internal factors interacting dynamically with each  other.  This  means  that  the  industry’s  ability  to  manage  socio-political, economic and technological fluctuations over a project’s life will be  critical.  This  is  not  an  advocacy  for  throwing  out  the  tried  and  true project management disciplines but learning how to use them in far more fluid circumstances”

(Richard Westney, Westney Consulting Group)

2.0 Why do Projects “Fail”?

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

Albert Einstein

The State of Oilsands Projects

During the 2005 to 2008 period, oilsands  projects were notoriously over budget and behind  schedule.   With  the  current  ramp  up  of  projects,  can  we  face  similar  cost escalations and labour shortages  in the coming years?

Randy Ollenberger, (BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.), points to the expansion of  the Athabasca Oil Sands Project as it was the biggest project to continue construction throughout the entire market crash. But  rather  than  costs falling, they  continued to  rise.  “If  there were great  savings to be had, they should have captured them. And clearly they haven’t,” he said.

Steve Laut, President, Canadian Natural Resources (05/21/10) fears that cost escalations may be an unavoidable outcome of the rush to get back into oil sands.

“There will probably come a point in time that people feel confident oil prices aren’t  going  to  fall  to  $30  [U.S.]  again  and  everyone  will  have  their engineering done more or less at the same time. So there’s potential that you could get some overlap in projects. Canadian Natural is already struggling with the lingering effects of the last boom, when triple-digit oil prices propelled a mad building scramble. That has resulted in operational problems at the first phase of its Horizon oil sands project, which Mr. Laut admitted has been “bumpy.”

A recent Booz Allen Hamilton report, “Capital Project Execution in the Oil & Gas Industry”, indicated that the majority of energy industry executives:

• Are dissatisfied with project performance (40% of capital projects overrun) his level of dissatisfaction is the highest ever.
• Agree  that  poor  project  performance  is  not  acceptable  when  the  market  expects predictability and strong returns.
• Accept that they cannot afford to miscalculate project risks, yet they do not have a good grasp as to how to manage them.

According to Richard Westney, Westney Consulting Group,

“Everyone in the industry is aware of the major cost overruns and schedule  delays  associated  with  major  projects  today.  An  often overlooked  fact  is  that  these  overruns  are  often  announced  when projects  are  well  into  construction—long  past  sanction  and  at  a  time when traditional project risks have (or should have) been mitigated. How is this possible when conventional wisdom suggests that all project risks should  have  been  understood  and  under  control  by  this  time? Conventional project risk management is based on two assumptions:

• Good “front-end loading” ensures a high level of confidence in the estimate of time and cost at sanction.

• Project risks decrease with time and progress.”

Since it is not uncommon for projects with good front-end loading to experience major  overruns  well  after  sanction,  we  must  ask,  “What  is  missing  from  the conventional approach?”

Symptoms and Causes

The symptoms of “project failures” or significant negative variance from plan are obviously manifested  in  easily  measurable  parameters  such  as  budget  overruns,  lateness  and  safety issues. However, problems can start long before these measurements of tactical activity are possible. Jergeas  et  al5  point  out  that  the  trend  towards  project fast  tracking  can  result  in  appropriate planning time being traded for overly ambitious construction schedules which can result in more overtime  and  higher  materials  and  equipment  expenses.  In  addition,  inadequate  time  spent planning  in  areas  of  risk  management,  project  control,  communications,  organization, contracting, design, procurement, site layouts, utilities, commissioning and external stakeholder  management, among others, can result in a fundamentally misaligned project strategy. Conversation  with  oilsands  operators  and  a  review  of  the  2004  multi-sector  study  by PricewaterhouseCoopers  (PWC),  “Boosting  Business  Performance  through  Programme  and Why Cost and Schedule Overruns on Mega Oil Sands Projects?, George F. Jergeas, Ph.D., P.E.1; and Janaka Ruwanpura, Ph.D., PQS2; Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, ASCE / February 2010

Project Management”,  among  the  top  reasons  cited  for  “project  failures”  were  issues  and misalignments in the following areas:

• Late scope changes
  

  Nearly but Not Quite

• Change in environment
• Insufficient resources / Poor support
• Poor communications
• Poor project processes and controls
• Poorly developed teams
• Poor partnering strategies
• Poor contracting strategies
• Team turnover
• Inadequate definition of stakeholders

Late Scope Changes – To what extent are scope changes the result of inadequate communication of  expectations  between  owner  and  EPC,  or  EPC  and  contractors?    At  the earliest stages of the project, inadequate specifications can be a root cause.  The owner may expect the EPC to have conducted a thorough review of specifications prior to start of drafting. Was this expectation communicated and detailed evidence of completion requested?   The later in the project these sorts of changes occur, the more expensive they become. Attempts to appease, accommodate or just to get things done means change orders or scope changes  are  too  readily  accepted  without  sufficient  impact  analysis.  This  situation  is  often compounded by having no firm and set date beyond which no further changes are accepted.   It is  reminiscent  of  Mr.  Creosote,  a  fictional  character  in  Monty  Python’s  the  Meaning  of  Life. Creosote  is  an  impossibly  obese  man  who  is  served  an  enormous  amount  of  food  in  a restaurant. After being persuaded to eat one more mint, he explodes in a very graphic way. The key error is the consequent layering of changes creates an almost blinkered approach of approvals or rejections while losing sight of bigger, end repercussions.

Changes in Environment – It may be beneficial to ask the question, “How can we improve our  ability  to respond to  environmental  and other  changes”?   To  what  extent  could  improved communication of expectations mitigate these issues?  Have the owner and EPC clearly relayed their expectations of rapid communications from contractors and suppliers when circumstances change?    Does  the  project  have  a  change  management  plan  with  specific  communication protocols for managing crises?

Insufficient Resources  /  Poor  Support –  Supply  chain  logistics  are  both  critical  yet vulnerable aspect of oilsands project execution. It relies heavily on proper communication and tracking agreed and unmet expectations.    Shift scheduling and logistics optimization offer large opportunities for efficiency gains.  To what extent are the expectations of efficient and proactive communications  relayed  to  all  levels  of  the  project  structure?    What  mechanisms  exist  to facilitate this and ensure monitoring of logistics operations? Especially  lacking  are  those  inter-professional  expectations  which  don’t  really  specify  what  is being  agreed  to.  The  act  of  agreeing on  an  expectation  is  too  easily  accepted.  The problem emerges when the expectation’s Receiver doesn’t deliver what was expected by its Originator. The problems often lies when the Originator doesn’t ask the Receiver to state what evidence they think meets the given expectation. This  situation  is  often  compounded  under  stressful  and  changing  conditions  where  the ramifications of meeting the new expectation are not fully considered on existing commitments.

Poor Communications – The number of possible lines of communication in a project can be expressed as n2 – n, where “n” is the number of people assigned to the project.  Thus a 100 person project would have 9,900 possible communication links.   Regardless of matrix, project or siloed command structures, there are still many cross functional and contractor expectations that are not surfaced or managed and that impact project execution. These lateral links are so numerous and not so obvious that important connections for timely and  accurate  communications  are  missed.  Many  would  say  with  all  the  technology  now available, all those involved have access to what everyone else is doing or challenged by. The reality, as one Project Manager expected of a design engineer: “If you find out you can’t make your deadline, don’t email me – pick up the @#$% phone…” Communications technology has become a two- edged sword – efficient yet overwhelming. While  many  respondents  cited  poor  communication  a  significant  problem,  to  what  extent  are poor communications or processes a root cause of the other cited project failures?  Following are quotations gathered from participants in various projects:

1. “We could be better at identifying problems and their solutions before they actually occur.  We are too reactive and this slows us down”

2. “The way we allocate resources and feedback on their (subcontractors’) performance compounds problems in managing projects”

3. “People get so absorbed in what they are doing that Key Stakeholders are not actively involved. This has led to tension between them and the project team”

4. “We are reactive and respond too quickly to changes to understand the implications and impacts on other elements and groups”

5. “We don’t reuse what has been done before – “Reinventing the Wheel” is costly and takes time”

6. “Measuring the impact of what we do is too subjective and lessens our ability to stay within  budget”

7. ‘Cost overruns and missed milestones are too common and compounded by finger pointing”.

Some of which are directly attributable to expectation gaps:

Project Team Dysfunctions

Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust

This occurs when team members are unsure what others really expect of them as opposed to what their company has committed to legally.

Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict

Teams that lacking trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate about  key  issues.  This  causes  situations  where  team  conflict  can  easily  turn  into personal, veiled discussions and a retreat to pure self interest.

Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment

Without conflict, it is difficult for team members to commit to decisions, creating an environment  where  ambiguity  is  comfortable.  Lack  of  direction  and  commitment  can make project partners and teams disgruntled, fall into formal communication and lack of responsiveness.

Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability

When teams don’t commit to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven individuals  hesitate  to  call  their  peers  on  actions  and  behaviors  that  may  seem counterproductive early enough to correct a situation for the overall good of the project.

Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results

Project team members naturally tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, recognition, etc.) ahead of the collective goals of the team when individuals aren’t held accountable. If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the project ultimately suffers.

The above dysfunctions are rooted in problems with aligning expectations.

(Adapted from Patrick Lencioni “Five Dysfunctions of a Team”)

“Expectation Gaps are like pot holes, the more you leave them the deeper they get. The impact of misalignment leads to projects overruns.” (Nick Anderson, PDS Group LTD)

Poor Project Process and Controls Execution – It is the daily execution using project process  controls  that  makes  the  difference.  Senior  management  can  be forgiven  for  thinking that if processes and controls are in place that they are being used diligently.   However, the early  clear  communication  of  specific  expectations  around  development  and  use  of  these systems is foundational to success. Increased complexity and changing dynamics in running oilsands projects means the industry has to pay more attention to the costs of misalignment.

Poorly Developed Teams – While projects of this size and complexity usually command the best available personnel, Alberta companies often have large experience gaps between senior managers and junior managers.   Bridging these competency gaps requires clear expectations communication  of  responsibility  not  just  tasks.    Then,  crucially,  conversations  must  align expectation originators with the expectation receivers, including deliverables. Only then can the originator effectively rate the receiver’s competence and performance.

Poor Partnering Strategies – Staffing for inter-partner communications, that add millions of dollars to the cost of a project, buffer the project teams from regular and ad hoc reporting and information requests.  The less work that is done up front in explicitly defining expectations in geographically remote and culturally different partners, the more cost in communications.  Far more  important  however  are  the  potential  for  delays  in  the  project  where  unexpected circumstances  need decisions  requiring  consent  from  partners.        These  may be  changes  in project  circumstances  or  opportunities  for  applying  improvements  or  innovation  with  potential positive economic impact on the project.

Poor Contracting Strategies – Failure to document performance guarantees and risk sharing  obviously  undermines  contractual  relationships.  However,  on  site,  it  is  really  about avoiding ever to having to use them.   As many say, “if you have to get the contract out then we really are in trouble!”. Partnering starts to fail when specific expectations aren’t communicated, agreed,  discarded  or  are  unresolved  to  avoid  using  these  contractual  devices.      Successful partnering is founded on: ”Getting personal to  prevent ever getting contractual”.

Team Turnover – Poor communication and alignment of expectations often causes of turnover.    When  expectations  like  budgetary  discretion,  scheduling  flexibility  and  safety protocols are not only agreed but managed to, employees may not wish to stay and face the consequences. This will be a major factor again if the industry goes back to its practices of the last boom in Alberta. Apart from cost and experience and project knowledge “walking out the door” from the project managers risk losing well  established relationships  both  within  and  outside the  team.  They  then  hobble their replacements with no clear commented expectations to help new team members get up to peed with the right people.

Inadequate Stakeholder Engagement – Oilsands project stakeholders are diverse, typically  including  owners,  EPCs,  contractors,  suppliers,  logistics  providers,  regulators,  local communities, local businesses, aboriginal communities, environmental groups and others. It’s  natural for those  planning projects  to focus on  project execution.  Yet  how  often  has  their apparent disregard of some stakeholders led to delays, scope creep and cost overruns?  Here the illusion of efficiency fails to take into account those that need to be onside for the project’s success.    This  then  creates  a  corrosive  element  to  relationships  when  stakeholders  feel disregarded.  By  the  time  Project  Staff  realize  the  need  to  align  they  have  an  uphill  battle  to convince these parties of there inadvertent lack of alignment. The key concern is: How many of these stakeholders and project staff will then be involved on subsequent projects. Mutual suspicion built up from one project bleeds over to the next project.

Summary

In summary, planning, whether “fast track” or not, still requires a clear concise and communication  of  expectations  by  stakeholders  along  key  aspects  of  the  project strategy.   While  this  paves  the way  for  successful  project execution,  simply  allocating the resulting tasks does not ensure success. Without project   manager’s expectations being  understood  and  “bought  in  to”  by  the  engineering  or  construction  domains, improved performance will not occur.   Fast Tracking methods of strategic planning and construction  risks  getting  ahead  of  stakeholder’s  ability  to  measure,  manage  and facilitate communication. New methods of more effective communication and alignment of  critical  expectations  are  needed  to  cope  with  this  decade’s  accelerating  project dynamics.

3.0 Expectation  Alignment  for  More  Effective  Project Planning and Execution

You Can Only Manage What You Can Measure

Effective interpersonal communications is  a  recognized  cornerstone  of successful  project  management.    Why then  is  it  so  metric  and  data  starved? How  can  we  manage  what  we  cannot measure?

Many people who run projects will tell you:

“Building the thing is not difficult compared  to  managing  all  the  people involved”

So,

• How do we develop measurable ways of working more effectively?
• How do we assess people’s expectations  of  others  with  those  others have of them
• How can we help people be more aligned and focused
• How can we drive performance discussions  between  groups  and individuals  on  their  expectations  and assumptions that result in:

o Specifying clearer performance criteria against which individuals/groups will be measured

o Removing expectations that are non-value added and not strategically aligned

o Identifying significant issues to address for project advancement

o Creating an accountability framework

The AlEx™ Expectation Alignment Methodology

The AlEx™  Expectation  Alignment  methodology  is  a  key  driver  of  change  which  accelerates alignment  and  tracks  the  development  of  working  relationships.  Such  tracking  includes:

• Distractions that impact work loads
• Misaligned expectations which reduce flexibility, risk rework and cost overruns
  

  Human glue

• Factors that reduce cross functional competitiveness
• Misalignment with organizational principles and strategies
• Productivity issues between managers and their staff
• Quality of interpersonal communication
• Integration of new team member
• Performance tracking & management
• Recruitment & talent management

The impact of this approach is:

• Insurance against projects delays
• Faster project execution
• Better productivity
• Improved employee retention
• Attracting people who are naturally better aligned

Essentially these benefits accrue when all people understand:

• What is expected of them
• What they can expect from others
• How well they are strategically aligned
• How their performance is measured and compensated
• What they can stop doing
• What they need to focus on
• What information and resources can be used to achieve their goals
• How they are going to be supported and coached

How AlEx™ Works

Using the AlEx  Easy Entry™ web application, individuals  identify  their  expectations  of  others and what they think is expected of them. AlEx™  is  then  used  to  analyze  content,  quantity,  and quality of the Expectations generated. AlEx™ Cross-Hairs Alignment Tool™ provides targeted data pictures of groups and one-on-one relationships as shown on the right.

For  example,  the  relationship  between  Tom and Cliff  looks  aligned  if  you  only  look  at  Tom’s expectations of Cliff (13) and what Cliff thinks Tom expects him (12). But, Cliff’s expectations (22) & What Tom thinks Cliff expects of him (4) tells a different story. Users are then shown how to use their AlEx™ Cross-Hairs Alignment Tool™ to “rifle-in” on data  to  prioritize  which  alignment  meetings  are  really  needed.  Then  users  meet  and  decide which of their expectations are:

• Discards
• Unresolved
• Agreed

This ability to “rifle-in” on key issues before they cause entrenched discord is much like “clash identification” in BIM (Building Information Modeling).

” AlEx™ is the “human cousin to BIM”

Dick Ortega, President, Alternative Mechanical

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of generating and managing building data during its life cycle[1]. Typically it uses three-dimensional, real-time, dynamic building modeling software to increase productivity in building design and construction.[2] The process produces the Building Information Model (also abbreviated BIM), which encompasses building geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, and quantities and properties of building components.

AlEx™ Outputs

1. Distraction Index

The Distraction Index identifies which individuals  or groups are aligned or distracted from achieving strategic goals:

Closing the Distraction Gap

• Aligned,  and  Doing  Things  that  are  Expected —  expectations  and  assumptions  of  these expectations are in balance.
• Distracted,  and  Doing  Things  that  are  Not  Expected —  individuals  are  making  incorrect
• assumptions about what others expect of them
• Distracted and Expecting Things that are Not Done — expectations exceed assumptions of those expectations.

 

Designers & Owners Tension Ratings

2. Tension Ratings

Expectation originators rate each of their expectations on a scale from High (project critical) to

Low Tension if an expectation is not met. Tension rating filtering enables users to see how well they are aligned

in terms of stress and the importance others place on different areas of the construction process.

3. Cross-Hairs Communication Channel Analysis

Un-Channeled

In a construction project, groups are often expected to change who they communicate with and about  what.  If  for  example,  the  General  Contractor’s  Project  Executive  is  expected  to  work closely  with  the  Chief  Superintendent  to  adopt  Lean  Construction  practices  to  meet  Owner expectations and they d 

Misaligned Core Group

o not have any expectations of each other! Conversely, if the Design Engineers  now report directly  to  the newly appointed Owner’s  Engineer and  not  the  Owner’s Facilities Manager then you would not want to see people still having expectations of the GM.

4. Cross-Channeled

Medium levels of expectations are often needed between different professions and trades as the main construction phase begins. This is especially true in Design-Build Projects

Highly-Channeled

High levels of expectations are needed where people work in the same function or project, e.g. Owners and EPCs.

5. Dealing with Change

Changing project circumstances require timely responses. AlEx™ is a real time system that enables adaption of existing or creation of new expectations to handle change.  E-mail updates of  such  changes  can be automatically  broadcasted.   AlEx™  has  adjustable granularity,  i.e.  it can  deal  with  high  level  expectation  alignment  through  to  execution  level  task  alignment, depending on the changed circumstance.

6. How Does AlEx™ Integrate with MS Project™ and Other Project Management Systems?

AlEx™ acts as a project management “front end” to keep existing project reporting systems updated with not only task completion status, but also with changed expectations required by changing internal or external circumstances.   Thus expectation alignment can be maintained without having to change pre-existing reporting systems. The interface between AlEx™ and existing systems is done via scheduled batch file updates. Thus  even  if  the  project  “playing  field”  changes,  the  benefits  of  aligning  team  members  are realized  continuously  throughout  the  life  of  a  longer  project  using  existing  reporting  systems. Adding  AlEx™  can  make  existing  project  management  systems  more  than  just  dashboards, they can become navigation systems, to keep the project on course as circumstances change.

4.0 Case Study – Building Construction Project (See Case Study)

Symptoms

This large construction firm manages and constructs large projects around the world. Some of their most complex work is on hospital projects. In  this  case,  the  number  of  change

orders, RFI’s (Requests for Information) and building decisions awaiting government  regulatory  agency  approval had  pushed  a  $500  million  hospital project into crisis.

The owners and prime contractors were faced with escalating change orders brought on by a number of factors including drawing quality, owner groups changing their specifications and a series of contractual changes. Consequently, the overall contingency fund for a three hospital project was being depleted at an accelerated rate.

Relations between owners, engineering firms, architectural design professionals, subcontractors and the general contractor had become strained.

The leadership group representing the major players became increasingly concerned about the ineffectiveness of OAC meetings (Owner/Architect/Contractor), and the cost of having so many rofessionals/consultants on hand, all charging professional level hourly rates.

Diagnosis and Therapy

The AlEx™ Expectation Alignment methodology was employed with the following approach:

• Facilitation of meetings with each of the main group’s leaders to elicit their perspective on the key issues and what they wanted to be better aligned on with other groups/individuals.
• Development of consensus of six key issues or “components” on which all 7 groups (a total of 35 people from 17 companies) agreed would require alignment
• Coaching of all these players in generating expectations for each of these components (within and between groups)
• Providing analysis and feedback to the leadership team, isolating several key initiatives.

For example:

• Aligning OAC representatives to focus on key initiatives in each of the three projects
• Setting up structured coaching within owner, general contractor and architectural firms
• Aligning the change order process across the three projects
• Accelerating the decision to replace the incumbent architects and help integrate their replacement
• Aligning three architectural firms on fostering better co-ordination and common design policies

Outcome

The leadership group recognized the following tangible benefits from applying the AlEx™  system:

• Cost hemorrhaging was stopped.
• The project was completed on schedule.
• There was no post project litigation among the 17 organizations involved in project planning and execution.

Other intangible benefits noted by the client:

• Created a more productive environment for all of our building Partners Reduced or eliminated conflicts of all kinds by improving the way we communicate with each other
• Reduced schedule blocks and re-work, thereby maintaining the approved construction  schedule
• L ed the way for our partners (Client, Design Team, Inspection Agencies, and Subcontractors) in conducting business in a fair, open, and trusting way as the means to eliminate profit erosion, conflicts, and claims
• Utilized “Partnering” as the means to accomplish our initiatives In a “design-build” environment which included a government owner, we were able to resolve several major conflicts using AlEx™ to expose hidden and unspoken expectations in “real time.
• Ongoing communications became much more interactive and without conflict.
• Tools from our partnering sessions are long lasting were used by all parties almost daily to insure the success of each stake holder. A reduction in lost time and resources resolving “festered” conflicts, because most were resolved before they reached such a state.”

5.0 Project Teams as a Neural Network – The Foundation for a Culture of Alignment and Accountability The Project “Brain”

Consider each team member a neuron in a “Project Brain” and the lines of expectations with other team members as synaptic connections. A one  way  expectation  will  be  a  weak  synaptic connection

Project Synapses are essential to neuronal function: neurons are cells that are specialized to pass signals to individual target cells, and synapses are the means by which they do so.

until it is acknowledged and accepted by another neuron.The AlEx™ expectation alignment process facilitates  and  measures  the  creation  of aligned expectations  so  the  Project  Brain  grows  and learns to better able to handle change. Thus,  like  brain  plasticity  now  being  discovered  in  humans,  the  Project  Brain  will  adapt  to changing circumstances by discarding synaptic connections (fulfilled or dropped expectations) or making new connections (new or altered expectations).The Project Brain is effectively self-diagnosing, exposing the squandering of energy (on unnecessary tasks) or resource deficiencies (lack of materials, knowledge or support).  It can also regulate the release of hormones to stimulate action (tension ratings).

Tools Facilitating a New Project Execution Culture

We have seen how one of the most important aspects of project management, expectation alignment, can now be measured and managed.  However, a toolkit and system to enable this does  more  than  measure  and  manage,  it  promotes  a  culture  of  communication  and accountability. Aculture of accountability is fostered  by AlEx™ because it ensures team members gain a feeling of control over what is expected of them but also that their expectations of others are understood  and  evidence  of  task  completion  documented.      As  the  entire  AlEx™  process requires more effective communications, team members must incorporate it in their regular work activity.

Competency Development

Like any habit, coaching and repetition are key factors in adoption. Initially, facilitated expectation  alignment  sessions  are  combined  with  training  on  the  web  input  of  expectation parameters.    Periodic  monitoring  of  alignment  progress  then  helps  ensure  the  most  efficient adoption  of  this  methodology.      Corporate  internalization  of  the  system  is  accomplished  with relatively  simple  “train  the  trainer”  sessions  that  enable  provision  of  in-house  facilitation  and monitoring services. AlEx™ identifies  communications  weaknesses  among  managers,  where  coaching  may  be needed, thus strengthening the project team going forward.

Optimized Resource Allocation – Top Down and Bottom Up

For an improved accountability culture to take root, it must be not only top down and bottom up but  omni-directional.    It  takes  root  because  expectation  originators  are  accountable  to  the expectation  receivers  to  ensure  they  have  the  required  competencies  and  tools.  This  is  the neural connection that builds the Project Brain’s capacity because people explicitly know:

• What leaders expect of them (typically 70% of leaders’ expectations are either not known or understood by those executing the project)8
• What team members expect of their project leadership.

6.0 The ROI for Oilsands Projects

Sources of Payback

Adoption of any new process must have a return on investment. While Expectation Alignment has  been successfully  employed midstream  to  “projects  in  crisis”,  it’s  highest  ROI  is  realized when  used  in  real  time  to  diagnose  and  address  communications  weaknesses  and  enable proper project planning and execution. Reviewing our key sources of failure, we can now see where payback can be expected applying Expectation Alignment:

Project Planning – Early alignment of all stakeholder expectations avoids expensive surprises and delays. Alignment facilitates “faster track” planning while reducing the problems of rushing to “Get on with it”, then paying the price later in areas ranging from design, project control and procurement.

Minimized scope changes – The owners’ expectations of the EPC  to have conducted a thorough review of specifications can be conveyed in a very detailed manner using Expectation Alignment.  This can avoid delays due to RFIs and change orders on critical path items.  With delayed revenue costing millions of dollars per day, the investment in expectation alignment can payback in a single avoided change order.Expectation alignment can facilitate  efficient assessment and incorporation of innovation that may  have  a  significant  long  term  benefit  to  the  project  economics.    This  is  accomplished  by enabling faster alignment and decision making among multiple project partners.

Change in environment – Even with a change management plan in place, a methodical and efficient way to incorporate new and discard old project expectations can mitigate costs by:

• Improving response time,
• Discarding activities quickly
• Refocusing project teams to the new realities

Resource and support issues- – Early definition of resource expectations all the way down the chain of command can avoid costly delays and expenditures.  Similarly, competency gaps

can be identified sooner by engaging in expectation alignment processes.

Improved communications – With numerous stakeholders involved in planning, financing, permitting, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and operation of an oilsands asset,  static  definitional  documents  such  a  project  charters  and  conventional  project management  tools  are  not  designed  to  manage  thousands  of  changing  expectations. successful  project  execution  rests  on  agreeing,  discarding  or  identifying  the  unresolved. Expectation alignment methods identify managers who are especially strong or weak at communicating with their teams.  Coaching or other remedial actions can thus be undertaken and the results monitored. Employing Expectation Alignment in materials supply chain and personnel scheduling / logistics stakeholders can have big paybacks in avoided scheduling problems. Improved  project  processes  and  controls  –  Expectation  Alignment’s  regular  and measurable  process  of  developing  and  agreeing  project  expectations  are  taken  to  a  level needed  for  a  given  project.    Unlike  project  reporting  which  can  often  identify  symptoms, Expectation  Alignment  tools  also  make  accountability  for  task  execution  highly  visible. Expectation Tension Ratings may also reveal important tasks that are not necessarily on the critical path but can have huge ramifications to project schedules or budgets.

• Late scope changes
• Change in environment
• Insufficient resources / Poor support
• Poor communications
• Poor project processes and controls
• Poorly developed teams
• Poor partnering strategies
• Poor contracting strategies
• Team turnover
• Inadequate definition of stakeholders

Stronger teams – The Expectation Alignment process demands that Expectation Originators ensure  that  Expectation  Receivers  have  the  competency  and  resources to  complete  the required  tasks.      In  situations  where  senior  managers  are  working  with  junior  personnel, assumptions  are  often  made  on  their  level  of  process  knowledge  and  industry  practices. Expectation Alignment addresses these issues by facilitating the alignment conversations that reveal experience gaps early enough to develop people and avoid later termination.

Stronger partnering strategies – Early definition of equity partner expectations among all key project themes and issues can be achieved using expectation alignment.   This can reduce inter-company  communications  staffing  requirements,  but  most  importantly  accelerate partner decision making when circumstances change or opportunities arise.

Improved contracting strategies – Incorporating  subcontractors and  key suppliers  in the Expectation Alignment process often reveals owner expectations and other stakeholders are not captured  in  specifications  and  contracts,  yet  play  a  significant  part  in  them  being  effective. Diagnosing and addressing these issues avoids later conflicts and delays.

Retention of talent – Again consider the 5 key” Project Dysfunctions”. ( Absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results). Getting teams  participating  in  facilitated  expectation  alignment  sessions  creates  an  objective assessment of  team  stressors  and progressively  builds  a  more robust and  productive  project team culture. Based  on  this  foundation,  Expectation  Alignment  becomes  an  effective  tool  to  getting  new people up to speed and address competency gaps before their credibility is damaged.

Better  stakeholder  engagement – while  inclusion  of  all  stakeholders  is  an  obvious apparent  remedy  to  avoiding  later  project  problems,  the  explicit  definition  of  mutual expectations,  especially  of  external  stakeholders,  can  yield  big  paybacks.  For  example, proactively  establishing  a  local  community’s  expectations  before  major  decisions  are  taken builds inclusivity and provides a more objective basis with which to resolve later conflicts and political  changes.    Projects with  international  partners  can  address cultural and other barriers with explicit expectation alignment methodologies.

Summary

In summary, where delays are measured  in millions of dollars a day, improving  the  speed  and  agility  of  construction  has  been  the  “holy  grail”. This pursuit encourages putting in place more controls and systems which often  fail  to  adequately  cope  with  increasing  project  complexity  and dynamics.  Effective  decision  making  needs  the  marriage  of  authority  and accountability  on-site,  not  its  divorce  to  some  remote  decision  maker. Simple, methodical alignment and monitoring of expectations reinforces this marriage to yield very tangible savings in time and money.

Great, but how can this help me?

This is probably the  first thing on your mind after reading this Blog.   How about asking us?  The first call is free!  Just email me to set it up.  Don’t wait, get PDS working for you!. If our conversation leaves you needing more, we offer at a reasonable fee telephone and video coaching on change, alignment, and executive performance that improve the bottom line.  If that still doesn’t do it, we’ll work with you on a solution.

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For Help in Getting Your People on the Same Page
Nick Anderson, Senior Partner, PDS Group LTD

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Rolf Wenzel
Ian Murray & Company Ltd.
direct 403-875-3310  fax 403-444-2008
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Getting People on the Same Page – Seven Leadership Challenges

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Like most consultants, we are often accused of borrowing the clients watch, tell them the time and then hand it back with a bill………So, given the threats to our economy, it’s a statement of the obvious. We live in turbulent times… only this time what follows is free.

I got to thinking what are the challenges of leadership in the times we are living in:

Some years ago I noted this quote:

“Business is now so complex and difficult, the survival of the firm is so hazardous, in an environment increasingly unpredictable, competitive and fraught with danger, that their continued existence depends on the day-to-day mobilization of everyone’s intelligence”

(Konosuke Matushita, founder of Matsushita Electric)

It struck a chord…to mobilize everyone’s intelligence… for regular listeners you will recognize a theme in our work at PDS…releasing and focusing people is still a crucial ingredient to survival and sustained success

So, my focus in this blog is theSeven Challenges of Leadership in Turbulence

OK. I know you well enough by now to know there’s a core to these challenges…

Spot on….it’s Bravery…

“Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.”
Omar N Bradley

The first step “walk and talk – – – the same talk” constantly. Alignment between attitude, philosophy and actions is key!  That consistency is hard to find, particularly since producing a payoff in change is often more about emotion and intuition than it is about analysis and logic.

Where’s the bravery you ask?

Try making emotional and intuitive decisions which may or may not be born out by analysis and logic! Yet I like, Peter Senge’s viewpoint:

“high levels of mastery….leaders cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg and see with one eye”

It’s that outward calm of seeing a swan glide across the water, yet below the water line…furious paddling.. It’s about not losing your head those around you are running around like chickens with their heads cut off…..what are we going to do….

The bravery comes to challenge how your company operates, its implicit beliefs and philosophies (e.g., The unspoken creed…once in automotive always in automotive).  Your culture can create its own distractions which interfere with what seems right, intuitive and obvious.   Many times, discussing this tension is repressed so that “we don’t take our eye off-the-ball,” or so we don’t offend others.  Consequently, leaders often focus on the seemingly “urgent” and let the critical issues slide.   They take refuge in “safe” financial performance targets that can’t be easily disputed.  These targets rarely support desired behaviors or intuitive outcomes.

Yet there are automotive dependent manufacturers in West Michigan that are wondering how to “keep it shiny side up!”

So in this fog of war, where do leaders look to survival?

If you look at successful companies, they have varied strategies, structures and systems.  However, their leaders do have something in common.  They share surprisingly consistent philosophies.

These successful leaders have moved away from over reliance on very formal ways of running their organizations (like articulating strategies, building structures and developing systems).  They have moved toward using more organic ways of managing (like engaging people in defining a purpose, implementing through necessary and defined processes and developing people).

So what does this point out?  It goes to the root of why so many change initiatives fail (60% +) even after overdosing on business re-engineering and other scientific management techniques.  Many Leaders manage what is easy to manage (like managing numbers and not people).  They’ve been trained in the scientific disciplines.  They forget they are managing an “organism.”  They dismiss the small and gradual steps associated with real change for grandiose strategies

So, let’s put this into perspective.  Successful leaders recognize that an organization’s purpose is more important than short-term outcomes.  Why?  Outcomes change – the purpose does not!  Their focus is on how they can create committed members of a purposeful organization.  Putting purpose above outcomes, allowing new improved outcomes to take precedence and promoting different things to be done takes bravery.

Why is bravery so important?

It takes bravery for leaders and executives to address seven critical challenges.  Without question, addressing them is about not acquiescing to “legacy tendencies” but about incorporating “what now works” into the development of “tomorrow’s legacies”!  Bravery is about doing “different things,” not about making excuses as to why you can’t do different things.

Getting above the white noise of excuses is not for the faint hearted….getting up with clamor of resistances and fear

Where do we start with these challenges? Is there a sequence or are they inter-related?

1. Embedding Purpose

Where are you on the continuum from Undefined or Conceptual to Clearly articulated & translated?

So, you’ve written and articulated the corporate purpose!  But, do the troops actually understand what this means to their everyday behavior and actions?  So often the organization states its purpose without regard as to whether or not it has created any ownership in that purpose.

Essential Questions:

• How will you gain widespread organizational support for your purpose?
• How will you ensure new activities, actions and behaviors invigorate your purpose?
• How will you ensure your expectations are aligned with what people assume is expected of them?

2:  Removing Distractions

Where you on the continuum from Unidentified to  Identified and Managed Distractions?

There are always distractions that deflect an organization from its “appointed” tasks.  If these distractions go unidentified, they grow stronger. Distractions don’t just miraculously disappear. The longer they last the more they clog corporate arteries. Executives need to lead the “charge” in identifying and eliminating distractions.

Essential Questions:

• How will you convince people to dismiss actions, operations and processes which stimulate doing old things?
• How can you eliminate duplicate processes and reports that slow the organization down?
• Who will oversee the distraction-elimination process; and, what authority will they have?

I can see how that would help but does this really get over the fog of war…that we face today?

 

Getting People on the Same Page

3:  Aligning Organizational Expectations

 

Where are you on the continuum from Defused & Misaligned to Focused & Aligned Expectations?

Over and over again, employees say,

“I wish someone had told me exactly what was expected.”

Have you ever considered that others’ assumptions of “what is expected” might be counterproductive to your purpose or outcomes?

“Are people doing what you expect or what they think you expect?”

Essential Questions:

• What are the key components that reveal your organization’s direction and success?
• How will you translate these words into actions, competencies and behaviors that can be managed?
• How will you measure the degree of alignment with your purpose, and what evidence of alignment are you looking for?

Doesn’t this demand more from a leader than just stating the facts?

Making clearer emotional connections

“Its alarming how one individual can undermine a change simply by being out of touch with intuition and empathy.  One of the most overlooked, yet common ways, leaders fail albeit unintentionally, is not to express appropriately, candidly and consistently what they feel as well as what they think. This is known as unintentionally ambiguous behavior which gives gives mixed messages. Next to aggressive behavior ambiguous behavior can cause the most tension for sellers and buyers alike” (Adapted from Robert Cooper’s book, Executive EQ.)

4. Creating Differentiation

Where you on the continuum from Competitively Vulnerable to  Differentiated & Own Your Niche?

If you feel like you’re the same in the marketplace, odds are that’s how the customer sees you.  As a leader, you are responsible for creating a climate of differentiation.

Essential Questions:

• How will you ensure that customer contact people and others connect with one another to develop differentiable approaches?
• How will you measure the degree and profitability of differentiation?
• How will you leverage differentiation to lead your market place?

I can see how these first four create a platform for success…but how do leaders get this to stick and not just be another “flash in the pan”?

5:  Coaching Strategically 

Raising the Bar

 

Where you on this continuum from Coaching being Isolated & sporadic to Cascaded & Consistent throughout you organization?

We know, we know …. your people coach! The real question is, do your people coach with the right intensity and frequency to replicate successful behaviors? Or, is coaching infrequent, informal and isolated?

Essential Questions:

• What will you do as a leader to establish your coaching cascade? (Starting with you, of course)
• What is the right intensity and frequency of coaching needed under present competitive conditions?
• How will you know that coaching is effective?

6:  Replicating Success

Where are you on this continuum fromUsing Lagging Indicators to Using Leading Indicators to replicate success?

The words, “best practice” seems to have permeated the corporate world.  Your people undoubtedly have their own practices of choice, honed by years of personal experience.   Often corporate rewards go to these people rather than to those who demonstrate the “best practices” that everyone can adopt and benefit from.

Essential Questions:

• What will your real best practices look like?
• How will you tie best practices to behaviors which can be evidenced and replicated without alienating the productive, “lone rangers?”
• How will you use your “language of leaders” to make managing easier and more measurable?

7:  Rewarding Change

Where you on this continuum fromHistorical & Slow to Related & Responsive when it comes to Rewarding Change?

If the recognition and reward systems of your company run on “legacy,” it will only encourage doing things differently, not “doing different things!”   To change, you need to consistently reward the new behaviors, not the “reward legacies” of the past.

Essential Questions:

• What proportion of people’s compensation should be tied to adopting the new behaviors?
• How will you measure and reward those who support your purpose?
• How will you “raise the bar” so that over time people demonstrate excellence in the new behaviors?

Where do you go from here?

Ensure that your “walk and talk” are consistent.  This relates to your language, how you reward excellence, how you coach and how you react when things go wrong!  Bravery means displaying an attitude of distinction.

Create a cascade of conversation and coaching that gets above the “white noise” of legacy…..that’s doing different things!

Align the expectations of the organization. Bravery is found in exposing misalignments and distractions for immediate correction.

Tip of this Blog

Look at your team/colleagues…whose up for a fight?

He that outlives this day

“He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words”

(William Shakespeare, Henry V part of his speech before the Battle of Agincourt)

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Great, but how can this help me?

This is probably the  first thing on your mind after reading this Blog.   How about asking us?  The first call is free!  Just email me to set it up.  Don’t wait, get TCA working for you!. If our conversation leaves you needing more, we offer at a reasonable fee telephone and video coaching improve bottom line results.
If that still doesn’t do it, we’ll work with you on a solution.

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© Copyright All Rights Reserved, PDS Group LTD and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds, [2010-2011]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nick Anderson, PDS Group LTD and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Leading Competitive Differentiation

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Last month we looked at competitive differentiation and emphasized the importance of Competitive Value Discovery as fundamental. It helps you discover value potential over your competitors. Finding value that the Customer had never thought of before is competitively differentiating. Also, whether it’s your existing customer or you are trying to secure a new client, they always weigh your value against your competitors’. Focused Value Discovery helps you gain greater control over what they weigh, how they weigh it and, as importantly, what the competition is doing in the same regard so that we can counter such tactics. So, if we have far better intel and a better sense of the client’s changing priorities we can work both offensively and defensively to influence their Decision Guidelines.

In sum, you need to gain the high ground

What have you chosen for us this month?

This month I want to explore why planned and focused value discovery is vital to creating and implementing a successful sales strategy. Aligning where you are going with your resources gives you the best chance for creating new or additional revenue sources. This means being competitively clear about how you are going to choose the products (or services) you want to build.  For instance:

• Build the product you want to build,
• Market the product you want to build,
• Sell the product you want to build,
• Service the product you want to build
• Build the next generation

Determining where to differentiate based on market conditions is a strategic value conversation. You have to know your products as well as you know your competitor’s. Then determine strategically where competitors are most vulnerable and how to deliver those messages. You must regularly test your premise with the customer…

How easy is it to find out how your competitor is differentiating themselves?

Not easy! Sure, hard product functionality is on their website – that’s the easy bit. It’s difficult because most think each competitor is static and consistent – but they are not! Many competitors don’t even behave the same between their different regions or divisions. For example, a competitor can be your partner in one geography, yet be your competitor in another. Typically, this occurs in IT. So, what they do in Idaho is often very different than what they are doing in Chicagoland. With one client, we helped them find out that a technology partner was in fact competing against them using two strategies. The first was in schools districts and the second in State Government. They were losing 8/10 sales to them. After we determined this we helped them reverse that condition.

Why do so many companies fail to recognize such competitive strategies?

Because they don’t have the focus, processes and ability to read their competitive environments. Such signals are not easy to read: they are weak ambiguous, and need deciphering. Only a systematic and aligned process can decipher competitive signals early enough to make a difference.

It is difficult. First, top management is never close enough to the market. Second, some top executives can’t see competitive reality. Somehow they become insulated from competitive reality by relying on intelligence that is invariably biased, subjective, filtered or late.

By the time most executives get evidence of changes in their markets, they have already lost touch with customers, technology, competitors, suppliers, government and the other forces operating to squeeze their profits.

The question is, if you do nothing, what are the competitive consequences? Without taking specific preventive measures, such as ensuring that top managers consider competitive information in making decisions, companies will be hit on the head by change – time and again.

You may be thinking, who has the time to continually and systematically identify such signals early? Who has the expertise to attempt to decode all of them? The answer is: Your people – those who are in daily touch with the competitive arena.

Survival depends on competitive agility when facing changes in the environment by:

• Continuously moving on three fronts – content, context and process
• Being unpredictable and so easily identifiable to your competition
• Being experimental

To compete in unstable markets you need to be competent in two things:

• Identifying and understanding the competitive forces at play and how they change over time, linked to
• Mobilizing resources to respond competitively

How do you get this flow of competitive intelligence to decision makers?

The Five Aspects of Competitive Strategic Change

Our uncertain environment means strategic change involves parallel streams of activity.  There is no easy logic; It’s more like brewing a culture– like beer. It’s a difficult complex process where a manager’s ability to cope with ambiguity is paramount.

It’s not surprising then that higher performing firms  handle five interrelated aspects of strategic change better:

1. Assessing the Competitive Environment
2. Leading Competitiveness
3. Linking Strategic & Operational change
4. Learning Competitively
5. Orchestrating Competitive Change

Let’s look at the first of these five.

1. Assessing the Competitive Environment

The firm has to be an open learning system and not reliant on one specialist function.

As Romme (1989) puts it:

“There is the problem of not only environmental “sensing”, but also “sense-making””And sensing tends to be by individuals whereas sense making nearly always involves collective processing…

Successful competitive sensing and sense making is  requires:

• Key people to champion assessment techniques which increase openness
• Both structure and culture to encourage environment-facing behaviors

Even with these factors are present there is no guarantee anything will change without actions which stabilizes and drives this assessment capacity forward.  .

Presumably, this means leadership style has to change?

2. Leading Change

I agree, it’s not is not just ensuring that the environment is understood; the vital need is to ensure that the organization learns and acts on new information that requires courageous leadership. The leadership challenge is that unpredictability makes the prospect of greater control remote.  So, big initiatives in themselves are of limited value and may well be dangerous.  Paradoxically, effective leadership relies on the gradual and modest.  This includes assessing, for instance, through “problem-sensing” and “climate-setting” management can assess the political implications of a competitive strategy. Effective leadership relies on shaping a long term process rather one direct initiative. These processes have to encourage analysis and actions which are sensitive to changing circumstances.

Competitive research suggests that leading an organization through change does not imply reliance on one leader.  Great emphasis in those organizations studied was placed on:

• Creating a broader notion of collective leadership at higher levels
• Embedding a complimentary sense of leadership and responsibility at lower levels

Leaders need to be “Radical Gradualists,” knowing where they need to go using incremental and unspectacular steps.
It involves integrating competitive actions at all levels.

Building a climate for leading change also needs to raise energy levels and set new directions. The conditions needed are:

• Showing why the changes are needed
• Building the organizational capabilities to mount the change
• Establishing an agenda which sets direction, visions and values

What’s the next challenge for becoming more competitive?

3. Linking Strategic & Operational Change

The cumulative effect of separate acts can be powerful.  As Pettigrew & Whipp puts it:

“Translating strategy into operational action does not occur by a neat sequence of steps to a logical outcome; it may include…iterative actions  in order to break through ignorance or resistance; it often requires…aborted efforts and the buildup of slow incremental phases of adjustment which….allow short bursts of concentrated action…”

You need to focus on:

• Opening up people to reach closure on what worked in the past and reinforce the changes that need to be made
• Sustaining speed, intensity and momentum of the process
• Recognizing that re-formulation of the strategy will occur – Set the expectation that you can’t to get it right first time
• Translating strategic intent into operational reality – WIIFM

Then, new knowledge and insights gained during implementation of a strategy can be captured, retained and disseminated. So, replicate success and avoid failures better than you competition

I am curious to learn about the next step

So, the next step is about the organization’s ability to keep learning about its competitive surroundings

4. Competitive Learning

Peter Senge defined learning organizations as:

“Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together.”

Competitive learning organizations need to create positive learning spirals that:

• Develop the value of competitive knowledge as a key differentiating weapon
• Facilitate learning  that generates, maintains and regenerates that knowledge
• Find ways of exposing knowledge locked-up  in the procedural repertoires of the firm
• Ensure that the knowledge base of the firm matches changing competitive conditions

Competitive learning spirals involve observation, reflection, hypothesizing, experimentation, action and “hands-on” application.  What is learned has to be codified and diffused.

Such spirals are team based. People collectively developing their knowledge, values and shared mental models of their competitive environment. It goes beyond training.  The need is for a much broader approach which embraces “play experimentation”, developing appropriate language as well as reshaping attitudes and values.

Often overlooked, is the need for breaking down entrenched knowledge and beliefs – “unlearning”. – Shedding outmoded knowledge, techniques and beliefs, and then learning new ones to carry out strategies is crucial.  The ability to do so faster and more effectively than your competitors becomes almost priceless!

How do Leaders juggle all of this?

5. Orchestrating Competitive Change

It’s about holding a firm’s strategic thinking together, while carrying out the reshaping and adjusting which new or emergent strategies demand. Research shows the need for competitive integrity between the strategic competitive position adopted by the firm, the internal resources and external collaborators

Such orchestration is not easily attained or maintained.  It means solving analytical, educational and political problems.

The problem of orchestration lies in the divergence between official goals and more routine decisions.   As Kanter (1983) says, “there are many rules for stifling innovation”.  These include multiple layers of managerial approval; intensive controls; secretive decision making; and suspicion of new ideas.  In other words, corporate contradictions prevent change – the formidable obstacles to which many give little attention.

Are there any other aspects which leaders should consider when conducting competitive change?

Developing Competitive Networks

A key aspect is developing competitive networks.  It’s investing in networks to build up, for example, a set of complimentary assets which it needs in order to exploit its knowledge base.

Networking focuses on developing relationships between your firm and others which are directly concerned with generating new intellectual capital (IP) For example, sharing life science research with a collaborator. Each has one piece of the puzzle, so they build a database by sharing intellectual property.

It also is about developing relationships which affect the firm’s process of generating and altering its knowledge indirectly.  An example here is with data centers and different IT firms used to support the customer’s service in that data center.

Developing such networks requires learning local cultural and market conditions, techniques of partnering, negotiation skills and collaboration. Such networks are often invisible assets which cannot be readily purchased and controlled.

So, I guess the real question is how well an organization develops its competitiveness by being better at discovering customer values and then aligning their organizations and partners to meet those demands. Right?

Competitive Value Discovery is the tip of the spear targeted and driven by superior focus, processes and leadership that galvanizes the organization. It is sustained by the belief that being competitive is about making sense of changing market conditions, customer needs, priorities and competitive responses.

Competitiveness rests not only aligning such aspects, but also replicating what works over and over again. Can you tell me what those systems are in your organization?

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Great, but how can this help me?

This is probably the first thing on your mind after reading this Blog.
How about asking us?  The first call is free!  Just email me to set it up.
Don’t wait, get The Crispian Advantage working for you!. If our conversation leaves you needing more,
we offer at a reasonable fee telephone and video coaching improve bottom line results.
If that still doesn’t do it, we’ll work with you on a solution.

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_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage

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© Copyright All Rights Reserved, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds, [2010-2012]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 

 

Managing Alignment Challenges (Part 2 of 3) – Managing Complexity

Managing

Complexity

Introduction

During many consulting engagements we identified that organizational misalignment as a major factor in organizations and individuals were not achieving goals

This changed our focus to ground other work by aligning people’s expectations first before designing learning, coaching etc. Over the last 10years, the PDS team developed their expertise and alignment practice with AlEx™ by serving companies in Canada and the US.

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Over the years we have learnt that anticipating and managing misalignment goes to the root of building successful change whether it’s a family business transitioning between generations, construction projects with many different companies involved or implementing electronic patient records.

Today I want to cover the second in a three part series on Managing Alignment Challenges to improve the odds of bringing successful change to the listeners’ organizations.

Last month we covered, Managing Conflict and Relationship Tension. This month I will cover…

2. Managing Complexity and then next month

3. Improving Performance

I chose the second as the need for change can seem deceptively clear yet being comfortable with  complexity is something people want to avoid. Somehow “complexity” has become associated with ineffectiveness, something to be avoided.

Why is this so important as we climb out of this recession?

It’s a good question. Over the last 15 years the odds of making a successful change in North America haven’t changed appreciably. Two thirds of change initiatives fail, including family businesses trying to pass on their company to the next generation. Just consider this, in a KPMG (2002) survey of 134 public companies.

56% per cent of Companies wrote off at least one IT project in the last year, Average cost of US$12.5M, while the highest loss was placed at US$210 million. US$1.7 billion for this group alone. 67% said their Program management was “in need of improvement or immature“ 44% rated project performance against any established measures. In other words unless we must become better students of not only what to change but how to change the climb out your referred to will be longer and more painful.

In an earlier program on to hire or rehire people as companies recover prompts me to ask: How are the employees affected by such failures?

Jaundiced….Post recession employees reveal they expect far more than the status quo, which could have significant implications on company bottom lines, employee morale and turnover. In Q3 2009 Glassdoor.com conducted their Employment Confidence Survey of 1,195 employees conducted by Harris Interactive®.

• 57% expect a raise, bonus and/or promotion
• 35% expect hiring freeze to be lifted and/or more employees to be hired in
• their department
• 24% expect health benefits and perks that were previously reduced to be restored
• 19% expect to look for a new job

These factors don’t sound like change isn’t getting any simpler. How do you see it affecting leaders managing change and this increasing complexity?

Martha Maznevski and her colleagues at IMD put it like this.

“Complexity” is today often considered the latest business buzzword – it reflects a current common reality but not a lasting one. Executives say, “Yes, complexity is the real leadership challenge that I face. How can I focus on my area when everything else is connected? How can I be held accountable when everything is interdependent? How can I sort this out?

It’s overwhelming.” Good questions with few answers. We think “complexity” is much more than a buzzword, but a reality that is here to stay.”

How leaders react to this inevitability is curious. Many see their world as complex so their organization should be complex. But, the key is to focus on what to simplify. Central to this is your purpose and values; core processes and decentralization; early awareness systems; and leadership. Once these are clear and consistent, managers in different areas of the company can respond to complexity according to their own needs and realities. Here are some examples of complexity issues leaders face..

“Our management structure and style gets in the way when dealing with complex and changing business environments.”

This is often not so much one of structure but style. The key lies in effective delegation. Delegating task and responsibility, i.e. enabling others to do a job for you while ensuring that:

• They know what you want
• They have the authority to achieve it
• They know how to do it.

By communicating clearly:

• The nature of the task
• The extent of their discretion
• The sources of relevant information and knowledge.

Each task delegated should have enough complexity to stretch – but only a little by including:

• Agreeing criteria and standards by which the outcome will be judged.
• Agreeing first how often and when information is needed to monitor progress
• Avoiding making decisions for the delegate when they are capable
• Not making a decision unless provided with clear alternatives, their pros and cons, and the individual’s recommendation.
• Not judging the outcome by what you would do, but rather by its fitness for purpose.

Delegating the task and its ownership so that it can be changed or upgraded, if needed.

So, you are managing complexity at the coal face rather trying to do everything back in the office on the surface.

How do you then get an organization’s purpose across to people?

Second point is Creating Momentum for change by leaders modeling what it means to be, say, the Customer’s Choice. Including:

• Defining what value you want to give customers
• Challenging the status quo
• Probing and testing teams’ understanding of the change in hand
• Aligning people’s expectations and actions with corporate goals and “The Vision”
• Persevering when “the going gets tough”
• Making decisive, courageous and consistent decisions
• Motivating others to reach higher goals
• Encouraging others to effectively manage risk
• Communicating verbally up, down and across the organization – not just e-mail or presentations
• Most importantly soliciting feedback on actions taken

What other ways should leaders be mindful of in getting decisions taken earlier and at lower levels in their companies?

After delegation and momentum it has to be teamwork where the weight of complexity can be shared. Specifically, building and growing teams that delivers customer and stakeholder value by:

• Identifying key stakeholders to lead partnering activities, e.g. suppliers, subcontractors, branch offices
• Sharing common strategies and building solutions with customers and other functions within the spirit of “we are all in this together”
• Focusing team effort on delivering value for both customers and other stakeholders
• Making and delivering on commitments
• Supporting and implementing team decisions
• Resolving conflicting positions inside the team
• Engaging others to improve solutions and decisions.
• Developing external alliances to develop new and innovative solutions

It sounds like you are encouraging leaders to develop trust in their people to do the right thing, but to many that is going to seem risky especially if they have tried before and they have had to take back control

It’s an astute point. It’s down to leaders actively cultivating a climate to anticipate mistakes through praise for prompt action in dealing with the errors and avoiding risk. The last thing to do is to “reward the inactive and hang the innocents” – The Blame Game.

It’s crucial that Risk Managing and Planning are yoked together, back to an earlier program when I mentioned Clauswitz and Contingency Theory. This includes:

• Scheduling, anticipating and alerting to avoid risk situations.
• Reviewing plans from a risk perspective
• Praising people for coming up with solutions
• Ensuring every plan is reviewed from both the risks to subcontractors, suppliers (“respected friends”) as well as Customer’s perspective.
• Developing options and contingencies with costed options at each project milestone
• Engaging all appropriate stakeholders in a timely manner to get multiple perspectives on how the schedule is developed
• Creating rapid feedback to alert when a task is delayed or accelerated

How would you sum up managing complexity?

Effective Delegation, Building Momentum, Developing Teams and linking Planning to Risk Management lie at the heart of navigating complex situations, but above all Leadership cannot be repetitive, but should be predictable. Permanent communication is therefore the leadership survival tool in complex organizations, but much more in terms of “storytelling”, interpreting context and meaning, and investing in relationships than in transferring dry facts or ultimatums.

Tip of the month

If you want to follow these three programs you will find an article “Eternal Triangle” in the resources section at pdsgrp.net/resources where you will see a summary of what I have covered today.

Here’s my tip.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T. S. Eliot

Great, but how can this help me?

This is probably the first thing on your mind after reading this Blog.
How about asking us?  The first call is free!  Just email me to set it up.
Don’t wait, get The Crispian Advantage working for you!. If our conversation leaves you needing more,
we offer at a reasonable fee telephone and video coaching improve bottom line results.
If that still doesn’t do it, we’ll work with you on a solution.

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Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage

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© Copyright All Rights Reserved, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds, [2010-2012]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Managing Alignment Challenges (Part 1 of 3) – Managing Conflict

Walk the Talk – Radio for Agile Minds – Managing Alignment Projects

Introduction

During many consulting engagements we identified that organizational misalignment as a major factor in organizations and individuals were not achieving goals

This changed our focus to ground other work by aligning people’s expectations first, before designing learning, coaching etc. Over the last 10years, the PDS team developed expertise and an alignment practice with AlEx™, by serving companies in Canada and the US.

Consequently this approach has helped clients add millions in sales, bring construction projects in on time, and successfully transition family-owned businesses.

This month, I want to build on last month’s theme. Regular readers will remember I was talking about how many change projects were planned in response to the economy yet almost half of the respondents indicate that a significant number of change projects failed to meet their stated goals.

We have learned that anticipating and managing misalignment goes to the root of building successful change. And so my theme this month Managing Alignment Challenges so that you can increase the odds that the change you’re planning will achieve its desired results.

Today, I want to focus on people alignment but recognize that alignment of resources with strategy, for example, are other important components of successful change. It’s a big subject. But one thing is for sure – Change has to be personal before it can be organizational…

In your experience what are the main points for listeners to consider in improving the odds of making a change work?

For this blog I will focus on one of three key areas:

1. Managing Conflict and Relationship Tension

Subsequent programs and blogs I will cover…..

2. Managing Complexity

3. Improving Performance

The first is essential to recognize that there will be conflict and you have to manage it. Too often it’s the 800lb Gorilla in the room.

I chose the second as the need for change can seem deceptively clear yet being comfortable with complexity is something people want to avoid

Thirdly, if you are not actively focused on improving performance…why are you changing?

The last point seems obvious…why else would people want to change…?

For Example, if you are in China many changes get caught up with ensuring the leaders don’t “lose face”. In Corporate America, newly appointed leaders want to put their “stamp” on their tenure….there’s a primal nature to new leaders that we often cloak in business school speak, like “we needed a change of direction to improve the businesses performance….blah, blah, blah” And, of course, then there are the two ugly sisters – Greed and Ego.

The point about improving performance is that leaders start out pontificating about this subject yet get caught up in the first two and lose sight of Change’s central purpose.

So, you have the Eternal Change Triangle. If you go into a change with these things in mind you have the strongest structure on which to base change. If you don’t see or manage these three you will be flying a jet without any sense of direction. It’s why we use the metaphor of “The Performance Flight Deck”

Why do you think people don’t recognize the first two’s importance?

In my experience, especially in this economy, too many leaders can get caught up in expediency – a compulsion “to do something” NOW!

Back to an earlier blog, this call to action that is so prevalent in our culture. Though, the strangest thing I am about to say seems to contradict myself:

Despite the ubiquity of business planning education in entrepreneurship, there is little evidence that planning leads to success (Honig)

(You are going to have to unpack that one for me…and the listeners…LOL)

On the one hand, Mark Hurst on his Blog quotes Calvin Coolidge,

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

The trouble with the Coolidge’s take on success is, as Mark points out, that persistence is only effective if there’s a clear goal.Like the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, a sort of feline Clausewitz. Alice asks which way she should go, and the Cheshire Cat answers:

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

For me that means, You have to stop and take time to find the direction. You can’t run while you’re reading the map. Too many leadersfocus on the end goal and not enough time on:

• How are we going to get people to not only accept change but also be committed to changing?
• How are we going to manage this change and keep making money?
• How are we going to manage SNAFU’s (define)?

To summarize

“The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.”
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

Let’s turn to this month’s theme, what are some of the benefits in managing conflict?

Our work in aligning people on construction projects with Turner Construction, strongly suggests that there 8 benefits

1. Helps develop a healthy attitude to managing rather than hiding conflict.
   • Helps objectify disagreements and prevents things getting personal
2. Reduces the distracting and destructive products from poorly handled conflict situations.
   • Defend Attack Spirals have destructive long lasting effects that last year
3. Helps harness diverse views and experience in the project team for the good of the overall project and Owner.
   • The power of accepting the “Half Baked” is an inclusive stance not poorly thought out
4. Helps handle change as change progresses and manages the constant flow of information between key players…e.g. Owners, consultants and contractors.
   • Plays to an earlier program, Clauswitz on not being caught up in sequential thinking – Change is not start with A, then B, then C
   • Change is A learn and choose B or C or both knowing that B & C need to be accomplished
   • Too many leaders have a touching reliance that they have complete knowledge
5. Addresses the tensions in managing the change dynamics as during the change life cycle

If you’re leading such a change, what are the typical examples of change dynamics?

Very often leaders have a false sense of control, and if for example they commission consultants or create teams things take on a life of their own

Another dynamic is my sixth point…

6. Recognizes that as work precedes the relative bargaining strengths of the parties are constantly adjusting. Standard approaches to planned change do not take this into account.

In more formal changes, like in construction we find that we need to help teams

7. Overcome the inflexibility inherent in standard contracts. For example, one contract assumes that the design is complete at the time of bidding and that the contractor employs most of the resources that will be required for the project. The fact is, design is rarely 100 % complete at the time of bidding and contractors subcontract most of the work.

Most importantly, aligning people as we do…

8. Develops Project Teams while recognizing their different rules of engagement. AlEx™ recognizes and helps facilitate different project needs and rules of engagement, like:

• Changing Owner demands
• Rapid learning
• Generating and maintaining effective interaction between team members so that they can exchange views and debate the consequences of their decisions in an open and honest forum.
• Changing circumstances over the project’s lifecycle.
• Shifting relationship tensions between the major members of the project team.
• Building trust for when things do not go as planned.

How would you sum up managing conflict…?

Conflict in life is a natural as breathing. What we have lost sight of especially with the backdrop of what’s happening in Washington is how do you respect another party’s opposing stance and achieve successful change…I heard a item on the radio about the Life Raft Debate where the students vote which professor they would choose to take the last place on their life raft…they chose the devil’s advocate….because all the others tried to entertain rather then debate

Tip of the month

If you want to follow these three programs you will find an article “Eternal Triangle” in the resources section at pdsgrp.net/resources where you will see a summary of what I have covered today.

Here’s my tip.

If you are planning a change or are in the middle of one…..how many times last week did you not confront your demons and openly say:

“The Emperor has no clothes……”

It’s OK to confront the issues not the person if you don’t unaddressed conflict will fester like road kill.

Then, stand back and look at your own organization – and ask “What traps are we falling into?”

http://pdsgrp.net/Media/audio/6294_031510.mp3

Great, but how can this help me?

This is probably the first thing on your mind after reading this Blog.   How about asking us?  The first call is free!  Just email me to set it up.   Don’t wait, get The Crispian Advantage working for you!. If our conversation leaves you needing more, we offer at a reasonable fee telephone and video coaching improve bottom line results.   If that still doesn’t do it, we’ll work with you on a solution.

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_________________________________________________________________________
For Help in Getting Your People on the Same Page 
Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage

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© Copyright All Rights Reserved, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds, [2010-2012]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 

Family Business Transition – Focus on Things You Can Control

Listen to this Radio Show I was reminded of the topics we covered two years ago through a number of conversations with Financial Planners. Two things stuck out in terms of their frustrations, especially with business owners.1.  Clients don’t want to reveal all their assets the planner2.  Clients will “dither” on the end game. Some listeners will be thinking, rather skeptically, about the self interest motivating such frustration. But, for a minute, most  financial planners are well motivated and they can’t build a book of business by not doing two things really well:1. Know their clients really well2.  Act in their best interests Other related conversations with businesses owners about when and how to transition: A fast expanding food broking business which is rapidly expanding and the founder is59yo and his son is 32yo have no transition plan A printing company where the 52yo owner was returning to work after a major illnessand his 28yo son ran the business very well in his absence. The owner wants to retireat 60 yet thinks it is too early to plan his transition A environmental remediation company’s owner got caught by the recession and had topull back control from his inexperienced management team.

So, Nick, what is your theme this week?

“May you live in interesting times” Old Chinese curse. Readers don’t want another recital of the recession litany. Yet, there is opportunity in any downturn.Yes, conditions are unpleasant with loads of “turbling” BUT…. “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; . . . If you can meet with triumph and disaster AND treat those two impostors just the same . . Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.” (Kipling) My message is for business owners in this blog is  – Don’t waste time worrying about things you can’t change – Direct things to things you can control: this choices on how are you going to move forward.

That’s easier said than done, in this economic climate

Oh, I am not talking about easy but I am talking about the need to be proactive… Since the recession started, for Baby-Boomer business owners face the same dynamics of their condition.1.  78m Boomers of whose wealth is held in 12m privately owned businesses2.  70% will change hands in 10-15years3.  Trillions of dollars will transferNow think of the business owner with 180,000 hours, say, invested in their business; What are they thinking? Will I be able to work  less in next five years? Consider leaving the business? How do I get out? I don’t know what the business is worth? What is the best time to sell?

Surely, though, most owners are in survival mode and need to protect their business these days

Why not combine the two?Expand strategy to accomplish both – the reality is they are not mentally exclusive. In fact, there are real problems if you don’t keep them integrated.Remember the quote “keeping your head” This is not the time to abandon business planning.It takes at least 2-3years to successfully implement in NORMAL Times. You can argue now is the right time to put in place tactics that will increase business value when the recession ends.

OK. So what can business owners do now?

Well, the business cycle is alive and well, there’s still timing when you business is at its optimal value. If you don’t think ahead: you will be in the herd! 9 out of 10 owners who don’t get  anywhere close to what they expected or want for their business, delay in making a decision and for mature businesses “dithering” erodes the transaction value. The fact is that less than 40% of businesses successfully transition their business…. Yet, 84% say the need the proceeds to finance their retirement. There’s been no change to owners lack of urgency: 58% don’t have any plan 33% informal Only 9% have a formal written plan Ummm, what’s the connection between 1 in 10 get what they want and 1 in 10 have a formal plan.

When are owners thinking of exiting their businesses?

28 % within 5 years, 52% plan on exiting within next 10 years. Like retirement and personal planning, transition planning works best the longer the timeline to plan and implement = optimal value.

With such compelling stats for just how much is on the line, what’s holding people back?

There are the three fears of transition: Fear of Loss Wealth Fear of Loss of Control Fear of Conflict

What are the main reasons for not having a succession plan?

It’s a bit like Letterman’s Top Eight Reasons (Excuses) for not getting the right return on 180,000 hours of: “Blood, Sweat, Toil and Tears! (Churchill) Top 8 8. Too scary 7. Thoughts of the end 6. Family/Employee conflict 5. Don’t want to think of leaving 4. Can’t get adequate advice 3. Too complex 2. No Time No. 1 – No time to plan!

In this recession why has transition planning become even more important?

Good question,There will be  more market competition – fewer buyers than sellersWith downward pressure on business values a premium will be placed on well run businesses that stand out from the pack and can differentiate themselves in the market placePlanners – IO Non-Planners – O Which team do you want to be on?

How does the Family put a brake on transition planning?

Well. Many owners consider passing their business on to their children,It’s one of the most challenging decisions a parent-owner faces.Impartiality is critical in addressing these emotional family issues and the effects on the business

What are the main reasons for no or little planning?

Sadly, many family-owned businesses are shut down because the Family didn’t handle the succession issue: Why? Parents stays on too long Parent steps down too soon before successors are trained or sufficiently experienced in the leadership roles Fail to face the realities that many children don’t want to be involved with the business or at very least shouldn’t be forced into working together The reality is that the odds are not stacked in their favor: 30% – 2nd Generation survival 12% – 3rd Generation survival 3% – 4th Generation survival

My Blog Tip

Ask Yourself:What comes first? The Transaction?OR The Management of the Transition?OR The Strategy for the TransitionDon’t put the Cart before the Horse.Talk to your trusted advisor – CPA, Lawyer etc. and ask”Who do we need to create and implement the plan? Great, but how can this help me? This is probably the first thing on your mind after reading this Blog. How about asking us?  The first call is free!  Just email me to set it up. Don’t wait, get The Crispian Advantage working for you!. If our conversation leaves you needing more, we offer at a reasonable fee telephone and video coaching improve bottom line results. If that still doesn’t do it, we’ll work with you on a solution. Name(required) Email(required) Industry Feedback(required) Submit Δ _________________________________________________________________________ For Help in Getting Your People on the Same Page  Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage E-mail I Web I Linkedin © Copyright All Rights Reserved, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds, [2010-2012]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage and Walk the Talk – A Blog for Agile Minds with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Aligning Expectations in Construction Projects

Your Line of Sight to Successful Projects

Getting & Keeping People on the Same Page

Clarifying and improving performance contracts between critical relationships, such as:

• Architects and their Design Engineers
• General Contractors and their Sub-Contractors
• Managers and Subordinates
• Leadership Teams
• Cross-functional groups

Groups have successfully used AlEx™ to:

• Improve competitiveness
• Deliver more customer-focused solutions
• Deliver a building on-time, on-budget and no legal

issues

• Accelerate and build partnerships
• Integrate new Architects
• Streamline Change Order & RFI Processes

Potential Benefits of the Eternal Triangle: Owner, Architectural Design Team & General Contractor

The Goal: a perfect building with proper design, highest quality, constructed on time and last but not least, built within budget.

 Introduction

What follows are three areas where AlEx™ can potentially help the “Eternal Triangle” of tension and mistrust that pervades many construction project relationships

1. Managing Conflict and Relationship Tension

2. Managing Complexity

3. Improving Building Performance

1.    Managing Conflict – Benefits of AlEx™

1. Helps develop a healthy attitude to managing rather than hiding conflict.
2. Reduces the distracting and destructive products from poorly handled conflict situations.
3. Helps harness diverse views and experience in the project team for the good of the overall project and Owner.
4. Helps handle change as the project progresses and manages the constant flow of information between Owners, consultants and contractors.
5. 5. Addresses the tensions in managing the dynamic and transient nature of the project life cycle process.
6. Recognizes that as work precedes the relative bargaining strengths of the parties are constantly adjusting. Standard approaches to contracting simply do not take this into account.
7. Overcomes, the inflexibility inherent in standard building contracts. For example, one contract assumes that the design is complete at the time of bidding and that the contractor employs most of the resources that will be required for the project. The fact is, design is rarely 100 % complete at the time of bidding and contractors subcontract most of the work.
8. Develops Project Teams while recognizing their different rules of engagement. AlEx™ recognizes and helps facilitate different project needs and rules of engagement, like:

• Changing Owner demands
• Rapid learning
• Generating and maintaining effective interaction between team members so that they can exchange views and debate the consequences of their decisions in an open and honest forum.
• Changing circumstances over the project’s life cycle.
• Shifting relationship tensions between the major members of the project team.
• Building trust for when things do not go as planned.

2. Managing Complexity – Benefits of AlEx™

1.    Designs in flexibility in management structure and style that is essential in dealing with complex and changing business environments.

2.    Deals with the reality that construction contracts are based upon industry-wide standards that often are hastily modified and executed during a hurried design and bidding process. AlEx™ picks up where the contracting process stops. Every project needs a legal contract and a guide to monument – AlEx™ is the formative process to get the contracting parties into alignment.

3.    AlEx™ helps harness conflict that causes the distress and low productivity associated with escalating conflict. AlEx™ helps to develop open, skillful discussion that is needed to turn differences into synergistic gains rather than squabbling losses.

4.    The use of AlEx™ helps project teams build Partnering, a process of building up long term business relationships that reduce the adversarial nature of construction. The expectations approach helps shift the emphasis from a contractual focus to a results orientated management focus.

5.    AlEx™ takes the heat out of how to convert business deals into good contracts which produce lasting positive relationships.

6.    Helps develop the close working relationships needed between all designers and contractors in order to produce an integrated building in which all building services, structural and building elements are fully planned, systematically organized and combined, and brought to fruition as required by an Owner. It really produces teams that actually communicate effectively with each other.

7.    Helps develop the processes needed to cope with the growing complexity of design and Owner needs, e.g. as hospital buildings grow in size and complexity, building services also tend to be more sophisticated and difficult to manage from design to certificate of occupancy.

8.    Helps develop coordination to ensure that services and other building elements are properly planned, managed and coordinated.

9.    Develops protocols for coordinating multi-head Owner, changes of design, conditions of engagement of designers and contractors, division of design responsibilities, allocation of risks, early incorporation of specialty contractors/consultants, forms of contract and quality of design and construction management.  AlEx™ can also have a positive effect on coordination of building services within the General Contractors office.

10. Examines ways in which Owners and various designers, contractors and equipment suppliers can work together as a team in line with the projects procurement path or strategy (The whole process of creation, communication, response and integration in    the context of the project can be defined as procurement).

11. Helps develop Procurement Strategies by guiding decisions early in the project influencing risk allocation, design strategy and consultant/contractor hiring. This ensures that throughout the project the following are all consistent with the selected procurement route:

• Roles and relationships
• Project management approach,
• Communication channels
• Information systems,
• Forms of contracts, and
• Overall management of the project organization

3.    Improving Building Performance – Potential Benefits of AlEx™

1.      Identification of problems and their solutions before they actually occur. This is a proactive approach toward building solutions to performance issues.

2.    Improved space utilization and feedback on building performance.

3.    Improved attitude of building owner through active involvement in the evaluation process.

4.    Understanding of the performance implications of changes dictated by budget cuts and scope changes, add-ons, contract extensions, and government intervention.

5.    Built-in capability for facility adaptation to organizational change and growth over time, including

• Recycling of facilities into new uses
• Significant cost savings in the building process and throughout the building life cycle.
• Accountability for building performance by design professionals and owners.
• Long-term improvements in building performance:
• Improved measurement of building performance through quantification.

1. Exposing and Expelling Pre-Conceived Notions

Project Owners believe Contractors to be _____________.

• Architects believe Contractors to be _________________.
• Contractors believe Architects to be _________________.
• Contractors believe Owners to be ___________________.

Great, but how can this help me?

This is probably the  first thing on your mind after reading this Blog.   How about asking us?  The first call is free!  Just email me to set it up.  Don’t wait, get The Crispian Advantage working for you!. If our conversation leaves you needing more, we offer at a reasonable fee telephone and video coaching on change, alignment, and personal and executive performance that improve the bottom line.  If that still doesn’t do it, we’ll work with you on a solution.