Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Communicating the Core Organizational Strategy--How to Help Employees “Get” Strategy
Friday, December 14, 2012
BYUI IBC: From Student to Chief Operations Officer
Organizational Change Issue
During my senior year at Brigham Young University Idaho (BYUI), a class titled Integrated Business Core (IBC) provided three student teams, made up of about twenty people, an opportunity to start and close an on-campus business over the course of the winter semester. Profits from each company would not be received by students, but would be placed in a business account for the University to use in growing the IBC program in the near future.
The Business
A couple days after Badger Creek, I was elected as the Chief
Operations Officer (COO) overseeing six student’s performance (see
Organizational Chart in Appendix I). Our company would develop a booth
that looked like a train station (see The Station in Appendix II). We would
create and bake traditional and specialty pie cookies. Additionally, because we
would be selling during the winter season, specialty hot-chocolate would also
be sold with candy add-ins.
The Challenge
While developing our business, several conflicting
circumstances surfaced within the Operations department that caused a need to
implement important changes. There is no
question that my leadership skills have become more sharply refined as a result
of my time as COO. However, the transition from student to businessman caused
me to undergo several changes. Much of my transition was due to a lack of
experience in the position itself; however, the primary change dealt with how
to effectively develop and grow the operations team. In hindsight, I am
absolutely grateful for the opportunities I struggled through during my time as
COO with our campus business. In order to successfully prepare for future
positions of leadership, I wish to implement tools from the Ten Commandments for Implementing Change, Peggy Holman, and others within
the Managing Change cases and concepts.
Implementing Change Analysis
Starting a Business on Campus
Until taking the IBC course, I had not experienced starting
and closing a business. I initially thought starting a business would be a
considerable amount of work. I could not have imagined how exasperated I would
be at the end of the semester. I discovered that developing a business involves
intimately understanding variables such as a target market, identifying the
most cost-effective suppliers, inventory processes, price- elasticity of
demand, and others that involve the operations department.
Preparing for a New Role
In order to unify the companies within the IBC program, the
professors had the students spend a few days at an Outdoor Learning Center
called Badger Creek in the Teton
Valley. This retreat center is owned by BYUI and has been built to help
students develop leadership and team-building skills that can enable them to be
more successful in influencing society for the better. The three IBC groups
went through this outdoor retreat with the primary objective of giving companies
several opportunities to not only grow together, but eventually to determine
the strengths and weaknesses of individuals within the groups. This
observational analysis would ultimately assist in identifying the leadership of
the company. This was done as the team went through several problem-solving and
rigorous obstacle courses throughout each day. At the end of Badger Creek,
teams were unified and most had a fairly accurate view on who would become the
leadership.
Jick could not have been more accurate when saying that “no
matter how much effort companies invest in preparation and workshops…
organizations are invariably insufficiently prepared for the difficulties of
implementing change.” [1]
As a student who quickly became a COO, I quickly experienced frustration as I
became distinctly aware that being a leader was not as it appeared in many of
the business textbooks I had read years before the IBC program. Jick summarizes
my experience well stating that “while the literature often portrays an organization’s
quest for change as being like a brisk march along a well-marked path, those in
the middle of change are more likely to describe their journey as a laborious
crawl toward an elusive, flickering goal, with many wrong turns and miss
opportunities along the way.” [2]There
is no question that my transition into this role was daunting and can be
described as a laborious crawl toward what I envisioned success becoming for my
team.
Sense of Ownership
Upon receiving the COO position in the organization, I
strongly desired for our department to gain ownership for their contribution to
the company’s success. I hoped individuals would not simply see the campus
business as an upper-level project, but that they would develop ownership for
the opportunity of having a successful business while being a student.
As the COO, I constantly strived to help people within
operations to correlate what they were doing at a small scale with how large
corporate employees perform. I sought to take ownership of my responsibility to
help them gain this perspective in order to further prepare my team for
post-graduate businesses. This desire closely parallels that of Michael
Overdorf, stating that “one of the hallmarks of a great manager is the ability
to identify the right person for the right job and to train employees to
succeed at the jobs they’re given.”[3]
My intent was to create an environment where this type of learning and
experience was possible; however, the results were not as I had expected.
Duties as Chief Operations Officer
In order to accurately create an environment where students
would be most capable of experiencing a large scale corporate setting, I first
defined my role as the COO. My definition was comprised of what I had learned
in the business program as well as several summary definitions I discovered
within the online search engines. I could think of no other way to effectively
understand the role a COO played on a day-to-day basis, then to parallel my
responsibilities with what COO’s of other companies were doing.
Vision
The vision for the operations department was greatly
attributed to the daily duties I gathered through my research of the COO
position. This information then provided a basis for the various functions that
needed to be filled within our sector. Therefore,
upon defining the roles within the department, an implementable and tangible vision
began developing as I further understood what the department could achieve. In
addition to successfully receiving and preparing goods and services to
customers—my vision developed into
creating an atmosphere that could positively impact productivity habits to
further quality each individual as they prepare to integrate into the
workforce. This would develop as each member of the team actively engaged
themselves as employees and not simply students fulfilling project requirements
for graduation. I believed my vision would inspire an excellence-centered
standard within our group. Peggy Holman (Holman) says that “when people see the
possibility of contributing to something larger than themselves, they act differently.
The emphasis shifts from focusing on ‘why something can’t be done’ to ‘how we
can make this happen?’”[4]
I hoped my efforts to define the duties within the operation department could
help create an atmosphere where people had an understanding of their function
within operations that was much deeper than simply being a school project.
Duties for Operations Team
Resources
The process of how I identified a conceptual framework for
the organizations purpose can be directly correlated with two critical
components of vision discussed in Managing
Change. It is mentioned that vision includes both a roadmap and the
emotional appeal or part of the vision which contains a motivational pull that
people can relate.[5] However,
I neglected to consider how important specific processes and values would be in
exciting and inspiring the team.
Processes
At this time, I only sensed the value the vision would have
in guiding the team’s behavior;”[6]however,
after establishing roles I did not effectively establish processes that were
specific enough to the skills required to effectively fulfill the position. These processes were too general and even
confusing. I refer to Jick’s description of what a person can and cannot do
within their role. He says the employee must know the patterns of interaction
with employees and product distributors, coordination of when specific tasks
were to be executed, and effective communication channels available, if needed.[7]
I had defined the duties of the operations team, but was not as specific as I
needed to be in order for the employee to perform in a consistent manner.
Values
During our retreat to Badger Creek our Company developed
specific values that defined our organization. Our values would be the standard
that we set priorities. Jick mentions that good management has clear,
consistent values that have permeated the organization. He further mentions
that the core business values should be consistently understood; that the
values define rules its employees must follow for the company to prosper.”[8]
If this advice would have been applied from the very moment I became COO, I
believe the cantankerous situation that surfaced could have been significantly
mitigated if not eliminated from our department. Instead, I failed to train and
remind the operations team about what we stood for as individuals within the company.
I foolishly assumed that values were to be refreshed often by the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) and completely neglected the opportunity to assist in
stimulating the company culture.
Operation Department Bottleneck
Within two weeks, the initial excitement of starting a
business had dissolved; I became aware of tasks not being performed as promptly
they had a couple weeks prior. I couldn’t understand why people were not as
energized to perform as they once had. Something needed to change. Sales were
increasing rapidly and we were unable to meet consumer demand due to a lack of
inventory. Also, it came to my attention that people were not showing up to
work when they were scheduled. Both of these issues were the direct responsibility
of my Supply and Scheduling Manager. On the surface it would appear that the
student was motivated, and would re-assure me he or she was on task, but in
reality this person was not performing effectively. It felt as though I was the
only person that was motivated toward being successful within my role. This may
have been due to the lack of clarity of the specific, day-to-day processes; as
well as the lack of value awareness.
Meetings
Typically I was meeting with the entire department each Monday
in order to debrief the week prior and to develop an action list for the
current week. These meetings seemed to be effective. However, it remained
unclear on why people were not making their company responsibilities a
priority. I sincerely wanted to instill a desire for the team to contribute to
the company vision with more than their head and hands. I also wanted people to
engage their hearts and thereby unleash the power of the individual to
contribute with meaningful intentions.[9]
In hindsight, more time should have been placed on incorporating our
foundational company values into distinct processes. In order to capture the
bottleneck, my managers would meet with me individually, in addition to a
weekly meeting, to report specific details of how things were functioning
within their respective responsibilities. Overtime, processes began to improve and
inventory was not an issue anymore; conversely, a lack of enthusiasm remained
within the group despite my best efforts to motivate individually and collectively.
After a couple weeks of effectively managing productivity, it was time to uncover
the inside and outside forces behind the resistant behavior.
Implementing Change
Inside and Outside Forces
In order for me to effectively make changes to align the hands,
heart, and mind execution within the department, I decided to uncover inside
and outside forces that were the root cause for the lack of feeling being
placed in the day-to-day activities. Jick says that these forces must be
considered when preparing for change. That no matter how committed I was, there
would “always be factors outside [my] control that may have a profound impact
on the success of the change process. These external, uncontrollable, and
powerful forces are not to be underestimated, and they are one reason some have
questioned the manageability of change at all.”[10]
At times I questioned whether or not changing the intent would be possible
given the attitude most had adopted with operations. In order to effectively
discover the need for change I took the initiative to meet with each of my
managers with the purpose of listening to what they felt was the source of the
crabby and unmotivated approaches to operation tasks.
Communication with Managers
Almost four weeks had gone by and I did not feel I was in
sync with my managers. It seemed they had transitioned into “project-mode” as
students fulfilling only what was necessary to receive a grade in the course. I
wondered if it was too late in the semester to make the overdue changes. As I
met with my managers to ask them what they thought were the primary issues
weighing down the vision I strived to implement, I was shocked at the response
of my supply manager.
Supply Manager
I met with my supply manager before my scheduling manager
thinking there may be some external forces that were more difficult to fulfill
than what I had been led to believe. As I listened to my manager, I discovered
that the only external issues were that on the occasion there was a need to
drive from Rexburg to Pocatello to purchase extra inventory of our popular
chocolate chip cookies. I became informed that there was talk among the
department that I seemed to be more of a task master than a leader. This man
further helped me understand that I was not communicating my vision in
practice; that in order for me to clearly demonstrate my intents; I should
consider “running and then inviting others to run with me.” Many of my efforts
were then complemented, but then I received encouraged to do more with
individuals to demonstrate my commitment to the vision; that unless I made time
to make time to assist people with their duties, I would appear condescending
and insincere—touting demands without communicating to employees that they too
can take ownership of the vision. It was brought to my attention that my
department viewed the vision as being mine and not theirs; that at times I came
across as a person who gave orders in a way that doubted their capability to
successfully achieve them.
Scheduling Manager
As soon as I had spoken with my supply manager, I quickly
contacted my scheduling manager to request her thoughts and opinions regarding
internal forces that need to be reevaluated. After internalizing what my supply
manger had mentioned, it became apparent that perhaps I had been communicating
a different message than I had thought. This was greatly due to my inexperience
as a leader. More experience as a leader may have helped in developing n more
refined awareness of what my actions were communicating. Upon meeting with this
manager, I immediately apologized if I had unknowingly offender her in any way.
I then invited her to share what she thought was distracting from the
department vision. The response was similar to the supply manager, in that I
would delegate many tasks, but that I did not reflect a leader who served
outside of his duties. Both of these responses were more informative than I
could have hoped. At that point, I realized that the bottleneck was not with
the employees as much as I thought. I needed to be the change I wanted in
others. It wasn’t enough for me to establish goals and facilitate orders—I
needed to refine my role as the COO.
Re-defining My Role
It has been said that “We know so much about leadership, yet
we know too little. We can define it in general, but find it hard to
particularize. We recognize it when obvious, but it is not always obvious why.
We practice leadership, which implies we are still preparing for the real
thing.”[11]
Fortunately, my experience as the COO was a school project. The IBC atmosphere
provided me an opportunity to realize how leadership can be a process and not
an event. If I was in a corporate
setting, I might not have survived as the COO as long as I had. I had felt
confident in my responsibilities as a COO at the beginning of the semester;
however, when un-covering the major bottleneck to the department vision, I
discovered that being a leader is not simply having knowledge of
responsibilities and then implementing textbook principles in order to achieve
a specific result.
Bob Galvin says that leadership is analogous to a tree whose
shadow falls where the tree is not. The shadow being representative of the
leader’s action radiating far beyond his perceptions. He further indicates that there seems to be a
paradox within leadership due to the leader being a finite person with an
apparent infinite influence. After meeting with my managers, I quickly
recognized that in order for me to create an influential environment where
students could develop characteristics that would increase their value-added to
an upcoming employer, I needed to re-evaluate my leadership assumptions.
In addition to re-considering my role as a leader, I met
with the CEO and asked if I could make a public apology. When addressing the
company, I mentioned that it had been brought to my attention that as COO I may
have offended several people, unknowingly. I specifically mentioned that I had
been unaware that I may have come across as condescending and more task-oriented
than people oriented—that I was performing according to my vision rather than a
shared vision of my department. I then expressed my intent in how I would begin
my change process by first increasing the communication of my intents as I involved
myself more intimately in the duties of my team; with hopes that the teammate
would adopt the same spirit of zeal and motive for success as a team. Additionally,
I mentioned I would make it a priority to consistently understand the bottleneck
concerns of the department. Lastly, I would further focus on the values of the
company as they are taught in meetings and in practice.
Future Leadership Recommendations
Good leaders are said to be those who learn more quickly and
surely from the past, select correct advice and trends, chooses the simpler
work patterns, and combines the best of other leaders.[12]
My experience as COO with our on-campus business has been defined as
transformational due to the initial leaf
of faith the organization undergoes in launching and growing it. A process
then follows where often growth reaches a plateau, declines until a distinct
bottleneck has developed such that an emergence of a new state is needed (see
Transformational Change Chart in appendix III).[13]
In the case of becoming a more effective leader, Linda Ackerman suggests developmental change—where improvements
of skills, methods, or conditions need to meet a higher expectation. Jicks Ten
Commandments for Implementing Change will serve as the foundation for guiding
my future leadership recommendations.[14]
Analyze the Organization and its Need for Change
As an implementer of an organizations resources, processes,
and values, it is important to first consider the strengths and weaknesses of
the environment and how it will be affected by proposed changes or
implementations. Since this information must be sound, it is important to first
seek to understand the history of both the people and current processes. When I became COO I made time to evaluate
which position would be most representative of each person within operations.
However, because I would be overseeing the implementation of the organizations
resources, processes, and values, it should have given these variables more
attention as they are directly correlated with the vision of department.
Casting Vision upon Others
Because resistance is likely when implementing change in an
organization, it is important not to force the change on others. Instead, it
will be important to discuss critical components to the vision in order to
transition an old way of thinking—where people simply do as they are told; to a
“what can I do” mentality where people share the vision.[15]
This information will be especially valuable to the influencers within the group as they are typically those who are
committed to the organization and can help motivate employees who are resistant
to the change.
Create a Shared Vision and Common Direction
As the vision is developed, it should combine the
suggestions of employees at
all levels of the organization. The vision will directly reflect the philosophy
and values of the people who will be serving its purposes; therefore, it will
be critical to consistently remind employees of what they have created. As
people take ownership of the vision, it will be displayed in their productivity
through their attitudes and behaviors. I would have reduced the amount of time
spent understanding the lack of motivation and intent with employees if a more common
direction was created in the creation of the department.
Separate From the Past
It was said that I appeared to be condescending when
introducing various implementation tactics. This may have been a perception
that ensued because many of the students knew before attending BYUI I had
pursued a career path where I was involved with many operational duties.
Conversely, it is also possible that I was unknowingly being condescending. In
either case, in order to insure the most valuable structures and routines are
developed, it will be extremely important to anchor on what is known about the individuals
and the organization. When making changes, a leader should identify various
structures that are needed and unwanted for the adjustment within the vision.
Create a Sense of Urgency
As a COO I was constantly striving to hedge against not
having enough inventory. Therefore, either the student responsible or I would
drive down to Pocatello in order to ensure we had enough product to supply a
spike in demand. In this situation, it was important to be sensitive to costs
of holding backup inventory. In the case of creating urgency, it was important
to help employees understand that without inventory; we have no product to sale
and do not make money. I was not very effective in creating urgency for our
team because there were many weeks in toward the beginning of the semester
where we did not have enough cookies to sell. I had a supply manager whose
primary purpose was to report the inventory count each week. However, rather
than constantly talking about ways to improve our units on hand, I assumed that
he could fulfill the position adequately because it was his most important
duty. Holman says departments should be constantly learning and changing
together. Leaders should not only take suggestions of how a process should be
improved, but should also provide recommendations and collaborate about how
they will increase production.
Support a Strong Leader Role
My greatest change advocate was the CEO of our company. A
leader should not only communicate to this leader when necessary, but should
communicate forward. This type of communication alludes to building a
relationship that can support future changes with the business. For example, I
had developed trust with the CEO in stating a need to apologize to the company
and refine my role as COO. She then scheduled a meeting where I could extend my
apologies and receive feedback that could help eliminate the operations
bottleneck.
Line Up Political Sponsorship
A strong leader role can significantly help guide and
motivate organizational changes. Having
our CEO schedule a meeting to improve departmental issues increased the
motivation within the managers of my department and others. Given the
circumstances of my department, it is not likely I would have received the
degree of support needed to make changes as I did with the CEO present. It was
additionally valuable to have had the support of my supply and scheduling
managers. When seeking to win sponsorship, “it is not necessary to get
unanimous support: participation can be representative, not universal.”[16]
What is most important is that the support is gained of the most influential
and committed people within the critical mass that is needed to ensure the
effectiveness of the change. A strategy to identify and reach these people
should be developed and tracked accordingly.
Craft an Implementation Plan
When I first received the position of COO I quickly began
creating a vision and implementation plan. In order to develop a plan that is
not too detailed. A plan that is too
detailed can be demoralizing and dissuade employees from wanting to work for
the right reasons. One way to create a plan that is manageable is to meet with
the team to discuss an outline of possibilities for department goals, tasks,
processes, reporting, etc. This plan
should be subject to change as the department will most likely grow and
therefore need to change. After a department plan is crafted, an employee
implementation plan should be developed for each new employee. One company
creates what is called a Key Results Area
(KRA) document (see KRA Document in Appendix IV). “This document
includes the primary job responsibilities of the role being filled.”[17]It
be reviewed and signed by both the employee and department manager. The KRA is
subject to change and can be used for performance based incentives.
Develop Enabling Structures
The implementation plan should be complemented with several
enabling structures that will help facilitate the spotlight the change. When
large-scale change is implemented, Holman recommends a systematic approach ensuring
the what, who, and how are established. These systems should be either
practical or symbolic in nature. Regardless, of whether practical systems such
as workshops and training programs, or symbolic systems such as a physical
change in workspace, these structures should be consistent and well-though out.
If congregating around issues as we did within the
operations department, it would be wise to parallel the structure of the
workshop created for Marconi by Mike Parton. One of the primary purposes to
these workshops was to develop trust as a shared vision was developed upon of
what kind of change needed to be enforced. During this meeting delegates were
separated into groups and were invited to express suggestions for change. This
setting was also created to allow people to talk through some of the emotions
they had felt with the change of circumstances. Holman would describe workshops
as an opportunity to create a shift from a mechanical to organic way of working.
This type of setting will help a leader uncover conditions for trust and
community.
Communicate, Involve People, and be Honest
In the Broadway Brokers simulation, J.T. Carpenter sent a
letter bluntly stating that major cutbacks would be taking place over a period
of 4 months. The reason for scaling back employees was that they needed to
tighten their belts in order to make a profit for their stockholders.[18]
Cutting costs would help the company gain market share, but not loyalty and
trust from employees. Effective communication is one of the most important
aspects of a successful business. Mr. Carpenter would have been much more
effective to have his management relate the upcoming changes in order to
further create a culture that can recognize and thrive on change in the future.
This type of change needed to be address
in a setting where people can ask questions and where the leader can gain trust
by displaying empathy. It is strongly recommended that the leader also identify
who is affected, a course of action, and how people will be kept informed of
the change. Jick says that real communication
requires dialogue.
Reinforce and Institutionalize the Change
As the change is implemented, the leader will gain the trust
of the employees by running and inviting
others to run with them. I had to learn this through an uncomfortable
experience with my team. Because change
is a continuous process, leaders must constantly prove their commitment to the
implementation process.[19]
As employees display such demonstrate their commitment to the vision of the
organization they should be recognized for their contributions. This
recognition should happen immediately and in meetings in front of others, if
appropriate. This approach ultimately reinforces behaviors that are being
aligned with the shared vision.
Bibliography
Ackerman, L. (2011). Three Perspectives on Change.
In M. A. Peiperl, & T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. xxi). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Galvin, B. (2011). Exhibit 1. In M. A. Peiperl,
& T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 122). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Holman, P. (2000). What I Learned. In M. A. Peiper,
& T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 612). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Holman, P. (2011). Exhibit 2 Changing Assumptions.
In M. A. Peiperl, & T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 615). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
N., T., & M., D. (1986). In The
Transformational Leader (p. 130). New York: John Wiley .
(2000). Broadway Brokers. In M. A. Peiper, & T.
D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 387). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(2000). Line Up Political Sponsorship. In M. A.
Peiper, & T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 216). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
(2000). Reinforce and Institutionalize the Change.
In M. A. Peiper, & T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 219). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
(2011). Common Pitfalls of Implementation. In M. A.
Peiperl, & T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 212). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
(2011). Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change.
In M. A. Peiperl, & T. D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 61). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
(2011). Processes. In M. A. Peiperl, & T. D.
Jick, Managing Change (p. 62). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(2011). Ten Commandments for Implementing Change. In
M. A. Peiperl, & T. D. Jick, Managing Change (pp. 214-220). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
(2011). Values. In M. A. Peiperl, & T. D. Jick, Managing
Change (p. 63). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(2011). What is Vision? In M. A. Peiperl, & T.
D. Jick, Managing Change (p. 114). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Ramsey, D. (2011, September 16). Key Results Area.
Retrieved December 13, 2012, from Dave Ramsey:
http://www.daveramsey.com/article/entreleadership-kra/lifeandmoney_business/?ectid=sfkra
Appendix
I. Organizational Chart
II. The Station
III. Transformational Change Chart
Picture from
changeleadersnetwork.com
IV. KRA Document
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