• Invented Future

To understand fully what I mean by an "invented future", you should read the article "The Merlin Factor: Leadership and Strategic Intent" which explains the role of a future in your present actions.  People and Organizations, Bursting With Their Own Power: The Incredible Magic of Self-Expression in business. 

• The Mission

The technology of corporate transformation which I espouse is based on individual responsibility and builds on the visions and dreams of the worker and manager alike, standing firmly in the fundamental harmony of the two. 

I assert that a corporation hires the whole individual to work.  And it is their charge to use those individuals as a resource; to stretch them, educate them and develop them.  To send them home at the end of the day - not depleted, but enlivened and ready for what their family and personal obligations require. 

• Work Profile

Transfer of Learning or Managing Change

The area of the firm's greatest expertise is the transfer of learning or managing change. This is the implementation of new learning into the day-to-day workings of a department, team project, individual or division. As the norms, structures, relationships, and overall climate in the actual job are often very different from those in the learning setting it is necessary to make certain that the learning from the meeting, class or workshop is properly supported. The old work norms and expectations have not changed, and this situation often results in confusion for the participant with a new skill, knowledge base, or personal awareness.

There are a number of techniques to design projects.  

 I favor operating with a group or team on a team project (or set of projects) that are specifically designed to 

• 1) produce the business result and 

• 2) implement the new learning into the surroundings. 

These projects are designed to produce rapid results while practicing any new techniques or learning in situ. Confining the intense work to distinct projects allows participants to focus on the techniques in a controlled situation allowing the problems to arise and be solved in the context of the project. 

Eventually, the techniques become second nature and overflow into the workplace at large. You could think of these projects as cultural halfway houses.

For more information about the techniques of project design see Strategic Project Design

Coaching is a key part of today's successful executive or project manager.  Executives use coaching to aid in long-term strategic planning, for intervention in sticky issues, or to have a sounding board for day-to-day  problems.  If an executive is promotable in all but one or two areas, they are often that person's blind spots.  Executive coaching can help them see the blind spots and effectively make the necessary change in their working habits to make them promotion material.  

Project management requires coaching, too.  A project, by definition, is something that isn't going to happen all by itself.  Therefore, some systems, procedures and/or business practices must change for the project to succeed.  This can be a daunting task after the enthusiasm of the project's initiation. Project coaching can help the project manager improve management techniques, enhance team coordination, increase reporting effectiveness, and enormously increase the probability of success.  

For more information on coaching, please see two issues of "After the Teambuilding; tips for Maximizing your Change Efforts" 

•  "Ready Aim Coach" 

• "Coaching for Business, a Resource for the Future"

Another area in which my experience is quite deep is in creating visions. I work with groups to get at what they agree on and are committed to. This is very important regardless of the level of work being done. A small project or an department goal, it must be something that everyone can get behind and fully endorse. Each person must be able to contextualize their job and the work they do inside of the vision and/or strategic intent to be fully engaged.

My work is based on a combination of my experience and a Harvard Business Review article from May-June 1989. Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad wrote the article "Strategic Intent" and in it they deal with the value and techniques associated with creating vision. I have applied this to large and small groups with a great deal of success and am currently writing an article about the value of incorporating vision into any change effort (as opposed to change for the sake of change).

An overview of my work would be incomplete without a discussion of systems thinking. In any system there are myriad pressures to change and an equal number of limiting factors. These factors are not always evident before the change occurs, but are set into motion as a reaction to the implementation of change. In these cases, it is not enough to push the change, but it is necessary to remove the factors that are limiting the growth. The use of milestones which are specific, measurable and time-bound enable the team to be confronted with the limiting factors sooner rather than later, and in a controlled environment. People get frustrated, start getting annoyed at anyone and anything that gets in their way as they approach a deadline they are destined to miss.

The process I use for breaking up the limiting factors and developing creative thinking is a commitment-based, vision-anchored approach to resolving issues.

Systems thinking is a fascinating and intricate study and it fosters an approach that addresses not only the problem, but the thinking that produced the problem in the first place.>

I have a system for diagnosing what elements of the culture need eliminating or changing. This diagnostic process is a series of interviews with all levels of the involved organization. It is predicated on the assumption that the culture of an organization is made up of the network of conversations that exist in the organization. When I say network of conversations, I refer not only to what is actually said formally, but also informally. The comments about another change effort or a flavor of the month indicate many things. The guardedness about responding to questions even though it is totally confidential, speaks volumes.

The questions in the interview center around results and systems. I solicit opinions and measurable responses with the intention of determining the ability of the organization to learn, communicate, recognize threats and opportunities, etc. The opinions are not what is important, it is the prevalence of the opinion (I never assume that anything said only once is anything other than a personal point of view) and what is said around it that is revealing. I interview managers, workers, supervisors, support staff, union workers; every level must be accounted for. The end result is a report distinguishing the cultural characteristics of the organization and predicting readiness for change.