By Paul Plotczyk, President, WSA

How do you move your organization from where it is to where you want it to be? Wouldn't it be great if there was a Google Map for organizations that would give you step-by-step instructions on how to navigate from your organization's current state to the desired future state?

While there is no Google Map or Mapquest for organizational change, creating a Roadmap is the best way to ensure full implementation and integration of the initiative – a roadmap to success!

Building a Roadmap to Change

3 Key Elements

The three main components of a Roadmap to Change are:

1. Current state – Where are we now? 2. Desired future state – Where do we want to be? 3. Gap - How do we get from where we are to where we want to be?

Very straightforward, but not easy to create. The key to a good Roadmap is making sure the data and thinking used to define those components is accurate and relevant to the reality of your organization. Garbage in = garbage out.

Forming a Coalition for Change: The Parlor Cabinet vs. The Kitchen Cabinet

In his first term as President, Andrew Jackson lost confidence in his leadership team, the US Cabinet (Parlor Cabinet). His solution was to establish an unofficial group of advisors which his critics called his Kitchen Cabinet. Critics aside, Jackson understood how important it was to surround himself with trusted advisors.

Selecting the right people to inform a change initiative is critical to ensuring a successful Roadmap.

Typically this involves gathering the leaders of various functional areas of the organization to help define the current state, future state and way forward. However, you may also consider including other individuals who do not necessarily “have a seat at the table” (the Kitchen Cabinet).

How to Chose your “Cabinet”

Try to put aside political and bureaucratic concessions and choose your coalition based on their ability to deliver sound input. The requirements of a person in the role might look like this:

• Gives quality advice and counsel
• Has established credibility
• Logically and thoughtfully sorts through cultural and political ambiguity
• Has a history of crystallizing ideas into action
• Anticipates future needs and identifies potential constraints, as well as actionable options
• Thinks through the implications of decisions and actions on people, organizational components, shareholders and customers
• Has a vision for future business opportunities and creates links between current and future activities
• A creative thinker who may not necessarily fit the image of the “organization man” – or woman!

Building a Roadmap to the New Organization: The Change Plan

Once you have formed the team that will draw the Roadmap, here's how to structure the conversation for change.

Accurately define the current state of the organization. Describe the enterprise as it REALLY exists today, which may not fit the description on your website.

• Determine the desired future state of the organization – create possibility for the future
• Create the path forward or Roadmap by examining 4 levers for change:

1. Structure: How the organization needs to organize itself to achieve its goals
2. People: Ensure that the “right” people, with the right competencies and experience are in the right roles
3. Processes: Identify the core processes the organization uses to do its work. Are they working? Will they support the new organization?
4. Tools: The methods used to support the implementation of the strategy, such as the Strategic Plan, performance reviews, “dashboards” and financial performance review methodologies.

Metrics and measures are the most useful tools to assess your ability to meet your customers' needs and business objectives. Businesses that succeed and make money constantly assess themselves. Metrics are the cornerstone of their assessment, and the foundation for any business improvement initiative.

Conclusions

In our experience, the difference between the success or failure of a change initiative comes down to:

1. How clear the organization is on where they are now and where they need to go; and,
2. How strong the commitment is to do whatever it takes to get there.

Getting the above right is critical and totally dependent on which resources you tap and the leadership you put in place to lead the change initiative.

Re-read the criteria for picking your trusted advisors/change coalition. Evaluate your advisors and see if there is anyone who shouldn't be in that role. Look further afield in your organization to see if there are people that should be included. Think of this as an opportunity to include others who may not traditionally be offered a “seat at the table.” As an example, this may provide an occasion to solicit diverse perspectives and involve people from other groups, such as Generation Y.

With the right people in place and a detailed roadmap in hand, the hard work of creating and sustaining organizational change can begin – propelled forward by the momentum of a good, solid beginning.

As always, if you would like to chat with me one-on-one about any particular challenge you are facing realted to organizational change, call me at 781-343-4005.