First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals by Patrick J. McKenna & David H. Maister

Author:Patrick J. McKenna & David H. Maister [McKenna, Patrick J.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 2010-05-10T14:00:00+00:00

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To Introduce Lasting Change Succesfully

You can at any time, in any firm, at any level, make yourself part of an initiative that can begin to make some difference. In Beyond Knowing, Patrick and his co-authors set out some basic guidelines for managing your efforts.

If you are just beginning some new initiative or program, it is important that it not be viewed as the latest “flavor of the month.” To build credibility, start your efforts quietly with minimal fanfare, taking small steps, and build incrementally.

Avoid being seen as setting high initial expectations. Nothing worthwhile happens overnight, change is often gradual, and it always takes longer than we planned to realize those first signs of progress.

Expect varying degrees of commitment as people’s reactions to any new directions will be mixed. Work with those considered the informal group leaders at all levels within the firm to try to get them on board early, or at least neutral to the proposed change.

Get people at all levels involved. Find ways to encourage teamwork with the effort being undertaken. Experience shows that people do not believe in or support any initiative that they have not had some part in formulating.

Momentum is your best friend. Every leader faces the challenge associated with creating and then sustaining change. Momentum is one of the key factors that seperates winning initiatives from those that fall by the wayside. Often, it is the only difference.

In a typical basketball game, when the opposing team scores a lot of unanswered points and starts to develop too much momentum, a good coach will call a time-out. The coach knows that if the other team’s momentum gets too strong, his team is likely to lose.

So as a leader, you can’t afford to let down your guard or turn your attention to other matters once a project is launched. You can’t delegate (or abdicate) an important initiative. Your hand must always be (and be seen to be) on the throttle. When there is the momentum for accomplishing something important, professionals are motivated to perform at ever higher levels. Lose that momentum and it looks like just another passing fad that inevitably undermines your next attempts.

To Introduce Lasting Change Successfully (Cont.)

Every new undertaking looks like a failure in the middle. Understanding this principle can make a huge difference. Predictable problems arise in the middle of every attempt to do something new, whether launching a new service offering, opening an international office, altering the people’ compensation plan, instituting a small merger, or installing new technology. The more different it is from what’s been done before, the more problems emerge. Give up at the first sign of trouble, and by definition the effort (and you?) will be a loser.

A little-known fact is that the Apollo moon were on course less than 1 percent of the time. The mission involved almost constant midcourse corrections. That’s also true of most new endeavors.

In the “middle, ” you can overspend both time and money because forecasts are always overly optimistic. You should expect to the unexpected pop up that no one knew was there.

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