Leading Business Change For Dummies by Christina Tangora Schlachter

Author:Christina Tangora Schlachter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-06-20T00:00:00+00:00

Figuring out how to start over

A “what now” session can helps teams brainstorm new ideas to get a failed or stalled change back on track. Before the meeting, ask team members to think about what happened to stop the change and why. Remind the team to not place blame (give that little pep talk we just shared with you!). This preparation before the meeting will give the team time to think about what they learned from the change and start to diffuse any emotions that may be out there because of the failure. A great way to phrase this pre-work is, “What do we need to start doing (something different), what does the team need to stop (what didn’t go well or was not necessary), and what does the team need to continue (what went well)?”

At the meeting, ask team members to think through the following five key steps for each area of the project that either stalled or didn’t work out as planned:

What area failed? In other words, what didn’t work as planned? This area of failure can be anything from the project plan not being followed (time delay) to the supplier of a new information system not being able to deliver software that worked (we know this never, ever happens by the way; it is merely an example).

Why did this happen, and what are the implications? Now you can get down to the root cause of the failure. For example, if the information system wasn’t delivered on time or it wasn’t the quality you expected, was it because the project plan wasn’t clear, or were these expectations not communicated? Often, the root causes of failure can be boiled down to resources (not having the right skills, not having enough money), expectations not being clear, or the scope of the project changing.

What are the lessons learned? A failure on the project does not need to stop the project cold. If team members didn’t have the knowledge on how to hold meetings, then teach them, and make sure the lesson learned is captured as something like, “Did not provide adequate training” or “Assumed individuals already had skills needed.” Again, you’re not placing blame; you’re just trying to make sure the problem doesn’t reoccur.

What’s next? This “fork in the road” question covers: What is the next step, who is going to do what to fix this area, and does it need to be fixed or can we just move on? (We help you answer this question more fully in the next section: “Making midcourse adjustments.”)

Who needs to know? After a failure happens, you need to go back and communicate what happened and what is happening next to fix the problem.

When you kick off the meeting, make sure you lay some ground rules. Here are four critical ones to get the after-action discussion going:

Trust that your colleagues want(ed) to do the best job.

Avoid blaming anyone. Focus on what the team can do differently next time.

Avoid “shoulda, woulda, coulda” language.

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