sacred cows make the best burgers biz

In the new economy driven by change and spurred by opportunitiescoming from all directions, where competition is tough andcustomers are more sophisticated and demanding, it is imminentthat companies and organizations take the step to remove itssacred cows. In business parlance, sacred cows refer to anoutmoded belief, an assumption, practice, system or strategy thatgenerally inhibits change and prevents responsiveness to newopportunities. Sacred cows are those who are afraid to abandonwhat once made them successful. Today's organizations mustmake room for creative ideas and new thinking in order to grow.Innovativeness is crucial.

The authors Robert Kriegel and David Brandt relate that removingsacred cows requires preparing an organization and its people forchange. The change-ready process include five stages: roundingup sacred cows, developing a change-ready environment, turningresistance into readiness, motivating people to change anddeveloping the seven personal change-ready traits.

Sacred Cows Make The BestBurgersSacred Cows Make The BestBurgers

Author:Publisher:Date of Publication:ISBN:Number of Pages:

Robert Kriegel & David BrandtWarner Brothers, Inc.

19970-4466-7260-2

336 pagesAbout the AuthorAbout the Author

The Big IdeaThe Big IdeaRobert KriegelRobert Kriegel

Robert Kriegel PhD

If it ain'tbroke...BREAK IT!

How to Succeed in BusinessWithout Working so Damn Hard

Sacred Cows Make The BestBurgers

National Public Radio's Marketplace

PBS

David Brandt

Sacred Cows Makethe Best Burgers

is one of the most indemand business speakers today, teachingbold, innovative, strategies forkeeping ahead of the changes, challengesand competition in today's dynamicmarketplace.

Author of the national bestseller:, Dr. Kriegel has been

called by one ofthis country's leading authorities in the field ofchange and human performance. His latestbook is

. His lastbook,

, made 's bestsellerlist in its first month! A commentator on

program, Kriegel recently made two specialsfor .

offers over 27 years ofexperience in organizational and personalpsychology. Acknowledged as a "leadingauthority" by U.S. News and World Report, hecoaches executives and companies inmaximizing individual performance, effectivecommunication, conflict resolution, teamconstruction, stress reduction, and changemanagement. David is author of fouracclaimed books. His

(Warner) made BusinessWeek's national bestseller list in its firstmonth. He has appeared on nationaltelevision programs including

, and

'out of the box'

U.S. News & World Report

Business Week

The CBSEvening New, CNN The Oprah WinfreyShow.

Published by BusinessSummaries, Building 3005 Unit 258, 4440 NW 73rd Ave, Miami, Florida 33166©2003 BusinessSummaries All rights reserved. No part of this summary may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior notice ofBusinessSummaries.com

Developing Change-Ready People and OrganizationsDeveloping Change-Ready People and Organizations

David BrandtDavid Brandt

The sacred cow hunt includes challenging well-worn beliefs, assumptions andpractices as well as identifying those that have outlived their usefulness. Critical tothe step is seeking and ensuring the involvement of people in hunting down sacredcows and implementing change.

The effective and successful cow hunter possesses theThis individual can be a high-level executive or rank-and-file worker or new

employee not yet fully indoctrinated in the workplace culture thus bringing a freshperspective.

Begin the sacred cow hunt. The cow hunt is a first step to preparing employees tostart accepting change. It is a technique to get employees psychologically ready forchange and possible major organizational transformations.

Create an event around the sacred cow hunt. Every time an employee of TractorSupply Stores identifies a sacred cow, bells get rung and cow hunters are heraldedand toasted. Awards and cowbells are given to the best hunters. Cow images andaccessories are openly displayed around the office. Merck Pharmaceuticalconducts monthly sacred cow barbecues. Petroleum company William Pipe Linefrom Tulsa, Oklahoma provides a free hamburger lunch to the cow hunter along witha $10 gift certificate if the idea is “ or a $50 certificate if it is “wonderful.

Create an organization of hunters. A company where people do their jobs whilekeeping an eye on outmoded ideas and practices is likely to become a powerful andcreative change-ready organization able to reinvent itself before the need becomespressing. The best hunters are people closest to the customer and value chainprocess. They know best about redundant, counterproductive and unnecessarywork processes that deter serving the needs of the customers immediately.

Sacred cow hunting in teams is more fun and productive. Bringing togethera diverse group of cross-functional sacred cow hunters results in newer andfresher perspectives.Make customers your sacred cow hunters. Customers are especiallyinvaluable in tracking sacred cows. After all, they bring the reality check andare the ultimate end-users of the organization's products and services.Prime the pump. Give employees the opportunity to complain and criticize.Channel the energy surrounding these complaints towards a sacred cowhunting spirit. Complaints are often the medium for spotting sacred cowsthat are in disguise or invisible. When several people agree that somethingis a waste of time, is redundant or does not work, the complaint is likely tohave some merit and is ground for listening.Challenge assumptions. Do a reality check. Validate with end users whetherassumptions remain relevant.Review all daily tasks and activities. Brand them as bulls or sacred cows.

Who Hunts The Sacred Cows

How To Hunt

challenge everythingattitude.

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David BrandtSacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

1. The Five Steps to Developing Change-Ready People and Organizations1. The Five Steps to Developing Change-Ready People and Organizations

The First Step: Rounding Up Sacred CowsThe First Step: Rounding Up Sacred Cows

Bull activities help one respond quickly and effectively to change and newopportunities. Sacred cow activities are those that can be eliminated withoutmaking any difference to the organization's effectiveness.Motivate and give special rewards to hunters who have spotted cows in theirown areas.Capitalize on cross-functional teams to identify and spot duplicating,repetitive and costly processes and tasks in an organization.Do archaeology: Dig up the whys and wherefores of a particular process orpractice. Certain workplace practices may be relevant in the past but withthe passage of time and changes in the environment, may no longer bemeaningful or reasonable. Asking how a practice originated may reveal asacred cow.Check your inheritance. Determine the reason and relevance of practices,processes or procedures that may have been handed to you as you assumea new role or job.Determine whether another person, department or subsidiary company cantake on a particular job effectively, along with other tasks, or if the companyshould do the job at all. A reality check may reveal that a task output can bedone effectively by fewer individuals, teams or even by outside expertspecialists.Make sacred cow hunts fun hunts. Keep the spirit of cow hunts alive withlight irreverence, teamwork, camaraderie, humor, creativity and motivation.

This refers to a paper avalanche of printed and filed e-mails, reports, proposals andprint-outs that do not contribute to the following:

Adding value to the customer in terms of improving quality or serviceIncreasing productivity or cutting costsImproving morale or encouraging action

Marathon meetings and conferences are held to suit the conventional wisdom thatmeetings are meant to obtain consensus and the more information obtained, thebetter can one arrive at an agreement. Unfortunately, in the new economy, time isthe currency and consensus takes forever. Trying to get everyone on board is a timeconsuming luxury. Options to putting this sacred cow to practice include restrictingmeetings to forty five minutes, holding vertical meetings without chairs and applyinga meeting meter technology that measures the actual cost of a meeting based on aparticipant's salaries, room and equipment rental as well as miscellaneousexpenses, or using a technographer to type notes on a computer attached to the bigscreen. By regularly making sure that participants agree with the notes onscreen,the technographer keeps everyone focused and a consensus emerges.

The conventional mindset in the new economy is to walk fast, talk fast, think fast andexecute fast. Ironically, this sacred cow has far-reaching costs related to workers'health and wellness, workplace productivity and quality nosedives. Speed killsquality, service and innovation. In sports, the rule holds that a passionate 90 percent

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Hunt The Paper Cow

Hunt The Meeting Cow

Hunt The Speed Cow

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effort is more effective than a panicked 110 percent. And a passionate 90 percenteffort will yield 110 percent results.

Putting this sacred cow to pasture means keeping open, unstructured time in the dayto relax, reflect or meditate; having more time to sharpen intuition, self-discovery andself-awareness; and allowing time for fun and joy breaks.

Traditional thinking relates that experience is the foundation of wisdom and thatexperts who have seen and done it all have the special knowledge to lead a companyinto the future. Ironically, experts with a conventional mindset are experts in the oldparadigm. Most of the time they operate with antiquated ways and charts.

In 1950, Haloid, a small research firm offered IBM the right to sell their 914 papercopier. IBM retained major consulting firm, Arthur D. Little to evaluate the product'spotential.After three months of evaluation,Arthur D. Little recommended against theacquisition estimating that worldwide potential for paper copiers was less than 5,000units largely due to the popularity and cheap price of carbon paper. Ten years later,Haloid, now known as Xerox generated $1 billion in sales annually from copiers.

In the mid-1970s, Sony engineering executives and market researchers told Sonychairman Akio Morita that Walkmans are not likely to sell 10,000 units and beaccepted by the market because it did not have recording capability. Morita, achampion of change-readiness, ignored the advice and offered to resign if theproduct was not successful. Within ten years, Sony had sold 20 million Walkmanunits.

Key to keeping ahead of a changing environment is to think not like an expert butmore like a beginner. While experts tell you why something cannot work, beginnerssee only the possibilities. Putting expert cows to pasture include:

Hiring outsiders to bring a fresh perspective to the organizationIdentifying ineffective operating practices and traditionsAssigning rookies who are optimistic, open-minded and wide-ranging in theirinterests to design new products and servicesChanging employee assignments and jobs regularlyCreating an environment that encourages asking stupid questionsLooking for solutions in related or unrelated areasThinking like a beginner

Success blinds many organizations. Relying entirely on their cash cows, mostbusinesses run them dry or into the ground. In a fast changing environment, onecannot rest on one's laurels. Complacency breeds failure. On the other hand,conventional wisdom states that success comes to those who are able to find a nicheand own the market. But in a fast changing environment, businessmen must learn toavoid pigeonholing brought about by too narrow a vision.

Putting cash cows to pasture means that organizations must learn to:Broaden their niches to keep cash cows producing sweet milk

Hunt The Expert Cow

Hunt The Cash Cow

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Use success as a springboard for even greater accomplishments whilemaking it harder for other players to compete with the successful companyEat one's own lunch before someone else does. This means cannibalizingone's own products to stay ahead. Also, redefining one's identity based oncustomer perception.Never become satisfied.

Out-competing the competition in a level playing field is a sacred cow. Putting thecompetitive cow to pasture and taking a real lead requires a contrarian strategy.Change the level playing field and tilt it to one's favor. This demands rethinking theold rules of the game and doing business the opposite way. For example, Domino'sPizza built its business by bringing pizza to the customer's doorstep in less than thirtyminutes while most pizza parlors did conventional marketing attracting customers totheir place. Gary Tharaldson, the largest U.S. motel developer succeeded bychanging the rules of the game. Conventional wisdom in the motel businessdiscouraged small motels. Tharaldson did the opposite by building small, family-oriented motels in small towns where no other motelier dares to go.

In the new economy, satisfying the customer is a sacred cow. Satisfying is simply thebeginning of a relationship with the customer and not the end. Herding the customercow to pasture means:

Taking customers to a new level by surprising and delighting them. Forexample, offer customers value-added services they do not expect.Walk the walk of customers by experiencing first hand what it is to be thecustomer.Hang around with customers and encourage dialogues with themProvide out of the box solutions to long-standing problems and concerns.

Conventional wisdom states that customers always want a low price. Hence, a lossleader strategy is always a comfortable solution. Today, consumers want more thanlow price. They want greater value, not exactly a low price point. California PizzaKitchen, not a low price pizza restaurant, believes customers equate getting yourmoney's worth with huge serving portions.

Quick response to change is a sacred cow belief. This no longer works. Even if quickreactors manage to pull even, the competition is already on the next level playingfield and the quick reactor is left struggling to catch up. The key is to be proactive, notreactive.

Change-ready organizations and employees do not just listen to customers, theylead the customers. They use the customer's imagination to “pre-view” the futurealong with understanding the demographic, socio-graphic and psycho-graphictrends of customers; and tracking the emerging social and cultural directions andnew advances in technology. Examples of “pre-viewing” the future are:

Future banks-banking from the home, loan approvals in minutes, customized

Hunt The Competitive Cow

Hunt The Customer Cow

Hunt The Low Price Cow

Hunt The Quick Reactor Cow

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insuranceFuture home shopping Videos of grocery aisles, smell-o-vision that allowsthe customer to get a whiff of the product onscreen or touch-o-vision thatallows the customer to squeeze the fruit onscreen

Get it right the first time, no mistakes rules are a sacred cow ethic. This credo, whileoriginally designed to improve work practices, products and services, fosters anatmosphere of extreme caution that makes people afraid to take risks or gamble onbrilliant ideas. When people become too cautious, innovation, creativity andoriginality disappears and the possibility of gaining a competitive advantage is lost.

Taking the No Mistakes Cow to pasture means:

Encourage experiments. Recognize that mistakes are natural by products.Reward good tries; avoid penalizing mistakes. When failure is not penalized,people are more willing to experiment and look for innovative new solutions,products, processes and ways to surprise the customer.Learn from failure. While mistakes are not penalized, it must be seen as partof the learning process that can help one to re-think, re-conceptualize and re-strategize. Failure is not a sin but failure to learn from failure is.Realize that the mistakes essential for success are not the sloppy, careless,insensible mistakes that come from lack of preparation or confusion. Theyare the kind of mistakes that come from trying something new, from movinginto uncharted territory or taking calculated risks.

The sacred cow belief is that downsizing can help create a leaner, meaner, profitableorganization. Likewise, ruthlessness is a virtue, a sign of true leadership thatdemonstrates one is not afraid to make hard choices. Today, downsizing is a worn-out and inexpedient policy for solving corporate financial woes with major costs thatinclude morale, motivation and innovation. Reinvention is the alternative strategy.Businesses need to move from bottom-line solutions to top-line approaches thatemphasize growth and expansion. These approaches include:

Focus on developing and offering new and superior products and services.The Japanese might consider downsizing but never at the expense ofbusiness units that feed innovation and sales. Gillette lives by the rule:Increase spending in growth drivers like R&D, plant equipment andmarketing at least as fast as the revenues go up.Focus on anticipating customer needs. Most companies cut the muscle,which is the people, and leave the fat, often the outdated processes.Focus on finding more efficient and cheaper ways to provide goods andservices.Focus on reinventing the company and re-envisioning company goals.

Techno-solution is the new sacred cow. With new technology, people can stay intouch from anywhere, anytime. While technology appears to bring people closer

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Hunt The No Mistakes Cow

Hunt The Downsizing Cow

Hunt The Technocow

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together, it can also separate people from each other. Technology can never replacethe up close and personal experience that comes with direct contact. High techcommunication like videoconferencing or e-mail is great for bringing people up tospeed but may not be the best option for brainstorming or developing innovationstrategies, products or services. High-tech must be combined with high-touch andthis means not totally eliminating conferences, meetings and conventions that alsoserve as networking sessions.

Conventional wisdom believes that putting a group of people in a room makes ateam and teams are the most effective solutions to organizational problems.However, teams are sacred cows that need not be pasteurized but must be simplymanaged well to turn it into effective lead bulls.

Managing teams includes:

Recognizing that not every organizational task requires a team. Somequestions to consider before forming a team include:

1. Does the job require a high level of employee interaction?2. Will teams be too costly or take too long to get the task completed?3. Will teams unduly complicate rather than simplify the job?4. Is it overkill to use a team for this project? Can individuals do the job

more easily and effectively?

Forming the right team for the right task. The following are the five types ofteams:

1. Problem solving team - Addresses a specific problem and thendisbands.

2. Work team - Does the actual labor.3. Virtual team - Accomplishes assigned tasks and responsibilities by

communicating via telephone and computers.4. Quality circle - Meets intermittently to air problems and upgrade

procedures.5. Management teams - Coordinates management functions such as

sales and R&D.

Choosing the right individual/s to be part of the team. Not everyone is suitedto team play. Forming people into groups can negate their productivity aswell as that of the team.Defining clear-cut and attainable goals. Successful teams have concreteand achievable goals, a definite time frame and a method for evaluatingresults.Link teams with organizational goals, changes and a master plan. Do notisolate teams. Ad hoc, or casually initiated teams often find themselves atcross-purpose with other groups.Willingness to trouble-shoot on people issues in teams. Teams bring diversepersonalities together shaped by different cultures, training andperspectives. Management must learn to handle the players and recognize

Hunt The Team Cow

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the way they fit into the group.Knowing how to create synergy. These include:

1. Clarifying at the outset the individual team members' perspectives.2. Treating everyone with respect.3. Valuing everyone's contribution.4. Openness to differences in opinion, beliefs, values and ideas.5. Focusing and addressing the ideas, not the person behind the idea.6. Leader modeling appropriate behavior, actions and attitudes.7. Confronting non-contributing and/or obstructionist team member

without blame or hostility.

Understanding the life cycle of teams. Management must understand thatteams have their stages of growth and development along with their needsand functions. To maximize a team's contribution, it is necessary formanagers to understand how groups evolve and change. The five stagesare:

1. Orientation. Stage where members look for direction, meaning,rules and objectives. Leaders need to motivate players and raisetheir excitement about the team's project and goals.

2. Conflict. Stage marked by power struggles, testing of leaders andideas, rising frustration and confusion. Leaders must consistentlyreiterate goals, reassure members and respond to challengeswithout anger and defensiveness.

3. Harmony. Stage where natural leaders emerge and cooperationamong team members surface. Leaders become facilitators.

4. Maturity. Team functions smoothly toward accomplishing tasks.Members are cohesive and strongly committed. Leaders move to asupportive role allowing members adequate breathing space toaccomplish tasks on their own.

5. Dotage. Phasing out stage where team has become a sacred cowand outlives its purpose and usefulness. Leader plans a celebrationand disbands the group.

Traditional thinking links success to overwork. Unfortunately, this is one sacred cowthat does not hold true.Among the costs of working till ya drop include:

Burnout or premature breakdown.Tired mental muscle leading to less sharpness and concentration as well asmore errors. Likewise, loss or lack of creativity and physical, mental andspiritual depletion.Compromised personal lives.Cheating. When people are over-tasked, where they have to do too muchand are expected to meet unrealistic high goals, they are likely to cheat tomake the numbers good.

Organizations today are recognizing the value of providing employees withshortened workdays, flexible work schedules, mini-holidays, and four-day

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weekends all leading to significant downtime to relax and recover energy.

People are the gatekeepers of change. They can make or break a new program. Toeffectively implement change, the focus must be on the people who will implementthe change. Employees must be psychologically prepared to accept and implementthe change. Unfortunately, people naturally resist the change because it isuncomfortable, unpredictable, unknown and it is perceived to be damaging. Thekey, therefore, is to create an environment in which people are more open toinnovation and new ideas.

Prepare the soil and fertilize before wetting the hard ground. Organizations seldomdo spade work. They introduce and force the change and work on the buy-in later.This way, results are often catastrophic. Resistance is on the upswing and notminimized.

Develop a trusting and caring change-ready environment. People need to trust theleaders and the environment. They must feel they are cared for and acknowledged.Caring comes from treating employees with respect and empathy as well asacknowledging their effort and contribution.

In organizations where management treats its workforce with respect andunderstanding, tells the truth and keeps its word, employees are positive aboutchange, open to innovation and more engaged in the change process. Trustemerges from relationships characterized by:

Honesty: Can you believe what they are saying?Integrity: Do they keep their promises?Openness: Do they share what they know?

Caring comes from treating individuals with respect and empathy andacknowledging their efforts and contributions. It is not a warm, fuzzy new ageconcept. Companies that care for their employees attract the best talent and keepthe talent longer. Teams perform better when caring leaders direct them.

Trust is delicate. It takes a long time to establish and a split second to lose. Thereare many ways to undermine trust. Likewise, there are ways to build trust.

Talking but not walking. Ahuge gap exists between corporate chiefs knowingwhat to do and them actually doing it. The failure to walk the talk createsdistrust of organizational leadership and leads to resistance to change in theworkplace.Not telling the truth. Lack of honesty, open communication and dialogueleads to careless rumor and grapevine stories that can spin out of controland create far worse situations than if the truth were known. It is always

Ways To BuildAChange-Ready Environment

Trust Busters

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The Second Step: Developing The Change-Ready EnvironmentThe Second Step: Developing The Change-Ready Environment


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better to confront a situation head on than allow rumors to exaggerate thesituation and cause panic.Copping or grabbing credit. Nothing creates distrust, breaks teamwork andmotivation faster than having an idea grabbed the superior. When bossescop ideas, their staff's creativity suddenly and inexplicably dries up.Loose lips sink ships. Nothing breaks down trust like idle gossip anddisclosure of private information.

Model the message. Leaders must walk the talk. Their attitudes and actionsmust be consistent with their words. A clear-cut example is role modeling orthe power of personal example.Build openness and honesty. Like trust, openness is reciprocal. Also,communicating is half of the story. The other half is listening and becomingresponsive. Openness in communication, telling it like it is and workingthings out are integral to developing a change-ready environment.Talk “we” not “me”. True leaders have the wisdom to share glory with theirteam and the guts to take responsibility for their mistakes. “We” is aninclusionary term whereas “I” is exclusionary. “We” tells the team that one'scontribution is recognized and appreciated.Batten down the hatches. No one trusts a gossiper. No matter how temptingit is to tell someone what you have just heard in private, let your betterjudgment prevail.Make the leap of faith with your employees through high level caring. Caringdoes not mean coddling your employees or gratifying their every wish.Caring relationships are characterized by respect, empathy andacknowledgement, as follows:

1. Respect does not mean smile at all times. It means treating peopleas human beings with needs, aspirations and fear. It meansholding people accountable for their actions. This requires beingdemanding of performance and being supportive of the person.

2. Empathy means standing in someone else's shoes. It means theability to think and feel into another person's experience.Employees feel you are on their side, that you understand andappreciate their concern and sensitivities when your first responseis to understand the other person's point of view rather than dismissor criticize it. Leading with empathy creates greater reciprocity tonew ideas.

3. Acknowledgment means recognizing employee efforts. Personalacknowledgement does not have to come from formal programs,appreciation plaques and news articles. It may be simple, everydayrecognition like “good job, great ideas” or a quick voice or emailmessage everyday, a compliment or a pat in the backacknowledgement.

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Fear, feeling powerless over change, moving out of one's comfort zone and exertingmore effort and not fully acknowledging the personal benefits behind the change allthese lead to resistance to change.

Understand that resistance is personal and individual. Hence, organizations mustrecognize the individual reasons for opposing change.

Use fire hosing whenever naysayers cite a lot of reasons why new paradigms wouldnot work. For example,

Naysayer: It is not in the budget.Firehosing: Of course not. This year's budget was made up last year when

circumstances were different.

Identify resistor types and deal with them. Some resistors and quick tips for dealingwith them are:

Heel draggers. They oppose change quietly through non-cooperation.They will nod their heads but will not act. Quick tip: Bring resistance into theopen. Look for signs of opposition like tardiness in completion andsubmission of new procedures or assigned tasks. Use gripe sessions toflush out heel draggers.Saboteurs. Typically silent like heel draggers yet more aggressive in theiropposition tactics. For example, they create real obstacles to implementingnew plans by holding back information, conveniently losing important data oreven planting bugs in software. Quick tip: Flush them out through gripesessions.Fence riders. Cautious resistors who take a long time to make up theirminds. They do not want to make a mistake or go against their co-workers.They check the prevailing sentiments before taking a position. Quick tip:Provide convincing, persuasive information to win them over. Reassure andbuild their confidence. But get to them before antagonists do.Ostriches. They pretend nothing is happening and act like change will goaway if ignored. Quick tip: Get them actually involved. Win them over toyour side by proactively taking the effort to explain to them individually.Dissenters. They are honest about their opinion and offer logical andlegitimate reasons for opposition. Quick tip: Include their ideas. Value theirinput. Do not cut them off.Antagonists. Vocal, loud and annoying dissenters. They are unwilling tocompromise or negotiate. They oppose change because it is change.Quick tip: Ignore them. Cut them loose. Do not give them the forum.

Understand resistance drivers and deal with them. These include:

Fear: What if … I lose my job, look stupid, can't adapt, etc. Fears are oftenexaggerated and irrational. Counter with a strong dose of reality. Ask thedissenter, what is most likely to happen? If the worst does happen,

Catalysts To Change

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The Third Step: Turning Resistance Into ReadinessThe Third Step: Turning Resistance Into Readiness


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encourage the dissenter to prepare for the worst. Preparing the dissenterfor the worst is likely to open the person to unexpected, never beforedreamed of opportunities. Thus, “What if I get fire” becomes “If I get firedthen I will….”

Reality testing cuts fear down to size. The other half is to build the person'sconfidence, helping the other believe that he can manage change withoutfailing. Refocusing the person's attention to what the individual can dobuilds confidence.

Feeling powerless: No one asked me. When change is imposed from thetop, people are likely to feel powerless, angry and resentful. No matter whatthe circumstances there is always a way to empower people. These mayinclude:

1. Creating a dialogue. Clearly state the reasons for the decision,changes to be expected, possible consequences andopportunities.

2. Involving people in parts of the process that they can own, influenceand contribute to even if the general idea and direction came fromthe top.

3. Asking employees to process their natural disappointment andsense of loss.

Inertia: It's too much effort, too uncomfortable. Human beings are governedby the natural desire to keep things as they are. To overcome inertia:

1. Clearly point out what will change and what will stay the same.2. Blend in the changes to the existing structure.3. Create involvement quickly by encouraging “doable” tasks. Find

specific activities that can be implemented right away and changepiece by piece.

4. Create a crisis when there is utter complacency. Mostorganizations and people do not want to change fundamentallyuntil they absolutely have to. Creating a crisis makes actionnecessary, not just desirable.

Absence of interest: What is in it for me? A change may benefit thecompany, but the same change must clearly communicate that it can benefitthe individual employee. Two ways to address the issue of WIIFM (What is init for me?) are:

1. Visualize benefits with the dissenter. Allow the dissenter to envisionpositive, masterful, success-driven images to replace negativethoughts and feelings that come with fear.

2. Emphasize the cost of not changing. Resistance disappears whenemployees understand that the company's survival is in danger ifthey stick to the old ways.

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Overcoming resistance is about neutralizing negativity. Motivation is about lightinga fire. When people are filled with enthusiasm, they will take the risk, go the extramile and fully commit themselves to change. The four keys to lighting the fire areurgency, inspiration, ownership, reward and recognition. The following are ways toimplement these keys:

Create burning platforms that serve as an important and timely reason tochange. E.g. dwindling market share, rising criticism and complaints fromcustomers.

Look for natural leaders in the organization and win them over to the urgencyof implementing change. Their role is to motivate others to implementchange immediately.Do not cry wolf. When you are creating urgency, make sure it is based onfact, not fiction.

Stoke the fire with an inspiring vision. Urgency creates an adrenalineburst of action but momentum can only be sustained with an inspiringplatform.Turn your employees into passionate people, inspired by vision. A burningplatform gives employees the courage to take risks, challenge old rules,chase dreams and never give up.Create aspirations, share visions, and describe visual pictures of somethingpeople can aspire to.Tap into the best part of people when introducing change. Place the projectin a bigger context, one that has higher meaning and purpose.

Empower people with information and the responsibility to make decisions.Make them accountable for results.Clarify expectations to ensure that you and your people are on the samepage.Do not just delegate: elevate. People generally rise to the level ofresponsibility given to them. This adds to their self-esteem and confidence.Make people accountable. Standards fail when there is no accountability.

The best strategy for motivating people to change is to combine both intrinsic andextrinsic rewards. Traditional extrinsic rewards are money, corner office, gifts andtitles. Intrinsic rewards include recognition, fairness, flexibility, creativity, freedomand meaningfulness.

Make extrinsic rewards personal, immediate and public. Provide incentives that fitthe person like theater tickets, Disneyland passes, etc. Do not let time fly too longbefore giving the reward. When a reward comes in the heels of an outstandingcontribution, it has greater impact. Come out publicly with the good news. Publicacknowledgement of new thinking encourages others to follow suit and spins off new

Urgency

Inspire

Ownership

Rewards and Recognition

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The Fourth Step: Motivating People To ChangeThe Fourth Step: Motivating People To Change


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ideas.

Reward good tries, not just successful results, to get people to engage in risk-takingmore often and in trying out new things and processes. Reward the team. Nothingmakes an individual more a part of a team than being rewarded as a team.

Recognize and maximize individual differences. Use different rules for eachperson. While treating individuals differently, the following principles may beobserved to avoid or lessen jealousy and perceived unfairness.

Fifth business. Make everyone feel they are valued and each has animportant contribution.Coach individuals. Treat everybody as individuals with special needs andconcerns. Show respect and care equally.Implement bottom-line rules. Regardless of status, everyone follows thebottom-line rules. Likewise, create top-line rules specific to certaindepartments and individuals.

Treating employees differently is not playing favorites. It is playing smart. Byrecognizing that each person is an individual with specific needs, dreams andvalues, a manager can maximize every employee's contribution and motivate him orher to change.

Change-readiness means feeling excited and challenged by change, anticipatingand initiating change rather than simply reacting to events. Creating a change-ready organization means challenging sacred cow beliefs and assumptions,building an environment of trust and caring, conquering resistance and lightingpeople up.

Change-ready people are proactive and possess the seven traits of change-readiness that include passion, resourcefulness, optimism, adventurousness,adaptability, confidence and tolerance for ambiguity.

Resourcefulness. They are effective at making the most of any situation anduse resources that are available to meet objectives, strategies, plans andcontingencies. They have a knack for creating new ways to solve traditionalproblems.Optimism. They recognize opportunities and possibilities and are notdeterred by problems and obstacles.Adventurousness. They love a challenge, are inclined to take risks andpursue the unknown. They are great innovators and creators.Drive. They have a high level of passion, level of intensity and determination.Nothing appears impossible to them.Adaptability. They are flexible and resilient. They adjust to changes and newcircumstances with quickness and ease. Likewise, they have a capacity torebound from adversity quickly with a minimum of trauma.

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The Fifth Step: Developing Change-Ready TraitsThe Fifth Step: Developing Change-Ready Traits


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Confidence. They have a strong sense of self esteem and believe they canmake any situation work for them. They are not threatened by change. Whenthey fail they do not see themselves as a failure but as a person who hassomething more to learn. To them, failing is the road to mastery, an impetusto helping them become better.Tolerance for ambiguity. They remain calm and collected in the face ofadversity. The result is that decisions are not forced, whimsical nor hastilymade.

Too much, too fast. When you push too hard and too fast for change, you donot get to be more competitive or profitable, you get diminished quality, poorcommunication and zero innovation.Panic zone. There is an imbalance between the challenges of change andavailable resources. Challenges that come with change include the degreeof change needed and the learning, effort and speed required to implementthe change. Resources involve team or individual competence, level ofenergy and motivation, skill, time and technology.Drone Zone. This happens when there are many resources but too littlechallenges hence, producing lethargy. These organizations keep playingthe old rules and rely on past successes when the game is already beginningto change.

Implement progressive change, one at a time.Do a zone check regularly. On a scale of one to ten, rate the challenge of thesituation, degree of change, steepness of learning curve, required effort andspeed of implementation. Then, rate the resources available to meet thechallenge like team size, competence, energy, motivation, available time,technology and information.Recharge batteries. Rest the players, give the individuals a chance torecover and recharge. Let the tired players sit out for a short period of time.Assign them to something less demanding.

Why Change Fails

Balancing Challenge and Resources In the Change Ready Zone

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