Change Leadership –The Essential Ingredient in Transforming Customer

Service

Guiding change may be the ultimate test of a leader – no organization survives over thelong term if it can’t reinvent itself. But, human nature being what it is, fundamentalchange is often resisted mightily by the people it most affects: those in the trenches of theorganization. Thus, leading change is both absolutely essential and incredibly difficult

Source: Kotter, J. “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”. Harvard Business Review, 2007, January.

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Introduction

Leading change …the ultimate thrill ride…are you ready?

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Agenda

• Thinking About Change

• Context

• Open forum

• Why bold moves often fail

• Barriers to Change

• Vital signs

• Implications

• What you can do

• Break

• Leadership Strategies

• 40 minutes

• 40 minutes

• 15 minutes

• 40 minutes

4Leading Change

Thoughts on Change

External “Change”• New political agenda• New tools• New boss• New organization• New policies

Internal “Transition”• Perform busy work• Idealize the “good old days”• Blame others for problems• See possible solutions• Accept responsibility

Once a change is made a transition will happen . . . they both go hand-in-hand.Making the “change” is easy; managing people through the transition is more difficult.

Customer “Transition”• Anger – I’ll go elsewhere• Fear – loss of service• Don’t care, just deliver• Empathy and patience• Inspiration

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Thoughts on Change –Differences across industry lines

The For Profit Organization

• Customer acquisition and loyalty

• Brand

• Functions, features, and usability

• Speed

• Differentiation

The Public Service Organization

• The political agenda

• Access - reach, volume

• Compliance - accuracy, quality and safety

• Consistency, equality, fairness

• Cost and performance

“Equilibrium is a precursor to death.When a living system is in a state ofequilibrium, it is less responsive to changesoccurring around it. This places it atmaximum risk.”

- Pascale, “Surfing the Edge of Chaos”

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Thoughts on ChangeDateline: 2011 – your playground?

What pressures are you seeing? What is your biggest threat?What are your customers thinking? What is your brand?

PublicPolicy

Troubling

Results

DownsizingLoss of

customers

UnplannedMergers

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Thoughts on ChangeThe response?

What bold steps have you taken to deal these pressures?What have you seen others do?What bold steps are your customers taking?

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Thoughts on ChangeWhy bold moves often fail

• Inadequate planning

• Shifting priorities

• Fear of failure

• Lack of sponsorship

• Unclear business problem

• Inconsistent decision making

• Employee resistance

• Inadequate communication

• Short term disruptions to customer service

• Leadership turn-over

• The election cycle

Nearly 2/3 of all projects fail – StandishNearly 70% of all change efforts fail - Standish

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Thoughts on ChangeNo magic bullet – just hard work

• Business Objective

• Cost reduction imperative in ahighly competitive environment

• Challenges

• Semi-autonomous regions

• Disputed ownership

• Big change to workflow

• Novel solution

• Unexpected impact to jobs

• Unexpected impact tocustomers

• Contractual implications

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Barriers to Change

Title mm/dd/yyyy

Think about your hardest endeavors …what were your toughest barriers to change?

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Common Barriers to Change

• Some common barriers to change

• Executive engagement

• Organizational myopia

• Organizational politics

• Culture

• Operational readiness

• The link to customer service

• Alignment between vision and customers’ desires

• Organizational clarity on changes

• Front line commitment and adoption of the change

• Consistency in how customers will or will notexperience the change

• Readiness to address issues as they arise

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Executive Engagement

• What is it

• The executive team’s sharedvision, commitment and courageto move the project forward

• Why is it important

• Clarity of vision

• Broad-based empowerment

• Momentum and ownership

• Predictable, values-basedgovernance

• Vital Signs

• Consistency of decision making – values, method, style

• Presence on the floor

• Ability to lead stakeholders and staff to agreement

• Demonstrated understanding of business impact

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Organizational Myopia

• What is it

• The inability to see the big picture,embody the customer, andinability to envision the future

• Why is it important

• Organizational agility for changingconditions

• Customer service responsiveness

• Relevancy

• Vital Signs

• Leaders’ ability to describe the strategic context and customer impact

• Customer’s voice in decision making

• Business planning horizon

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Organizational Politics

• What is it

• The uniformity of values,interests, and agendas ofstakeholders andstaff supporting the change

• Why is it important

• Organizational clarity

• Front-line adoption

• Consistency in howcustomers will experiencethe change

• Leaders’ ability to drive change

• Vital Signs

• Stakeholder and team cohesiveness

• Governance effectiveness and efficiency

• The robustness of the leaders’ social network in the organization

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Culture

• What is it

• The values and traditions thatdefine the customers’experience and how theorganization works

• Why is it important

• Front line adoption of thechange

• The impact to the customers’relationship to the organization

• Vital Signs

• Distinctiveness of the project’s culture

• Impact of project life on key cultural activities and traditions

• Executive dialog on cultural impact

• Staff ‘attitudes’ on whether the project will enhance orsubtract from their organizational loyalty

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Operational Readiness

• What is it

• The ‘science’ of preparingprocesses, staff and the customerfor a new way of doing business

• Why is it important

• Clarity on who will be affected andhow

• Advance expectation setting,preparation and training for whatthe ‘new world’ will look like

• An advance warning on whetherthe customer and organization is ready for the change

• Vital Signs

• Existence of customer impact assessment

• Existence of operational readiness assessment, criteria and progress

• Core staff attitudes towards level of preparedness

Be the change you want to see in the world

Gandhi

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The role of Change Leadership inOvercoming barriers to change

Considerations Developing a Change Leadership Strategy

•Right sizing the vision•Adapting to changing conditions•Nurturing culture•Fostering creativity•Aligning individual and project goals•Being present and predictable•Allocating resources to drive change

ExecutiveBehaviors

•Customer-centric design•Designing governance aroundchange with an eye for clarity

•Mastering political capital•Developing an operational blueprint•Assessing and shaping readiness•Clear and frequent broadcasting

ChangeLeadershipStrategies

•Change curve•Org design•Communication plan•Training plan•Stakeholder plan•Workflows•Role desc & job aids

Foundational Methodsand Tools

• Executive behaviors establish theclarity of vision, values, and tone forthe change initiative

• Change leadership practices developthe enablers for change – the rightpeople talking about the rightchallenges and taking the right steps

• Foundational methods and tools todrive progress along the change curve– communications, engagement,training, etc.

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Change Leadership StrategiesGo to the balcony

• Goal – check out to gain additional perspective;check in to shape your team’s thinking

• Considerations

• Your agenda

• Your personal loyalties

• Competing needs

• Timing

• Tactics

• Outside perspective

• Frameworks: STEEPLE, SWOT

• Case studies

• Role play

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Change Leadership StrategiesDesign change around customer needs

• Goal – change the focus from ‘what do weneed to do’ to ‘what do our customersneed us to do’

• Considerations

• Unity of the customer base

• Competing providers

• Competing needs

• Speed

• Tactics

• Frameworks: STEEPLE, 5 Forces, etc.

• Voice of the customer research

• Direct observation – the front line

• Quarterly benefits reviews

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Change Leadership StrategiesDesign governance around change

• Goal – build ownership through openingthe governance table to those who aremost affected by the change

• Considerations

• Change catalysts

• How decisions will be made

• Executive exposure, impact, experienceand decision making patterns

• Healthy tension

• Tactics

• Organizational impact assessment

• Decision making models

• The customer advocate

• Decision criteria

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Change Leadership StrategiesMaster political capital to strengthen shared interest

• Goal – use the project’s social network tobuild political capital. Spend politicalcapital to strengthen shared interest andcommitment across the organization

• Considerations

• Brokers, influencers, and decision makers

• Interests, agendas and influence

• Strengthen of the project’s network

• Your own political capital

• Tactics

• Advanced stakeholder mapping

• The role of change agents

• The political balance sheet

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Change Leadership StrategiesEnvision the operational blueprint

• Goal – Blueprint how the organizationwill change early in project – theprocesses, the people and roles theyplay and the customers’ experience

• Considerations

• A 360 degree, integrated view on thepotential impact

• The customer’s experience

• The continuum of success and failure

• The organization’s value drivers

• Tactics

• Scenario planning

• Customer lifecycle walk through

• Operational readiness plan

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Change Leadership StrategiesAssess and shape operational readiness

• Goal – Set clear expectations and decisioncriteria around what constitutes beingoperationally ready. Prioritize issues andactions based on criteria

• Considerations

• Minimum standard required to Go Live

• Alignment of readiness criteria to customerimpact and organizational culture

• Consistency and rhythm in application

• Tactics

• Go/No Go Simulations

• Scenario planning

• Operations readiness assessment andscorecard

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Wrap-up –Transforming customer service requires …

A shared vision of where we are going and why

Listening for and interpreting the impact tothe customers’ experience and relationship

Building momentum to get there