Published:

ServiceTalk - The Journal Of The IT Service Management Forum - April 2003

Strategies For The Tool Difficult Box (2)

© 2003 Karen Falconer; Karen Ferris; Heather Stebbings.

As we saw in the first article in this series, every organisation has a “too difficult” box. The issues that went into that box included:

·         resourcing

·         operational support and delivery

·         application development and project lifecycle impacts to business as usual

We looked at the way in which the issues in the box could be addressed from a process point of view. These included:

·         formalised structured methods of change initiative inception

·         strategic translation to tactical objectives

·         cross-functional senior stakeholder buy-in and commitment to change

·         knowledge management to support critical processes

But there is always one issue that seems to get left in the box. If left un-addressed will mean that all the other good work that is being done to address the “too difficult” box issues from a process point of view, will be doomed for failure. 

So what gets left in the box? Lets take a look. See – right at the very bottom – lurking in the corner? Yes – it is the PEOPLE issue.

Dealing with many of the people issues in the “too difficult” box will require organisational change, which is often revolution rather than evolution.

We consultants, as the “change agents” cannot just make this happen. This has to come from within the organisation itself. We can advise all we like, but the organisational change has to be managed by the organisation itself. Only the organisation can complete the climb out of the “too difficult” box themselves.

Facing the music:

Imagine the audience is the departmental manager who has been told by the powers that be, that “service improvements” and “doing the right things right” is on the agenda, and “results through people” and “performance management” are the keys to success.  Imagine the consultants have raked through the mud and discovered the little in house specialisms of job individualisation, cottage industry reporting and knowledge retention sinks, and pin-pointed the “oh but we’ve always asked Fred” (and I haven’t yet discovered a client who does not have a “Fred” in some guise or other…)

If these sound familiar and they are in your report to that departmental manager, imagine how they are feeling.  Admission that all is not as it seems - a well oiled sleek service machine with the calm, above-the-water appearance of a graceful process-driven swan whilst underneath the feet are paddling frantically to stay afloat - is a difficult one.  True admission of “gap” in terms of customer expectation and ability to deliver to that expectation is the key to that buy-in from the management team.  Leadership - as mentioned in a previous article by one of the co-authors - requires that commitment and clarity to purpose - the total acceptance of where we are now and the complete understanding all the implications of where we are to get to and what actions need to be taken in order to get there.

If you are the consultant delivering that message to the client, then you’ll know if they are about to shoot the messenger because the “discoveries” are unpalatable…. If it all becomes simply “too much” for the client, the too difficult box is going to be crammed with the list of recommendations that people are frightened of implementing, and dead bodies, and still no solution in sight.

Organisational change is hard because it involves PEOPLE! The processes can be as “engineered” and as “true” in design terms as you like, but PEOPLE need to be able to follow the process. The organisational change involves constantly repeating the message about “doing things in a new way”. If this is not done, people revert back to their comfort zones until the “new way” becomes that comfort zone! The “slipping back into the old ways because it’s what you know” must be controlled and eliminated if new working practices and processes are to be achieved. Failure to capture this non-conformist activity means that others will also bypass or circumvent the process because other “non-comfort zone” occupiers are doing the same thing.

Don't assume that there will be no resistance to organisational change - assume that there WILL be, and be prepared to manage that resistance. Generally people do not like change. It is disruptive, unsettling and unnerving. The main cause of this fear is the unknown and it is for this reason that you need to make it totally clear:

a) what the organisational change is and why it is being done, and

b) how it is going to be achieved, and what impact it will have them 

If you don't make is clear and communicate effectively and efficiently, people will not know what is happening. If they don't understand, or know what is happening, how can they become involved? 

People will resist change that they have had no involvement with, so ensure that every one in the organisation is involved in the change to some degree or other. Don't be afraid to delegate. 

Don't go too fast or too slow. Going too fast could mean that not everyone is on board, communication has not taken place, involvement has been limited and therefore the change will be resisted even more. However, also recognise that deliberation and hesitation can convey a message of doubt regarding the change and people will either resist it or loose interest in it. There is a balance to be struck but remember that the change will take time and resources and will not happen over night. 

Set SMART objectives for the change, so that it can be clearly understood what the change is, it can be measured and achieved in a realistic and timely manner. 

Have the right people leading the organisational change. Leadership and inspirational skills are key. Management needs to "walk the talk" and lead staff by example. Staff will not demonstrate behaviours that they do not see in their leaders. 

Right People:
 
The biggest challenge for any organisation has to be to realise that there will be some people who cannot or will not make the cultural shift from new operating paradigm to new one. Decisions have to be made whether you really want people working for you who are on board, or just driftwood, or deadwood. Consultants can advise and implement and have the blood on their hands (so to speak!) but NOT if it’s going to be symbolic of doing the bosses’ dirty work.  

Organisations have two choices – deal with it or ignore it. If the latter takes place then no consultant is going to be able to help the organisation make the change. It has to be the organisation’s decision to take on the challenge of dealing with “difficult” people and much has already been written on this matter. This article does not aim to identify the strategies for this, but highlight that it cannot be ignored. 

If you don’t deal effectively in identifying these people and addressing the issues, your likelihood for success is going down the pan. 

Reward good behaviour – not bad – and this must come from the top down. Embed quality into everyone’s job description, goals and objectives. Reward teams, not individuals – this strengthens teams and helps improve mentoring and coaching. It is vital that strong, experienced people develop the weaker less experienced ones to help remove single points of failure.  

And Finally: 

The “experts” can only “help” to embed the service mentality into key areas in the hope that we leave the organisation capable of grasping the nettle itself. Hoping that the organisation now has the ability to say “We can improve on this and this is how to do it” and climb out the “too difficult box” by themselves. 

The whole point of “strategic capability transfer” is that the organisation can function using best practice tools, techniques and disciplines WITHOUT the constant need for that interventionist mentality and the “sitting with nanny” coaching, day in, day out. 

So let the challenge begin……

The biggest challenge that managers within organisations have, is to recognise that the organisation is not just made up of organisational structure and technology – it is made up of individuals with different personalities and roles. The way in which individuals respond to change will vary depending upon their personality and role. 

Therefore managers have to be able to manage all the variations and this will require empathy, insight, flexibility, energy, commitment, time and patience, etc. to support people through the organisational change. 

Without management who recognise that the change will ONLY happen through the people in the organisation, the change is not going to succeed.  

In summary, your managers need to be inspirational leaders whom the individuals in the organisation will follow. People are not going to come out of the trenches and follow the leader over the top unless they have established trust and confidence in the leader. This is established through clear and effective communication, leading by example, empowerment and involvement of staff, and the setting of clear direction and objectives. 

The ‘experts’ can come along and help with you Business Process Review and put in place ‘brilliant’ processes for the ITIL disciplines and more so. However, is doesn’t matter how brilliant all this is, the fact of the matter is that without the right people in the right roles, the organisational and cultural change is not going to take place. 

We have all heard about processes before tools – well expand that to  - people before processes before tools.  

There is nothing that cannot be achieved – but it takes innovative leadership, commitment, and lots of hard work ! 

Karen Falconer can be contacted via:       Karen.falconer@vitilsolutions.com 

Karen Ferris can be contacted via :          karen@kmfadvance.com 

Heather Stebbings can be contacted via :  heather.stebbings@icore-ltd.com