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Author: Drew Davison

Drew Davison is the owner and principal consultant at Davison Consulting and a former system development executive. He is the developer of Project Pre-Check, an innovative framework for launching projects and guiding successful project delivery, the author of Project Pre-Check - The Stakeholder Practice for Successful Business and Technology Change and Project Pre-Check FastPath - The Project Manager’s Guide to Stakeholder Management. He works with organizations that are undergoing major business and technology change to implement the empowered stakeholder groups critical to project success. Drew can be reached at [email protected].
PMTimes_May24_2023

From the Sponsor’s Desk – How to Succeed Swimming Against the Current

“It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction”

Albert Einstein

Think about it! If you’re managing or otherwise involved with a project, why is it the way it is? Why are the goals what they are? Why does the scope include the features and functions it does and exclude others? What methodologies, processes and practices are being used to deliver the change? Why not others that have provided value in other circumstances?

You’ll find that projects where the answers to these questions are widely known and play an integral part in the ongoing management of a change have a much greater chance of success. That transparency lends clarity to the countless decisions that follow. And if the project is delivering a solution that deviates from the usual tried and true, that transparency is even more critical. That was the case in the Nuts for Cheese post. It’s also true in this story, How to Succeed Swimming against the Current.

 

The Situation

Randy Crane (also known as The Fearless Marketer) received a call from a small packaging company looking for his help. Randy is a sales and marketing specialist who has collaborated with companies to develop and execute their communication strategies and plans over more than 25 years.

The small company, let’s call them PackageCo, helped other organizations create packaging solutions for their products. It worked as a matchmaker, developing packaging designs, recommending materials and sourcing the appropriate equipment for their clients’ packaging needs.

PackageCo was being squeezed on price by its bigger competition, resulting in smaller and smaller margins and jeopardizing the long-term viability of the organization. The owner looked to Randy to help chart a new course that would put them on a new, firm footing going forward.

 

The Goal

To develop and implement a new operating model for PackageCo that would ensure its long term viability. The strategies, plans and relative priorities should be delivered within three months with implementation to follow as quickly as financially and logistically possible.

 

The Project

After their initial meeting, Randy arranged twice weekly meetings with the PackageCo owner, each lasting 60 to 90 minutes. The initial focus was on re-establishing the company’s goals.

The company owner was getting bombarded with day-to-day issues. Initially, it made it very difficult for her to keep her attention focused on the goal. The two short sessions per week set an established pattern, a rhythm, which allowed her to focus on the future, which gave her time to reflect, yet still deal effectively with the day-to-day.

 

The company had a small staff of six employees who were responsible for all aspects of the company’s operations. The owner and her staff were in daily contact on an ongoing basis. They had the same values, they shared a common culture and they all knew the operations and challenges inside and out. The goal of the sessions was to reset the owner’s frame of reference to a more sustainable future operating model. Randy felt that including other staff at this point would increase the resistance factor and impede progress. The owner agreed, but kept her staff appraised of the progress being made.

 

Randy started with a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). It was important to take a comprehensive view of the company’s strengths and weaknesses, to determine what internal and external opportunities were available and what threats they were facing. The analysis confirmed that the company had numerous opportunities to sell their services, but they were getting squeezed by their larger competitors on price. It also confirmed the need for changes in the products and services they were selling to differentiate them from the competition.

 

They then created a Strategy Diamond to address the following five elements: Arenas – Where to be active? Vehicles – How to get there? Differentiators – How to win in the marketplace? Staging – What sequence of moves to take? Economic logic – How to generate revenue and make a profit? The model included the main elements of a strategy, and how they fit together. These elements worked together to form a cohesive, overall whole.

During this process, Randy and the owner found that many manufacturers of food and consumer products were interested in composable and recyclable packaging, something that the competition was not offering at that time. Even though the cost of the packaging could be more expensive, they believed PackageCo customers could use this new found packaging to promote themselves as an eco friendly brand and help save the planet.

 

Finally, Randy and the owner created a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) to promote the PackageCo as the only eco friendly packaging company on the planet and get the customers to believe that saving the planet was a worthy cause to be a part of.

With the SWOT results, the Strategy Diamond framework and BHAG top of mind, Randy and the owner set about evaluating their plan. They made a list of all the advantages and benefits that the customer could receive by converting to a new eco friendly packaging model. The list included more than thirty items. Not wanting to overwhelm the owners, they pared it down to the top ten.

 

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They developed a list of prospects active in the Arenas identified in the Strategy Diamond exercise and created some simple marketing materials that were directed specifically at the prospects’ owners or senior executives. The contact was made through an e-mail marketing campaign with a link to a short survey and feedback form. Each company that responded to the survey was sent a nicely designed brochure outlining the benefits to the prospect’s company, their customers and the environment and included the Top 10 benefits their company would receive for participating in this unique program.

Randy’s focus throughout the process was to guide the way, to keep the desired end result always front and center, to provide understanding, to ask the questions that no one else was willing to ask, to anticipate potholes and pitfalls, to articulate points of disagreement and agreement and to celebrate successes.

 

The Results

The initial cut on PackageCo’s goals, strategies, plans and priorities was delivered within the three month target. PackageCo’s owner and senior staff were engaged and energized with the results. The company was pivoting from its traditional role of selling the usual packaging solutions to saving the planet with a commitment to compostable, recyclable and reusable solutions.

Randy required another six weeks to prepare the marketing materials and get the approvals from the PackageCo owner. Within two weeks from the day that they sent out the marketing materials and survey, they received the first positive response. Another eleven followed within fourteen days.

 

The initial strategy was to get one or two customers to convert to the eco friendly model and learn from that experience. After the launch of the e-mail survey, with twelve companies expressing interest. PackageCo’s salespeople, by now fully conversant with the benefits of the new packaging model, approached the interested companies. It was important to explain to the customers that the cost of their packaging could change but the benefits in increased sales and customer loyalty and retention should exceed any increased cost in the long term.

 

From the initial twelve potential customers, four decided to go with the new eco friendly model. The first company to make the upgrade was a large pet food company. They had always used a printed paper bag with a wax coating inside and outside. Even though the bag was made from paper, because of its printing and wax coating it was only destined for landfill.

PackageCo recommended a pulp based bag with the printing done with soy ink (food grade). The glue that was used to seal the bag was a natural based glue (also food grade). PackageCo’s study showed the overall compostability of the bag would take place over a period of 12 months to dirt in an industrial compostable facility.

 

The pet food company selected three target geographies for their test, in France, Germany and Austria. Over the six month test period, the sales in the test areas increased by 4% to 6%. That was enough of an increase for the company to deploy the packaging throughout the entire organization.

PackageCo documented the results and shared them with their customers and prospects. Within three months, there were four more companies ready to start a pilot project. Part of the solution also included a redesigned web site and a LinkedIn campaign to alert PackageCo’s current and prospective customers of the bold new way. Throughout the exercise, Randy helped facilitate the transformation of the vision and the delivery of the new reality.

 

How Great Leaders Delivered

Change is difficult. Fundamental change is even more challenging. PackageCo’s leader recognized the perilous situation they were in and the need for immediate action. They took it. With Randy’s help, the following approaches propelled them on their successful journey.

 

  1. Know your business – Randy helped the PackageCo owner tap into her own insights and the perspectives of customers and prospects to reshape the company’s directions.
  2. Seek outside opinions – Using the email marketing campaign and survey strengthened the company’s relationships with its customers and built a bridge for prospects to access their products and services.
  3. Use tools and techniques that have delivered results – Randy’s use of proven tools like SWOT, the Strategy Diamond and BHAG gave the owner comfort that he had the knowledge and experience to help her and her company. The tools also accelerated the delivery of the new strategic plan by providing a solid analytical foundation for their work. They didn’t have to reinvent the wheel.
  4. Engage with staff, customers – Even though the company’s staff were excluded from the strategy deliberations, the owner’s regular updates kept them up to date. Their passion for the program grew as they witnessed the owner’s increasing enthusiasm for the new direction. Engaging their customers and prospects with the email campaign and survey and subsequent sales calls helped cement the relationships and build demand for their new world view.
  5. Use a 360 degree view – Through the use of the previously mentioned tools and the short, twice weekly planning sessions, Randy was able to lead the owner through a series of holistic views of the company’s current state and future possibilities. Each session built upon the previous work to provide a comprehensive, layered and shared understanding of current and future opportunities and the chosen way forward.

 

So, if you’re involved in a transformation or a challenging change with aggressive competitors breathing down your neck, consider the approach Randy Crane and the PackageCo’s leader took to survive and play a new day. Also remember, use Project Pre-Check’s three building blocks covering the key stakeholder group, the decision management process and the Decision Framework right up front so you don’t overlook these key success factors.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has willingly shared their experiences for presentation in this blog. Everyone benefits. First time contributors get a copy of one of my books. Readers get insights they can apply to their own unique circumstances. So, if you have a project experience, a favorite best practice, or an interesting insight that can make a PM or change manager’s life easier, send me the details and we’ll chat. I’ll write it up and, when you’re happy with the results, Project Times will post it so others can learn from your insights.

From the Sponsor’s Desk – The Power of the People Network

“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.” – Jeff Bezos, founder, and CEO of Amazon

These days, new stuff is introduced every minute of every day, around the world. It is impossible to keep up let alone stay on top. Too often that new stuff tweaks what already exists. Much less frequently, something new changes the game, provides a new paradigm. And often we don’t understand the impact of an innovation until much later, after the markets have spoken.

Perhaps that’s the case with Sellizer, an application developed by a small but passionate group of marketers, financiers, and technologists. It was conceived in response to challenges and frustration with a lead generation operation in one company. Is it a game-changer? Let us know what you think.

The Situation

Marcin Zaborowski was a co-founder of a marketing agency that sold e-marketing and consulting services for businesses. Leads came from several sources:

  • Recommendations
  • Inquiries from website content marketing and SEO activities
  • Upselling to existing customers.

These sources helped generate leads for their business – up to 400 quarterly. They would score the leads by contacting these potential customers and checking several factors, including needs, potential budgets, time, importance, etc. On average, only 20% of the leads scored warm and were pursued.

Offers were created for the warm leads, requiring approximately 15 hours each. However, less than 30% of those contacted would respond to the emails, offers, and proposals. Of those, about 15% were closed. The sales cycle from lead generation to proposal to contract lasted about 3 months.

It was a frustrating and time-consuming exercise. The proposal creation process was manually intensive, involving cut and paste, custom crafting, and a variety of shared content. They didn’t always know when or if the prospect opened their proposal, they didn’t know how long the prospect spent reviewing the material, they didn’t know whether the contact revisited the information, or how often. And, they had to put the statistics used to manage the process together manually on a monthly basis.

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Those results and related frustrations lead Marcin and his team to conceive of a better, more productive process. Among the features and functions they included on the wish list:

  • Automated, intelligent lead quality and proposal assessments
  • Automation of proposal generation, leveraging a suite of standard templates and an AI infused creation process with optional custom editing
  • Automated follow-up regarding the prospects handling of a contact and intelligent response generation
  • Distribution of proposals through a variety of channels including email, SMS, and LinkedIn
  • Integration of the website lead forms with the proposal generation and follow-up capability
  • Full integration with other supporting system including CRM, sales, and contract management
  • Real-time statistics on all key metrics with multiple personalized views for senior management, sales, customer service, and production staff and organizations.

Marcin and his staff kept an eye on the market, looking for a product or tools that would address their needs, but they found the few offerings available lacked on most fronts. Finally, with no other apparent options available, Marcin decided to build his own solution and left the company. The Sellizer project was launched.

The Goals

The initial goal of the Sellizer project was to address the organization’s wish list and finance the development costs through sales of the product to other interested parties. Consequently, at the very beginning, it was crucial to enter the market.

Now, there are 3 primary goals for Sellizer:

  1. To expand internationally
  2. To develop features, nurture AI-wise technologies, and add some functionalities, such as signing documents
  3. In five years, to become a global leader among other email and proposal tracking software

The project targeted the global market but focused initially on the home (Polish) market to test the solution.

The Project

In 2017, the founder and CEO of Sellizer – Marcin Zaborowski – made a decision. He left his managerial position at the marketing agency to focus on the creation and promotion of the Sellizer app. He assembled his initial team of one analyst/business developer, one designer, and one developer and created their initial, minimum viable product (MVP). The initial offering included SMS/e-mail notifications about opening an offer and offer statistics.

The market, however, turned out to be very demanding and after several months of getting feedback from users, they had over 1000 requests for improvements. Over the next three months they implemented 80% of the suggestions that were deemed to be essential. With the demand for additional capability in the app, additional funding was sought and obtained and additional staff were hired, including a project manager, two more developers, and a tester.

Marcin and his team had extensive experience in the market and used that knowledge and discussions with users to plan and shape future releases. Each potential requirement was recorded along with the number of occurrences. Then, the founders collaboratively determined the impact of a specific function after implementation as well as its cost-effectiveness. Everything was recorded in an Excel sheet. The actual content and priority of the releases was guided by continual reference to the organization’s goals. They gave weight to the possible actions and calculated the priority of a sequence of actions based on their experience and consultation with their user base. This information was also maintained in an Excel file.

The team used PHP and JS technologies to build the app and applied agile approaches in every field including design, development marketing and sales. The deliverables were tested internally by the team and then automated tests and friendly testers were used. Due to the team’s long experience in the market, they had lots of business contacts. They invited over 100 of those contacts to Sellizer tests. Nearly 30% of them became customers. In addition, one of Sellizer’s founders was the organizer of a large Internet Beta marketing conference. That forum was used to introduce the app to over 300 people and get the sales rolling in. The amazing power of a network!

The Results

The Sellizer app’s first release was launched in September, 2018. The company’s target revenue for the first year was 100,000 Polish Zloty(PLN). However, due to the demand for improvements and additional functionality, it took almost two years to reach the target.

The costs to add the incremental capability were considerable but the company managed to obtain additional funding to deliver the enhanced product. There are now more than 350 users actively using the tool. They have sent out over 200,000 proposals to date.

As far as Sellizer’s own lead generation performance goes, using their own app of course, they act on about 150 leads a month and close 12% in a lead generation cycle that last 19 days on average.

The company is currently aiming at retaining new strategic investors and expanding internationally. Android and iOS versions are also in the works. Its path to success with Sellizer is a great roadmap for anyone with a dream.

Lessons Learned

If it wasn’t for risk tolerance on the part of Marcin and his investors, Sellizer wouldn’t have been developed and launched. As Marcin, the Sellizer CEO, once stated, “I can’t overstress how crucial it is that you get out of your comfort zone”. However, I think there were a number of other insights and practices that contributed to Sellizer’s success:

  1. A committed sponsor is a game-changer – Marcin was the initiator, the visionary, the driver, the leader and the final decision-maker the project needed to achieve its goals.
  2. Metrics matter – The story of Sellizer is founded on a solid foundation of information. Knowing the number of leads, the quality of the leads, how the prospects responded and the time and effort involved in yielding the results obtained was the catalyst. Without that knowledge, very little would have changed.
  3. Always be on the lookout for opportunities – There were hundreds of different potential responses to the challenges the company was experiencing in its lead generation operations. Building that wish list helped coalesce the search for solutions around an app like Sellizer.
  4. Balancing risk and reward – Marcin and his team took a rational approach to the exploration, development, and release of the app. They defined their minimum viable product (MVP), they had a small, talented team, they had just enough financing, they took an agile approach to the development of the product and they relied heavily on their network of colleagues and clients to ensure market reality.
  5. Engaging with clients – Marcin is fond of saying, “Sellizer itself is an everlasting lesson. We appreciate the power of feedback more than ever.” One Sellizer user even applies the app on internal communications: “In our internal communication, we use Sellizer to send important documents to ensure that they have not been skipped or missed among many other messages.”
  6. The power of your network – Look at the leverage and power an extensive and connected network of friends and colleagues provided. Marcin’s initial partners were professional colleagues. 100 contacts to help with the testing. 30% became customers! Finding investors to fund expansion of the application was enabled by the network of contacts. It was a force multiplier!
  7. The quality of the team – According to Marcin, “We managed to gather great partners and associates quickly. We have our dream team!”

So, if you’re involved in an innovation venture or a challenging change, consider Sellizer’s approach and the seven insights and practices above that have helped it succeed. Also remember, use Project Pre-Check’s three building blocks covering the key stakeholder group, the decision management process, and the Decision Framework right upfront so you don’t overlook these key success factors.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has willingly shared their experiences for presentation in this blog. Everyone benefits. First-time contributors get a copy of one of my books. Readers get insights they can apply to their own unique circumstances. So, if you have a project experience, a favorite best practice, or an interesting insight that can make a PM or change manager’s life easier, send me the details and we’ll chat. I’ll write it up and, when you’re happy with the results, Project Times will post it so others can learn from your insights. Thanks

From the Sponsor’s Desk – Now We Can See Why a Change Management Mindset Really Matters

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic. – Peter Drucker

I expect most of us are viewing the COVID-19 second wave with some trepidation. When and how will this damn pandemic cease its ravaging ways? When will we be able to return to a somewhat normal life? What will it look like, even if it is a different new normal?

We’ve seen countries around the world try a multitude of approaches to contain the spread of the virus with varying degrees of success. Through those efforts we have acquired some vital lessons learned:

  • Wearing masks, distancing, hand washing with plain old soap and water, testing, tracing, quarantining work.
  • Lockdowns, when enforced, work in the short term.
  • Outdoor gatherings are much safer than indoor gatherings.
  • Older people are more vulnerable than the young.
  • Asymptomatic people can infect others.
  • Ongoing illness after infection, the long haulers or long COVID, may cause a multitude of symptoms affecting the respiratory system, the brain, cardiovascular system and heart, the kidneys, the gut, the liver, the skin, smell and taste.
  • Most event transmissions have taken place in indoor settings where people were confined together for a prolonged period, including nursing homes, prisons, cruise ships, food processing plants and worker housing as well as weddings, funerals, and religious and family gatherings.
  • Certain activities, like singing, shouting or heavy breathing during exercise can spread more aerosol particles and droplets leading to virus transmission.
  • The virus can be air borne, leading to increased rates of infection.
  • The coronavirus can infect animals like dogs, cats and mink and appears to be able, at least with mink, to jump to human subjects.
  • Controlling travel and sealing borders, both domestic and international, along with temperature checks, enforced quarantines and regular testing and tracing of visitors are essential steps to limit spread.
  • Finally, united political and health leadership and consistent messaging across national, provincial/state, municipal and community boundaries, with enforced consequences for violators, are the essential force multipliers.

The novel coronavirus is a massive change involving seven plus billion people and every nation on earth. It’s impacting almost every element of our twenty-first century lives. Our efforts to cope with and conquer the coronavirus will alter the shape of our societies going forward.

PM Nov17 2020 1

There is no question that some progress is being made on the treatment front. A recent article in the New York Times reported that 1.5 percent of diagnosed cases in the US have been fatal in recent weeks, compared to 7 percent during the virus’s initial surge in the early spring. As well, also according to the New York Times, there are 52 vaccines in clinical trials in humans, including 11 in large-scale Phase 3 trials. At this point we don’t know how many will prove effective, what the level of protection will be, how long the protection will last and how many treatments will be required for immunity.

In the meantime, we continue to see a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. Why? People let down their guard. Period! They go back to gathering in existing indoor settings, at home, at work, at restaurants and bars, at weddings, funerals, parties and celebrations, shopping malls, at the gym, sporting events, concerts, theatres, etc. They don’t wear or stop wearing masks. The don’t maintain a safe distance. They don’t avoid indoor gatherings. They don’t wash their hands frequently. If they do test positive, they don’t abide by the quarantine regulations and they can’t remember who they have been in contact with over the last week or two to aid in tracking and tracing. And all too often, there are no enforced consequences for rule violators. Some commentators call this COVID fatigue.

Given our experience to date, the coronavirus will probably be around for quite a while in one mutated form or another. Perhaps people infected with COVID-19 will develop some immunity against reinfection for some period of time. Maybe we’ll get one or more vaccines that work against the current version of the virus, maybe they’ll be available starting in 2021 and perhaps most people will get vaccinated.

Unfortunately, those are some very big probabilities, perhapses and maybes. But what are we going to do in the meantime? Rotating lockdowns? Shoot for herd immunity? Ignore the pandemic and leave it up to individuals to act accordingly? Ask the folks in North Dakota how that’s been working out. A recent article by Rhythm Sachdeva in the Toronto Star, A tale of two COVID quarantines: My strict lockdown experience in Thailand versus a relaxed approach in Canada, effectively sums up the challenge: “For me, the contrast in my quarantine experiences is reflective of a fundamental cultural gap. In most Southeast Asian countries, governments set rules and enforce them, whether in crisis or not. In North America, you have to rely on people and yourself to educate and protect yourself. Is willpower enough to complete a quarantine? Several news stories and studies indicate not.

There’s another option: aggressively manage the changes so we can more safely coexist with the coronavirus. Yes, that involves millions of changes to address activities of daily living in millions of different settings. It’s not about whether we lockdown or not but about what changes need to take place for us to operate and live safely. To figure that out, jurisdictions need to share, the affected need to be involved, creative solutions need to be considered and the most promising funded, tried, tested and, if viable, implemented on a broader scale.

As a practitioner of organizational change management, it is clear to me that fundamental change management practices have been applied by jurisdictions that have successfully controlled the coronavirus spread.  That includes China, South Korea, Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia, Senegal, Iceland, Denmark, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand.


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What are those fundamental change management practices?

  1. A committed sponsor with the organizational, logistical and political skills – these must be the international leaders, presidents, prime ministers and heads of state that need to lead the charge.
  2. A business case and rationale for change – this means articulating the cost of the status quo: lockdowns, illness, death, business failures, job losses and the huge cost of the vaccines for the world’s population.
  3. Engaged key stakeholders – this includes governors, premiers, mayors, councilors, community leaders and business leaders at all levels, educators, medical practitioners, academics and all others in a position to influence outcomes and behaviours.
  4. A change roadmap, whether Kotter, Prosci, ACMP or others to show the way.
  5. Cascading sponsorship from the top to the shop floor.
  6. Value driven decision making – that includes rapid implementation of changes to minimize the risk and maximize the positive impact.
  7. A plan to get there – that is comprehensive, communicated and supported by all segments of the community.
  8. Change targets, the people ultimately affected, fully involved and supported on the path to the planned future state – that means you and me, our family, our neighbours and our colleagues getting with and sticking with the programs.
  9. Fully skilled and staffed change teams – including people who really do understand how to manage change.
  10. A communication plan that addresses the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) question – if our leaders are asking people to change how they live in myriad ways, it is incumbent upon them to articulate the rationale for people’s efforts and sacrifices and it is incumbent upon citizens to react with their fears, issues and concerns and negotiate solutions that everyone can buy in to and bring about .

I would add an eleventh item – Think Big, Start Small, Learn Fast. In a Forbes article, Six Words To Remember in 2019: Think Big, Start Small, Learn Fast, Chunka Mui, a strategy and innovation adviser argues that those six little works are the key to successful innovation. And there is no question. Humankind’s efforts to overcome today’s challenges and get to a new coronavirus normal will require successful innovation on a massive scale.

For the countries that have managed successfully to date, most of the above fundamentals are in place for the short-term challenge. For the jurisdictions that are struggling to contain the spread, the above practices and processes have been minimally leveraged or not applied at all. However, few are targeting beyond the immediate threat. That’s the real opportunity!

How Great Leaders Can Deliver

Daryl Conner, a change management leader and author of a number of books on the subject including Managing at the speed of change often stresses that those involved in and affected by a change will get on board with change management efforts when they realize that the price of the status quo is dramatically higher than the cost of the transition. So, what is the cost of the status quo?

Governments worldwide have allocated billions of dollars during the first COVID-19 wave to subsidize wages, rents and living costs and bail out businesses. But, thousands of businesses are struggling or have failed. Millions of jobs have disappeared and many may not be coming back. How much more money will governments have to spend on the vaccination programs for their citizens, to support lockdowns during the second wave? The third wave? The nth wave? How many businesses will go under? How many people will lose their jobs, their homes, their lives?

Why not redirect some of those massive funds and that expertise to make places of business and government, educational institutions, hospitals and doctors offices, long term care facilities, travel and tourism equipment and facilities, dining places and meeting places coronavirus resistant or coronavirus free. Let’s experiment with improvements in layout, physical plant, HVAC and filtration systems and the introduction of new practices and technologies to filter, wash and cleanse the air and surrounding surfaces. Let’s invest in more accessible and more comfortable personal protective equipment.

I don’t have the specific solutions, and that’s the point. The remedies need to come from the people who are intimately involved, to shape ideas into realities at the local level. Leaders need to stop talking at people and start engaging with people. This can not be a one-size-fits-all exercise. It has to be a smart, fleet, value driven, local practice, exercised on a multitude of fronts to work.

Many businesses, organizations, communities and individuals have responded to the coronavirus challenges to address their unique circumstances. More power to them. But it has often been one off solutions, in isolation. Here are a couple of examples that may offer wide ranging applicability and long term value:

  • Long term care for seniors: According to an article in the Washington Post, Nontraditional nursing homes have almost no coronavirus cases. Why aren’t they more widespread? , “At ‘Green House’ homes, the best-known nontraditional model, residents are one-fifth as likely to get the coronavirus as those who live in typical nursing homes — and one-twentieth as likely to die of the disease it causes.” Approximately 80% of COVID-19 deaths in Canada have been in long term care homes. I expect the numbers are similar in other nations. Aren’t the ‘Green House’ or similar models worth exploring?
  • Cruise ships: This Reuters article, S. CDC issues framework for resumption of cruise ship operations, summarizes the work the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has done to help the cruise industry get back on the water. Why not similar initiatives for other travel and tourism domains, hotels, auto and equipment rental agencies of all kinds?
  • Entertainment: Professional sports leagues around the world have tackled the coronavirus challenge with a variety of approaches and varying degrees of success. This article from the World Economic Forum, This is how COVID-19 is affecting the world of sports, summarizes the impacts and challenges. What were the aggregate lessons learned? Could these be applied to other forms of athletic competition to improve the experience for athletes and spectators? Can they benefit amateur and youth sports? Could the learnings be applied to other forms of entertainment?
  • Dining: This Toronto Star article, Designer domes and pandemic friendly patios: cities and restaurants get creative to extend outdoor dining through the winter, presents a number of initiatives by restauranteurs to recover some of the business lost due to lockdowns and extend and embellish the dining experience. What worked? What didn’t? How can our leaders organize to help local restaurants survive and thrive using learnings from theses innovators?
  • Indoor gatherings: A CBC article, How businesses and schools are dealing with airborne COVID-19 and preparing for a winter indoors, features a gym and a private Toronto boys school that have taken steps to improve the quality and safety of indoor air. Are these steps effective in reducing the transmission of the virus? Can the changes be applied to other indoor settings, like long term care homes, cruise ships, arenas and stadiums, theatres, shopping malls, restaurants, bars, and office buildings? Let’s find out.

So, who is going to make all this happen? To work, this needs unstinting, cascading leadership both broad and deep, and committed and supported followers across the board. It starts with our leaders. They really do need to start driving the changes to minimize the novel coronavirus’s long term impact on daily living. They need to learn from those nations that have been successful. They need to apply management of change principles and practices. They need to encourage Think Big, Start Small, Learn Fast. They need to involve municipal leaders and health authorities, business owners, educators, academics, customers, neighbours, innovators, manufacturers, competitors and change managers in the process of understanding the current state, identifying and vetting future opportunities and selecting ones to implement. They need lead the charge and to help with the finances – to try the promising approaches and measure their effectiveness. For the successes, communicate and fund far and wide. Figure out how to replicate at the speed of light. Use the army, the unemployed, students, retirees, volunteers, whomever and whatever is necessary. They need to help marshal the incremental resources and talents to draw on – health, government, legal, financial, business, engineering, manufacturing, construction, education, consumer, neighbourhoods and others – to optimize and accelerate solution delivery? And they have to engage fully with their citizens. This really is an opportunity of a lifetime! 

But it also starts with us, everyday people who have thoughts and ideas of how to make a better tomorrow, communicating and collaborating with our leaders, helping to shape the future. That’s called embracing a change management mindset. Let’s be smart and rise to this challenge. We have nothing to lose.

From the Sponsor’s Desk – The Value of Walking in Others’ Shoes

Sometimes I hear people saying, ‘Nothing has changed.’ Come and walk in my shoes” – John Lewis, American politician and civil-rights leader

Every individual possesses a unique frame of reference through which they view their world. That’s one of the reasons why change can be so fraught with peril. Finding ways and means to expose the unique aspects of each person’s frame of reference, share the common ground and rationalize the differences is the key to delivering change successfully.

Perhaps the simplest approach is to walk in others’ shoes. In the following case you’ll see how the change manager took that mindset and helped everyone in the organization climb their own personal hurdles to deliver a unified solution with cohesive individual and shared views of the new normal. It demonstrates the value of walking in Others’ shoes.

The Situation

This manufacturing and distribution company had big plans. With hundreds of employees spread across the country in its main office and a dozen satellite stores, it planned to expand its offerings and expand through acquisitions as well.

However, it faced a sizeable roadblock. Its existing ERP system was a decade old and out of support. Further, it didn’t offer the enterprise integration current solutions provided in terms of comprehensive customer relationship management, financial, inventory, supply chain, distribution, human resources, social media and business intelligence support.

A consultant hired by the organization to explore options recommended a state-of-the-art SaaS solution to provide them with the features and functions they needed going forward. He recommended that he stay on to manage the technology implementation and proposed that a change manager be brought on board to guide the organizational change.

The CFO, the project’s sponsor, liked the consultant and liked his recommendations. When the CFO took the proposal to the CEO and the board, they agreed with the recommendations and approved the project. And so the journey began.

The Goal

To deliver the recommended SaaS ERP solution across the organization in nine months. Interestingly, there were no financial targets beyond the estimate the consultant had placed on the effort and the quote from the service vendor. The mandate was, simply, Make It Happen!

The Project

With the project funding in place, the CFO hired Peter Koebel, the owner of Data Sciencing Consultants, to fill the change manager role. In reality, the CFO was intrigued with Peter’s data analytics background and thought his expertise in that field could help the organization maximize the wealth of data the new ERP solution would provide. Of course, while Peter was tackling that challenge, his technical expertise would enable him to support 300 plus staff across the country embrace the new technology.

When Peter arrived on the job and surveyed his new responsibilities, he found four major stumbling blocks.

  • The existing ERP application was managed by and focused primarily on the Finance organization and the financial functions.
  • The technical expertise and experience with the ERP system varied widely across the company from experienced, heavy users in head office to essentially no experience in some regional offices.
  • The new system would affect just about everyone in the organization and would introduce new interfaces, new data and new work flows across the company
  • His exposure to organizational change management practices was extremely limited.

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Peter began the assignment with a deep dive into the leading change management practitioners and formulated his approach for the assignment:

  • Listen to understand
  • Leverage sponsorship
  • Build a feedback loop to reinforce
  • Build trust
  • Be the always available confidant

Peter’s team began to assess the requirements for the various departments and the individual users starting with the standard SaaS application offerings and prioritizing the requested changes using a MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won’t have) approach. Peter had frequent conversations, often daily, with the sponsor to keep him appraised of progress and leveraged the sponsor’s influence to resolve priority and commitment issues, especially with demands from the C-suite.

Peter recognized that training was going to be the critical success factor and placed considerable emphasis on getting the process to be a low risk, high reward exercise for everyone involved. The training plan leveraged the standard materials from the ERP vendor. Curricula were developed for each department and role and the standard content was tweaked based on discussions with the managers and staff. The online courses and classroom sessions were mandatory but staff was encouraged to revisit the online material as often as they wished. Questions from the formal and online sessions were fielded expeditiously by Peter’s team and often resulted in updates to the offered training materials.   

Peter developed a number of dashboards to communicate the progress being made and the issues encountered and resolved including adherence to project plan and business and change readiness. He also recognized that the project’s success was ultimately dependent on the effectiveness of the training and skill development across the organization and so featured training progress in his sponsor conversations and broader communications. The two charts below highlight the power of a chart to get the message across.

PM Oct16 2020 1

PM Oct16 2020 2

Project governance was provided by the sponsor and a steering committee that included senior managers from the affected organizations plus the consultant responsible for the technology implementation. Meetings chaired by the sponsor were held weekly and evolved from free and open discussions early on to more rigorous, agenda based meetings later in the project. The early structure helped to build camaraderie and trust and yielded a highly collaborative governing team.

One of the most challenging aspects of the project was driven by the arrival of a new COO midway through the project. The new COO was not familiar with the industry or the company and had no previous involvement with the ERP solution being implemented. He was reluctant to spend the time to get up to speed on the project and made numerous demands that were at odds with plans and goals. Peter worked tirelessly to bring the COO up to speed and, with the sponsor’s help, was able to convert him to a valuable asset and a staunch and informed supporter of the change.

And the project continued towards a successful conclusion.

The Results

The project was delivered in twelve months, three months longer than initially planned. The extra time was required to bring a few organizations with previous limited exposure to the technology and ERP functionality up to speed and fully operational in the new environment. The extension was proposed to ensure a quality implementation and was endorsed by the sponsor and CEO.

The transition went relatively smoothly. Users had extensive exposure to the system functionality through the offered training and became comfortable with the new system quickly, which helped keep business flowing.

How Great Leaders Delivered

Peter discovered the value of walking in others’ shoes and practiced that mantra throughout the project to outstanding results. The following factors helped make it happen:

  • Enlightened sponsorship – The CFO owned the change from the beginning to the end. Peter leveraged that fact to resolve issues, overcome resistance and reinforce the positives for everyone throughout the project.
  • Change manager role – Peter’s approach to guiding the project helped build awareness of the need for change across the organization. His personal approach encouraged the affected managers and staff to support the change, to build their knowledge and skills and sustain that commitment to make the change successful for everyone. His continuous focus on WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) made sure that everyone affected could answer that question with a smile.
  • Communication strategy – Peter’s emphasis on understanding each person’s perspective, helping each individual answer the WIIFM question, providing sound arguments articulated by an informed, engaged and respected sponsor, delivering reports and presentations that elicited insight and understanding and leveraging champions and creditable colleagues proved a force multiplier.
  • Push and pull training – The project used a combination of carrot and stick incentives to get all staff, including some reluctant managers, to go through the training regimen and revisit the materials on their own, as often as they needed, to feel comfortable and confident going forward.
  • Progress dashboards – With the ERP change affecting every corner of the organization and the vast majority of staff, the use of charts and graphs was a significant catalyst for broad understanding and enduring commitment.
  • Practice evolution – There was a commitment to take advantage of existing best practices throughout the project but to adapt them as appropriate to the need. The steering committee evolution is a perfect example – collaborative when it needed to be, strict and rigorous when required.
  • A single, seamless implementation – I’m a believer in phased and staged implementations. Peter and his team did consider those options because of the disparate communities involved. However, they decided that the extra effort to manage a phased functional delivery and geographically staged implementation would increase the scope and timeframe significantly. Consequently they put additional effort into training and testing for a single implementation. It paid off.

So, if you’re involved in a sizeable organizational and operational change, consider what Peter and his team did to achieve a successful outcome. It worked for them. It can work for you and your team as well. And remember the value of walking in others’ shoes. Also, make sure you use Project Pre-Check’s three building blocks covering the key stakeholder group, the decision management process and the Decision Framework right up front so you don’t overlook these key success factors. 

Finally, thanks to everyone who has willingly shared their experiences for presentation in this blog. Everyone benefits. First time contributors get a copy of one of my books. Readers get insights they can apply to their own unique circumstances. So, if you have a project experience, a favorite best practice, or an interesting insight that can make a PM or change manager’s life easier, send me the details and we’ll chat. I’ll write it up and, when you’re happy with the results, Project Times will post it so others can learn from your insights.

From the Sponsor’s Desk – Beware the Tip of the Iceberg Syndrome

“Knowledge is the tip of the iceberg whereas wisdom is the entire iceberg.” ― Steven Magee, engineer and author

Have you ever taken on a job, at work or at home, that looked like a quick fix only to find yourself deep in the mire hours, days, weeks, even months later? I call that the Tip of the Iceberg Syndrome. It’s manifested by decisions based only on what can be seen, when we are blind to what lies below the surface. As a result, we have a limited understanding of who and what else may be affected and we have minimal awareness of what skills, capabilities, practices and technologies may be needed to remedy the situation.

The iceberg metaphor is appropriate. Up to 90% of an iceberg is below the surface. As the tragic example of the Titanic revealed, it’s the size of the whole that matters most. That was the challenge with the following project. It looked, on the surface, like a simple, easy, short term undertaking. Fortunately the assigned leader didn’t fall for the trap.  

The Situation

Ahmad Darman was a Scrum Master at a large multi-national financial services firm. He had handled his share of large, complex projects over the years. So when Ahmad’s boss approached him and asked him to take on a small project that was being proposed by the Operations manager, he said sure. He thought he could wrap it up in a couple of months and get on to something more challenging.

Ahmad’s new project was to automate a manual procedure rotated among three staff that was completed daily in the early morning hours. The existing process shipped stock trades made by his company’s clients to the involved fund companies through a clearing house. Sounds like a walk in the park? What Ahmad didn’t realize at the start: beware the tip of the iceberg syndrome.

The Goal

Automate the transfer of stock trades recorded in the company’s administrative systems to the involved fund companies through a third party clearing house. The change would eliminate the early morning work and the costs and risks of the current manual procedures.

The Project

As Ahmad began to make plans and put his team together, his first stop was a chat with the project’s sponsor, the manager of Operations. That discussion revealed a larger, more complex project then Ahmad had originally suspected:

  • That little manual procedure done by one person over three to four hours in the wee hours of the morning actually transferred hundreds of millions of dollars of trading information. Daily! It was a critical cog in the company’s operations.
  • The clearing house handled trillions of dollars of securities on a daily basis. They would demand rigor throughout the project.
  • The procedure involved confirmation checks between the company and the clearing house and between the clearing house and the fund companies.
  • Any automated process would have to encompass the actual preparation and transfer of the data from the feeding administrative systems, confirmation that the transfers were successful at all points and the mechanisms around security, continuity, backup and recovery.

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That small, simple project now necessitated the participation of seven organizations/entities: Operations staff, systems development staff who supported the company’s administrative systems, the clearing house, the fund companies, an offshore testing organization that handled all the testing for the administrative systems and the company’s IT Operations and Security organizations.

Ahmad proceeded to contact the key stakeholders and secure their input, support and commitment. The Operations manager assigned three staff to the project, one as the primary participant and two as backup. Fortunately the three were the ones responsible for the current manual procedure and so were intimately familiar with the details. Ahmad’s team quickly grew to seven full time resources plus the assigned clearing house, fund company contacts and QA organization contacts and part time IT operations and security staff.

The team used a hybrid agile approach, applying user stories to elicit the requirements and leveraging Rally from CA Technologies to manage content and progress. 15 minute daily stand-up meetings were the primary team communication vehicle. Ahmad held regular weekly meetings with the project sponsor and clearing house contacts and on demand discussions with other key stakeholders as needed. There was no steering committee. Because of the nature of the infrastructure, only one release was planned over four months including concurrent build activity between Ahmad’s team and the clearing house.

One of the key deliverables early on was robust documentation of the new operating processes and procedures including what ifs, contact information (emails, phone #s, etc.) and information on escalation levels. The work was guided by a Business Analyst on Ahmad’s team and was reviewed and tested by all the players plus call center representatives.

Testing of the end-to-end solution was a challenge. Ahmad’s team used a production box with dry runs for modified data sets. The business was given control to nullify the results once the runs were completed. Security also had to work some magic to arrange suitable testing user ID’s and passwords for the duration. And so the project continued.

The Results

The project was delivered successfully on schedule in line with the four month plan. The implementation included a two week parallel operation of the old manual process with daily confirmation checks. All the key stakeholders were thrilled with the project and the results, including the three business staff who no longer had to be in the office in the wee hours of the morning. And the sponsor paid for the celebration lunch!

How a Great Leader Delivered

Change is difficult. The more organizations and people involved, the more complex things can become. Fortunately, Ahmad didn’t get sucked in by the tip of the iceberg syndrome. He did his due diligence and recognized the breadth of the challenge early on by following the following practices.

  • Understand the sponsor’s needs – The initial meeting with the sponsor set the proper scope for the project and provided Ahmad with the frame of reference he needed to get the project off to a great start and deliver successfully. The regular weekly meetings helped provide the continuous course confirmation and occasional correction to keep the project progressing on the right path.
  • Engage with the key stakeholders – The project’s success was a testament to Ahmad’s stakeholder collaboration. He brought each of the involved individuals and entities to the table at the project’s inception and continued that active engagement throughout, expertly dealing with disparate needs and remote players according to their requirements.
  • Use tools and techniques that have delivered results – Ahmad and his team adapted the practices and tools used within the organization to the unique needs of his project. There was only one release because of the vagaries of the infrastructure involved but a multitude of sprints yielded the functionality and capability required.
  • Foster the dialogue – There was a very diverse group of stakeholders to deal with, including the offshore QA group, the clearing house, the fund companies and the internal organizations and staff. Ahmad worked tirelessly to ensure each group’s needs were understood and well articulated and that all understood the collective needs and shared the common goals. He used face-to-face, phone, email, video, reports, simulations, ad hoc gatherings, whatever was required to move the group forward together.
  • Celebrate success – Every time a sprint finished there was a celebration to mark its completion. The sponsor was always among those acknowledging the success and all parties were involved. It helped all participants share in the feelings of accomplishment and take pride in the progress being made.

So, if you’re involved in a project that looks like a piece of cake, consider the approach Ahmad and his team took to avoid the tip of the iceberg syndrome. Also remember, use Project Pre-Check’s three building blocks covering the key stakeholder group, the decision management process and the Decision Framework right up front so you don’t overlook these key success factors. 

Finally, thanks to everyone who has willingly shared their experiences for presentation in this blog. Everyone benefits. First time contributors get a copy of one of my books. Readers get insights they can apply to their own unique circumstances. So, if you have a project experience, a favorite best practice, or an interesting insight that can make a PM or change manager’s life easier, send me the details and we’ll chat. I’ll write it up and, when you’re happy with the results, Project Times will post it so others can learn from your insights.