It can be really, really frustrating.
You are known for setting goals and meeting them.
You have a very clear picture of where you want to take your team, yet when you step on the throttle to make the changes, the resistance rises to meet the effort you put in.
You have worked hard to outline and cast the vision, had the project management team run the meetings, and set up innumerable action sessions.
And although you have great people, here you are explaining (once again) to a leader of a group who nods yes, yet when the “leave meeting” button is clicked, they put the project on the back burner.
You take a few minutes to go through LinkedIn and catch a video of a powerful speaker who is presenting a strong talk – and decide that the tool they are describing is built for what you are experiencing.
You get them in, they hold virtual workshops and at first, you think it’s done and dusted.
Then, subtly progress slows.
What happened?
It’s Not the Tool
We have had experience with many change drivers that influence our clients and firms, and the development of many tools to provide a bridge to adaptation. Historically they have names like Lean, Agile, Six Sigma, Data Science & Analytics, and Augmented & Virtual Reality. All these tools have had a very big impact on firms and their ability to adjust to the changing environment.
What we also know is the impact is not uniformly distributed among those who invest in these tools.
Why do some firms see big returns while the majority (seemingly) swim in place as the river rushes by them?
We can sum it up in three words: Context, Customization, and Coupling.
Context
To assess the impact of an investment on your firm, you need to look carefully at two contexts:
- The first context is the origin and intent of the tool
- The second is your firm’s current context
Then, you need to assess the gap. It’s in this comparison that we find clues to why value is not being developed.
For example, when several new leaders with Six Sigma backgrounds were installed in new firms in the post-Welch era, many of them struggled mightily. The root of this lies in the fact that at its core, Six Sigma is a variation reduction methodology that worked well in the context that GE found itself in. When that same methodology was applied to the more organic R&D processes at firms like 3M, however, it added significant overhead that didn’t convert to customer value.
Most recently I’m seeing a bit of an identity crisis for data science and analytic teams. While some firms have seen big upsides, many are still struggling for the big win. This field is coming under pressure to have a more direct impact on the business model and offerings, and like many maturing fields, there is work to be done.
Action Point: Invest in the diagnostic work to get to the root cause of what you are solving and be sure that the context of the tool matches.
Customization
There is no such thing as off-the-shelf tools for complex firms. The vast experience of leaders who have gone through an ERP conversion understands the inertia of a firm’s established practices, platforms, and people. The investment needed to build through this inertia is perhaps the most underestimated portion of these projects.
Action Point: When implementing any fresh tool, I coach leaders to look carefully at people, processes, and platforms:
- People: The most exciting and complex variables in the equation, each person comes with experience, talent and history that leads them to interact with a fresh tool in both positive and contradictory ways.
- Processes: Those deeply understood patterns of how we get things done. Many times the deepest ones are not seen as processes by those who use them – it’s simply “the way it is.”
- Platform: What does this tool use to deliver its results? Is it a template that is served up in wiki? Is it an app in a customer resource management system? Look carefully at how it will touch and change those who use it.
Coupling
In mechanical terms, we talk about how well a clutch converts the power of the engine to the vehicle. Automatic transmissions use fluid to link the engine to the wheels. With careful engineering that efficiency is now approaching 90 percent, but it didn’t start there.
Similarly, an assessment of how well the power of the new tool can achieve your goals is needed. When I work with a firm we look very closely at precisely what is needed to assure “linkage” and do an early pilot to be sure it will meet its benchmarks.
Wrapping Up
So much to talk about here, and I would appreciate your insights as well. Three takeaways for today:
- Be super clear on exactly what you expect of the tool and run that all the way through to the ground.
- Examine carefully the “edges” where your fresh tool touches the firm. Be sure that all the links in the value chain are present to get the results in the business case.
- Avoid fuzzy impacts at all costs. Ask 5 “whys” on all the benefit descriptions until all stakeholders are agreed.
Building it Into Your Firm
We have a well-developed approach that’s been used by dozens of firms to help leaders capture precisely the right project, the right team, and the right plan to move forward toward success.
If you’d like to hear more about that, reach out via email, or put an appointment on the calendar using this link.
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