|
Change Change is becoming an everyday occurrance, and the ability of creating it will be critical for the survival of organizations. The skill of change will be critical for knowledge workers who, to an increasing extent, are to develop new knowledge based processes and business atoms rather than to carry them out, as even knowledge intensive processes become entirely digitzed. This ia a draft for a project model for any type of change, be it new products, new processes, new legislation, new attitudes, or new internal procedures within an organization. The model carries seven phases with gates between them. Ay each gate the change project has to be re-evaluated in the light of more information being extracted in the previous phase. It is greatly inspired by Robert G. Cooper's Stage-Gate model.
1. Idea. Any idea for at change must qualify through the so called 'elevator test'. The change entrepreneur meets a potential sponsor or investor in an elevator, the doors shut, and the entrepreneur now has 45 seconds to convince the investor of the sustainability of the idea. The entrepreneur must answer three basic questions:
Obviously, the precondition of any change is that they follow the evolutionary path. For a change to be diffused it must imply benefits for the existing condition that is to be changed - for those to be changed and for those who are to produce the change. 2. Plan. Now the entrepreneur has the financing - manpower and capital - for producing a detailed plan for the change project. More specifically it must be analysed exactly how the change must be designed to provide users with greater benefits than alternatives, including status quo. This must be described in the four dimensions of the marketing mix: Product (what will the user get?), Price (what's the investment of the user?), Place (how will the change get to the user), Promotion (what will be said about the advantages of the change?). The business system to deliver the situation for the users after the change must be drafted as specific as possible. In this phase, the scoping of business atoms is highly critical: The more loosely coupled the business system is designed, the easier it is to outsource those business atoms that are uncritical for providing the advantage of the offering. Business atoms already in operation, that can be sourced externally, are not to be developed from scratch. The more reused / sourced business atoms to be included, the easier it is to deliver profits for the investor. Apart from the profit goal it must also be specified in detail how the change project contributes to the investor's strategic goals in the intermediate or long term - e.g. on specific market presence, building of specialized skills, more efficient processing, etc. Investors, be they external or your internal board of directors, typically use models of portfolio management that score each change project in terms of stratagic value and risk (probability of success). On a draft basus the same analysis is carried out concerning other stakeholders of importance. Most important is arguing that rejecting the change will lead to significant negative consequences - that a "burning platform" exists where action must be taken immediately. Another key analysis will encompass the strenghts, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) among competing alternatives in the eyes of the user or customer. "Competition" may be alternative internal processes, prodecures or attitudes. This analyses leads to a positioning making the change provide its users with the greatest benefits compared with alternatives. From this positioning are pointed out those special business atoms - processes or special activities - that are key objects for intellectual property protection to protect the advantage in the long run. Often such protection must even be secured during the plan phase for the investor to be further committed to the business plan. Based on the specification of the user experience and business system a project plan is estimated for the sourcing, development and marketing phases, including a monthly budget split into types of activity. This business plan provides the basis for the investor's strategic descision on financing this change - or rejecting it. 3. Team. Now the entrepreneur may populate and organize a dedicated change project. In this phase the key issue is involving the right people and stakeholders in the project. Any person involved must understand and be able to communicate the advantages provided for the users as well as for the investor. A project team consists of a group of people who in cooperation posess experience withn the domain to be changed; the will and ability to vhange it; experience with users and the business system to be, the ability to innovate and finish. If any of these crucial skills are lacking in the team, this is the time to develop or search them. Externally a reference group is needed where users are represented and where pilot drafts for the change can be tested - and a steering committee including the investor and even some of the central stakeholders. The steering committee is monthly provided with status and prospects for the project. No major change will be completed without a powerful guiding coalition of key stakeholders, descision makers and interest groups that even work together as a team. The major result of the team phase is the construction or sharpening of the key vision that will make any user or stakeholder promote and not inhibit the vision, and that will keep the change project on track. The guiding coalition must participate in formulating the vision, and must - again, again and again as according to the project plan - pioneer the communication of the vision to any user or stakeholder of the change. 4. Business Atoms. The modellering of the future starts as soon as the steering committe has endorsed the project organization including the skill profile of the team. In this phase the guiding coalition must endorse that business atoms that limit the change vision will be changed, and - again, again and again - they must actively encourage and reward all stakeholders for making their contribution. The user's processes and benefits in the four marketing dimensions are specified in further detail after confronting user representatives with prototypes or proto situations of the idea for change. The underlying business system is modelled in a way to be implemented as digital as possible and for the individual business atoms to be reused or developed as reusable as possible. 5. Suppliers. Modelled business atoms can be out sourced, for development or to be delivered as a business service, with digital service interfaces between business atoms in the value chain. The contract with suppliers must mirror the business interfaces of the business atoms involved. Based on precise modellering, prices should be provided with great certainty. Precision and commitment is mandatory unless the supplier is internal or external to the organisation. 6. Development. Users are to be involved even closer in this phase where suppliers develop or integrate the various business atoms into a business syste. This involvement will lead to adjustments of the properties of the change to be delivered. In this phase the ability if the project team to make the priorities providing the highest benefits for users and investor are crucial, be it regarding the content, time plan or budget of the combined plan. The development phase concludes with the steering committe endorsing positive functional and technical tests of the combined service and all business atoms involved, a revised business case, and a detailed plan for the marketing phase. 7. Marketing. The basis of sucessful marketing is thorough preparation including early confrontation between the reality of users, suppliers and investors and the change to be marketed. Even the roll-out starts with a few minor scale pilot areas, preferably representative of the entire area to receive the change. Positive results of the pilot operations are communicated within the organisation. Based on experience from these markets and the first operating period, the change initiative and its business system is adjusted. Eventually the change is marketed in full scale and its advantages to users are communicated on a broad and dynamic basis. The marketing phase closes no earlier than at the time of meeting the expected goals of advantages for users and investors. Don't let opponents to the change project announce its success until it is fully distributed and consolidated.
Sources - recommeded reading Richard R. Nelson & Sydney G. Winter (1982), An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass. Dosi, Giovanni (1988), The Nature of the Innovative Process, in: G Dosi et al. eds, Technical Change and Economic Theory. Pinter, London. Bjarne Kousholt (2007), Project Management - Theory and Practice, Nyt Teknisk Forlag. Robert G. Cooper (2005): Product Leadership: Pathways to Profitable Innovation. Basic Books. International Project Management Association (IPMA) & Project Management Institute (PMI) American Marketing Association (AMA) & Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
|
