Managing transitions - William Bridges

Am working on a project related to restructuring, and thought that I should continuously try to learn as much about change management as I can. This was one of the key books that were highly recommended online, so I decided to have a look at it.

The author seems to be very experienced in this field, and it is reassuring to see that the issues faced in times of change were broadly similar (in terms of their causes) and faced by many different organisations too. This book gave a useful framework to understand how changes impact on people and what can be done to make the process more fruitful and less painful. It also gave the author's view about what were the better ways to manage change - this was a very useful part of the book that I liked.

Here are my key learning points:

1. The author differentiated "change" from "transition". Change is what occurs on the surface - moving people into different places, moving towards a new policy, etc. Transition is the deeper set of emotions that people feel that have to be addressed properly as the change occurs. Many changes fail because the transition was not well done.
2. Transitions start with an ending. This is a simple concept but it took me a long time to grasp. The organisation has to find ways for people to let go of their present situation, job or expectations before the transition can start. To do so properly, first we need to clearly identify who is losing what, and then engage each group differently. "Overreaction" is often the sign of something deeper - historical issues related to the ending that were never resolved properly. They are to be expected and should be treated with due care.
   
3. Often, emotions such as anger, fright, depression and confusion are signs of grieving, which are very normal when one understands that transitions start with an ending. Never should we mistake them for bad morale.
   
4. Acknowledgment about these losses should be done openly, simply and directly. The next question to ask is, what can we give back to balance the loss that has occurred?
5. Give people information, and do it again and again. Don't imagine that the grapevine is not already churning all kinds of rumours to fill up the empty comms spaces, so be open with information during times of change. Also do not assume that just because an email has been sent, the message has been c0mmunciated. Changes need time to sink in. Be very clear about what the changes mean, not just in broad terms such as "we will become more innovative". Otherwise, there will be serious misinterpretations and confusion on the ground.
6. Honour the past for what it has accomplished. Many people have worked hard to bring the organisation to where it is today. Do not belittle these efforts when making the case for change.
   
7. Changes should take place all at once. Machiavelli (not that I support him) said that "in taking possession of a state, the conqueror should well reflect as to the harsh measures that may be necessary, and then execute them at a single blow".
   
8. After letting go, transition proceeds on into the "neutral" zone, where things are in flux and many things are uncertain. Leadership through this zone is critical. The redefinition of objectives and processes is key during this stage.
   
9. It often seems that "nothing is happening" during the neutral zone and people get discouraged. Hence, there is a strong need to put in a temporary structure and give people short-term goes and processes to keep the organisation going. Don't set high expectations and set people up for failure during this period. This is actually the time to manage expectations about what the team can deliver.
   
10. Set up a transition monitoring team, that doesn't make decisions but whose sole purpose is for upward communications. It is a group of about 7-12 people and chosen from a background of as wide a cross section of the population as possible. It also serves as a good way to monitor the grapevine and dispel untruths if they appear. For it to be successful, it will hv to be people who will not taint the reports, e.g. managers may not be the best group in giving feedback from the ground.
    
11. The main output from the neutral zone is to redesign the system and processes so that they can be ready for the future.
12. For the new beginning zone, there are four key things to address: (i) purpose of the new outcome, (ii) paint a picture of the outcome - must make everyone feel it inside out so that they can give their hearts to it, (iii) lay out a step by step plan so that everyone is clear how to get there, and (iv) give each person a part to play for them to feel that they can contribute and participate.
13. Marathoner effect - be careful! As in a marathon, people progress and cope with the change at different paces. As such, the leaders might already be running back to home base while the rest of the organisation are still heading out. Be wary that there are still people who are coping with the loss or are in the neutral zone when the leaders are ready to sell the new change. We need to tie up the loose ends first.
    
14. The transition plan in 12(iii) is focused on the process and timelines and people, while the purpose at 12(i) is focused on clarifying the objectives. As such, the transition plan needs to be very detailed and we need to be able to tell person A and B exactly what is going to happen when and what this means for them.
    
15. To reinforce the new changes, leaders have to walk the talk and show how the new purpose and processes are being lived out. Incentives and rewards will also hv to be restructured to be aligned with the new purpose.
    

The author says that the entire change process can take months or years, and we need some tenacity and determination and belief that things will work out well for change management to succeed. I have quite a lot more thoughts about this wh0le change management thing - how my actual experience relates to what I've read and how there are areas that I'd hv done differently on hindsight. But that shall be the contents of another post, whether online or not. All in all, a very good read that has enlightened me very much, and showed me that there is much for me to learn about working with people and organisations.

Talent is overrated - Geoff Colvin

This was an excellent book. I guess I'm partly biased because what this book talks about gels a lot with what I believe in.

The book spends quite a big section on convincing the reader that excellence is built more through hard work than talent. Since I'm already a convert on this, I'll jump to what I feel is essentially the tools to becoming great.

1. In one word, the tool is called deliberate practice.
   
2. Identify the elements that make up the complex task. To start, one needs to know exactly what one wants to achieve and then break the destination into smaller "practiceable" pieces that one just keeps plugging at. For example, if there is a particular stroke that one wants to master in tennis, one just keeps practicing the same shot, ball after ball after ball.
3. Building vast amounts of domain knowledge. Build up domain knowledge and think critically about the knowledge. Much like chess, one can speed-learn by mugging loads of information about the topic. At the same time, to be able to tap on these knowledge, at a certain pt, one has to consolidate and understand it critically. The unfortunate thing is that many of us work as if domain knowledge is a by-product. The right way to do it is to read up all about your area of expertise even before and during your work.
   
4. Looking at "textbook" answers. The chess model - which is much like the case study model. Think of how you'd perform a certain task (or make a move) and then compare it with the model answer, and keep doing so until one masters the basics properly.
5. Building "fitness". To make the entire training whole, there are two more angles of attack adopted from sports. There are basic skills that are fundamental to all sports and training them will improve you no matter what. This includes speaking skills, your base level of energy, your level of focus, your working memory, etc.
6. Learning to react quickly to unpredictable situations. This is the second part of the sports model - to learn how to react to unpredictable situations, which always happens, one puts oneself in these situations (or simulated ones) to practice until one's reactions becomes instinctive.
7. Tonnes of reflection. Start each day or project with clear objectives and then take time to reflect at work after each major project or each day. This transforms one's working life into a major set of deliberate practices, rather than just going through motion.

This book has certainly reinforced and changed some aspects of how I'm going to work and function for the next few years. Awesome and timely book :)

Talent Masters - Bill Conaty and Ram Charan

This book is part of my efforts to build up my knowledge about talent management. It provides useful advice both from the system point of view (how should a talent management branch go about building talent in the system) and unit-level point of view (how should a manager go about building talent in his department).

Here are the key learning points:

1. To have meaningful conversations about talent and their development, management teams need to develop specific and sensible vocabulary about their talents. e.g. saying that XX is a "great worker" doesn't add much value to the conversation, while YY is able to "relate to consumers, employees and partners and articulate the business vision clearly" enables the participants of the conversation to be able to refute or support whether the person indeed has the traits needed to succeed in a particular role. Relentlessly pursuing this specificity is key to good talent management.
   
2. Inbuilding people matters into annual review cycles is key. GE's cycle apparently starts with people, before going to strategy and then operations and budgets. (Not sure if I've got the order right but people is in Jan - maybe their cycle starts in Apr?) But in any case, the key learning point is that there needs to be a structured process to discuss people issues. I'm going to build this into my team process - so that people issues will be discussed at least once every half a year - the team's development, performance, etc.
3. In the same vein, there need not be an artificial differentiation btw business plan reviews and talent reviews - both should be tightly integrated with each other and conversations about one can take place in meeting focused on the other.
   
4. Based on the book, top leaders spend more than 30-40% of their time on people matters. They in turn hold other leaders accountable for developing talent under their charge.
   
5. Constructive and timely oral/ written feedback to officers is key to setting the right expectations and guidance.
6. Discussion about talent needs to be candid and direct - this is the only way to get a true understanding of a person's potential and capabilities.
7. Differentiation is key to driving talent.
8. Take a long term view of talent. Look at what kind of system and process they leave behind after they leave, and not just look at their current performance.
9. Get your leaders to attend and teach at classes targeted at rising stars. The conversations will benefit both parties.
   

However, what the book lacks is how to set quantifiable targets and remains largely a qualitative book that provides good practices for companies to follow.

Walk the walk - Alan Deutschman

Was passed this book by a friend. It's a concise book, but it has very powerful messages that I feel are critically missing in many of our leaders today. Overall, it was a very engaging read, but it also pointed to dire areas in my own leadership development that needed greater attention.

The starting point of Deutschman's book is that leadership is about creating change, of which a significant part is through changing the way other people think, feel and act. The genuine way of doing this is only through: talking and acting. Not many leaders talk about the right things. Even fewer act them out.

Deutschman makes many references to famous leaders and highlighted many anecdotes to illustrate this idea of walking the walk and how this creates change in people. One of the first lesson he teaches is that one has to be very certain of what he calls "first virtues". In other words, what are the first and second most important principles that you (or your company/ organisation by extension) stand for. This has to be thoroughly thought through, in particular, how one will make the trade-off between these principles at critical decision points. Deutschman's point is that many organisations have such a long list of motherhood principles that the list serves little purpose in guiding actions or illustrating what the organisation REALLY stands for. In addition, there is a need for relentless consistency in demonstrating these beliefs and principles before the change can take root in the organisation.

In this respect, I had thought hard about it, and while serving the customers of my HR team and growing my HR team itself are both important outcomes where my unit is concerned, I realise that the second precedes the first, in terms of a long-term sustainable strategy and also in that the first objective will be compromised if the second is not attended to well. This insight has given me a deeper understanding of how to prioritise my resources and time spent in my work.

The second learning point is that leaders are often out at the front, leading the team, showing the way and setting the tone. This is akin to how battles are fought historically, with the generals out at the front. It goes beyond simply deploying troops from one place to another, and crafting strategy in the backroom. Leaders need to be seen and heard.

The next learning point is that apart from building confidence and belief in themselves, leaders need to cascade this down to all the levels below him/her, such that it permeates the organisation. We need to build teams of people who believe in themselves too. Unfortunately, apart from close mentoring and "walking beside" one's team, the book did not give in depth ways of how to build this confidence in all of the team members.

All in all, this was an inspiring book and it clarified some of the fundamental ways I think about leadership. It was a good read!