The Situation: A need to create a comprehensive strategic plan for a federal IT organization to re-define itself in the face of budget cuts, retirements and potential outsourcing

Background to the Situation

Several years ago, the organization underwent a re-organization without a strategic plan in place. There was no context or clearly stated rationale for the changes that were instituted and it led to a dysfunctional organizational structure with disgruntled staff, declining morale and reduced productivity. The new organizational structure was created by a small group behind closed doors with little input from staff. When the new structure was announced, many felt that the functions were not aligned and that new job assignments did not match the skill sets of the staff. One employee noted, “You took the spark plugs out of the car and now you expect it to run like a race car”. This resulted in an informal structure that continued and a formal structure on paper. In short the organization was broken and there was little trust between staff and the leadership team.

Our Approach: An inclusive re-design for the future organization

• Gained commitment from the leadership team for a positive approach to change that was consistent and visible

• Educated a core team on Interactive Strategic Change process to regain the trust of the employees and seek their help to re-build the organization.

• Focused on the positive: the accomplishments of the past, what worked and used it to build the future. Despite the current challenges, we were able to identify elements in the organization that have worked in the past and are working today. These were used to envision the future and design specific activities to achieve the new collective vision for the future.

• Convened a Summit (the entire organization) to address critical issues facing the organization, engage in organization-wide solution-finding activities, and begin designing how to achieve strategic outcomes.

• Facilitated a series of strategic planning sessions where the staff designed specific activities including performance measures for how work should be accomplished to achieve the new vision for the organization.

• Established on-Going communications; regular staff meetings with managers, the Director meeting one-on-one and with smaller groups, regular All Hands meetings, newsletters, emails.

• Unveiled a the first comprehensive strategic plan endorsed by the highest levels of the agency and staff alike

Result: More trust, openness and re-dedicated staff with a fully endorsed plan ready for implementation.
 

The Situation: Technical experts leading a global “go-live” IT application forgot the people side of the implementation

Background to the Situation

A Silicon Valley company was implementing an Oracle financial module in several countries at one time. It was a technical solution crossing cultural barriers, including language, work styles, and currency. The effort was led by technical experts who knew all about the functions of the technology but had a limited appreciation for the people side of the equation. They thought it was simply a matter of upgrading systems, making sure that all the applications interfaced and that the people were trained in how to perform their tasks. It seemed simple enough on the face of it. However, in retrospect, when confronted with 25 people who had just flown for 20 hours from different parts of the world and who were suffering from jet lag to get to a meeting in California, it might not have been such a good idea to launch into a meeting showing drop-down menus as the first order of business.

The meeting fell apart, the visitors were insulted by the lack of respect and protocol and the president of the company was embarrassed. All of a sudden, the people side of the equation became very important and in one quick lesson, the executive leadership realized that success was not dependent on technology alone. The president realized that without participant’s buy-in nothing would work; a seemingly simple but important realization.

Our Approach: Integrate Organizational Change with Technology Change

• Structured a “Do Over”: met with the president of the company to quickly devise a plan for the next day: agendas, welcome (and apology), setting the context for IT business process re-engineering, why we are doing this, where we have come from (recognizing our history), introducing people performing like functions from different countries to each other, beginning to build relationships

• Supported work groups of like functions: educated team leaders on meeting management, solution finding, communication skills, and risk mitigation strategies

• Provided executive coaching: met regularly with the president of the company to outline ways to maintain a positive momentum and find solutions for issues as they arose

• Established a system to maintain on-going communications: a knowledge management system to track action item logs, agendas and meeting summaries

• Established an official role for organizational development consultants on the technical team.

Result: A successful “go-live” IT global implementation and committed executive leadership to the people side of change.
 

The Situation: A first of its kind, very public and complex downtown development project in Baltimore, the building of Camden Yards Baseball stadium

Background to the Situation

The Mayor of Baltimore and the City Council along with the State of Maryland engaged in a joint effort to build the first-ever downtown baseball stadium. It was designed to enhance the already successful Inner Harbor redevelopment with additional pedestrian traffic before and after the games to make downtown an even livelier place. The stadium was designed to be in-scale with the existing Camden warehouse, to have an old-fashion look with a high-tech interior. The renderings and architectural models were beautiful but many were skeptical as it would displace an existing industrial area, be situated in an adjacent neighborhood and would cause severe traffic problems; not to mention that it would replace the beloved Memorial Stadium.

The decision to proceed had been made, funding and the opening day of the baseball season was set. It was a critical project with a very visible deadline. It was imperative that all parties work cooperatively and expeditiously.

Our Approach: Develop a collaborative partnership between City agencies, architects, the Maryland Stadium Authority and other key stakeholders to expedite solution- finding for critical issues

• Established one-on-one trusted advisor relationships with all parties including community residents

• Designed and managed a project plan for all aspects of City supported activities

• Convened large group status meetings of cross-functional teams to quickly identify issues and resolve them. Some of the key issues included: land acquisition, relocation issues, easements for public utilities, community issues, traffic patterns, architectural designs, police and fire concerns, and City planning issues. In order to participate, team members had to possess expertise in their area and have decision-making authority.

• Managed day-to-day issues and structured report-out sessions for large status meetings

• Mediated differences between stakeholders by focusing on the strengths and contributions each stakeholder brought to the project

• Conducted teambuilding activities for all participants to maintain smooth working relationships

Result: Positive working relationships, a happy Mayor, a negotiated easement agreement with the Maryland Stadium Authority and key activities completed on time.
 

The Situation: A timber-based community faced with declining natural resources, increased regulations, increased ecological concerns and global market forces needed to create new economic solutions.

Background to the Situation

A community had been dependent on logging as its primary industrial base. Now it was facing a double-digit unemployment rate, with ever-increasing declining community morale; in short, it was getting more depressing by the day. The down-ward cycle of disinvestment had to be stopped or the community would have an even greater problems.

Our Approach: Identify community assets and create innovative economic development solutions to leverage what was working in the community

• Instilled possibility thinking: Gained the support and enthusiasm of a few key leaders to support a new and positive approach; an approach that inspired a “can do” attitude.

• Convened a community summit: invited a large group of diverse leaders to come together to engage in an economic development strategizing to outline priorities for the community, a high-level action plan and commitment of resources

• Managed community priorities: implemented key activities such as a community lending program, new industry task forces, redesign of the waterfront, funding for a value-added wood industrial park. Each success contributed to a positive upward momentum in the community and helped to reverse disinvestment in the community.

• Initiated and maintained on-going communication and outreach with civic and community organizations: provided regular updates to key stakeholders on the progress of various activities

• Transferred knowledge and skills to community leaders: increased participation on the board, conducted tours of the various industries in the community, included community participants in a range of task forces and educational activities

• Established administrative practices and processes: instilled consistent reporting and accountability for organizational activities

Result: A strengthened local economy, a working board, the ability to maximize limited resources, an improved community image and enhanced tourism