Positive Performance Improvement

I am currently reading an outstanding book by Richard and Robbie Gerson on performance improvement. I realize that all of you have read books on performance improvement, so let me begin by telling you why this book is outstanding.

Most books on performance improvement (PI) focus on systems, processes, and mechanistic models. The Gersons’ book focuses on the performer.

I was surprised (pleasantly surprised) earlier this year when two leading industrial engineers, Ehap Sabri and Arun Gupta, asked me to co-author a book with them entitled “Purchase Order Management Best Practices.” I quickly told Drs. Sabri and Gupta that I didn’t know anything about supply chain management or purchase order systems. But, they wanted me to join “the team” because of my knowledge of change management and the people aspects of change. (Incidentally, the subtitle of the book is “Process, Technology, and Change Management.”)

The Gersons’ book on PI clearly explains what these two leading industrial engineers have learned from real-world experience. Effective systems, processes, and mechanistic models are not enough. The individual performers are critical to improvement/change efforts. This is what makes the Gersons’ book outstanding.

The Gersons believe, “It’s necessary to include the performers’ psychological approach: their levels of self-confidence and self-esteem, how they deal with stress, how well they perform under pressure, if they set goals, their expectations of success, their intrinsic reward system, and what motivates them to achieve.”

There are significant implications for change management, as well as for performance improvement. Change managers must develop relationships with the people who will plan, implement, and sustain the proposed change. Relationship building, a time-consuming task, is in addition to the traditional work on systems, processes, and mechanistic models. Managers must get to know the performers.

Are the managers in your organization (or your client’s organization) prepared to handle the relationship building that’s necessary to implement and sustain organizational change? If you have already read my book “Strategic Organizational Change,” I recommend that you read Richard and Robbie Gerson’s “Positive Performance Improvement.” The two books together will save you substantial time, energy, and money.

Please feel free to send me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I always appreciate your feedback.

Culture Last, Not First

I have spoken to many management teams about initiating large organizational changes. After the sense of urgency has been created, the executives want to jump several steps ahead. These enthusiastic execs begin talking about changing organizational culture. While I appreciate their enthusiasm, culture change comes last, not first.

Changing the culture is important to support (sustain) new changes, but in practice you can’t change culture first. New changes in how things are done must be shown to be successful first. These successful new ways of doing things require a minimum of time. Trying to create a new culture before demonstrating success simply doesn’t work anywhere (except in theory). Real people in real organizations demand “proof.”

Kotter and Cohen, in their book “The Heart of Change,” say, “New behaviors will not become the norms, will not take hold, until the end of the process.” I agree. The eighth step in Kotter’s popular change model is anchoring the change in the culture. Please notice that this is the last step, not the first or second. “Anchoring,” “taking hold,” or “sticking” happens only after compelling success stories. Make those success stories as vivid as possible.

For further reading, I recommend Kotter and Cohen’s book, “The Heart of Change,” or my special report entitled “Overcoming Resistance to Change,” which is available on my website www.mikebeitler.com.

Please feel free to send me your questions, comments, and suggestions.