All,

There’s no doubt that we are facing some major obstacles caused by factors that we may have little control over. But let’s be honest. There are some changes we need to make inside our own organization. Changes we do have control over, and the beauty is, these changes could make a big difference at little cost. Maybe there is a silver lining hidden in the dark financial clouds, because we now have everyone’s attention. Timing is everything, right?

 

For far too long, we have not paid enough attention to the fact that most of our large, game-changing strategic initiatives don’t produce the ROI we and our shareholders expect. I’m not questioning the strategies—this is not about the quality of our solutions. What I am talking about is our lack of accountability through the layers of our organization for the success of these initiatives, and quite frankly, it starts with our Sponsors. As Shakespeare so aptly put it, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves…”

 

Quite simply, as a Sponsor, you are the single most significant factor in whether an initiative is successful, or not, and how quickly we are able to get things done. I know you typically offer your support when we ask for it, but I need three specific actions from you. I need you to: talk the right talk, walk that talk, and reinforce the right walk. If you will Express, Model, and Reinforce the right behaviors with those who report directly to you, and they do the same, we can start a positive chain of Sponsorship that will have a dramatic impact on our success rate. Let’s re-define what we mean by Sponsorship, because it’s not your place on the org chart that counts. It’s actions, not position. We can fix this.

 

The second change is to take a long, hard look at what we call success. We think we are done with a project when we “turn the lights on”—when it is up and running, or when we get to the launch date. True, we have installed the change, but that’s enough. It’s “installation”, but not “implementation”. We are “checking the box” and rushing out to start the next initiative, without getting to Return on Investment. 

 

Is that really success? Are we claiming victory too soon? Whether it’s new technology, Lean, Six Sigma, restructurings—whatever initiatives we are pursuing to improve our competitive advantage, we need to re-define success to mean that we have met all our objectives: business, technical, and human—and the behaviors associated with these objectives must be defined up-front. Our project teams should continue to work through the full implementation cycle, with a project team and funding intact, until we demonstrate Return on Investment.  Given our up-front investment, we shouldn’t settle for less. We can fix this.

 

I’ve already touched on the third major change—Reinforcement. We must have Sponsors at all levels (not just at the top of the organization) providing consequences if we expect to see behaviors change. We can’t make it easy for people to slip back into the old ways, and we can’t make it difficult for people to follow the new ways. If managers are inconsistent or ignore the basic principle of “No reinforcement, no behavior change” we will not get to Return on Investment. This is not about compensation, but it is about consequence management. If we educate Sponsors and managers, and “eat our own cooking” we can fix this too.

 

2009 looks like it will hold challenges for us and for the global economy. It’s re-assuring to know, though, that we do have some control in doing a better job of implementing the strategic changes we need to make to survive the economic storm.