Enlist the Support and Involvement of Key People

Your implementation will go more smoothly if it has the backing and involvement of key people—and not just the CEO and his or her court. It goes without saying that top-level involvement is essential. But it is also necessary to enlist the support of managers and employees whom others respect: individuals with proven technical skills, people with access to vital resources, and the informal leaders to whom people naturally turn for direction and advice when they encounter obstacles. How can you identify these people? Authors Michael Tushman and Charles O’Reilly offer this advice:

Enlisting support entails building an effective team of change makers who can work in unison toward stated goals. But how can you be sure you’ve picked the right people for the team? Here’s a set of questions that will help you know if your team has the right stuff:²

• Are enough of your company’s key players (people in relevant positions of power) members of the team?
• Do members of the team have the relevant expertise to do the job and make intelligent decisions?
• Does the team include the needed range of perspectives and disciplines to do the job and make intelligent decisions?
• Does the team include people with sufficient credibility so that employees and management will treat its decisions seriously?
• Does the team include true leaders?
• Are the team members capable of forgoing their personal interests in favor of the larger organizational goal?

If you answered “yes” to most of these questions, the team guiding the implementation effort is strong and in a good position to succeed. If you said “no” to any questions, it might be a good idea to revisit your team choices. (For more on selecting team members, see “Tips on Who Should Not Be on the Team.”)

Support the Plan with Consistent Behaviors and Messages

Once the need for change has been articulated convincingly and broad support has been enlisted, support must be maintained through a set of consistent behaviors and messages. Inconsistency in either will send a damaging signal—that management is either not serious about implementing the new strategy or unwilling to do its part.

Consider this example: Not many years ago, one of the American Big Three automakers underwent a painful strategic restructuring. Everyone was asked to sacrifice by giving up benefits today in order to achieve greater competitiveness, job security, and prosperity tomorrow. Thousands of middle managers were laid off and the company’s union was asked to forgo pay and benefit increases. Because the company had made a convincing case for change, people got the message and tightened their belts; even the unions pitched in. Within months, however, senior management awarded itself and other key people substantial bonuses and pay increases. Once that inconsistent behavior became public, the bonds of trust between management and the rank and file—and union leaders—evaporated. Collaboration turned to open hostility that simmered for nearly ten years.

At about the same time, a company in another industry was likewise supporting a belt-tightening and restructuring program. But this one did so with highly visible and consistent behaviors from leaders. Its CEO set the pace by selling the corporation’s three jets and taking commercial flights on his travels—in coach class to boot. And no more limos to meet him at the airport. “I don’t mind taking a cab,” he told the business press. “They can get me to where I’m going just as fast.” The company’s other traveling executives followed the lead of their boss. People noticed.

Which of these companies do you suppose was more successful in building support for its change program?

SQA, Herman Miller’s successful low-cost office furniture unit mentioned in an earlier chapter, also used a consistent set of messages to support its strategy of on-time, accurate fulfillment of orders. Everyone understood that this was the unit’s key measure of success. So SQA managers came up with several ways to reinforce that message. For example, every morning they posted the previous day’s percentage of on-time orders at every entrance to the plant. It was impossible to enter or leave without knowing these figures. They also added the latest on-time order statistic to every internal e-mail message. “Yesterday’s percentage of on-time accurately filled orders was 99.2 percent.” The vice president of operations even adopted the practice of randomly asking employees if they knew the previous day’s performance score. A correct answer was rewarded with either a crisp $100 bill or a day off with full pay.

What messages or behaviors would be consistent with the implementation program at your company?

Develop Enabling Structures

Enabling structures are the activities and programs that underpin successful implementation and are a critical part of the overall plan. Such structures include pilot programs, training, and reward systems.

Pilot programs give people opportunities to grapple with implementation and its problems on a smaller, more manageable scale. They are test beds in which implementers can experiment with and de-bug initiatives before rolling them out more broadly. These programs can be valuable proving grounds, since it’s almost always easier and less risky to change a single department than an entire company.

Training programs can hold equal value. Motorola and General Electric developed formal training programs that served as key enablers for the quality strategies adopted by these companies. Xerox did the same when it set up its companywide benchmarking program in the mid-1980s. Every Xerox employee received a copy of “the little yellow book,” as they called the company’s how-to manual on benchmarking methods, and skilled trainers were placed in almost every operating unit of the company.

Reward systems also play an enabling role. People generally adopt behaviors that produce rewards, and abandon those that are not rewarded. Thus, if your action plan asks people to either work harder, work smarter, or work in new ways, your reward system must be aligned with those desired behaviors. The details and pitfalls of crafting incentive programs are complex and situationally determined. Thus, they need to be crafted within the context of each organization. Here are some questions to ask as you consider setting up enabling structures:

• Can you find a place for pilot programs in your strategy implementation?
• What training, if any, is appropriate before you move forward with action plans?
• Is employee behavior aligned with action plans through rewards?

Celebrate Milestones

Strategy implementation can be a long and frustrating road. People are bound to grow tired or lose interest if positive actions are not taken to keep up their spirits and energy. You can keep people fired up if you identify milestones—even small ones—and celebrate them as they are achieved. (See “Tips for Celebrating Short-Term Wins.”) Celebrating a series of short-term wins can:

• neutralize skepticism about the strategy and implementation efforts;
• provide evidence that peoples’ sacrifices and hard work are paying off;
• help retain support;
• keep up the momentum; and
• boost morale.

There is a fine line between celebrating a successful milestone and making a premature declaration of victory. Crossing that line could dissipate the sense of urgency you need to keep people motivated and moving on toward future hurdles. John Kotter, who lists “declaring victory too soon” among the reasons that transformation efforts fail, says that both change initiators and change resisters have reasons for making this mistake. “In their enthusiasm over a clear sign of progress,” he writes, “the initiators go overboard. They are then joined by [resisters], who are quick to point out any opportunity to stop change.... [The resisters] point to the victory as a sign that the war has been won and the troops should be sent home.”³ Catastrophe follows if the weary troops accept this argument and go back to their usual activities.

So instead of declaring victory, use the credibility and momentum gained from your short-term win to muster an attack on the next milestone.

Communicate Relentlessly

Communication is the most important implementation tool available to management. They must use communication to make clear:

• what the strategy is;
• why the strategy is important;
• how effective implementation will benefit the company and employees; and
• what role each person will play in implementing the strategy.

These four points should form the core of the CEO’s pep talk to managers and employees. And they should be the core of every manager’s communication to direct reports and their subordinates.

Communication is an effective tool for motivating employees, for overcoming resistance, for preparing people for the pluses and minuses of change, and for giving employees a personal stake in strategy implementation. Effective communication can set the tone for the difficult work ahead and is critical to implementation from the very start. But don’t rely on a single Big Bang announcement to keep employees in line with the effort. Communication must be ongoing.

Here are some tips for communicating during a change effort:⁴

1. Specify the nature of the new strategy and the results you aim for. Slogans, themes, and phrases don’t define what the strategy is expected to achieve. Communicate specific information about how the new strategy will affect customer satisfaction, quality, market share or sales, or productivity.
2. Explain why. Employees are often left in the dark about the business reasons behind a strategy change. You may have spent lots of time studying the problem and digging out the facts, but your coworkers aren’t privy to that information. In addition, share with employees the various options available and why one is better than the others.
3. Explain the scope of the strategy change, even if it contains bad news. Some people will be more affected than others. And that leads to lots of fear-generating speculation. Fear and uncertainty can paralyze a company. You can short-circuit fear and uncertainty with the facts. But don’t sugarcoat them. If people will be laid off, be up-front about it. If others will need training, say so. Also explain the things that will not change. This will help anchor people.
4. Develop a graphic representation of the implementation action plan that people can understand and hold in their heads. It might be a flow chart of what must happen, or a graphic image of what the changed enterprise will look like. Whatever it is, keep it clear, simple, and memorable.
5. Predict the negative aspects of implementation. There are bound to be negatives, and people should anticipate them. These include hard work, changes in assignments, and frustrating problems. If you prepare people for these eventualities, they will take them in stride.
6. Explain the criteria for success and how it will be measured. Define success clearly, and devise metrics for progress toward it. These are part of your action plan. If you fail to establish clear measures for what you aim to accomplish, how will people know if they are moving forward or in the right direction? Measure progress as you move forward—and then communicate that progress.
7. Explain how people will be rewarded for success. As stated elsewhere, people need incentives for the added work and disruptions that change requires. Be very clear about how individuals will be rewarded for progress toward implementation goals.
8. Repeat, repeat, and repeat the purpose of change and actions planned. If the initial announcement doesn’t generate questions, do not assume that employees accept the need for change—they may simply be surprised, puzzled, or shocked. So follow up your initial announcement meeting with another meeting. Follow this with communications that address individual aspects of the change project.
9. Use a diverse set of communication styles. Some people are most receptive to the printed word, or to flow charts. Others respond best to stand-up presentations. Since every audience contains people with different learning styles, provide a mix of mediums—a dedicated newsletter, events, e-mails, and stand-up presentations—to keep people informed, involved, and keyed up. These communications should be honest about successes and failures. If people lose trust in what they are hearing, they will tune you out.
10. Make communication a two-way proposition. Remember that strategy implementation is a shared enterprise. So spend at least as much time listening as telling. Your attention to this point will help keep others involved and motivated. Leaders need feedback, and the hardworking implementers need opportunities to share their learning and their concerns with leaders who listen.
11. Be consistent. If you’re the boss, people will have their eyes on you. They will listen to your words, but will also look for inconsistencies between your words and what you communicate through body language and behavior. Do you speak and act with genuine enthusiasm? Do your tone and manner signal confidence in the implementation project, or do you appear to be going through the motions? Try to see yourself as others see you.

In the end, the people side of implementation should be the most important concern of managers. Without employee commitment and hard work, action plans are wasted paper.

Summing Up

• Get the right people involved in implementation. These should include individuals with proven technical skills, people with access to vital resources, and the informal leaders to whom people naturally turn for direction and advice when they encounter obstacles.
• Keep people with big egos, too little time, and no enthusiasm, as well as troublemakers, off the implementation team.
• Be consistent in your behavior and messages. Don’t ask people to make sacrifices on behalf of the new strategy if you, as a leader, are not willing to make them yourself.
• Successful implementation is supported by enabling structures: pilot programs, training, and reward systems.
• Celebrate as you achieve important milestones. Doing so will help maintain momentum, support, and morale.
• Don’t declare victory too early.
• Keep up a steady level of communication. Remind people about the nature of the strategy, why it’s important, how it will benefit employees and the company, and the roles they are expected to play.
• Be open to communication from others.