Change Isn't Hard
The Wrong Change Is
Landwave Change Management Services
The professional story of change I tell is the experience of planned changes in capacity and capability. I see too much degradation of both alongside the gains. I see too much change for the wrong reasons, draining the enthusiasm and investment people make in enterprises. Along the way, we lose capacity to address our long run problems.
Existence is sometimes messy, and much change unavoidable. Thriving is even more so. My firm supports the changes organizations choose to make for better delivery, better experiences and better futures.
What's The Point?
Change Objectives
This list seems almost absurdly obvious. Yet change programs fall short. These are plain language versions of the objectives you should demand in any of your change programs.
Make Sensible Change
Stop changing your organization because of fear. Stop over-reacting. Instead, stay on top of your mission. Adjust your delivery strategy, adapt, be nimble, because it makes sense. Not because the winds are from the East today.
Make Effective Change
Attend to the leverage in your situation, not just the edge effects.
Make Better Change
Change demands attention and resources. Don't let it exhaust you. Have enough resources, enough energy, enough power, to do it well and to have the outcome leave you operating with noticeable ease, excess resources and improved capability.
Come out of the change process refreshed and invigorated, ready to deliver better.
After all, isn’t that the point?
Getting There
Redraw Your Maps
When people mention change, blobs of uncertainty come to mind. Anxiety and resistance often ensue, slowing or stopping the program. We overcome this barrier by generating specific narratives and illustrations of the entire life cycle of the project. Together we build the emerging picture of life after change. Clarity and engagement replace uncertainty.
Change Management With A Twist: You
We accomplish this with what seems a special twist in this business: you. We find it remarkable so many clients have the experience of feeling outside, or out of control, of their change projects. How can that be? You own the entire thing? We demand your involvement.
While we may have insight, expertise and experience with your problems, only you and you teams can say whether certain approaches will work. Everyone affected contributes to the analysis, design and execution of change. Robust discussion and review of deliverables gets the right problems solved with energy and enthusiasm left over.
Basic Logic
Landwave approaches change like we approach any project. For instance, building design and construction is a type of change project. In our view, your efforts can be broken into manageable, sequential actions. A jargon free version of those actions might sound like this:
LISTEN As a change leader you live a paradox: decide the course and trust your people. You can't do one without the other. You have to listen in both cases.
OBSERVE There is no substitute for witnessing and experiencing your customers dilemma or the methods of your workforce.
IMAGINE There's more than one way to get things done. Use scenarios to design and test fresh possibilities.
CHOOSE Select the path to make change investments worthwhile, reliable and durable.
PREPARE Make sensible plans that can be pulled off. Engage everyone involved in advance to execute well.
DEPLOY if delivery is King, then make it a good king. Build quality and make sure everyone has what they need to make the outcomes you seek.
Getting Help
Working With Landwave
My role is most often as principal or senior analyst responsible for conceiving, designing and quality assuring programs. I am also a subject matter expert in general design, information design, experience design and facilities design.
My Teams include specialists in organizational development, analysis, project management, communications, human resources, statistical anaysis, information design, software, electrical, mechanical, structural engineering to name a few. I act as lead project manager when my team is active on your projects. Otherwise I keep them entertained with stories about, well, anything. You can hire them directly. They're all independent. I don't really care as long as you get awesome results.
Contract Arrangements In general I subcontract to prime information technology, management consulting, design, construction/fabrication firms or educational institutions.
Pricing and scheduling for change management assignments is highly variable. I build detailed proposals to establish specific responsibilities and outcomes. We build in accepted practices to manage costs, schedule and scope.
PACKAGES in change management are tempting but unreliable. Change management is mercurial, so neat and tidy cost and schedule packages are harder to establish.
Instead I offer 90-day retainer packages for you to test drive my services. This allows sufficient time to get fresh insights on your issues, formulate responses and establish the tone of our working relationship. If a solution doesn't emerge or we just don't like each other, you still come out ahead. For the cost of my fees you get a second independent opinion and a range of options on your issues.
They Did
Landwave Change Stories
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500 Offices That Count
- When people are counting fast, deployment matters. Change at the Census
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Stop Talking In Circles
- Diligence at work, chasing down the real problems. Headquarters Information Change
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What Stuff?
- The Perils of Asset Management. A story of change management planning in progress.
- More ...
Will They, I Wonder?
Landwave's Wish List
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Zero Emissions Buildings
- A tug of war over the technically feasible. Who has the real leverage?