Published by Pearson FT Press (December 15, 2015) © 2016
Robert Miles | Michael KanazawaProduct Information
A PROVEN, NO-NONSENSE, STEP-BY-STEP, RESULTS-DRIVEN APPROACH TO DRIVING CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION AND BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE IN A DISRUPTIVE WORLD
Why do most corporate transformation leaders fail to achieve breakthrough performance? They make things too complex. They clutter it with jargon and confusion. They pancake new initiatives on top of old ones. They dither on the launch pad. They chase too many fads. And they fail to make it “safe” for leaders to lead the transformation at their own level. In short, they don’t have a reliable corporate transformation game plan.
Whatever your corporate transformation challenge, whatever your role, Robert H. Miles and Michael T. Kanazawa introduce a simple, proven, results-driven approach that has underpinned some of the most successful corporate transformations of our time. Drawing on their experience as principal process architects working with dozens of CEOs and executive teams, and hundreds of senior executives and staff professionals, they show you how to develop a compelling and potent corporate transformation game plan that enables you to align your organization behind just a few core initiatives; bias your people toward speed; create leaders at every level; integrate in new “disruptive” tools to accelerate progress; and achieve traction and accountability in all phases of execution.
Whether you’re a new CEO taking charge to transform your company, an executive redirecting a major business or function, or one of the hundreds of managers and thousands of employees trying to make sense of a transformation and contribute to it, this book will help you decipher the complexity, find your place on the transformation roadmap, and ensure that the effort rapidly reaches its intended breakthrough results.
A PROVEN, STEP-BY-STEP ROADMAP FOR TRANSFORMATION LEADERS — FAST, SIMPLE, AND COMPRESSED
Corporate transformation and breakthrough performance without the confusion and complexity
GEARED TO RAPIDLY ENGAGE THE FULL ORGANIZATION
To equip leaders at all levels to lead your transformation in an aligned and engaging manner
FOCUSES EVERYONE ON “DOING MORE ON LESS”
Generates focused execution and avoid layering initiative upon initiative to conquer organizational gridlock
DESIGNED TO “DISRUPT” HOW TRADITIONAL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMS ARE DONE
Introduces disruptive transformation competencies that drive innovation, growth, and a new way of activating change
Corporate transformation is tough work, but extraordinarily rewarding for all involved when led successfully. Somebody’s got to do it, and do it well. What if that someone happens to be you? Where will you start? How will you frame your transformation game plan and lay out its roadmap? What will you do first, and who will you engage when in the enterprise? How will you keep it alive after the early excitement? And how will you make it part of your management process so that it can become a reliable core competency for rising to the increasing rate of disruptive transformation challenges facing your company?
Now there’s a breakthrough methodology to enable CEOs and executive leaders to rise to these corporate transformation challenges.
Preface xvii
Chapter 1: Accelerated Corporate Transformation: The Foundations 1
Tactical Is Not Transformative 4
Get Your ACT Together 7
Make Transformation a Simple Routine 11
The ACT Basics: Powerfully Simple 12
Creating Safe Passage—A Clear Transformation Process 15
This Is Not a New Religion, Just a Better Way of Managing the Business 18
Tips for Planning an Accelerated Corporate Transformation 19
Endnotes 20
Chapter 2: Structuring Your Transformation Launch 21
Imprinting Your Organization 21
Structuring Rapid Transformations 22
The No-Slack Launch 23
Launch Speed = Simplicity × Compression 26
The In-Between Work 29
Devil in the Meeting Details 30
Transformation Initiative Co-Champion Structure 32
Quick Starts 36
Tips for Structuring Your Transformation Launch 39
Endnotes 40
Chapter 3: Crafting Your Launch Process 41
Confronting Today’s Reality 42
About the Emperor’s Clothes 44
Dialogue Versus Discussion 45
Generating Dialogue as a Leader 47
Priming the Pump 49
Canary in a Coal Mine 50
How Tablework and Structured Dialogue Work 54
Creating Safe Passage 60
Tips for Crafting Your Transformation Launch Process 62
Endnotes 63
Chapter 4: The Focus Phase 65
Gridlock and the Task Overload Epidemic 66
Best Intentions in Big Box Retail 67
Undermining Accountability and Customer Loyalty 69
Busting Through Gridlock 69
The Leader’s Challenge: “Doing More ON Less” 70
Sharpening the Transformation Arrow 70
A One-Page View of the Future 72
Articulating a Purpose 74
Creating a Strategic Vision 76
Distilling the Business Success Model 79
Due Diligence on Yourself 80
Transformation Initiatives: The “Hows” 84
Triage to Three Corporate Initiatives 85
Tips for Orchestrating the Focus Phase 88
Building the Transformation Arrow 88
Endnotes 89
Chapter 5: The Align Phase 91
Absolute Alignment 92
Individual Commitments to Action 92
Alignment of Commitments Across “Silos” 94
Where Should Lightning Strike? 95
Alignment of Values 97
The Values-Performance Nexus 100
Structuring Widespread Commitment 101
The First “Stop Doing” Pause 103
Put Your Money Where Your Game Plan Is 105
The Bottom Line on Alignment 106
Gut Check on Commitment 109
Tips for Simplifying the Align Phase 109
Endnotes 110
Chapter 6: The Engage Phase 111
Rapidly Engaging the Full Organization 111
It’s All About Engagement 112
Quantum Leaps 113
“Back in Black” Friday 114
Employee Engagement Is Not Barbeque 115
Spreading High Engagement 116
Critical Importance of Dialogue 118
Hear It from My Boss 118
The Rapid, High-Engagement, All-Employee Cascade 120
The Transformation Engine 123
The Employee Supercharger 124
The Leader-Led Double Loop 130
Employee Responses to High Engagement in Transformation 131
Follow-Through on Execution and Learning 133
Cascade as Transformation Accelerator 134
Cascade as Trojan Horse 134
Overcoming the “Buts” 135
Tips for Cascading the Engage Phase 137
Endnotes 137
Chapter 7: The Execution Phase 139
Over the Hump and Into the Slump 139
Hump #1: The Post Launch Blues 142
Ballast and Keel 144
Company-wide Transformation Initiative Teams 145
Execution “Oversight” 147
Quarterly Leadership Checkpoints 148
Hump #2: Midcourse Overconfidence 150
The Process Is Not a One-Time Overlay 151
Midcourse Assessment 152
Mini-Cascades 153
Hump #3: Presumption of Perpetual Motion 158
Launching Year 2 158
Oh Right, the Behaviors.. 162
You Don’t Get to Relax 163
Plan to Punctuate the Equilibrium Regularly 164
Tips for Overcoming Predictable Execution Humps 165
Endnotes 166
Chapter 8: Perspectives on Speed and Outside-In 167
Speed Is the New Management Discipline 167
Get the Train Moving, Now 167
Benefits of Productive Speed 170
All Aboard at Internet Speed 172
The Discipline of Productive Speed 176
The Outside-In Perspective 176
On the Outside Looking In 177
Send Employees Out 178
Talk with Customers and Noncustomers 180
You Are Here: Map the Market 182
Tips for Incorporating Speed and Outside-In Perspectives 187
Endnotes 187
Chapter 9: Building Transformation Traction 189
Building Traction Through Transformational Leadership 189
Commit with Confidence, Publicly 190
Simple Closed-Loop Accountability 191
Promises Versus Declarations 196
Shoot for the Moon—Drive Innovation 197
Above and Below the Waterline 200
Don’t Get Overly Fixated on the Dashboard 201
Ground Truth: The Real Results 203
Misguided Incentives 206
The Process Support Team 208
Performance Coaching 209
Tips for Building Corporate Transformation Traction 211
Endnotes 211
Chapter 10: Disruptive Innovation in Transformation 213
Purpose-Infused Transformation: The Three I’s 215
Design-Centered Strategic Thinking 217
Enterprise Social Media and Wisdom-of-the-Crowd 220
Agile Business Innovation 224
Tips for Leveraging Disruptive Transformation Methodologies 226
Endnotes 227
Chapter 11: Are You Up to the Challenge? 229
White-Hot Commitment of the Leader 229
Change the People, or Change the People 231
You Don’t Have All the Answers (And Nobody Expects You To) 235
Get Real 237
Go for It! 238
About the Authors 241
Index 245