Overall Professional Speaking Goal
The slide above helps audiences understand my overall goal in my professional speaking program. We are ALL facing unprecedented change in our world. I am honored that my career in change management puts me in such as strong position to help.
The Effectiveness Foundation
One of my most popular "Tools from the Trenches" is the Effectiveness Foundation. Effective organizations understand this model. One reason why organizations struggle with effectiveness is because they lack key foundation activities and competencies which do not DIRECTLY produce money. Like the professional sports team who makes winning look easy because of just the right training and planning, a high performance organization knows how to efficiently put the right foundation elements into place
The Process Development Curve
When I start an engagement with a particular organization, I find it essential to agree, "Where are we?" Different perspectives on maturity level and therefore disparate agendas create wheel spin and distract from solid forward momentum. One agreement consolidation approach is to identify the current location on an evolution curve. It allows everyone to face the facts and agree the all important next logical step.
The Chain of Success
Most change efforts fail! I have spent my career diagnosing "why?" and developing counter measures. Fail on ANY single major project component and the entire effort will create ZERO value! We all know about the process which was designed well but lacked management support and therefore died. Like any chain, the "Chain of Success" relies on the strength of EACH of it’s links in order to hold a project together. Fail to strengthen any "paper mache" link and you are wasting time on the others. Build a favorite link out of titanium and you are also wasting resources. The art is to balance the overall chain by building solid links across the chain.
Heavy Handle Project Syndrome
The Heavy Handle Project Syndrome is a resonant favorite and always has audiences exclaiming "That is so true!" The analogy explains that many project cycles are like a single crank of a very heavy handle. The projects are easy to start and infinitely harder to finish. Agreeing that there is a disciplined follow through phase at the end of the project is interesting but reinforcing a strong finish is were value is added. I explain the Heavy Handle syndrome when I kick off projects and set everyone's sights on finishing strong. Also, when I explain to management what it means to "Sponsor a project," this theory helps them focus on supporting a strong follow-through.