Herding Sacred Cows How To Lead Successful Change

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Herding Sacred Cows How To Lead Successful
Change and Stay Ahead of the Competition
Stephen Quesnelle and Geoff Smith - Sacred Cow
Company -
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Change

• The only person who enjoys change is a wet baby
• Change is goodyou go first
• The only thing that remains constant is change

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Agenda

• The Mitel case study Heyday to Mayday
• Where Sacred Cows come from
• Reading the brands on sacred cows by identifying
  trends
• Tips for HR professionals
• Selecting a change program that leads change with
  employees rather than at them
• Leading change in difficult economic times
• QA

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Mitel A Real Case Study

• The Mitel story
• The boom years..the up
• The near death experience
• The plateauthe down
• Things had to change
• Threats to our Core Business
• Quality and Time To Market focus
• Attacking the Organizational Immune System
• How OD provided new energy and insights to the
  organization
• The Result
• 2MM to 80MM in two years

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Sacred CowsA Definition
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The Current Environment

• We are at the end of an 8 year bull run
• This recession has killed, and will continue to
  kill, companies who try to keep operating the
  same way.
• (Circuit City, Chrysler, Quebecor, Canadian
  Superior, Air Canada, Nortel)
• Bad practices, broken processes and poor
  performers are more likely to be hidden in boom
  times
• In time of drought the fat cows stand out

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The Organizational Immune System
TM

• The Organizational Immune System is the enforcer
  of current culture
• The Organizational Immune System grows slowly
  over time and is entirely self-serving. It is the
  Organizational Immune System that will have
  employees rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
  Organization culture is not a detractor to
  change it is the Organizational Immune System
  that keeps the current culture from changing.

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Where Sacred Cows Come From

• Slow evolving businesses or industries
• Bifurcations bring out the cows
• Fax Teletype and taxis
• E-mail Canada post and US Presidents
• The ups and downs of business cycles
• Ups breed feed the cows (growth, focus,
  accountability)
• Down times expose (and can anoint) the cows
• Culture clash
• Bad marriage mergers

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Reading Brands on Sacred Cows

• Innocent Cow
• Its not my fault / my job
• Naked Emperor Cow
• Your data is wrong everything is fine
• Fat Cow
• Its only company money
• Customer Focus Cow
• The customer is wrong / I am an artist
• The Royalty Cow
• Our department is important here
• The Dictator Cow
• I am in charge here. Turn your brain off and do
  as I say

You know that you have a case of the Cows when
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Performance Management Assessment Grid
How many people here use this kind of performance
management grid?
WHAT
HOW
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Organizational Assessment
Customer Focus Cow Royalty Cow Dictator Cow
Tough
HIGH PERFORMING
Business Results
Innocent Cow Naked Emperor Cow Fat Cow
Bankrupt
Nice
People Practices
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Organizational Assessment
HIGH PERFORMING

Results
Tough
Business Results
Bankrupt
Nice
People Practices
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Organizational Assessment
HIGH PERFORMING

Results
Tough
Business Results

Support, Tools, Positive Reinforcement
People Practices
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Organizational Assessment
HIGH PERFORMING

Results
Business Results

Nice
Accountability
People Practices
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The Change Role for HR Professionals

• The Strategic Business Partner / The Voice of
  Truth
• Organizational diagnostics / data
• Leading change from the front lines vs from staff
  roles or support functions
• Leadership development programs
• Creating a culture of feedback

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Tips for HR Professionals

• HR the keeper of
• Compensation, recognition and reward systems
• Performance management systems
• Leadership development programs
• Employee surveys, exit interviews

The closer the feedback or consequence occurs
after the behaviour, the greater the influence on
the behaviour
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Making Change Herding the Sacred Cows

• Our Framework For Change
• Leadership Readiness
• Organizational Diagnostics
• Behavior Change Events
• Sustainability

Its far easier to make change with people
rather than at them
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Making Change Herding the Sacred Cows

• Our Framework For Change
• 1. Leadership Readiness
• Focus on key business results
• Leading change from the front lines
• Prepared to go the distance
• Organizational Diagnostics
• Behavior Change Events
• Sustainability

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Making Change Herding the Sacred Cows

• Our Framework For Change
• 1. Leadership Readiness
• 2. Organizational Diagnostics
• Top down and bottom up
• Voice of customer
• Leading and lagging data
• Behavior Change Events
• Sustainability

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Making Change Herding the Sacred Cows

• Our Framework For Change
• 1. Leadership Readiness
• 2. Organizational Diagnostics
• 3. Behavior Change Events
• Deflect resistance to change Frogs
• Big picture to first steps
• Give direction, tools and measures
• Sustainability

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Making Change Herding the Sacred Cows

• Our Framework For Change
• 1. Leadership Readiness
• 2. Organizational Diagnostics
• 3. Behavior Change Events
• 4. Sustainability Change Behaviour
• Clear roadblocks
• Say something
• Follow the score

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PRESTO! Change Happens

• Parallel
• Reason
• Expectations
• Skills
• Tools
• Outcomes

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Leading Change in Difficult Economic Times

• Capitalize on momentum for change
• Begin with data
• Find a line champion
• Parallel Deflect the pain of change
• Make the case for change The big picture
• Call a cow a cow
• Pick your battles search for the 1 -3 big rocks
• Pick key behaviours select the 1 3 levers
• Turn your employees loose on the cows
• Recognize, reinforce and support employees

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QA
Geoff Smith gsmith_at_sacredcowcompany.com (613)
868-9145 Steve Quesnelle squesnelle_at_sacredcowcomp
any.com [phone]