What People Are Saying…
“Rick is an exceptional educator, facilitator, writer and intervener in human systems, and he brings considerable intellect, competence and compassion to his work. I greatly admire Rick and recommend him with complete confidence.”
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Teleos Leadership Institute
Author Archives: admin
How to Build Support for Change During the 11th Hour
This post is an unproofed work in progress. I welcome your input. How to Build Support for Change During the 11th Hour You may find yourself months into a project and realize that this major change is slowing to a …
Good People, Bad Customer Service
Good People, Bad Customer Service I switched my phone line to digital. What a mistake that was. I was without phone service for a full business day. But that day waiting and the talking with phone company representatives gave me …
Recent Research on Change Management Success Rates
Recent Research on Change Management Success Rates Very good blog post from Management Issues blog on research in the UK branch of Towers Watson. Here was my comment to them: Thanks for a very good post. When I started writing …
Saatchi & Saatchi CEO’s Emotional and Provocative Speech
Saatchi & Saatchi CEO’s Emotional and Provocative Speech I love articles that make me think and react.I encourage you to read the article “Marketing is dead” in The Drum. The article covers a speech made by Kevin Roberts, CEO of …
Get the Boss to Embrace Your Ideas
Get the Boss to Embrace Your Ideas Sarah Murray’s fine article Get the Boss to Embrace Your Innovation in 4/23/12 Financial Times got me thinking about the question implied in that title. Here is my comment on that site. Breaking …
Bad Media Training and What You Can Learn From It
Dan Janal, an expert on working with the media, just published the following in his newsletter. I like the way he takes what politicians do as a guide to what we should avoid. If you need to communicate with others …
Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent (thanks to Forbes blog)
Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent Very good list on the Forbes blog that addresses: Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent Here was my suggestion to readers of …
Leading Change and Supreme Court Arguments
Leading Change and Supreme Court Arguments I began this post on my new Facebook site, www.facebook.com/rickmaureronchange. Here is a longer version. (BTW, I hope you will join me there at this new site.) A fine NY Times article (3/30/12) on …
The Challenge of Merger Integration
The Challenge of Merger Integration The Point (a blog) posted an interesting piece that lists the number of mergers in big pharma over the past few years. It’a a big number. The post discusses the risks of merger integration. it …
New and Improved Change Management Resource
New and Improved Change Management Resource In 2009, I started the Change Management Open Source Project, a place where people could come together to talk about change in organizations. As of this morning there are 1001 members from well over …
What Limits Innovation and Why It Is So Hard to Change Those Things
What Limits Innovation and Why It Is So Hard to Change Those Things Robert Tanner posted Ten Organizational Practices That Limit Innovation. I like the list. Here is my comment to him. Robert – I like the list of ten …
Forget About the Stages of Death and Dying They Are Wrong and a Distraction
Forget About the Stages of Death and Dying They Are Wrong and a Distraction I am tired of hearing Kubler-Ross’ stages of grieving (or stages of death and dying) used to explain why people resist large organizational changes. The model …
Change Management: Is Star Trek’s Data the Patron Saint of Corporate Change?
My friend Michale Broom just published a fine post #3 of Eight Disciplines for Planned Change. He talks about the type of communication needed in order to communicate change. I think he wisely included a photo of Star Trek’s Data …
And They All Went Woof!
And They All Went Woof! I just saw a wonderful Charles Barsotti cartoon in an old New Yorker. Two ducks, a pig, a fish, and a cat sit at a conference table. Each, in turn says “woof.” The dog at …
Medical Emergencies, Spring Training, and Organizational Change
Medical Emergencies, Spring Training, and Organizational Change As I waited for my dental appointment this morning, another patient had a seizure which resulted in a local EMT team taking him to a hospital. My dentist told me that something like …
The Risks of Outsourcing SAP Support
The Risks of Outsourcing SAP Support I just came across a thoughtful blog post on the risks inherent in outsourcing SAP (or any other ERP software implementation). The points he raises are worth considering as you consider outsourcing or as …
The Limits of Employee Surveys
The Limits of Employee Surveys Just read a blog post in favor of employee surveys. Mega World blog I agree, but they are often so bloated and forgotten. Here are my comments. I like employee surveys too if a few …
An Optimistic Note: It is possible to overcome gridlock
A Rare Example of Bipartisanship is an important article by David Ignatius in The Washington Post on how cooperation is possible even in the most gridlocked situations. According to Ignatius, the House Intelligence Committee “used to be one of the …
Merit Pay and Performance
“. . .one noted voice cries, “It Doesn’t Work.” Lyndsey Layton wrote a fine article in this morning’s The Washington Post about Daniel Pink’s view on merit pay for teachers. (he is the author of Drive and other books.) …
Leading Change: How to prepare your team for change
How to prepare your team for change – what are the common challenges/issues that your team will encounter and how can they get beyond them I am preparing to work with a couple of teams that are facing a year …
Personal Change Correction
The link to Martha Johnson’s Musing Along the Way site was incorrect. Sorry. (I did correct it in the previous post.) I hope you’ll take a look at her poetry. Thanks. – Rick Related Blogs
On Personal Change
Martha Johnson is one of the first people I got to know when I started consulting back in the late 1970s. I learned a lot from her and got lots of encouragement from her along the way (still do as …
Flopping Over the Goal Line
Flopping Over the Goal Line With seconds to play in the 2012 Super Bowl, the New England Patriots decided to allow the NY Giants to score which would give them a 21 to 17 lead. But this would give New …
Change Management Resources : How to Make a Compelling Case for Change
Change Management Resources : How to Make a Compelling Case for Change Making a compelling case for change is the most important point in the life of a change — and the most neglected. Making a case is not just …
20 Signs of an Unhappy Workforce
20 Signs of an Unhappy Workforce Interesting post in the ASSIEM blog of 20 signs that signal unhappy workers. I wouldn’t take the list at face value (see my reply to that post below) but it sure is a good …
Positive Feedback and Change
I just responded to a post in which the author mentioned how much his son’s sticky note about him being a great dad meant to him. Here is my reply: You sticky note story reminded of when I attempted to …
Change Management: It’s Still Why Before How
Change Management: It’s Still Why Before How I was taking part in a conversation on LEAN. Someone posed the question about what incentives people needed in order to support LEAN (a waste reduction process). As I read through the thoughtful …
How to Get Rid of Wasted Effort, Scope Creep, and Lukewarm Productivity in 2012
How to Get Rid of Wasted Effort, Scope Creep, and Lukewarm Productivity in 2012 My prediction for the new year: Your organization will initiate many major changes with considerable hope and fanfare. But, by the end of the year, most …
Woody Guthrie New Years Rulin’s
Woody Guthrie New Years Rulin’s In spite of my aversion to resolutions that must begin on January 1, I love this list written by Woody Guthrie in 1942. “Wash teeth, if any” being my favorite.
How to Subvert the Feedback Process
How to Subvert the Feedback Process I just completed a survey asking about my experience buying a new car. I think I hated filling it out worse than I hated actually buying the car. The salesperson was very good. No …
A Simple 10-Minute Productivity Tool (Really)
A Simple 10-Minute Productivity Tool (Really) I am not big on resolutions. Exercise facilities will be jammed from January 2 until February 15 or thereabouts, and then only the regulars will remain. For most the resolutions to lose weight, etc. …
Change Management – The Ninth Waste in Lean Six Sigma
The Ninth Waste in Lean Six Sigma Majdi Alhman posed a fascinating question in the Lean Six Sigma Forum on LinkedIn: what is the ninth waste (in lean Six Sigma)? You might have thought that he would have received a …
Consultant’s Should Not Lead Change for Their Clients
Consultant’s Should Not Lead Change for their Clients I don’t think it is the consultant’s job to bring change to our clients’ organizations. It’s their organizations, so they get to decide. The decision to change or not change is a …
Financial Performance and Organizational Identification
(This first part of this went out in my newsletter this morning, and then I cam across the research on employee engagement.) They go hand-in-hand. (Photo of Matthew Lesko. Gawker.com) Probably no surprise, but employees that identify with their organizations …
What Doesn’t Motivate People
An article in Inc. 9 Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money got me riled up. Sounded like the writer once worked for a boss who was really good with people, but some of the lessons learned were baffling. Here …
Making Change the Norm
I just responded to the Lean IT blog. The author made four succinct points. I responded to the one that read: 3. Organizations should establish a culture of change where changes are both scheduled, expected, and managed. In other words, …
Applying Keller and Price’s 5 Questions on Leading Change
Scott Keller and Colin Price wrote a very good blog post Five Questions That Should Shape Any Change Program for Harvard Business Review blog. It’s well worth reading. I won’t repeat what they say in their post, but here’s what …
The Danger of Missing the Subltety of Kotter’s Leading Change
Recently, I have been reading lots of blogs on change. Some are great and get me thinking. I love those. Many others just list John Kotter’s eight steps. These blog authors add no value. How have they applied these steps? …
Don’t Shoot – Lessons on Leading Change
Don’t Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America (David Kennedy. Bloomsbury USA. 2011) is a powerful and important book. Harvard researcher, David Kennedy wondered why our approaches to dealing with gang violence were …