Only Dead Fish

The Role of Short-Term Wins in Organisational Change

I'm a big fan of the value of short-term wins in helping to support, and generate momentum for, change in companies. In Leading Change, John Kotter has a pithy summary of why they work. The role of short-term wins:, he says, is to (and I quote):

• Provide evidence that sacrifices are worth it: Wins greatly help justify the short-term costs involved
• Reward change agents with a pat on the back: After a lot of hard work, positive feedback builds morale and motivation
• Help fine-tune vision and strategies: Short-term wins give the guiding coalition concrete data on the viability of their ideas
• Undermine cynics and self-serving resisters: Clear improvements in performance make it difficult for people to block needed change.
• Keep bosses on board: Provides those higher in the hierarchy with evidence that the transformation is on track.
• Build momentum: Turns neutrals into supporters, reluctant supporters into active helpers, 

He goes on to say that a good short-term win needs to be visible (so that large numbers of people can see for themselves whether the result is real or just hype), unambiguous (so there can be little argument over it) and clearly related to the change effort (so the context is clear). Significant issues can occur when a change programme does not systematically plan for the creation of short-term wins.

Makes a whole bunch of sense.

The Difference Between Management and Leadership

Reading John Kotter's 'Leading Change', he makes the point that many organisations conflate management with leadership, yet they are far from being the same thing:

"Management makes a system work. It helps you do what you know how to do. Leadership builds systems or transforms old ones."

...and...

"Management is a set of processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly. The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, controlling, and problem solving. Leadership is a set of processes that creates organizations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances. Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles."

In the context of organisational change and transformation, most of us think about 'managing change', when what is really needed is the ability to lead change. An important difference.

This Week's Favourite Fraggl Links

Here are my favourite links from this week curated by Fraggl:

• An excellent profile piece on Jonathan Ive in the New Yorker which is well worth the read (I never realised that he had some influence over the design of the Star Wars light sabres)
• Inside the New York Times Instagram strategy (good piece, but can you really have an 'Instagram Strategy'?)
• An excellent reading list from Undercurrent. Lots of good stuff in here
• Ben Thompson with a good take on where Microsoft are at now with their cloud offering
• Vint Cerf on how material including historical documents could be lost forever because programs to view them will become defunct

And of-course you can sign up to Fraggl here.

Coming to Australia

I'm posting this somewhat later than intended (it's been one of those weeks) but I'll be coming over to Sydney next week for meetings and to begin the planning for an exciting (but for now secret-squirrel) work-related project. I'm always keen to meet ODF readers and subscribers when I travel so if you're in Sydney and would like to catch up over a coffee do drop me note.

This Week's Favourite Fraggl Links

Here are my favourite links from this week curated by Fraggl:

• FastCompany's annual look at the world's most innovative companies is as good as ever. I particularly liked the design, advertising and marketing, and the Africa lists
• A great piece on how the Nathan Barley nightmare came true
• A good (and free) ebook on Product Management from Intercom
• The APG have some good short video interviews with Head of Strategy on What is Planning?
• Some good thoughts from Simon White on having better meetings
• A good post from Ben Thompson on Clay Christensen, disruption, the iPhone and Apple's future
• Excellent - Humans of New York re-imagined with Disney characters

And of-course you can sign up to Fraggl here.