PUBLICATIONS: TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE: A STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM^®

Introduction

The vision- and values-based five pillars of change of the Strategic Management System^® create world-class customers and internal consulting services ‘customized to your needs’ across the organization. For many organizations, working withglobal competitiveness, linking the, sometimes elusive, “big picture” to day-to-day operating realities often amounts to an exercise in frustration. Either the strategy is brilliantly conceived in the executive suite and not translated or understood throughout the rest of the organization (where it must be executed), or operating units run efficiently and effectively within a dangerously vague strategic vacuum. It is common for a clear and compelling integration between the short- and long-term to be notoriously lacking. To overcome the tremendous waste inbrand equity, time, money, and resources this situation creates, organizations must transform the systems, processes, structures,performance measures, and rewards they use to manage their business. In short, they must quickly build a system for strategic management or risk being a casualty of a hyper-competitive, volatile, and unforgiving global economy. They need to engage inbusiness viability assessment, business risk management, process intensification, and continuous improvement.

The challenge, however, of organization change, transformation, and continuous improvement is difficult and demanding. It is a relentless pursuit to consistently enhance and add value to everything you do to drive bottom-line results. It is a constant quest to improve the management systems and processes used to drive the value your products and services offer into the marketplace. In essence, it is a challenge to not only get better, faster, but also newer and different. As organizations race forward in this new millennium, seeking to create and securecompetitive advantage, it would be wise to remember the words of Thomas Jefferson who said, “A little revolution is a good thing now and then.”

Strategic Management System^® and The Five Pillars of Change

No two organizations view strategic change nor transform themselves in exactly the same way. In this article, we will explore some of thestrategic and team-building activities which generally take place during a major change and improvement process. Generally speaking, organizations proceed through a cyclical four-stage change process. These phases are Discover, Design, Deploy, and Sustain. Each organization will complete certain projects and activities within each phase unique to their own tactical and strategic change requirements. Admittedly, these are not completely discrete (nor linear) phases, but recognizing the different stages in thetransformation process helps you assess where you are and where you need to go. The architectural framework for helping you remodel or reengineer your organization is what we call a Strategic Management System^®.

As the model indicates, a Strategic Management System^® calls forbalanced productivity portfolio benchmarks; and, is a comprehensive approach to leading, changing, and constantly improving your organization. It is intended to tie daily actions directly to the overriding strategic objectives and priorities of the organization, to translate strategy into action. At the same time, it aligns the systems and processes, people, and products with those same objectives and priorities. All of this is supported by a solid and unwavering foundation of senior leadership commitment. Change is driven forward by superb and effective communications methodologies andstrategic change management. The five pillars of the Strategic Management System^® represent key organizational elements which must work in concert to support the achievement of the strategic objectives. All this, in turn, nurtures and grows the future leaders of the world.

What most often determines the magnitude of your transformation challenge and how successful you will be as a strategic entrepreneur, are the Five Pillars of Change. The more pillars you involve and affect, the more complex and impactful your change becomes. The true spirit and intention of organizational transformation and beingbusiness ideas entrepreneurs encompasses all five pillars. We’ll explore each of these pillars in a little more detail to see how they interact and align with one another to drive nimble, robust, and scalable change and improvement throughout your organization.

1.   Strategy and Structure

Clarity of strategic focus and intent is paramount. Separating the vital few from the useful many is no small task for today’s hard-driving organizations who are looking for bottom-line results andperformance measurements. Yet, without a clear and integrated sense of what thebusiness strategy is, and what the supporting critical objectives and priorities are, the corporate plate simply spills over with the nice to do’s crowding out the absolute must do’s. The essence of strategy is as much knowing what not to do as it is knowing what to do and it calls forbusiness viability assessment and business risk management.

Knowing where you’re headed is still only half the battle though. You must also know the best means of organizing to get you there. This is where structure fits in. And, this is where leadership skills analysis and competency profiling fits in. Organizing your resources in the most effective manner to carry out your strategy seems obvious enough. But, how many times have structural impediments stalled well-intentioned improvement initiatives? We are all too familiar with the proverbial functional silos which choke off the flow of information up, down, and across the organization. Or, the age-old problem of staff departments telling the line operating units what to do rather than acting in good faith as a trusted supplier to the people who generate the revenue. Optimization here demandsprocess intensification and continuous improvement through value-chain management.

Organizations have long leaned on structure as an easy lever to pull when they want to make dramatic change. In fact, the very reason most restructuring efforts fail to improve a company's competitiveness is that they rarely involve changes to the four other pillars. And, they often are divorced from, or in conflict with, the prevailing business strategy. Structure is an extremely powerful change tool which must be utilized carefully. Often times, structural changes can bring with them destructive internal jockeying and politics. To guard against such unproductive behaviors, the structural change pillar should never be used in isolation of the business strategy or the other four pillars. This is where executive coaching and transformational leadership win the day.

An example will be instructive in examining how the five pillars work as an integral part of theStrategic Management System^®. Let’s assume one of the strategic objectives of the Global Commerce Corporation (GCC) has been defined as aggressive growth through the diversification of the revenue base. The intent is to capture the dominant leadership position in the industry. Specifically, this objective has been quantified as profitable revenue growth of 25% in each of the next three years. It is clear without this type of growth strategy in place GCC could be vulnerable prey for other players in the industry. So, the strategic objective and direction is quite clear. Further, the senior management team at Global has selected three primary strategies to achieve the objective and build brand equity. One will be growth through acquisition; the second will be the expansion of the current product line into new markets, including China, Eastern Europe, and South America. The final strategy will be the development of new products and services aimed at both the current “served” markets and several industries GCC has never entered before.

To illustrate, we will focus on the third strategy Global has chosen to reach its objective of aggressive revenue growth. One clear structural implication demanded by the strategy of new product introductions is the organization and development of the field sales and service force. The new products are aimed at an entirely different buyer who is more savvy, more senior, and more sophisticated than those they have traditionally called on. In addition, the new product line involves more buying options, it includes the possibility of bundled and unbundled services with its purchase, and it is priced substantially higher than any item in the current line. To summarize, the sales and service structure will have to be modified to successfully launch and sell the new product line. Members of the sales, service, marketing, and research departments must be forged into a cohesive business development team engaged in team-building activities to properly acquire, negotiate, close, and service the business. Without the structural change, the strategy is doomed to fail, the objective left largely unmet. In short, acomprehensive competencies program must be deployed to ensureexecutive outcomes.

2.   Products and Services

It is clear from our Global Commerce example that a review of the current mix of products and services may indeed be necessary to ensure there is alignment with the overriding objectives of the company. In fact, many organizations have used the launch of new products or services, or the distribution of existing products and services through new channels or into new markets as the major pillar (usually supported by several if not all others) to transform themselves. And, customer value research has played a key role incalculating customer lifetime value. Such items asbrand equity, customer loyalty, value path tracking of the value migration trajectory of your products and services are all critically important considerations when examining the capabilities of the organization to meet new objectives and priorities.

Closely associated with product and service mix is the present and future segmentation of both the markets and the customers within those markets you choose to serve. It can be counterproductive to be blinded by your present definition of “served market”. Here the strategic business ideas entrepreneur adds value. Sometimes a bold strategic objective such as the one GCC has set forth means you must invent markets where none existed, serving previously unmet or unknown customers needs. It is readily apparent that products and services are an integral part of the Strategic Management System^® and likely to be impacted by a set of newly revised objectives and performance measurements.

3.   People and Processes

The service and quality improvement efforts of the past decade have taught us that all work is a process, and that processes can and must be continuously improved. This is the work of process intensification and balanced productivity portfolio benchmarks. Whether you improve a functional or departmental process or reengineer a cross-functional core business process, like order fulfillment or new product development, transforming the organization will require much of this kind of work. It is likely this will be done at a more rapid pace, driving more deeply and broadly into both your organization and other partners you have within your supply chain.

Concurrently, you need to examine how to develop and enhance the skills of your people who will operate within these streamlined and reengineered processes. They will likely need new and different competencies (which must be identified and documented with a learning and developmental plan built to bridge the skill gap) if major change and improvement is expected. If the task is to rebuild and remodel the organization, employees need the requisite tools to get the job done. This is the work ofcompetency profiling and leadership skills analysis driving a bottom-line results orientation, and creating a learning and development organization. Let’s return to the Global Commerce Corporation example.

The strategy of launching new products and services has resulted in the creation of business development teams. These teams will need to engage in team-building activities and create or reengineer a whole new team-oriented sales process which capitalizes on the unique value each member brings to the table. Since the sale of these new products is more complex, involving extended service agreements, they will need a contracting process as well. Consider also the challenge of working as a team. There is no doubt, as we have all learned from bitter experience, that teams need training to gel effectively. So the people on the business development teams will require a comprehensive competencies program includingteam training, meeting management training, sales training, writing proposals, responding to arequest for proposal, as well as negotiating skills training. As you can quickly surmise, the power of the Strategic Management System^® is the comprehensive, integrated nature of its architecture. By utilizing the model’s framework, the necessary implications for successfully implementing strategically-driven change and improvement are made clear.

4.   Measures and Rewards

New process and performance measurements must be devised to properly track, monitor, and assess progress against the strategic objectives. The cornerstone of strategic management is strategic measurement, including360-degree feedback, as we’ll explain in another section of this article.

To really think, manage, and act asstrategic and transformational leaders, a productivity portfolio or balanced set of financial, operational, and quality metrics is required. This Corporate Scorecard^® metrics must focus on process and results measures and provide a dashboard or control panel of leading and lagging indicators of performance. In addition, redesigned processes need new measures and benchmarks with employees at all levels striving for new standards of performance to achieve the strategic objectives. Employees will also require revised compensation structures to incent newly desired behaviors or different ways of performing (for example, team- versus individual-based incentive plans). A different type of reward and recognition system may very well be needed.

Continuing the Global Commerce Corporation example, it is easy to see how a traditional, financially-dominated measurement system would be an incomplete and inadequate means of judgingorganizational performance or supporting world-class customers. The strategic objective and its supporting strategies call for new measures like Revenue Mix, Percent of Revenue from New Products and Services, Number of New Product Launches, New Product Development Cycle Time, Business Development Team Sales Closing Ratio, Team/Employee Satisfaction, Strategic Skills Gap, and Percentage Revenue Growth to provide a more telling picture of organization performance. The cause and effect path between the measures and the strategic objective are clear when viewed through the architecture of the Strategic Management System^®. It provides the necessary structure to end the frustrating practice of being handed down objectives without clear direction on how to achieve them.

5.   Systems and Support

Many of the management, information, and financial reporting systems must be modified and aligned to support the strategic objectives and priorities. For example, internal verbal and non-verbal communication must be revamped to provide different types of strategically cogent information. The performance management system will be forced to change to assess new types of behaviors and set new criteria for advancement or expanded responsibilities. Recruitment and retention initiatives may need updating to ensure you attract the right types of people given the strategic objectives while retaining the best and the brightest.Proactive solutions such as an online dictionary of skills and training will nurture anddefine leadership styles.

Information technology is an exceptional enabler for all of the other change pillars. So much of what we do is dependentupon nimble, robust, and scalable information technology that its importance cannot be overstated. Yet, at times, these systems may need to be reoriented orreengineered to provide usable data in different formats. The key is once againstrategic alignment, ensuring the millions invested in technology is supporting not inhibiting the business strategy. Information systems infrastructures and platforms are the new bricks and mortar of a 21^st century organization. They have, and will continue to, radically alter how we think, organize, and carry out work in the future. They will driveinnovation.

To conclude the Global Commerce Corporation story, let’s look at the impact on the Systems and Support pillar in terms of meeting the strategic objective. The business development teams will need to be compensated differently for the strategy to work. Rewards and recognition must shift toward more of a team focus as well. Team orientation, team membership skills, and peer reviews would be some of the new elements of an integrated and aligned performance management system. Groupware technology would be a vital information technology tool for the team, as would a standardized proposal template stored on team members’ laptops, of course.

Take a moment to reflect upon the magnitude of a transformation effort with respect to these five pillars of change. Effective transformational leadership and laser-focused change of an organization challenges its beliefs, assumptions, and standard operating procedures along each of these pillars. As the Global Commerce Corporation example amply demonstrates, the Strategic Management System^® provides an elegantly simple and robust architecture for proactive solutions and transformational change. By explicitly drawing the cause and effect links between strategy and action, it serves as theblueprint for what the remodelled or reengineered organization will look like and the plans for the rebuilding process. Let’s now look at how to get started with a Case for Strategic Action.

Getting Started By Building The Case For Strategic Action

Mobilizing and preparing the organization for transformation is a time-consuming and sometimes arduous job. Indeed, this is the work of internalbusiness management consulting services for world leaders. Yet make no mistake about it, if the answers to the questions, Why Change?, Why Now?, and What’s In It For Me? are not very apparent; expect an uphill battle. Just what exactly is a Case for Strategic Action? It is a well-reasoned, intellectual, and emotional business scenario which passionately and persuasively answers the three key questions above. An effective Case for Strategic Action centers on the ideas of direction and exploration. A Case for Strategic Action provides strategic direction; it acts as the blueprint for your rebuilding andreengineering efforts. But direction is only part of the equation. A sense of exploring uncharted territory serves to energize people by tapping into the latent desire to be a pioneer, a trailblazer, to “boldly go where no one has gone before”.

A successful Case for Strategic Action typically has the following characteristics. It is brief and clear, specific but not exact, more like a short story rather than a novel. It is well-articulated and logical. It makes sense to the extent that it is a realistic response to global competitiveness challenges and to the extent that it answers the three key questions. It provides some qualitative and quantitative performance measurement data (not volumes, but some statistics that can’t be ignored). It is highly compelling, creating an intense sense of urgency to start moving. This is the essence of a Case for Strategic Action; it lights a fire; it spurs immediate action.

One of the ways to communicate a genuine and compelling sense of excitement in a Case for Strategic Action is to invoke discussions of a Strategic Management System^® and the five pillars of change. By doing so, you begin to frame the breadth and depth of the transformation. Additionally, you instil a sense of the seriousness of your intent. Employees will take notice when they repeatedly hear about a new and different future which will involve serving new markets and customers, launching new products and services, learning new skills, being rewarded differently, redesigning business processes, and infusing new nimble, robust, scalable technology. If the introduction of such profound changes can be bundled into a logical business case which sets the direction and possibility of discovering new frontiers, people will likely be energized.

Transformation implies massive, wide-sweeping changes. Productive change begins with an honest and truthful confrontation with reality. To succeed, the Case for Strategic Action must not sidestep the “brutal reality” of present conditions. As others have said, the truth will set you free and to conveniently ignore reality is to doom your Case for Strategic Action to a less than enthusiastic response. Often the mosteffective communication methodologies and verbal and non-verbal communication style is the direct approach, to reveal and speak the unspeakable. Political correctness is definitely not the order of the day here, but rather a frank and open discussion of the issues at hand and the consequences of not dealing with them. As the transformation process unfolds, it is imperative to put a stake into the ground around this guiding principle: Always speak the truth with compassion. Change and communication are a coaxial cable which hard-wire successful organizational transformation efforts.

Communicating To Inspire Action

Change does not affect all groups of people the same way. So, it is important, therefore, to understand who the key influencers or stakeholders of the organization are. Stakeholders are groups who have varying degrees of influence over the executive outcomes of any improvement efforts. Key stakeholders might include the Board of Directors, the senior management team, employees, frontline supervisors, strategic alliance partners, or large customers and suppliers. Communicating persuasively with these stakeholders by articulating why radical change is necessary, and drawing (both literally and figuratively through analogies and metaphors) an inspiring picture of the future, is vital to engaging the organization emotionally in the change effort. Superb charter communications, effective communication methodologies, and celebratory events are the order of the day. You engage the hands, hearts, and minds of stakeholders by following up with a well-crafted plan to orchestrate the transformation which offers each of them an incenting role in the process. This is theexecutive coaching of transformational leadership in the organization so they can inspire and transform others and drivebottom-line results.

You must effectively persuade, cajole, and otherwise motivate these groups to support and participate in the change effort. Thus, the Case for Strategic Action (i.e., the answers to the three questions) must be tailored to each group’s unique needs. The motivations, concerns, and “hot buttons” for each stakeholder group vary widely. It is important to understand this to present your Case for Strategic Action to these groups in an effective manner which will generate support and action. If the Case for Strategic Action is aligned to the most important needs and requirements of the various stakeholder groups, you stand a much better chance of success. This is supported by business viability assessment and business risk management.

Generally, you have at least some groups in the organization who support change and transformation. Within these groups, some will be more supportive than others and you must be cautious that this support does not evaporate with the first sign of trouble. Another block of people in the organization will quite simply not be motivated to change. Some will be active resistors who might very well try to intentionally sabotage your transformation efforts. These are likely to be those significantly invested in the status quo who fear a loss of power, prestige, or position from impending changes. Hopefully they will be the exception and not the rule. More often those not supporting the strategic change are more passive. Usually this group can be persuaded to begin supporting the change once they have seen some positive results. They are what we call the Missouri folks; they say “Show Me” first before I offer up my skills and capabilities to support the transformation efforts.

Maintaining the momentum for remodelling and reengineering the organization is never easy. In our world of multiple demands, sound bites, and rapid information transfer, attention spans can be agonizingly short. As attention, enthusiasm, and forward movement begin to wane, as they inevitably will, there are several ways to try and refocus the transformation efforts. Once again, being candid and telling the truth about the loss of momentum is a sure-fire way to get attention. Being honest and vocal about the consequences of failing should help generate the support required, particularly from the senior levels of the organization, to help put the change process back on track. Completing construction and inspiring implementation of the Strategic Management System^® is far too important to let slip from the front burner of the executive agenda — this is the essence of Transformational Leadership.

Another highly effective way to shock people back to the pressing need to do things differently is to inject a customer into the process. Allowing a customer to recount a negative experience to a group of senior leaders or active resistors is a wonderful tonic and reminder of what really counts. If ever there was someone who could swiftly outline the answer to the questions Why Change? and Why Now?, it is an unhappy customer. Calculating customer life time value and what’s at stake is an effective tool to deploy here. Alternatively, asking frontline employees for their unfiltered assessment on the need for change can be equally helpful in shaking the lethargy out of the change process. More often than not, those closest to the customer (who feel their wrath every day for poor products, silly, bureaucratic structures, unfriendly and complex processes, and inadequate technology) can speak volumes about why radical and profound change is required. Slaying a sacred cow long overdue for being put out to pasture is an excellent means of instilling confidence.

Communication planning is an integral part of the transformation effort. Remember, change and communication are a coaxial cable. Effective communication plans should always be truthful and candid. Employees almost always know the truth anyway, so trying to deceive them only serves to render future communications efforts impotent. The point is not to duck the bad news or play “spin doctor” like the communication wizards on Capitol Hill, but rather to focus on where the organization is going, not where it has been. Pay attention to the big picture. Accentuate what’s going right while guarding against counterproductive cynicism.

Of course, the true litmus test is action. It is a clich?, but actions speak louder than any words ever uttered. Honest communication backed by actions consistent with those words is an extraordinarily forceful combination. Stop and think about how rare it is to see words and deeds which are actually congruent. Politicians, religious leaders, and business executives have conditioned us to expect to hear one thing while doing another. Just as in raising children, “do as I say, not as I do”, simply does not measure up. The transformation process and transformational leadership gains tremendous credibility and momentum with each and every instance of doing what you say you will do.

As in advertising, repetition is key; the more times a message is delivered, the more likely it will begin to be understood. The flow of communication and information must not cease throughout the change effort. One way to keep the messages fresh and continuous is to take advantage of the dizzying array of media available for delivering the message. And, look for interactive media whenever it is feasible. Like the energizer Bunny, communication must keep going and going and going.

Breaking Down Barriers and Putting The Pieces Together

Barriers exist inside any organization. Some are structural or organizational such as those between divisions, between head office and the field, or between operating units. Some are functional, generally between departments such as finance and operations, marketing and manufacturing. Barriers can exist at the enterprise level also when defining where the organization itself begins and ends. In an era of extended,integrated supply chains, strategic alliances, and outsourcing, these barriers create a particularly interesting challenge for organizations. There are obviously others but listing them is not the point, eradicating them is.

Barriers are a reality. They exist within organizations and the strength of any given one of them is a clear indication of how high the level of dysfunction is inside that organization. They must be invaded and toppled ifstrategic organizational change and transformation is to be successful. If we return to the five pillars of change, we will find the allies we need to bring down these impediments. There is little doubt that, as transformation efforts proceed, each of the five change pillars will be impacted. They can be your friends as you seek to orchestrate large-scale change and improvement.

Don’t be lulled into believing this will be easy. Many organizational barriers are as resilient as the Berlin Wall; it took some time and a lot of effort to finally tear it down. Borders often provide a form of security, so removing them will not always be greeted with enthusiasm. However, to paraphrase a great American statesman, nothing quite focuses the mind like the thought of imminent execution. Barriers are the antithesis of change, so you have no alternative but to remove them as you push your improvement agenda forward.

One other interesting phenomenon, what amounts to a large barrier, often occurs inside organizations as they scramble to remain domestically or globally competitive. Many of us have been party to change efforts in the past. Improvement programs come and go, creating bursts of energy and anticipation, followed by less than stellar implementations, followed closely thereafter by crushingly disappointing results. In recent years, the pace and number of “improvement programs” (with their acronym-laced and jargon-filled vocabularies) has reached a fevered pitch. Too often they compete for resources, time, and attention. They operate independent of one another, jealously guarded by their own champions. It’s bad enough when departments won’t talk with one another; it is the height of irony when improvement program leaders won’t communicate or cooperate.

Real change leadership is about putting all the pieces together, not keeping them apart. Some have likened it to the kids’ game we all love called Connecting the Dots; using sound judgment as to which programs and projects will best leverage the organization’s precious resources in pursuit of its most important goals. So, as you look for barriers to erase, don’t forget to look directly at the plethora of improvement, reengineering, quality, or other initiatives presently underway. Help yourself by bridging them together, not segregating them from one another. And, if necessary, close some efforts down if they are standing in the way.

Strategic Measurement: The Heart of Strategic Management

New approaches demand new performance measures. The critical success factors, and their attendant measures (principally financial) which have driven many industries, are under assault from all sides. By now, for many organizations, it is abundantly clear that ‘business as usual’ represents a clear and present danger to survival. In terms of organizational change, this is precisely where you want to be; significant disruption to the status quo is the fuel of transformation. World-renowned change expert Daryl Conner claims substantial change can only occur when the pain of the status quo exceeds the pain of the unknown terrain into which transformation takes you. The incentive to tackle this challenge must be driven by a new set of performance metrics.

The business press has been filled with discussions of creating new, morebalanced measurement systems — productivity portfolios - for organizations. Spurred on by thetotal quality management movement, some leading companies have expanded their measurement scope well beyond the traditional financial indicators. Financial measures are, by and large, lagging indicators of performance. To manage with only financial data is similar to driving a car using only the rear view mirror. In today’s fiercely competitive environment, we must augment financial measures with leading indicators of operational and quality performance. By doing so, we create a more holistic and comprehensive view of the health of the business. In building this type of measurement system, what we call a Corporate Scorecard^®, you can focus attention on the indicators which best predict and quantify superior financial, operational, and quality performance.

It is a management truism that what gets measured gets done. Therefore, selection of the key measures and benchmarks in the financial, operational, and quality buckets requires prudent judgment. Additionally, it requires a clear strategic direction so there is alignment between where the organization is trying to move and the system of measures it will use to track its progress. Through careful selection of the vital measures, the “business of the business” is clearly defined. A robust set of metrics, blending leading and lagging indicators with measures of processes and results is a potent lever for influencing transformational change.

When the strategic financial, operational, and quality measures which comprise thesenior management Corporate Scorecard^® cascade down to create a series of complementary Scorecards at each structural level, change will be ignited. This will serve as internal management consulting services and an executive coaching process. Think in terms of a Christmas tree which branches out as you move down the tree. The strategic measures represent the best predictors or indicators of the health of the organization. The more detailed, tactical measures below the senior level represent key contributors to the improvement of the strategic measures. They reflect at an operational level what we must pay attention to if we are to accelerate the achievement of the strategic objectives and priorities. Once this type of measurement system is put into place, the pivotal next step is aligning the Scorecard measures with the compensation, reward and recognition, andperformance management systems. By doing so, the equation is completed, for it is true what gets rewarded gets repeated.

Conclusion: Your Strategic Entrepreneur Role In The Transformation Process

Transforming an organization always involves some level of personal transformation for most, if not all, members of the organization. Changes of the magnitude implied by the very word transformation require new levels of thinking and new ways of acting. Effective navigation of the personal change required to bring about massive organizational change is an important and often overlooked ingredient.

Dr. William Bridges, a noted psychologist and corporate consultant, draws a useful distinction between change and transition in his book, ‘Managing Transitions’. Change is situational — the new boss, the different location, the revised process or procedure. Transition is something very different. It involves the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the change and the new situation it creates. Change is external; transition is internal. Bridges notes: “The first task ofchange management is to understand the destination and how to get there; the task of transition management is to convince people to leave home.”

The transformational change process is sometimes described as an emotional “no man’s land”, a troubling and dislocating place to be on a personal and organizational level. It is, at times, the uncomfortable spot between the old and the new, where the security of the familiar looks enticing while the promise of something new and better is still a little hazy. At an organizational level, building a Strategic Management System^® can mean that these environmental conditions persist for long periods of time. On a personal level, Dr. Bridges offers the following four practical rules for personal survival, allowing you to be a victor rather than a victim of change:

                1.   Show Up - at a minimum be in the game, even passively

                2.   Be Present - don’t just show up; be present by giving every task 100% of your effort and                             commitment. Don’t put in time and go through the motions, rather be involved and intellectually                             engaged.

                3.   Tell the Truth - it has been said the truth will set you free; it will stand you in good stead to                             remember this. Many seemingly overwhelming problems can be overcome when someone                             summons the courage to speak the truth.

                4.   Let Go Of Outcomes - once you’ve given all you possibly can, and done all you can do, let go. None                             of us can control everything that will happen throughout the transformation process. So, simply do                             your best and be satisfied.

As you reflect upon the task of remodelling and reengineering your organization for the 21^st century, consider the words of an ancient Chinese proverb which states, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” If you follow the blueprint laid out in this article, you can successfully build a system of strategic management for your organization; a system which integrates and aligns strategy with meaningful daily action, accelerating the achievement of your strategic objectives and priorities. The architectural framework of the Strategic Management System^® can be the catalyst for securing your organization’s leadership position as a “benchmark” organization.

Ensurebusiness management systems and internal training consulting services designed to create world-class customers and management consulting services customized to your needs. Leadership Management Training at every enterprise level emphasizes effective communication methodologies and practical verbal and non-verbal communication skills andtransformational leadership behaviors — whether in the context ofcustomer service, facilitation, project management, conflict management, change management, or some other arena oforganizational development. Emphasize transformational leadership because we believe it is everyone’s job to lead, excel, and continuously improve — not just that of those with title of leader, manager, CEO. It’s everyone’s job to develop him- or herself and others intofuture leaders of the world.

For state of the artperformance management and to train the business mentor and align thinking across the enterprise withvision, values, andmission statements; strategy; and proactive solutions requiresa competency based training approach against competency profiling and leadership skills analysis yet coupled withprocess intensification, productivity portfolio measurements, and continuous improvement.

That’s your value proposition to your organization, your network of alliances and colleagues, and above all to your customers - fromcharter communications through to celebration and all along the path.

In conclusion, perhaps the best summary of what lies ahead as you begin the rebuilding effort comes from John F. Kennedy. When he proposed the awesome challenge of putting a man on the moon, he said:

“We may not get there today or even tomorrow, but the journey will be the great adventure of our lives.”

Keep these words in mind as you remodel your organization for the future and build your own future leaders of the world. The journey is the reward. And, remember:

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