I thought it was a good idea to to start a business blog to supplement the journal articles I write on change management.
(PDF Articles) I trust that some of the issues raised here may be of interest to you to pursue away from this blog of ideas and thoughts. The blogs run in date order with the most recent at the top of this page.
Strategies & Skills for Creating a Lean Matrix Management Culture
I have been asked to design and deliver a two day Experiential Workshop on Matrix Management. The trouble is most businesses don't have sufficient people to attend their own tailored workshop so they tend to attend public events. I think that's a good thing - because if you are going Matrix it's a good idea to explore the experiences, advancement and learning from others who are further on from yourselves.
If it's your thing let me know. We plan to run the event North of London - most likely Milton Keynes on 15/16 July 2008 alhtough we are also staging it in Edinburgh on the 17 & 18 July. We anticipate 2-3 people attending the event from many different organisations from a variety of sectors. We will use an experiential workshop format with a maximum of 24 attendees for each event with experiential exercises dealing with all the Lean Matrix Management issues.
Learning Current Practice which may turn into Best Practice in Matrix Management
The pleasure is doubled when you are safe in the knowledge that you will not be disclosing your strategies to competitors but rather, working with others from different industry sectors
So what I am putting together is the outline of the core skills and strategies to design, create and implement a matrix management structure and culture within a variety of business organisations.
Workshop Experiential in Nature
This Workshop is based on others I have run in the past and focuses upon the core strategies that you can use to move from a traditional functional or hierarchical to a matrix organisation.
The journey to shaping and building a Matrix culture and structure requires significant planning and an innovative 'what if' element of scenario planning. There is no easy route - but there are steps and techniques that can be used to make the transition sequenced and robust and these will comprise most of the activities of the session.
Build a Network on Matrix Management Practitioners
Because this event is organized as an open workshop there will be a variety of scenarios to explore. More importantly, we can build up a Network of interest group who can share their experiences and build more formal relationships long after the workshop has been completed.
This workshop can also be designed specifically 'in-house' and tailored to a specific organisation's requirements. The event combines tailored input, group work, action planning, with specific reference to building your own matrix organisation through action planning.
We will explore the route from traditional to virtual Matrix, testing the new constructs and then move to an exploratory Matrix structure. We will also examine tools and techniques assessing the readiness for change to move from the traditional to the matrix structure and stress how important it is to build a Matrix culture long before you develop a Matrix structure.
Make the most of the opportunity. We run only a few open courses per year on Matrix Management, most clients preferring to build a sequence of sessions that they can employ over six-months or longer so they can implement changes for real within their own business.
Outline of the Day 1
Defining models of core characteristics of the matrix organisation
Matrix Cultures: How to change the culture
Costs and benefits of matrix over the traditional silo driven organisation
When Lean fits in the process
Customer issues whilst transforming the business
Everything is a customer facing process - managing and building core processes
Diagnosing readiness for change and accessing key leverage points for change
Transformational Leadership - is the top team ready?
Outline of Day 2
Managing Change
Structural implications in transition - impact of roles and responsibilities
Human Resource implications from resourcing to performance improvement
Pre-requisites to effective design of the matrix culture and structure
orce Field Analysis & Managing Change
Action Planning from business Strategy to operational tactics
Developing 'in-house' Change or Matrix Champions to lead the process
(Please note, Technology and Systems issues are not a major element of this Workshop which are best addressed through your IT partner White Clarke Group. We can work in liaison with your IT partner should you wish to run this session in-house with the support of our preferred IT Consultancy Partner White Clarke Group also operating from their HQ Milton Keynes.)
Tangible Benefits of Attending
Applying the various Models of the Matrix organisation to the participant's organisations
Diagnosing current readiness for change identifying roadblocks and opportunities
Exploring the refinements of the Culture supporting the Matrix organisation
Understanding the core issues of managing customer relationships whilst in transition
Reviewing HR and OD strategies for bringing the change about
Matrix responsibilities of the traditional functional and line manage
Assessing process management issues for resolution
Action Planning for change in participant's organisation
So if you are interested let me know soon. Remember, we plan to run the event North of London - most likely Milton Keynes on 15/16 July 2008. Contact me directly at Philip@philipatkinson.com or call me on 44(0)131-346-1276
Personal effectiveness & the Zeigarnik Effect: issues requiring completion and closure re Unfinished Business
Have you ever been reading a Robert Ludlum or John Grisham, or any other AUTHOR who writes about undercover operations or adventure novels which ended in a tight corner, you were so tired you could hardly keep your eyes open and just could not finish your chapter?
Have you ever rushed out from the office to an important meeting with a troubling doubt that something was not right only to find that you had forgotten something - your wallet or keys or some other important item?
Have you ever been in the unfortunate position of arguing on the phone and with an inability to reply, felt deep frustration and then gently putting the phone down and cutting the other person off the line?
Have you ever really wanted to express your true feeling to another person - but declined to do SO and walked away in frustration?
What unites these four examples?
They all, in some form or other imply uncompleted or unfinished business. They are issues which have not been resolved and will probably play on your mind. They are loose ends. And unfinished business which remains unresolved will occupy your conscious and certainly your unconscious thoughts.
Unfinshed Business
If you a have poor nights sleep it's probably the unresolved issues that cause you to wake unexpectedly. Many of us wake during the night and replay discussions, arguments, counter claims that have been unresolved.
Do you ever do this and worry about things you should have done. Then you run through the scene again as if watching the event on a TV screen - except THAT you change what happened and maybe what was said which ended not to your liking. Sometimes do you wake up and mentally run through unfinished work projects. You may find yourself thinking about things when you are doing something else like driving, talking to others or simply listening to the radio.
We like closure
We like the idea that things are completed. We like closure. Our minds like the idea of ticking all the boxes and putting issues to bed. If we fail to do this our mind is cluttered with lots of "what if's" and "perhaps, I should have done X". The trouble is we cannot put things to one side and forget about them - because we know its still unfinished business.
The consequences for you of uncompleted business can be quite uncomfortable. If you have a lot of unfinished business your priorities will be confused and you will be dragged in different directions by competing feelings and emotions. In other words it's not good either professionally or socially.
What's more, you can probably think that it does not happen to you. But it does. We all go through cycles of indecision and unproductive thinking rather than closing things off.
We all have to learn to close off the unfinished business and start managing things better. The sooner you do it - de-clutter your office space, throw out old clothes, work through your old journals, books and papers and start fresh you are engaging in the Zeigarnik Effect which indicates that 'unfinished business' can be actually an advantage.
What is the Zeigarnik Effect?
It's really pretty obvious - but the Z effect attributed Bluma Zeigarnik (1902-1988) suggests we are 90% better at remembering unfinished to than finished tasks. You might not think that important. Sorry, but I think that distracts us from focusing on the right things. Stop that bad habit - related mostly to procrastination and develop the discipline so you don't have unfinished business preying on your mind distracting you from value added activities.
Pro's & Cons and Myers Briggs
The Z effect can have benefits and costs to the person who stores up 'unfinished business'. Some say the presence of unfinished business can lead to innovation and creative thought whereas its detractors suggest that it can create pressure and general unease and anxiety for the individual.
Myers Briggs looks at the same phenomenon when they examine the fourth component of their personality type model. They draw a distinction between being J (Judging) or P (Perceiving). People scoring high on Judging like closure, finishing things off, drawing up and assessing priorities and generally planning for the future and are uneasy if things are left too loose. Whereas, the Perceiving individual is spontaneous and will not be driven by deadlines - they will be open to new experiences and are happy to revisit decisions.
If you are an unfinished business junkie life may be very rich with loads of new experiences, you can achieve lots, adopt the helicopter mindset and multi-task yourself into a lot of stress and pressure, your relations with others and even your capacity to maintain your health and wealth. Of course "can affect you" implies that this doesn't have to be so!
Closure and Finalising Business
If you are a high 'Unfinished Business' person you will never be content - going over things time and time again. In Myers Briggs terms you are a big thinker but forever changing your mind - which can create tension with others who like prioritising, creating a 'do-list' and allocating time and closing things off.
From my first book 'Achieving Results through Time Management'
Write a list of unfinished business
Prioritise the list and put actions and dates for completion against each item
Assess how much energy is dissipated by your failure to focus. Evaluate how much time is taken re-tracking and finishing things that should have been done right first time.
Now release that energy to do things and finish things right first time.
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