Facilitating Change to Solve the Most Challenging Problems

In this economy and marketplace, we cannot try the same old thing to deal with the issues that are in our path. We have to facilitate change in our organizations and find new ways to solve problems creatively. We had the opportunity to work with 30 change-agent companies in a Face-to-Face event that are focused on improving their organizations. Many of these companies have been a part of the Working Smarter Training Challenge, and you can see the progress that they have made. A significant step in the journey of change comes down to effectively working a process by intention.

• Insure that we are engaging a broad section of our employees to work with us in finding solutions. Great answers come from all parts of a company.
• Each session has to start with asking GREAT questions. We need to stimulate participants by asking for their view of the world and going through asking why 5 times to get to the root.
• Go broad at first and brainstorm with the group. There are no bad answers and we need to celebrate their contributions.
• Narrow down our list with identifying the five most important opportunities or suggestions. You want to get the group to collaborate and start to build consensus. Remember that we can only do a few things and we have to start slowly.
• It is all about taking one step at a time and working on one thing at a time. You want to build a detailed plan for how you are going to win. We utilize a tool called a Thrival Campaign that assigns deadliness and ownership.
• There has to be build in accountability and follow-up so that we can move from ideas to action. Great companies move from talking about it to doing it. They own each area and drive to achieve the desired results.

There is great energy and urgency when we take on the issues that are in our path and find new solutions. The companies that make this evolution will gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace today and tomorrow.

Bob Coulter