Reflection on “Sustained Momentum by Burba, May 2014”

The article “Sustained Momentum” is discussing another aspect of the change management; sustaining the change. The long term benefits of a change strategic initiative are what truly determine its business value, so to measure the success of these initiatives, organizations need to do well in taking the long view, because all the wins in any project mean nothing if the change itself is abandoned few months after the project is completed. Project leaders must have mechanisms to measure the long term organizational impact of the change initiatives, and each transformation project has to have tools to provide the needed support after the project is completed.

The article discussed also three-steps approach that can help sustaining change; First is (Measure for Measure); the project leader have to determine what impact the initiatives are intended to have and over what period of time; evaluating the impact and the outcomes can be seen in Customer satisfaction, Employee morale or retention, Sales or profits, Product or process innovation, Cost reduction, etc. knowing that the impact can be differently presented in different parts of the same organization. Project leaders are recommended to establish a system for communicating the metrics to the relevant stakeholders because gathering data is only valuable if the team is willing to investigate then adapt based on the information gathered.

Second is (Intangible Made Tangible); project leader should have another long-term mechanisms, but this one is to capture the transformative effect on the organizational culture, because many times even when the adoption rates of a new process are adequate, many employees find it inefficient. One of the tools mentioned in the article is establishing the online portal, where employees ask questions about changes and a senior leader providing answers; that can be a very rich source of feedback. Third is (Continued Support); project leaders should provide a compelling case of change that will make the stakeholders focus on the resulting benefits, and not on the change project, because project leaders have to support affected members by the change. In addition to that, project leaders should maintain support from above, because getting executive engagement makes a huge difference in sustaining changes.

Some of lessons learned from this article are that there are some factors that help organizations to be successful at change management; having an active support by senior management, stakeholder involvement in the initiative, creating effective communication plans, properly executing the communication plans, effective identification, measurement and communication of the intended benefits of the change, having the culture of the organization embraces change, and finally, having an effective management of people throughout the change.

What I really find interesting in this article is using the term of “Project leader” instead of “Project Manager”, and that reminded me of an article that I read before “The ten Effective Qualities of a Team Leader, By Sherrie Scott”, in this article the authors discussed some criteria for a successful team leader, and then provided some recommendations to achieve this status of effective performance.

According to this article besides my own experience , there are some methods to increase the effectiveness of leadership; communicating clear expectations, leading by example, promoting consistent and open dialogue, identifying and engaging 'out groups', avoiding 'gotcha' moments, being a team’s champion, and letting the team take the wheel from time to time. Most of these methods are common sense, but what I found interesting in this article is the second and forth methods. The second method is leading by example and that means that you need to embody the expectations that you look for in your team, and this is a method I found a lot of articles forget about unfortunately. While the fourth method is identifying and engaging the Out-Groups (individuals that don’t consider themselves to be part of a larger team), and how important it is to listen to these individuals in order to give them a voice and then engage them in the team that they are part of.