Scrooge - why did he change?

The story of Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' seems straightforward enough - Scrooge is shown the error of his ways in a frightening and dramatic way and he turns from a miserable miser to joyful philathropist. But is it that straightforward?

Day after day, we hear about the deadly dangers of excess alcohol, fatty foods and cigarettes, yet so many of us still over-indulge. What does it really take to change our minds? What is it that Dickens does to Scrooge that is so powerful and what can we learn about change in our own lives and organisations?

Clearly, Scrooge is scared half to death about terrible cosequences of his wrong-doings. But more than that, he is given the chance to examine his past, present and future and connecting all three together. He is able to stand back from his life and view it as an observer. Why this is so powerful is not entirely clear, but it also works for people and for organsiations. Taking people through an objective review of the trials and tribulations of past changes, examining the current challenges of change and projecting the benefits and dangers that lie ahead as a result of current attitudes and actions is a liberating experience and holds the key to unlocking the will to change. Try it for yourself!

Motivating People During an Economic Downturn

For tips on motivating people during an economic downturn see my podcast on Accountancy Age TV, entitled 'Top Tips - Boosting Motivation During an Economic Downturn' - click on http://www.accountancyage.com/tv-audio/ for two mintues on the importance of clarity of purrpose, over-communication and nurturing success in difficult times.

Star Trek Change Leaders

In the TV series Star Trek, the mission of the Starship Enterprise was, in the words of Captain Kirk, “To boldly go where no man has gone before”. Its crew was supremely well equipped to achieve this aim. Unlike many leadership teams they were a powerful mix of diverse characters giving them the versatility to survive everything the universe could throw at them.

In Captain Kirk, they had a visionary leader who was charismatic, audacious and brave. By his side was first officer Spok, the perfect foil for the impetuous Kirk, who was able to assess situations based solely on fact and logic. Then there was Dr McCoy whose primary concern was for wellbeing of the crew and the friendly beings they encountered on their journey. There was also someone you could rely on to keep things going. This was Scotty who was forever repairing the starship’s shields and the engine in the wake of alien attacks. Finally, there was Uhura - she spanned all the personality types and was the glue that kept the team together.

Take any one of these personalities out of the equation and things would come unstuck. A great vision without critical analysis, care for people involved and someone to make things happen is doomed to failure - a vital lesson for any leader creating a team that can prosper through challenge and change.

No 4 Bestselling Book

On 12th November 2008, The 5 Forces of Change reached no. 4 in the bestseller list for management books on http://www.amazon.coo.uk/ . Thank you to everyone who has bought a copy.

Leading People through Mergers and Acquistions

More than any other type of organisational change a merger or acquisition can undermine people’s sense of purpose and commitment to their organisation. It falls to the HR Director to alert fellow directors to the potential commercial hazards this may entail, to spell out the options and to guide them safely through the tricky process of unifying two disparate organisations.

When two organisations, employing hundreds or thousands of people, merge, a great deal of effort is given over to due diligence. Much time is devoted to poring over finances, integrating IT systems, telling the stock market about synergies and drawing up new structure charts.
Too often, it is only when people inside the organisation start to display all kinds of dysfunctional behaviour - opposition to change, constant grumbling or simple apathy - that it dawns on leaders that something has been missing from their plans. By then it may be too late to prevent deterioration in performance, poor customer service or employees jumping ship.

On the other hand, if an HR Director anticipates the important human issues stirred up by merger they can influence and guide their fellow directors through the emotional minefield, enabling them to keep their workforce motivated and engaged in making the new enterprise a roaring success.

The first task is to make it clear that the people element of a merger is as important (if not more important) than issues of structure, process, finance, and IT. It is not always obvious to executives that this is so. They may struggle to put their finger on the real issues involved and even when they have an inkling that something must be done to keep people on board they may be at a loss as to what is required.

Unlike most major changes, mergers and acquisitions have an enormous effect on culture and people’s sense of identity. If one organisation effectively takes over another and imposes its culture on the new combined organisation, like an invading army, then people in the organisation that has been taken over can have a very hard time adjusting. If the cultures of the two organisations differ greatly some will find it impossible to adjust and may simply leave. Worse than that, they may stay but mentally opt out of the new arrangement and do the bare minimum to get by.

As HR Director, you might want to start by asking fellow directors to imagine how they would feel if their favourite sports team were to merge with one of its rivals. Not only that, but the merged teams would take on the name of the rival team and play at the rival club’s stadium. Such a question will start them thinking about the emotional impact of merger. Stories of mergers that have come unstuck due to inattention to people issues will further stimulate their desire to take action. ....to read the rest of this article see November's edition of The HR Director magazine or contact Anthony Greenfield via this website.

Successful Book Launch

There was an excellent turn out and brisk sales last night as The 5 Forces of Change was officially launch at Waterstone's in Leeds.

Book of the Month

The 5 Forces of Change is book of the month at Management Books 2000 http://www.mb2000.com/ .

Book Launched!

The 5 Forces of Change is now available form bookshops and at http://www.amazon.co.uk/

Book dinner

Fans of The 5 Forces of Change show off the book at black tie dinner on 18th October 2008!

Waterstone's Book Launch

The official launch of The 5 Forces of Change will take place at Waterstone's, Albion Street, Leeds at 7pm on Thursday 30th October. All welcome.

See:

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayDetailEvent.do?searchType=1&author=AnthonyGreenfield

5 Forces of Change - Leading Mergers and Acquisitions

When two organisations, employing hundreds or thousands of people, merge, a great deal of effort is given over to due diligence. Much time is devoted to poring over finances, integrating IT systems, telling the stock market about synergies and drawing up new structure charts.

Once the lawyers, accountants, IT people and process engineers have performed their surgery, the patient wakes up wondering why they are in so much pain. After a while, it may dawn on leaders that people change more slowly and in more complex ways than systems and processes.

Unlike most major changes, mergers and acquisitions have an enormous effect on culture and people’s sense of identity. If one organisation effectively takes over another and imposes its culture on the new combined organisation, like an invading army, then people in the organisation that has been taken over can have a very hard time adjusting. If the cultures of the two organisations differ greatly some will find it impossible to adjust and may simply leave. Worse than that, they may stay but mentally opt out of the new arrangement and do the bare minimum to get by.......read the rest of this article at http://www.hrdirector.com/ see Web Features

Starting Off

This blog will begin on 15th September 2008. My book entitled The Five Forces of Change will be published on 24th October 2008 by Management Books 2000 (www.mb2000.com)

If you are at the CIPD conference on Thursday 18th September (www.cipd.co.uk) take a look in the People Management Magazine (www.peoplemanagement.co.uk) special edition for that day for my article on leading successful change.