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What’s In Your Change Portfolio?

May 18, 2015 By Brian Gorman

Unless you are actively involved in the field of project management, change management, or strategy, it is unlikely that you think in terms of a change portfolio. If the change that you are facing–or are currently engaged in–is personal, it is even less likely that a “portfolio” is in your frame of reference.

Unfortunately, that puts your change effort at significant risk.

Let’s begin by taking a minute to define what is meant by “change portfolio.” Simply put, it is all of those things that need to shift in order to deliver the intended outcome of your change. You may hear different language…projects, programs, work streams, change components. Each of these has its own meaning. But for us, focusing on change at the individual or small organization level, it’s enough to talk about “all the changes we have to make.”

Several months ago, we focused on a key message from Simon Sinek and others… Start with what’s in your heart. (see Don’t Start With a Plan.) We spent several blogs talking about the creation, and the telling, of your change story. These are important precursors to creating your change portfolio. Only when you know where you are going, and what it is going to be like once you get there, can you know what needs to change along the way.

There are several ways you may go about identifying what is in your change portfolio at this point. The process may vary, depending on the scope of what you are trying to change, whether the change is personal or organizational, and so forth. (Feel free to contact me offline if you want to discuss your situation.) But however you approach it, I would suggest you factor in the following.

What element(s) of the outcome does each of the changes contribute to?
For each change that is identified, how difficult will it be to execute, how critical is it, and how much will it contribute to the outcome?
If is is difficult and less-than-critical, can it be cut from the portfolio?
If it is easy, and less-than-critical, can it be cut from the portfolio?
When you look at all of the changes in the portfolio, will they deliver the outcomes you are seeking, or is something missing?

I recommend some form of white board/index cards/sticky notes process. And, I recommend having a bottle of aspirin nearby. This is one of those “Oh, S!*#” moments…when you begin to have some real in-depth understanding about what it will really take to succeed with the change.

The next question to ask yourself is, What other changes are going on? Why? Quite simply, each one eats up something: time, money, psychic energy, focus, the ability to adapt to change. As much as is possible, you should consider terminating, reducing in scope, or delaying them so that they don’t interfere with the important change that you are addressing.

Now, come back to your portfolio. It may contain 10, 20, 30, or more changes. As I noted earlier, it is likely that it frightened you (and anyone engaged in the process of defining it with you) when you first worked through what is in the portfolio. Introducing the portfolio to others will be just as frightening. So, before you do, see if you can weave some of the changes together.

For example, perhaps your change is a major shift in career. You’ve identified a series of changes that you need to make related to preparing yourself for the new career (select a program of study, enroll in night school, complete the program, obtain employment, earn certification, etc.). There may be another set of changes related to financing this shift (reduce budgeted expenses by 15%, obtain a student loan, etc.). And, there may be others…

By weaving the related changes together, you can begin to focus on “the path to career readiness” and “laying the financial foundation.” While initiating your change portfolio at that aggregate a level is dangerous (you don’t know what is really required for success), rolling things back up to that level once you have defined the portfolio makes it much more palatable.

Have you ever taken a change portfolio approach to your personal or small business change? What has been your experience? Please comment, and share your own experiences.

Telling Your Organization’s Change Story…

November 25, 2014 By Brian Gorman

It seems self-evident, but is so often forgotten. And, the larger your organization, the easier it is to forget… Organizations don’t change; change occurs through shifts in the way that people think and behave. Your organization–large or small, public or private, for profit or nonprofit–succeeds, or fails, through the people inside of it and their interactions with both one another and with those you intend to serve. This is why writing your change story is fundamentally no different for your organization than it would be for a personal change. Depending on the nature of your change and of your organization, you may need the press releases, the media announcements, the calls with investors. You do need your organization’s change story. It is the story of people changing. It is a personal story for everyone in the organization.

Not unlike last week’s post (Telling Your Personal Change Story), the first person you need to tell your organization’s change story to is yourself. Quite simply, if you don’t feel it and believe it, neither will anyone else. If you are not going to take the change to heart, neither will anyone else. If you believe “they have to change,” or “the organization has to change,” but you don’t, you–and your change–will fail. If this is a really big change for the organization, it means it is a big change for you as well.

Whether you are the person who is ultimately responsible for the change, have a position of authority elsewhere in the organization, or are someone with informal influence, you next need to tell the story to those who are in a position to drive the story throughout the organization. This will include, but should not be limited to, your direct reports. It should also include others who are highly influential even though they may not be part of the formal hierarchy.

Each of these people needs to feel and believe the story as fully as you do. They need to make it their own, and to tell it in their own words. And, they need to keep it whole. All of the guidelines for writing the story (What’s Your Story? Parts 1 and 2) hold equally true in its telling. Let’s take a look at the guidelines as they apply to telling your organization’s change story.

Start with your “why.” Why the change is important to the organization should be a constant, regardless of who is telling the story. But it is also important to tell why it is important to you. As Simon Sinek tells us, your why is in your heart. With this is mind, don’t try to tell others why it is important to them. Each person needs to determine that for himself or herself.
Write from the future. Tell the story from the future.
Identify how you will know when you have arrived at your destination. What are the indicators that tell you that progress is being made, not just in putting things in place, but in actually shifting the thinking and behaviors that need to change? The story identifies indicators at the organizational level; you need to tell people what these indicators mean to them.
Establish your time frame. The time frame in the story is the time frame. However, it will also be important to tell people (when it is known) what the time frame means for them.
Create a “sparkline.” Nancy Duarte describes the sparkline as the constant flow in the story between “what is” and “what could be.” The story has a sparkline, and it is there for a purpose. Use it. The sparkline helps people let go of the current state, and find hope in the future.
Determine who the participants in your story will be, and their roles. You may not know who will elect to make the journey, and who will opt out. You may not know the job titles, or the names, of those who will complete the journey. When you know these things, they should be addressed. In the meantime, you do know the attributes of those who will succeed in the future state. Be clear in articulating them as part of the story. For example, Today we celebrate individual achievement. As we move into the future, our focus is shifting to acknowledge how much we need every person to achieve, and how much we are dependent on one another. This time next year, the individual who positions himself or herself as the star will be the outlier. Those teams that are strong contributors to our success are the ones we will be acknowledging.
Honor the past. There is an organizational past to be honored. And, there is a personal past, both for you, and for those to whom you are telling the story.
Respect and believe in yourself. As you tell the story, if you do not respect and believe in yourself, those who are listening won’t respect and believe in you.

During change people need to hear what it means to the organization. They may need the data, the number of projects or initiatives, the revenue projections, and all of those things that are a part of “the rationale” for initiating such a major initiative. The “big announcement,” whatever form it may take, will be enough to excite some (or even many) to begin the change journey.

But if the journey is long, if it is difficult, they need more. They need a consistent story across the organization, but not the same story. They need to know what the journey means to them, and what is required for them to succeed in the future that your organization is creating. They need to know that you believe in that future, not just in your head, but in your heart as well. They need to hear the story and make it their own.

What’s Your Story? (Part 2, Guidelines 1-5 for Writing Your Story)

November 4, 2014 By Brian Gorman

Writing your change story isn’t a task you can delegate. Nor is it likely that you should make it a solo experience. It is going to take reflection, challenge, exploration, commitment, and a lot of hard work. Chances are, writing your story will be cathartic for all those involved in the process.

To help you in the process, I find it easiest to provide a series of guidelines. While many of my examples reflect personal change, the same guidelines will hold true if you are navigating your organization through a major transition. This week I am covering the first five guidelines. The remainder will be addressed in next week’s post.

1. Start with your why.

Where do you start? In my post “Don’t Start With a Plan” I referenced Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, and wrote, You don’t start with a plan; you don’t start with “what” you are going to do. You start with what is in your heart. You start with Why. Your story needs to be written based on that why. The change you are writing about, the change you are facing, is big; it is tough; it has the capability of defeating you, your organization, or both. You can’t win that battle with intellect alone. You need passion; and you need courage and discipline. Unless the change comes from your heart, you are unlikely to reach the destination you have defined.

2. Write from the future.

Envision life when you are realizing the full range of benefits that your change has to offer. That is your destination, and that is where you begin to write your story. Make it real. What does it look like, feel, like, smell like, taste like, sound like? It is less about what you and others in the story are doing, and more about how you are being.

I am currently working with a client who is shaping a major personal transformation in his life. Example 1 is how his story should not begin.

Example 1: I got up this morning. The first thing I did was make some coffee, and sit down with the paper. Now that I have come out as a gay man and moved into my own place, it really feels good.

Here is what I mean when I say to write from the future.

Example 2: This morning I woke up feeling free. If I have ever had this feeling before, I cannot remember it. Today I am truly understanding for the first time what it means to live my life fully as who I am.

3. Identify how you will know when you have reached your change destination.

Yes, your journey requires putting certain things in place. You may need new systems, or a new financial plan. You may need to address certain legal or regulatory issues. New skills may be required. You may need to gain fluency in a new language, or find a home in a new location. People may need to not just act differently; shifts in mindsets might also be necessary.

Too often, whether as individuals or as an organization, these types of things become the milestones by which change is measured. However, installing the components of the change is different than realizing its full benefit. Know how you will determine realization of your change. Identify a small number (no more than 5-7) critical realization indicators along the path from the present to the future state.

In Example 1 above, coming out is an installation measure, as is my client moving into his own place. Both of these may occur, and yet he may end up just “feeling good,” not the end state he is seeking. Example 2 illustrates realization…achieving the full benefit of his change. Today I am truly understanding for the first time what it means to live my life fully as who I am.

For my client this may be his measure of full realization. Other realization milestones along his path may include things such as coming to terms with the religious stigma he has felt as a closeted gay man; resolution of his relationship to his family and friends; and being at peace with his sexual identity.

As you write your story, you don’t have to know how you will achieve these things. In fact, it is unlikely that you will have more than a clue about what will be required for some of them. However, you do need to know what these critical milestones are; identifying them is one of the reasons that this is not an easy process.

4. Establish your time frame.

How long will this change take, really? You need to set a time frame for full realization of the change, as well as for the interim steps. If you leave it open-ended, you will find that progress is elusive; you are working toward a dream, not a future reality.

You’ve identified your critical realization milestones. What are their interdependencies? What is the sequence in which they should be achieved? Lay them out on a white board, or a piece of paper. In a future blog posting I will be talking about planning. Typically organizational changes will require much more in-depth plans than personal ones. However, even at the personal change level, you will need a plan.

Define a realistic length of time for achieving each of your realization milestones. Which ones can you be working on at the same time? When you put the times to them, are you achieving realization within an acceptable period of time? If not, you will need to either commit more resources to the journey (e.g. invest more of your time per week), or modify the desired realization so it is achievable within the time frame required.

5. Create a “sparkline.”

If you know of Nancy Duarte, you know how well she understands both the science and the art of storytelling. In her book Resonate she spends considerable time discussing how to create “sparklines.” In essence, the sparkline of a story is its flow from what is to what could be to what is to what could be…

While Nancy is focused on visual presentations in her book, the process for constructing a sparkline is the same for your story. A sparkline creates contrast.

Let me briefly illustrate the sparkline in action with a story you know, Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.

(What is): I have a dream

(What could be): That one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.”

(What is): I have a dream

(What could be): That my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

What are you moving from? What are you moving to? Your sparkline will help tell the story of your journey.

Next week I will provide additional guidelines on writing your story. In the meantime, please share your own experiences. What are the stories that have worked to help move you through difficult change journeys? What about them made the difference? Do these guidelines resonate with you, or are there any that just don’t seem to work? Your thoughts, comments, experiences, are welcomed!

Don’t Start With a Plan!

September 30, 2014 By Brian Gorman

One of my most valued mentors, though we have never met, is Simon Sinek.

I first learned of Simon, and benefited from his wisdom, when I watched his TED talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” I have long been interested in the art and science of true leadership. For me (as for Simon), leadership is about the person, not the position. For this reason, Simon’s talk resonated very deeply back then; and it still resonates today. In this blog I want to draw from Simon’s talk.

Whether you are leading your organization through change, or the change is much more personal, one of the keys to success is to be your own leader in your change journey. With this in mind, a key question becomes, “How do you inspire your own actions?”

If you are familiar with TED, the speakers frequently use powerful visuals projected on large screens to reinforce their messages. Simon only used a single page of a flip chart on which he drew three concentric circles. As he spoke, he labeled them: What, How, Why. He refers to this illustration as “The Golden Circle.”

The message of The Golden Circle is simple, and it is vital to achieving success if the change you are facing is significant.

Great leaders think, act, and communicate the same way! They lead from the inside out! (Simon Sinek)

Simon illustrates the power of this approach with several examples including Apple, the Wright brothers, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The point really took root for me when he said of Dr. King,

He gave the “I have a dream” speech, not the “I have a plan” speech, (Simon Sinek).

I had always given planning a great deal of respect; I still do today. But you don’t start with a plan; you don’t start with “what” you are going to do. You start with what is in your heart. You start with Why.

What is your Why?