Sacred Cows Make The Best Burgers

Developing Change-Ready People and Organizations

About the Author

Author: Robert Kriegel & David Brandt Publisher: Warner Brothers, Inc. Date of Publication: 1997 ISBN: 0-4466-7260-2 Number of Pages: 336 pages

Robert Kriegel
Robert Kriegel PhD is one of the most in demand business speakers today, teaching bold, innovative, 'out of the box' strategies for keeping ahead of the changes, challenges and competition in today's dynamic marketplace. Author of the national bestseller: If it ain't broke...BREAK IT!, Dr. Kriegel has been called by U.S. News & World Report one of this country's leading authorities in the field of change and human performance. His latest book is How to Succeed in Business Without Working so Damn Hard. His last book, Sacred Cows Make The Best Burgers, made Business Week's bestseller list in its first month! A commentator on National Public Radio's Marketplace program, Kriegel recently made two specials for PBS.

The Big Idea

In the new economy driven by change and spurred by opportunities coming from all directions, where competition is tough and customers are more sophisticated and demanding, it is imminent that companies and organizations take the step to remove its sacred cows. In business parlance, sacred cows refer to an outmoded belief, an assumption, practice, system or strategy that generally inhibits change and prevents responsiveness to new opportunities. Sacred cows are those who are afraid to abandon what once made them successful. Today's organizations must make room for creative ideas and new thinking in order to grow. Innovativeness is crucial. The authors Robert Kriegel and David Brandt relate that removing sacred cows requires preparing an organization and its people for change. The change-ready process include five stages: rounding up sacred cows, developing a change-ready environment, turning resistance into readiness, motivating people to change and developing the seven personal change-ready traits.

David Brandt
David Brandt offers over 27 years of experience in organizational and personal psychology. Acknowledged as a "leading authority" by U.S. News and World Report, he coaches executives and companies in maximizing individual performance, effective communication, conflict resolution, team construction, stress reduction, and change management. David is author of four acclaimed books. His Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers (Warner) made Business Week's national bestseller list in its first month. He has appeared on national television programs including The CBS Evening New, CNN, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

1. The Five Steps to Developing Change-Ready People and Organizations The First Step: Rounding Up Sacred Cows
The sacred cow hunt includes challenging well-worn beliefs, assumptions and practices as well as identifying those that have outlived their usefulness. Critical to the step is seeking and ensuring the involvement of people in hunting down sacred cows and implementing change. Who Hunts The Sacred Cows The effective and successful cow hunter possesses the challenge everything attitude. This individual can be a high-level executive or rank-and-file worker or new employee not yet fully indoctrinated in the workplace culture thus bringing a fresh perspective. How To Hunt Begin the sacred cow hunt. The cow hunt is a first step to preparing employees to start accepting change. It is a technique to get employees psychologically ready for change and possible major organizational transformations. Create an event around the sacred cow hunt. Every time an employee of Tractor Supply Stores identifies a sacred cow, bells get rung and cow hunters are heralded and toasted. Awards and cowbells are given to the best hunters. Cow images and accessories are openly displayed around the office. Merck Pharmaceutical conducts monthly sacred cow barbecues. Petroleum company William Pipe Line from Tulsa, Oklahoma provides a free hamburger lunch to the cow hunter along with a $10 gift certificate if the idea is irresistabull or a $50 certificate if it is udderly wonderful. Create an organization of hunters. A company where people do their jobs while keeping an eye on outmoded ideas and practices is likely to become a powerful and creative change-ready organization able to reinvent itself before the need becomes pressing. The best hunters are people closest to the customer and value chain process. They know best about redundant, counterproductive and unnecessary work processes that deter serving the needs of the customers immediately. Sacred cow hunting in teams is more fun and productive. Bringing together a diverse group of cross-functional sacred cow hunters results in newer and fresher perspectives. Make customers your sacred cow hunters. Customers are especially invaluable in tracking sacred cows. After all, they bring the reality check and are the ultimate end-users of the organization's products and services. Prime the pump. Give employees the opportunity to complain and criticize. Channel the energy surrounding these complaints towards a sacred cow hunting spirit. Complaints are often the medium for spotting sacred cows that are in disguise or invisible. When several people agree that something is a waste of time, is redundant or does not work, the complaint is likely to have some merit and is ground for listening. Challenge assumptions. Do a reality check. Validate with end users whether assumptions remain relevant. Review all daily tasks and activities. Brand them as bulls or sacred cows.

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

Bull activities help one respond quickly and effectively to change and new opportunities. Sacred cow activities are those that can be eliminated without making any difference to the organization's effectiveness. Motivate and give special rewards to hunters who have spotted cows in their own areas. Capitalize on cross-functional teams to identify and spot duplicating, repetitive and costly processes and tasks in an organization. Do archaeology: Dig up the whys and wherefores of a particular process or practice. Certain workplace practices may be relevant in the past but with the passage of time and changes in the environment, may no longer be meaningful or reasonable. Asking how a practice originated may reveal a sacred cow. Check your inheritance. Determine the reason and relevance of practices, processes or procedures that may have been handed to you as you assume a new role or job. Determine whether another person, department or subsidiary company can take on a particular job effectively, along with other tasks, or if the company should do the job at all. A reality check may reveal that a task output can be done effectively by fewer individuals, teams or even by outside expert specialists. Make sacred cow hunts fun hunts. Keep the spirit of cow hunts alive with light irreverence, teamwork, camaraderie, humor, creativity and motivation.

Hunt The Paper Cow This refers to a paper avalanche of printed and filed e-mails, reports, proposals and print-outs that do not contribute to the following: Adding value to the customer in terms of improving quality or service Increasing productivity or cutting costs Improving morale or encouraging action

Hunt The Meeting Cow Marathon meetings and conferences are held to suit the conventional wisdom that meetings are meant to obtain consensus and the more information obtained, the better can one arrive at an agreement. Unfortunately, in the new economy, time is the currency and consensus takes forever. Trying to get everyone on board is a time consuming luxury. Options to putting this sacred cow to practice include restricting meetings to forty five minutes, holding vertical meetings without chairs and applying a meeting meter technology that measures the actual cost of a meeting based on a participant's salaries, room and equipment rental as well as miscellaneous expenses, or using a technographer to type notes on a computer attached to the big screen. By regularly making sure that participants agree with the notes onscreen, the technographer keeps everyone focused and a consensus emerges. Hunt The Speed Cow The conventional mindset in the new economy is to walk fast, talk fast, think fast and execute fast. Ironically, this sacred cow has far-reaching costs related to workers' health and wellness, workplace productivity and quality nosedives. Speed kills quality, service and innovation. In sports, the rule holds that a passionate 90 percent

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

effort is more effective than a panicked 110 percent. And a passionate 90 percent effort will yield 110 percent results. Putting this sacred cow to pasture means keeping open, unstructured time in the day to relax, reflect or meditate; having more time to sharpen intuition, self-discovery and self-awareness; and allowing time for fun and joy breaks. Hunt The Expert Cow Traditional thinking relates that experience is the foundation of wisdom and that experts who have seen and done it all have the special knowledge to lead a company into the future. Ironically, experts with a conventional mindset are experts in the old paradigm. Most of the time they operate with antiquated ways and charts. In 1950, Haloid, a small research firm offered IBM the right to sell their 914 paper copier. IBM retained major consulting firm, Arthur D. Little to evaluate the product's potential. After three months of evaluation, Arthur D. Little recommended against the acquisition estimating that worldwide potential for paper copiers was less than 5,000 units largely due to the popularity and cheap price of carbon paper. Ten years later, Haloid, now known as Xerox generated $1 billion in sales annually from copiers. In the mid-1970s, Sony engineering executives and market researchers told Sony chairman Akio Morita that Walkmans are not likely to sell 10,000 units and be accepted by the market because it did not have recording capability. Morita, a champion of change-readiness, ignored the advice and offered to resign if the product was not successful. Within ten years, Sony had sold 20 million Walkman units. Key to keeping ahead of a changing environment is to think not like an expert but more like a beginner. While experts tell you why something cannot work, beginners see only the possibilities. Putting expert cows to pasture include: Hiring outsiders to bring a fresh perspective to the organization Identifying ineffective operating practices and traditions Assigning rookies who are optimistic, open-minded and wide-ranging in their interests to design new products and services Changing employee assignments and jobs regularly Creating an environment that encourages asking stupid questions Looking for solutions in related or unrelated areas Thinking like a beginner

Hunt The Cash Cow Success blinds many organizations. Relying entirely on their cash cows, most businesses run them dry or into the ground. In a fast changing environment, one cannot rest on one's laurels. Complacency breeds failure. On the other hand, conventional wisdom states that success comes to those who are able to find a niche and own the market. But in a fast changing environment, businessmen must learn to avoid pigeonholing brought about by too narrow a vision. Putting cash cows to pasture means that organizations must learn to: Broaden their niches to keep cash cows producing sweet milk

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

Use success as a springboard for even greater accomplishments while making it harder for other players to compete with the successful company Eat one's own lunch before someone else does. This means cannibalizing one's own products to stay ahead. Also, redefining one's identity based on customer perception. Never become satisfied.

Hunt The Competitive Cow Out-competing the competition in a level playing field is a sacred cow. Putting the competitive cow to pasture and taking a real lead requires a contrarian strategy. Change the level playing field and tilt it to one's favor. This demands rethinking the old rules of the game and doing business the opposite way. For example, Domino's Pizza built its business by bringing pizza to the customer's doorstep in less than thirty minutes while most pizza parlors did conventional marketing attracting customers to their place. Gary Tharaldson, the largest U.S. motel developer succeeded by changing the rules of the game. Conventional wisdom in the motel business discouraged small motels. Tharaldson did the opposite by building small, familyoriented motels in small towns where no other motelier dares to go. Hunt The Customer Cow In the new economy, satisfying the customer is a sacred cow. Satisfying is simply the beginning of a relationship with the customer and not the end. Herding the customer cow to pasture means: Taking customers to a new level by surprising and delighting them. For example, offer customers value-added services they do not expect. Walk the walk of customers by experiencing first hand what it is to be the customer. Hang around with customers and encourage dialogues with them Provide out of the box solutions to long-standing problems and concerns.

Hunt The Low Price Cow Conventional wisdom states that customers always want a low price. Hence, a loss leader strategy is always a comfortable solution. Today, consumers want more than low price. They want greater value, not exactly a low price point. California Pizza Kitchen, not a low price pizza restaurant, believes customers equate getting your money's worth with huge serving portions. Hunt The Quick Reactor Cow Quick response to change is a sacred cow belief. This no longer works. Even if quick reactors manage to pull even, the competition is already on the next level playing field and the quick reactor is left struggling to catch up. The key is to be proactive, not reactive. Change-ready organizations and employees do not just listen to customers, they lead the customers. They use the customer's imagination to pre-view the future along with understanding the demographic, socio-graphic and psycho-graphic trends of customers; and tracking the emerging social and cultural directions and new advances in technology. Examples of pre-viewing the future are: Future banks-banking from the home, loan approvals in minutes, customized

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

insurance Future home shopping Videos of grocery aisles, smell-o-vision that allows the customer to get a whiff of the product onscreen or touch-o-vision that allows the customer to squeeze the fruit onscreen Hunt The No Mistakes Cow Get it right the first time, no mistakes rules are a sacred cow ethic. This credo, while originally designed to improve work practices, products and services, fosters an atmosphere of extreme caution that makes people afraid to take risks or gamble on brilliant ideas. When people become too cautious, innovation, creativity and originality disappears and the possibility of gaining a competitive advantage is lost. Taking the No Mistakes Cow to pasture means: Encourage experiments. Recognize that mistakes are natural by products. Reward good tries; avoid penalizing mistakes. When failure is not penalized, people are more willing to experiment and look for innovative new solutions, products, processes and ways to surprise the customer. Learn from failure. While mistakes are not penalized, it must be seen as part of the learning process that can help one to re-think, re-conceptualize and restrategize. Failure is not a sin but failure to learn from failure is. Realize that the mistakes essential for success are not the sloppy, careless, insensible mistakes that come from lack of preparation or confusion. They are the kind of mistakes that come from trying something new, from moving into uncharted territory or taking calculated risks. Hunt The Downsizing Cow The sacred cow belief is that downsizing can help create a leaner, meaner, profitable organization. Likewise, ruthlessness is a virtue, a sign of true leadership that demonstrates one is not afraid to make hard choices. Today, downsizing is a wornout and inexpedient policy for solving corporate financial woes with major costs that include morale, motivation and innovation. Reinvention is the alternative strategy. Businesses need to move from bottom-line solutions to top-line approaches that emphasize growth and expansion. These approaches include: Focus on developing and offering new and superior products and services. The Japanese might consider downsizing but never at the expense of business units that feed innovation and sales. Gillette lives by the rule: Increase spending in growth drivers like R&D, plant equipment and marketing at least as fast as the revenues go up. Focus on anticipating customer needs. Most companies cut the muscle, which is the people, and leave the fat, often the outdated processes. Focus on finding more efficient and cheaper ways to provide goods and services. Focus on reinventing the company and re-envisioning company goals. Hunt The Technocow Techno-solution is the new sacred cow. With new technology, people can stay in touch from anywhere, anytime. While technology appears to bring people closer

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

together, it can also separate people from each other. Technology can never replace the up close and personal experience that comes with direct contact. High tech communication like videoconferencing or e-mail is great for bringing people up to speed but may not be the best option for brainstorming or developing innovation strategies, products or services. High-tech must be combined with high-touch and this means not totally eliminating conferences, meetings and conventions that also serve as networking sessions. Hunt The Team Cow Conventional wisdom believes that putting a group of people in a room makes a team and teams are the most effective solutions to organizational problems. However, teams are sacred cows that need not be pasteurized but must be simply managed well to turn it into effective lead bulls. Managing teams includes: Recognizing that not every organizational task requires a team. Some questions to consider before forming a team include: 1. Does the job require a high level of employee interaction? 2. Will teams be too costly or take too long to get the task completed? 3. Will teams unduly complicate rather than simplify the job? 4. Is it overkill to use a team for this project? Can individuals do the job more easily and effectively? Forming the right team for the right task. The following are the five types of teams: 1. Problem solving team - Addresses a specific problem and then disbands. 2. Work team - Does the actual labor. 3. Virtual team - Accomplishes assigned tasks and responsibilities by communicating via telephone and computers. 4. Quality circle - Meets intermittently to air problems and upgrade procedures. 5. Management teams - Coordinates management functions such as sales and R&D. Choosing the right individual/s to be part of the team. Not everyone is suited to team play. Forming people into groups can negate their productivity as well as that of the team. Defining clear-cut and attainable goals. Successful teams have concrete and achievable goals, a definite time frame and a method for evaluating results. Link teams with organizational goals, changes and a master plan. Do not isolate teams. Ad hoc, or casually initiated teams often find themselves at cross-purpose with other groups. Willingness to trouble-shoot on people issues in teams. Teams bring diverse personalities together shaped by different cultures, training and perspectives. Management must learn to handle the players and recognize

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

the way they fit into the group. Knowing how to create synergy. These include: 1. Clarifying at the outset the individual team members' perspectives. 2. Treating everyone with respect. 3. Valuing everyone's contribution. 4. Openness to differences in opinion, beliefs, values and ideas. 5. Focusing and addressing the ideas, not the person behind the idea. 6. Leader modeling appropriate behavior, actions and attitudes. 7. Confronting non-contributing and/or obstructionist team member without blame or hostility.

Understanding the life cycle of teams. Management must understand that teams have their stages of growth and development along with their needs and functions. To maximize a team's contribution, it is necessary for managers to understand how groups evolve and change. The five stages are: 1. Orientation. Stage where members look for direction, meaning, rules and objectives. Leaders need to motivate players and raise their excitement about the team's project and goals. 2. Conflict. Stage marked by power struggles, testing of leaders and ideas, rising frustration and confusion. Leaders must consistently reiterate goals, reassure members and respond to challenges without anger and defensiveness. 3. Harmony. Stage where natural leaders emerge and cooperation among team members surface. Leaders become facilitators. 4. Maturity. Team functions smoothly toward accomplishing tasks. Members are cohesive and strongly committed. Leaders move to a supportive role allowing members adequate breathing space to accomplish tasks on their own. 5. Dotage. Phasing out stage where team has become a sacred cow and outlives its purpose and usefulness. Leader plans a celebration and disbands the group. Hunt The Work Till Ya Drop Cow Traditional thinking links success to overwork. Unfortunately, this is one sacred cow that does not hold true. Among the costs of working till ya drop include: Burnout or premature breakdown. Tired mental muscle leading to less sharpness and concentration as well as more errors. Likewise, loss or lack of creativity and physical, mental and spiritual depletion. Compromised personal lives. Cheating. When people are over-tasked, where they have to do too much and are expected to meet unrealistic high goals, they are likely to cheat to make the numbers good.

Organizations today are recognizing the value of providing employees with shortened workdays, flexible work schedules, mini-holidays, and four-day

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weekends all leading to significant downtime to relax and recover energy.

The Second Step: Developing The Change-Ready Environment

People are the gatekeepers of change. They can make or break a new program. To effectively implement change, the focus must be on the people who will implement the change. Employees must be psychologically prepared to accept and implement the change. Unfortunately, people naturally resist the change because it is uncomfortable, unpredictable, unknown and it is perceived to be damaging. The key, therefore, is to create an environment in which people are more open to innovation and new ideas. Ways To Build A Change-Ready Environment Prepare the soil and fertilize before wetting the hard ground. Organizations seldom do spade work. They introduce and force the change and work on the buy-in later. This way, results are often catastrophic. Resistance is on the upswing and not minimized. Develop a trusting and caring change-ready environment. People need to trust the leaders and the environment. They must feel they are cared for and acknowledged. Caring comes from treating employees with respect and empathy as well as acknowledging their effort and contribution. In organizations where management treats its workforce with respect and understanding, tells the truth and keeps its word, employees are positive about change, open to innovation and more engaged in the change process. Trust emerges from relationships characterized by: Honesty: Can you believe what they are saying? Integrity: Do they keep their promises? Openness: Do they share what they know?

Caring comes from treating individuals with respect and empathy and acknowledging their efforts and contributions. It is not a warm, fuzzy new age concept. Companies that care for their employees attract the best talent and keep the talent longer. Teams perform better when caring leaders direct them. Trust is delicate. It takes a long time to establish and a split second to lose. There are many ways to undermine trust. Likewise, there are ways to build trust. Trust Busters Talking but not walking. A huge gap exists between corporate chiefs knowing what to do and them actually doing it. The failure to walk the talk creates distrust of organizational leadership and leads to resistance to change in the workplace. Not telling the truth. Lack of honesty, open communication and dialogue leads to careless rumor and grapevine stories that can spin out of control and create far worse situations than if the truth were known. It is always

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

better to confront a situation head on than allow rumors to exaggerate the situation and cause panic. Copping or grabbing credit. Nothing creates distrust, breaks teamwork and motivation faster than having an idea grabbed the superior. When bosses cop ideas, their staff's creativity suddenly and inexplicably dries up. Loose lips sink ships. Nothing breaks down trust like idle gossip and disclosure of private information. Trust Builders Model the message. Leaders must walk the talk. Their attitudes and actions must be consistent with their words. A clear-cut example is role modeling or the power of personal example. Build openness and honesty. Like trust, openness is reciprocal. Also, communicating is half of the story. The other half is listening and becoming responsive. Openness in communication, telling it like it is and working things out are integral to developing a change-ready environment. Talk we not me. True leaders have the wisdom to share glory with their team and the guts to take responsibility for their mistakes. We is an inclusionary term whereas I is exclusionary. We tells the team that one's contribution is recognized and appreciated. Batten down the hatches. No one trusts a gossiper. No matter how tempting it is to tell someone what you have just heard in private, let your better judgment prevail. Make the leap of faith with your employees through high level caring. Caring does not mean coddling your employees or gratifying their every wish. Caring relationships are characterized by respect, empathy and acknowledgement, as follows: 1. Respect does not mean smile at all times. It means treating people as human beings with needs, aspirations and fear. It means holding people accountable for their actions. This requires being demanding of performance and being supportive of the person. 2. Empathy means standing in someone else's shoes. It means the ability to think and feel into another person's experience. Employees feel you are on their side, that you understand and appreciate their concern and sensitivities when your first response is to understand the other person's point of view rather than dismiss or criticize it. Leading with empathy creates greater reciprocity to new ideas. 3. Acknowledgment means recognizing employee efforts. Personal acknowledgement does not have to come from formal programs, appreciation plaques and news articles. It may be simple, everyday recognition like good job, great ideas or a quick voice or email message everyday, a compliment or a pat in the back acknowledgement.

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

The Third Step: Turning Resistance Into Readiness

Fear, feeling powerless over change, moving out of one's comfort zone and exerting more effort and not fully acknowledging the personal benefits behind the change all these lead to resistance to change. Catalysts To Change Understand that resistance is personal and individual. Hence, organizations must recognize the individual reasons for opposing change. Use fire hosing whenever naysayers cite a lot of reasons why new paradigms would not work. For example, Naysayer: It is not in the budget. Firehosing: Of course not. This year's budget was made up last year when circumstances were different. Identify resistor types and deal with them. Some resistors and quick tips for dealing with them are: Heel draggers. They oppose change quietly through non-cooperation. They will nod their heads but will not act. Quick tip: Bring resistance into the open. Look for signs of opposition like tardiness in completion and submission of new procedures or assigned tasks. Use gripe sessions to flush out heel draggers. Saboteurs. Typically silent like heel draggers yet more aggressive in their opposition tactics. For example, they create real obstacles to implementing new plans by holding back information, conveniently losing important data or even planting bugs in software. Quick tip: Flush them out through gripe sessions. Fence riders. Cautious resistors who take a long time to make up their minds. They do not want to make a mistake or go against their co-workers. They check the prevailing sentiments before taking a position. Quick tip: Provide convincing, persuasive information to win them over. Reassure and build their confidence. But get to them before antagonists do. Ostriches. They pretend nothing is happening and act like change will go away if ignored. Quick tip: Get them actually involved. Win them over to your side by proactively taking the effort to explain to them individually. Dissenters. They are honest about their opinion and offer logical and legitimate reasons for opposition. Quick tip: Include their ideas. Value their input. Do not cut them off. Antagonists. Vocal, loud and annoying dissenters. They are unwilling to compromise or negotiate. They oppose change because it is change. Quick tip: Ignore them. Cut them loose. Do not give them the forum.

Understand resistance drivers and deal with them. These include: Fear: What if I lose my job, look stupid, can't adapt, etc. Fears are often exaggerated and irrational. Counter with a strong dose of reality. Ask the dissenter, what is most likely to happen? If the worst does happen,

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encourage the dissenter to prepare for the worst. Preparing the dissenter for the worst is likely to open the person to unexpected, never before dreamed of opportunities. Thus, What if I get fire becomes If I get fired then I will. Reality testing cuts fear down to size. The other half is to build the person's confidence, helping the other believe that he can manage change without failing. Refocusing the person's attention to what the individual can do builds confidence. Feeling powerless: No one asked me. When change is imposed from the top, people are likely to feel powerless, angry and resentful. No matter what the circumstances there is always a way to empower people. These may include: 1. Creating a dialogue. Clearly state the reasons for the decision, changes to be expected, possible consequences and opportunities. 2. Involving people in parts of the process that they can own, influence and contribute to even if the general idea and direction came from the top. 3. Asking employees to process their natural disappointment and sense of loss. Inertia: It's too much effort, too uncomfortable. Human beings are governed by the natural desire to keep things as they are. To overcome inertia: 1. Clearly point out what will change and what will stay the same. 2. Blend in the changes to the existing structure. 3. Create involvement quickly by encouraging doable tasks. Find specific activities that can be implemented right away and change piece by piece. 4. Create a crisis when there is utter complacency. Most organizations and people do not want to change fundamentally until they absolutely have to. Creating a crisis makes action necessary, not just desirable. Absence of interest: What is in it for me? A change may benefit the company, but the same change must clearly communicate that it can benefit the individual employee. Two ways to address the issue of WIIFM (What is in it for me?) are: 1. Visualize benefits with the dissenter. Allow the dissenter to envision positive, masterful, success-driven images to replace negative thoughts and feelings that come with fear. 2. Emphasize the cost of not changing. Resistance disappears when employees understand that the company's survival is in danger if they stick to the old ways.

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers By Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

The Fourth Step: Motivating People To Change

Overcoming resistance is about neutralizing negativity. Motivation is about lighting a fire. When people are filled with enthusiasm, they will take the risk, go the extra mile and fully commit themselves to change. The four keys to lighting the fire are urgency, inspiration, ownership, reward and recognition. The following are ways to implement these keys: Urgency Create burning platforms that serve as an important and timely reason to change. E.g. dwindling market share, rising criticism and complaints from customers. Look for natural leaders in the organization and win them over to the urgency of implementing change. Their role is to motivate others to implement change immediately. Do not cry wolf. When you are creating urgency, make sure it is based on fact, not fiction. Inspire Stoke the fire with an inspiring vision. Urgency creates an adrenaline burst of action but momentum can only be sustained with an inspiring platform. Turn your employees into passionate people, inspired by vision. A burning platform gives employees the courage to take risks, challenge old rules, chase dreams and never give up. Create aspirations, share visions, and describe visual pictures of something people can aspire to. Tap into the best part of people when introducing change. Place the project in a bigger context, one that has higher meaning and purpose. Ownership Empower people with information and the responsibility to make decisions. Make them accountable for results. Clarify expectations to ensure that you and your people are on the same page. Do not just delegate: elevate. People generally rise to the level of responsibility given to them. This adds to their self-esteem and confidence. Make people accountable. Standards fail when there is no accountability. Rewards and Recognition The best strategy for motivating people to change is to combine both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Traditional extrinsic rewards are money, corner office, gifts and titles. Intrinsic rewards include recognition, fairness, flexibility, creativity, freedom and meaningfulness. Make extrinsic rewards personal, immediate and public. Provide incentives that fit the person like theater tickets, Disneyland passes, etc. Do not let time fly too long before giving the reward. When a reward comes in the heels of an outstanding contribution, it has greater impact. Come out publicly with the good news. Public acknowledgement of new thinking encourages others to follow suit and spins off new

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ideas. Reward good tries, not just successful results, to get people to engage in risk-taking more often and in trying out new things and processes. Reward the team. Nothing makes an individual more a part of a team than being rewarded as a team. Recognize and maximize individual differences. Use different rules for each person. While treating individuals differently, the following principles may be observed to avoid or lessen jealousy and perceived unfairness. Fifth business. Make everyone feel they are valued and each has an important contribution. Coach individuals. Treat everybody as individuals with special needs and concerns. Show respect and care equally. Implement bottom-line rules. Regardless of status, everyone follows the bottom-line rules. Likewise, create top-line rules specific to certain departments and individuals.

Treating employees differently is not playing favorites. It is playing smart. By recognizing that each person is an individual with specific needs, dreams and values, a manager can maximize every employee's contribution and motivate him or her to change.

The Fifth Step: Developing Change-Ready Traits

Change-readiness means feeling excited and challenged by change, anticipating and initiating change rather than simply reacting to events. Creating a changeready organization means challenging sacred cow beliefs and assumptions, building an environment of trust and caring, conquering resistance and lighting people up. Change-ready people are proactive and possess the seven traits of changereadiness that include passion, resourcefulness, optimism, adventurousness, adaptability, confidence and tolerance for ambiguity. Resourcefulness. They are effective at making the most of any situation and use resources that are available to meet objectives, strategies, plans and contingencies. They have a knack for creating new ways to solve traditional problems. Optimism. They recognize opportunities and possibilities and are not deterred by problems and obstacles. Adventurousness. They love a challenge, are inclined to take risks and pursue the unknown. They are great innovators and creators. Drive. They have a high level of passion, level of intensity and determination. Nothing appears impossible to them. Adaptability. They are flexible and resilient. They adjust to changes and new circumstances with quickness and ease. Likewise, they have a capacity to rebound from adversity quickly with a minimum of trauma.

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Confidence. They have a strong sense of self esteem and believe they can make any situation work for them. They are not threatened by change. When they fail they do not see themselves as a failure but as a person who has something more to learn. To them, failing is the road to mastery, an impetus to helping them become better. Tolerance for ambiguity. They remain calm and collected in the face of adversity. The result is that decisions are not forced, whimsical nor hastily made.

Why Change Fails Too much, too fast. When you push too hard and too fast for change, you do not get to be more competitive or profitable, you get diminished quality, poor communication and zero innovation. Panic zone. There is an imbalance between the challenges of change and available resources. Challenges that come with change include the degree of change needed and the learning, effort and speed required to implement the change. Resources involve team or individual competence, level of energy and motivation, skill, time and technology. Drone Zone. This happens when there are many resources but too little challenges hence, producing lethargy. These organizations keep playing the old rules and rely on past successes when the game is already beginning to change.

Balancing Challenge and Resources In the Change Ready Zone Implement progressive change, one at a time. Do a zone check regularly. On a scale of one to ten, rate the challenge of the situation, degree of change, steepness of learning curve, required effort and speed of implementation. Then, rate the resources available to meet the challenge like team size, competence, energy, motivation, available time, technology and information. Recharge batteries. Rest the players, give the individuals a chance to recover and recharge. Let the tired players sit out for a short period of time. Assign them to something less demanding.

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