Page 265 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence
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252    C o n t i n u o u s   I m p r o v e m e n t                                                                                                              e f f e c t i v e   C h a n g e   M a n a g e m e n t    253


                                   Strategy #2: Mentoring. In Greek mythology, Mentor was an elderly
                                man, the trusted counselor of Odysseus, and the guardian and teacher of
                                his son Telemachus. Today the term “mentor” is still used to describe a
                                wise  and  trusted  counselor  or  teacher.  When  this  person  occupies  an
                                important position in the organization’s hierarchy, he or she can be a pow-
                                erful force for eliminating roadblocks. Modern organizations are complex
                                and confusing. It is often difficult to determine just where one must go to
                                solve a problem or obtain a needed resource. The mentor can help guide
                                the project manager through this maze by clarifying lines of authority. At
                                the same time, the mentor’s senior position enables him or her to see the
                                implications of complexity and to work to eliminate unnecessary rules
                                and procedures.
                                   Strategy  #3:  Identify  informal  leaders  and  enlist  their  support.
                                Because of their experience, mentors often know that the person whose
                                support the project really needs is not the one occupying the relevant
                                box on the organization chart. The mentor can direct the project leader
                                to the person whose opinion really has influence. For example, a project
                                may need the approval of, say, the vice president of engineering. The
                                engineering VP may be balking because his senior metallurgist hasn’t
                                endorsed the project.
                                   Strategy #4: Find legitimate ways around people, procedures, resource
                                constraints, and other roadblocks. It may be possible to get approvals or
                                resources through means not known to the project manager. Perhaps a
                                minor change in the project plan can bypass a cumbersome procedure
                                entirely. For example, adding an engineer to the team might automatically
                                place the authority to approve process experiments within the team rather
                                than in the hands of the engineering department.
                                   These concerns must be addressed. Change cannot occur without buy-
                                in from the key stakeholders responsible for change.
                                   The following steps can be used to achieve buy-in within the organiza-
                                tion (Keller, 2011a):
                                    1.  Define key stakeholders. These are the individuals or groups who can
                                       make or break the change initiative.
                                    2.  Measure baseline level of buy-in for each key stakeholder. How
                                       committed are they to change?
                                    3.  Analyze buy-in reducers and boosters for each key stakeholder or stake-
                                       holder group. Understand the concerns of the stakeholders, which
                                       may vary from one stakeholder to another.
                                    4.  Improve by addressing issues.
                                    5.  Control with a plan to maintain buy-in.
                                   Notice the DMAIC approach, which will be discussed shortly as the
                                model of process improvement, applied here to the problem of buy-in.








          12_Pyzdek_Ch12_p241-264.indd   252                                                            11/9/12   5:13 PM
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