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"You are an interesting group", the speaker of our weekend seminar summed up the past two days... This page is about natural reaction on significant change, from amygdale hijacking to the realization of secondary benefits, which are mainly depicted by its illustrations: For equally, this page is about interesting learnings as well as great people, whom I was very happy to meet, visiting a brewery that I had always wanted to see and advice in form of more quotes, which I wanted to capture. "Gut Ding braucht Weile - A good thing takes time", or "Vienna wasn't built in a day", as they say, but we finally came to an end of a two-year-journey of in-service training on long weekends with a great group of people...

Something Interesting?

Final Chapter. Conceptually, this page attempts to continue what had been started with the previous pages on Information Systems and Benchmarking. Discussion topics include the handling of crisis, change and the economic justification of undertakings. Feel free to either read on or us jump right into some more helpful quotes and advices found below.

Hot Water Crisis. The level of maturity - both of people and organizations - increases through crises. As we know, the first crisis if life is the birth. One of the biggest development crises happens on the crossroads between childhood and adult life: It is called puberty. In a similar way, organizations go through a change process to gain maturity. Social competencies help us to handle those breaks, which cause immediate change, as opposed to a continuous, evolutionary development process. The "Pain Chain Model" identifies stakeholders, who impose pressure on others and cause pain to them, while possibly receiving pressure themselves. These days we tend to quantify everything, following the commonplace saying that you can only manage, what you can measure. However, just measuring a fair average may not do the trick. An average involvement of 50% across a number of people doesn't say much. One individual can be overloaded, another may be bored. When you put one hand in boiling water, and one hand in ice water, in average you feel OK.

Fear taking Control. Too often, change comes with fear. Dealing with possible threat, we tend to show automated reaction, also known as "amygdale hijacking", which defies free will. The "fear center" of the human brain takes over control, the amygdala, an almond-shaped clump of nerves. It constantly filters perceptions from the five senses for danger. In case of threat, the human primary instincts instruct us to do three things: Run, fight or play dead! If we cannot give in to our flight impulse and run away, next there comes the fight impulse and we may show aggression. And if that is also impossible, one may just remain motionless in a one-to-one staff meeting or elsewhere. In this case it may take a few seconds for the "psychic fog" to lift, as it covers up the inner chaos.

What you do is your Business! The business case is an instrument for displaying projected economic benefits of project or investment decisions. It details the main arguments for a certain course of action and its consequences. A project description outlines the possible approach with related costs, benefits and economic advantages. It is complemented by risk analysis and alignment with strategic direction. Advantages can be shown both in absolute and relative terms, in comparison to competing proposals. In this case, opportunity costs have to be taken into account, reflecting profit contribution of the rejected alternative. Economic benefits and strategic fit are illustrated by cost analysis, benefits evaluation and feasibility study. Performance indicators include return on investment, pay backs and amortization rates, as well as best case / worst case calculations.

Benefit criteria can be split into

• Monetary criteria include financial benefits resp. resulting cost savings,
• Indirect monetary criteria describe value enhancements or sales increase coming from more customer recommendation
• Non-monetary areas include positive effects on image and increased flexibility, as well as further risks and benefits.

Finally, decision-relevant aspects of a proposal are being summarized and possible alternatives are highlighted and evaluated. In the Executive Summary a recommendation is issued accordingly.

Seven States of Shock. Typically, there are seven phases of change. Be it in connection with structural reorganization or a medical disease, a similar behavior pattern applies. "Start" describes the event of delivery of bad news. "Shock" comes next, often hand-in-hand with total standstill. "Denial" creates a "now more than ever"-atmosphere and often leads to "bargaining with the devil", as one tends to make unrealistic promises just to avert the change, such as: "I will work double from now on" or "I will light a candle every day, if this cup passes from me." "Realization" comes with understanding that the change is inevitable. "Acceptance" follows soon after, as one learns to cope with the situation. Identification of secondary gain out of a problem definitely helps ("Problemgewinn"). An example would be that because of illness everyone cares. "Trial" is when one starts to experiment with the new mode of operation. "Integration" of change finally defines the new state of normality as the targetted final outcome.

Standard Selling Phases. Selling also consists of seven phases: Using open questions, first you collect "information" and identify the "need". The product "characteristics" are documented to prepare the argumentation. Next, one overcomes "reservations" and confirms the "common understanding" with closed questions. An "offer" or quote leads to successfully "closing" the business transaction or the confirmation of a project order, following the motto: "Des mach' ma - Let's do it!"

CRM-Building Blocks. Customer Relationship Management-Systems combine collaborative, operative and analytical elements and integrate information among Marketing, Sales and Services. Integral parts include contact handling and response to inquiries, wishes and complaints in the front office. The definition of telephone campaigns and direct mailings usually follows customer segmentation. Field service describes a mobile component, involving sales representatives and service personnel in on-site meetings. Leads and potentials are being converted into selling opportunities, which are supported by attractive sales offers and limited product promotions.

Make or Buy, Produce or Purchase. The make or buy decision determines benefits of in-house production over external sourcing. This applies to manufacturing of products, intermediate products and components as well as for services that can be purchased from a supplier. It offers help with decision conflicts in connection with outsourcing decisions.

Make or buy decisions are determined following considerations on time frame, quality and the level of specialization:

• Short-term decisions mostly smooth capacity peaks and depend on the current employment situation. At first internal production capacity should be utilized.
• Long-term are strategic (production) decisions that require special knowledge. They represent investment decisions under the aspect of full cost recovery.
• The less specific services are, the more they can be standardized and the less their strategic importance is, the easier and more cost-effective their outsourcing can be.

As external sourcing helps to avoid own investments, it adds on to variable costs. The identification of a tradeoff point helps to find out, when an alternative with higher fixed costs and lower variable costs is more attractive. Implications of outsourcing decisions can vary greatly. On the one hand, there are great successes, in other cases one may decide to return to in-house solutions.

On our way to a very interesting and eye-opening project simulation seminar.

Successful Change. Change Management is a bundle of recommended behaviour and measures to successfully implement changes.
Prerequisites for success include

• A sense of urgency and a considerable degree of suffering that calls for change.
• Commitment of the change team, which must fully stand behind the initiative.
• Goals must be clearly set; the future state has to be defined up front.
• Resources needed to make it happen must be identified. Influential and powerful promoters need to be engaged in helping to convince the group of undecided and overrule opponents. A sociogram helps with analyzing interpersonal relations.

Freezer Logic. Therefore, change usually consists of three basic steps:

• Unfreezing (initialization phase incl. diagnosis),
• Moving (control phase with establishment of a project resp. line organization and integration into the business plan)
• Refreezing (anchoring resp. institutionalizing, where the change redefines daily routine operations).

SOR-Model. Change is often perceived as a form of stress. In a stress-organization-response model, stressors are being reviewed, based on experience, current personal condition, overall mind set and abilities, and subsequently lead to a reaction, be it cognitive, emotional, vegetative, muscular, or behavioral. It is the dealing with anxiety in the first five months of the life of a child that influences an adult's ability to cope with pressure and stress. A well-kept home creates the best basis for dealing with high stress load in later life.

Helicopter View. Sometimes it is worthwhile to lean back and reflect, what one is really being paid for. Too often people are occupied by details that are not worthwhile the same amount of time dedication, compared to those, they are really being measured against. Then it pays off to re-assess items of focus based on their importance and urgency and have the courage to leave gaps in order to avoid diversion into the wrong direction.

Leadership Branding. What is my own brand is a question not too many people may ask themselves. Nevertheless, every person has a brand, based on past performance and behaviour. What are others talking about him or her? What personality, lifestyle, intellectual coordinate system and mind does one stand for? And what does one really want to be famous for him- or herself? A personal brand image is hard to change. Obviously, there are different types of people with different mind sets and communication styles. All too often it all goes back to the question, who we are.

Structure follows Strategy. The initiation of change can be structured into the main processes of planning, organization, implementation and control. According to the rule "structure follows strategy", proceedings and reorganization should not be an end in itself, but always have the desired future state in mind. Theory of structuration states that structure leads to behavior, as much as behavior reinforces structure. Equally important as official regulations and policies are hidden rules.

Resistance Drivers. Resistance to change is driven by three main factors:

• Avoiding rational resistance: The intent must make sense to people. Benefit and goals must be visible, to rebut logical arguments against the transformation.
• Avoiding political resistance: Power and influence and the fear of losing the same are also potential drivers for opponency. One countermeasure is involvement.
• Avoiding emotional resistance: Fear is the biggest factor that can be met with providing perspectives and transparency, in order to identify, whether the reaction is legitimate. It manifests itself in form of comfort fear (e.g. reduction of office space), performance and success fear (e.g. loss from fusions), social fears (e.g. reintegration into a new social environment), existential fears (e.g. job loss, life quality) and identity fears (e.g. self-definition by job status, also in private surroundings).

All about Structure. The theory of structuration demonstrates that structure leads to behavior. Behaviour on the other hand reinforces structure. Results include organizational blindness and arguments like: "We've always done it this way!" The principle of corporate change governance consists of five elements: Gross target agreement, organizational adjustments, discussion and alignment of business plans by science, vibration test track or stress test, and then review.

Big Five for Life. The big five for life is a clear concept not too many people have, as they stumble through their earthly being: Which are the things you want to do, see, or experience in your life? Which are the main factors that on your deathbed, you can look back to and consider your life an overall success? A precondition to make things happen may be self-confidence, another is persistence. Winston Churchill's speech to the people of Great Britain in the darkest hour of World War II comes to mind: "We shall never surrender!"

Two years of learning and great group dynamics just flew by. I war surprised that during the final exam and defense of the thesis the professor took a picture of me presenting the last slide with words of gratitude and e-mailed it to my thesis supervisor from the university.

Yet more expert quotes (English Translation)

Hope...
So-called "elevator projects" work as follows: One enters an elevator. The executive gets on. When one gets off, he or she is a project manager. This can happen between ground floor and the second floor. It needs no paternoster elevator going round and round!

The identification of stakeholders is part of a project environment analysis. The story of "The Chicken and the Pig" illustrates differences in stakeholder involvement: A chicken and a pig decide to go out for breakfast. They are being served ham & eggs. Says the chicken: "I am involved." Says the pig: "I am committed!"

The hedonic wage model states that the price of a set of activities depends on the goods it contains. What do I get, when I buy half a pound of apples: the variety, country of origin, they look a bit different, etc. All of this determines, whether I am willing to pay the price. With staff, the situation is similar: An employee is working, helping colleagues with their work, drinking coffee, maintaining social contacts, etc. All of it is paid with the salary. By reducing administrative activity, more time can be allocated to work on things that add value. Accordingly, information systems are evaluated by their automation benefits.

Despair...
With reporting, often the content doesn't matter as much as that there is not a single day delay in submission. An expert speaker admits his desperate attempts to raise attention: "I had a theory that nobody reads my reports. So I began to submit the weather report, air pressure and temperature to begin with. After that I became more impertinent and built in weather icons like clouds and sunshine. After half a year I left."

What analogy exists between suicide rates among medical professionals and CXOs? Anesthetists show the highest suicide rates among physicians. Their main task is to support a medical procedure. The risk is relatively high. If they work well, there are optimal conditions for surgery. However, they have no influence on the success of the medical intervention. If all goes well, the patient says thanks the surgeon. Among CXOs, CIOs have the highest rate. Their risk is that the whole place stops working. But they have no direct influence on business success.

Experience...
Just in Time and Just in Sequence represent the royal and imperial disciplines in Supply Chain Management. Just in Time means that he, who is assembling, keeps next to no stock on premises any more. The installation of auto parts is timed to the very second. Just in Sequence may refer to the right order for loading a truck.

I’m doing this job for many years now. Every time, when it came to bi-directional interfaces, it resulted in a crash with a lot of noise, The main reason being that one can’t fully cover each and every relevant process. There must be a leading system by data set, not a change once in a while occurring over here and then again over there.

In the past there had been always an hourglass to display waiting times. SAP was short for Sandclock Advertisement Program.

Relationship...
Mutual customer and supplier relationships are found at an early stage in family relations among parents and children. The latter sell, for example, that they may come home one hour later on Saturday night, by offering: "In return, I am taking the garbage down, tomorrow!"

CRM includes binding of existing customers with tailored offers, based on analysis of consumer behaviour. Banks know exactly what they are doing. I don't even want to know, what they know. In telecommunications, more energy is used for the acquisition of new customers and winning them back.

The presenter explains enthusiastically: "Now CRM comes up, slowly but surely. It becomes the management method of the future! Quality, service, innovation and customer relationship management are building blocks of a CRM initiative. These are things that we will deal with tomorrow..." Whisper in the audience: "But tomorrow is Sunday!"

Leadership...
Leadership can be trained by around 60-70%. Of course, it is clear that no one can teach penguins to fly. And you can't turn an old plow-horse into a racehorse. Leadership perspectives follow the ground rule of driving school teachers: If you want to keep the car on the road, you shouldn't look at the hood, but to the horizon, instead!

Mission statements are often interchangeable and unfortunately disconnected from reality. Usually, they start reading: People are the center of our attention. Cannibals have already said the same. Or: Our people are centric, attention. That would at least be honest.

In the animal kingdom it is the alpha wolf, which owns all the authority. It leads the pack into the direction, where there is something to eat, and feeds it. It stands in front of the pack and protects it, unconditionally, with its life. However, it is a dirty job to always pretend to know, where to find food, and to get bitten to death. In return, one gets to eat first and gets the girls.

There are people who have a defect in their genetic coding. They have a language problem, because they do not say no, so they compensate the work of others. And are too slow, i.e. they do not run away fast enough, when work is being distributed. Unfortunately, they are often overloaded and tend to burn out.

Stress is not that one has too much to do. Stress is the pressure of the unfinished. These are the things that remain open on the agenda, which briefly raise their voice in the evening. Then one may drink one more beer or two, until they are gone.

According to Atkinson, 15% of the society consists of success seekers, who are willing to take risks. The remaining 85% are represented by failure avoiders, who fear make a mistake and strike out. For child up to the age of four years, no such fears exist. No stove top is too hot, no valley is too deep. After that, little by little fears are injected by parents and teachers.

Success...
Climbing a mountain, the rest is just as important as the climbing of the wall. Success is to get going, where others give up. Long, distributed communication across hierarchies lists among the reasons, why projects fail.

It is an example of negotiation, if a parent walks with a child by one of these horror miles, where one shop is next to another. The child wants an ice cream and builds up a negotiated basis by screaming and throwing itself to the ground. Suddenly, there is a common interest that the child is good and parents see themselves caught in a negotiation situation.

"The worm has to taste the fish, not the fisherman." The customer decides, if he has a got problem or the need for a product. Branch-Making, where the demand is not generated by the definition of the market, only works at very rare circumstances.

Visions are like stars. Maybe we will never ever reach then, but they surely fulfill the purpose to serve our orientation.

Noch mehr Experten-Zitate (Original Quotes)

Hoffnung...
Sogenannte "Elevator-Projects" funktionieren wie folgt: Man steigt in einen Lift ein. Der Geschäftsführer steigt zu. Wenn man aussteigt, ist man Projektleiter. Das kann zwischen Erdgeschoss und 2.Stock geschehen. Es braucht dazu keinen Pater Noster!

Das Identifizieren von Interessensträgern erfolgt in einer Projektumfeldanalyse. Die Geschichte "The Chicken and the Pig" veranschaulicht unterschiedliche Betroffenheit von Stakeholdergruppen: Gehen ein Huhn und ein Schwein auf ein Frühstück. Sie bekommen Ham & Eggs serviert. Sagt das Huhn: "Ich bin beteiligt." Sagt das Schwein: "Ich bin betroffen!"

Im Hedonistischen Modell hängt der Preis eines Tätigkeitsbündels von den darin enthaltenen Gütern ab. Was bekomme ich, wenn ich ein Kilo Äpfel kaufe: Die Sorte, das Herkunftsland, sie schauen ein bisschen anders aus, usw. Das alles bestimmt, ob ich bereit bin, den Preis zu zahlen. Ähnlich verhält es sich mit einem Mitarbeiter: Er arbeitet, hilft Kollegen, trinkt Kaffee, pflegt soziale Kontakte, etc.. Das alles zahlt sein Gehalt. Durch Verringerung administrativer Tätigkeit entsteht mehr Zeit für Arbeit mit Mehrwert. Entsprechend bewertet man Informationssysteme nach Automatisierungsvorteilen.

Verzweiflung...
Beim Reporting kommt es oft weniger auf den Inhalt an als darauf, dass der Bericht ja um keinen Tag zu spät abgegeben wird. Ein Vortragender beschreibt: "Ich hatte die Theorie, dass keiner meine Berichte liest. Da habe ich begonnen, den Wetterbericht zu reporten, zuerst nur Luftdruck und Temperatur. Danach bin ich immer frecher geworden und habe auch Wetter-Icons eingebaut wie Wolken oder Sonnenschein. Nach einem halben Jahr bin ich gegangen."

Welche Analogie besteht zwischen Selbstmordraten bei Medizinern und CXOs? Die höchsten Suizidraten bei Medizinern haben die Anästhesisten. Sie haben die Aufgabe, einen medizinischen Eingriff zu unterstützen. Das Risiko ist relativ hoch. Wenn sie gut arbeiten, bestehen optimale OP-Bedingungen. Sie haben jedoch keinen Einfluss auf den OP-Erfolg. Wenn es gut geht, dankt der Patient dem Chirurgen. Unter CXOs haben CIOs die höchste Rate. Ihr Risiko ist, dass die ganze Bude steht. Sie haben jedoch keinen Einfluss auf den eigentlichen Geschäftserfolg.

Erfahrung...
Just in Time und Just in Sequence ist die Königs- und die Kaiserdisziplin des Supply Chain Managements. Just in Time bedeutet, dass der, der’s zusammenbaut, kein Lager mehr hat. Der Einbau von Autoteilen ist sekundengenau getaktet. Just in Sequence bezieht sich etwa auf die richtige Reihenfolge beim Beladen eines LKW.

Ich mach’ den Job jetzt seit vielen Jahren. Jedesmal, wenn es um bidirektionale Schnittstellen gegangen ist, hat es ordentlich gescheppert. Das vor allem deshalb, weil man nicht alle relevanten Prozesse abfangen kann. Für einen Datensatz muss es ein führendes System geben, nicht, dass Sie einmal dort und dann da etwas ändern können.

Früher gab es da immer eine Sanduhr zum Anzeigen von Wartezeiten. SAP war die Kurzform für Sanduhr Anzeige Programm.

Beziehung...
Wechselseitige Kunden- und Lieferantenbeziehungen finden sich bereits sehr früh im Verhältnis zwischen Eltern und Kindern. Letztere verkaufen etwa, dass sie samstags eine Stunde später nach Hause kommen dürfen, mit dem Angebot: "Dafür gehe ich morgen den Mist heruntertragen!"

CRM beinhaltet die Bindung von Bestandskunden mit maßgeschneiderten Aktionen, aufgrund von Analyse des Kaufverhaltens. Die Banken wissen genau, was sie tun. Ich will gar nicht wissen, was die wissen. Bei Telekommunikations-Kunden wird mehr Energie in Kundenneu- und -rückgewinnung gesteckt.

Der Vortragende erklärt enthusiastisch: "Jetzt kommt das CRM langsam. Jetzt wird es eine Management-Methode. Das ist die Zukunft! Qualitäts-, Service-, Innovations- und Kundenbindungsmanagement sind Bausteine für eine CRM-Initiative. Das sind Dinge, mit denen wir uns morgen auseinandersetzen..." Zuraunen unter den Zuhörern: "Morgen ist aber Sonntag."

Führungsverhalten...
Führungsverhalten ist zwischen 60-70% trainierbar. Es ist schon klar, man kann keinen Pinguin zum Fliegen bringen. Und man kann aus einem alten Ackergaul kein Rennpferd machen. Führungsperspektiven folgen der Fahrschullehrer-Weisheit: Wenn Du das Auto auf der Straße halten willst, darfst Du nicht auf die Motorhaube, sondern musst auf den Horizont schauen!

Leitbilder sind leider oft zu austauschbar und realitätsfremd. Am Anfang steht meist dasselbe: Bei uns steht der Mensch im Mittelpunkt. Das haben die Kannibalen auch schon gesagt. Oder: Bei uns ist der Mensch mittel, Punkt. Das wäre wenigstens ehrlich.

Im Tierreich ist es der Alphawolf, der Autorität besitzt. Er führt das Rudel in die Richtung, wo es etwas zu fressen gibt, er ernährt sie. Er steht bedingungslos vor dem Rudel, das er beschützt und für die er sich totbeißen lässt. Es ist jedoch ein Sch***-Job, immer so zu tun, als wüßte man, wo es Essen gibt, und sich totbeißen zu lassen. Dafür darf man zuerst fressen und bekommt die Weibchen.

Es gibt Personen, die einen genetischen Codierungsfehler haben. Sie haben ein Sprachproblem, denn sie sagen nicht nein, wodurch sie die Arbeit von anderen mitkompensieren. Und sind zu langsam, d.h. sie laufen nicht weg, wenn Arbeit verteilt wird. Leider werden sie gerne verheizt und neigen zu Burn Out.

Stress ist nicht, dass man viel zu tun hat. Stress ist der Druck des Unerledigten. Das sind die offenen Dinge auf der Agenda, die am Abend noch einmal kurz zu Wort kommen. Dann trinkt man ein oder zwei Bier mehr, dann sind die auch noch weg.

Laut Atkinson gibt es in der Gesellschaft 15% Erfolgssucher, die auch bereit sind, Risken einzugehen, und 85% Misserfolgsmeider, die vorrangig Angst vor dem Scheitern haben. Ein Kind bis zum Alter von vier Jahren hat diese Ängste nicht. Da ist kein Feuer zu heiß und kein Abgrund zu tief. Danach werden sukzessive Ängste von Eltern und Lehrern geschürt.

Erfolg...
Beim Bergsteigen ist die Pause gleich wichtig wie das Besteigen der Wand. Erfolg ist, wenn man weitermacht, wo andere schon aufhören. Lange, verteilte Kommunikationswege sind ein Grund für das Scheitern von Projekten.

Ein Beispiel für Verhandeln gibt es, wenn ein Elternteil mit einem Kind geht und da gibt es so eine Horrormeile, wo lauter Geschäfte sind. Das Kind will ein Eis und baut dadurch eine Verhandlungsgrundlage auf, dass es schreit und sich auf den Boden wirft. Plötzlich gibt es ein gemeinsames Interesse, dass das Kind brav mitgeht und die Eltern sehen sich in einer Verhandlungssituation gefangen.

"Der Wurm muss dem Fisch schmecken, nicht dem Angler." Der Kunde entscheidet, ob er ein Problem hat oder Produkt braucht. Das Thema Branch-Making, wo eine Nachfrage erst durch die Definition des Marktes generiert wird, funktioniert nur selten.

Visionen sind wie Sterne. Wir werden sie vielleicht nicht erreichen, sie dienen jedoch der Orientierung.

Go to the next pages to learn about developments
with Web 2.0 and Social Networks.