The 4 key principles to succeed an offshoring project

After 2 years of experience on Offshoring projects, there are 4 key principles that I can share with you. These principles should be applied in addressing the Change Management approach:

1. The Roles and Responsibilities regarding offshored team set up activities (trainings, ramp up, etc.) should be clearly defined as soon as the beginning of the project.

2. Since Change Management is a transversal stream, the Change Management approach and all Change Documents should include the whole business scope including Offshored business scope (even if a transition team is responsible for the offshored team set up and activities). For instance, the process presentation or Training documentation should cover the whole business process End to Ends (onshore & offshore).

3. To ensure the fluidity and efficiency of the new organization, it is essential that Change Management plan early as a key activity teambuilding between Onshore & Offshore.

4. When possible, planning a Pilot prior to actual Offshoring consists in offshoring a part of a process in the old system / old process and enables to reassure teams and empower them while creating collaboration between teams.

Image Flickr, Kaan Sezer
Thanks to Anne and Anna for their contribution to this post

Why do we need Change ? Have a look at this...

Offshoring gives multinational companies opportunities to create more values at lower costs; but what about Change Management ?

Offshoring gives multinational companies opportunities to create more values at lower costs. That means boost in productivity for the global economy – a bigger pie for everyone to share. But gains don’t flow automatically to the people it affects… Offshoring accelerate the pace of change in every society it affects.*

I am currently working on that kind of project. With the help of a strong team (Anne, Anna, Big thank you if you read this post), we have developed a methodology to mitigate the hardships of those who are impacted and ‘build bridges’ between teams and continents.

This the first post of a serie of 10 that will cover this topic. Let’s start by the beginning :

 Offshoring projects are projects aiming at offshoring a part or a whole business activity in another country . These projects have major impacts since they generally lead to :

• Change of business processes with new actors and business rules
• New organizations (to be aligned with processes),
• Change of skills of impacted populations,
• New resources offshored.

For Offshoring projects, the impacts on organizations, people and business are huge. Thus Change management is a key activity and a key enabler to ensure a smooth transition.

From a Human Resources perspective:
• Redeployment of resources,
• New offshore Teams Recruitment & Ramp up on business activities,
• Onshore teams transition to new skills/organization,
• Extended team management with possibly remote management,
• Multicultural differences.

From a Business Perspective:

• Continuity of Business activity,
• Fluidity and efficiency of processes,
• Support the development of analysis skills for onshore teams (usually identified as a key benefit in offshoring activities),
• Follow up KPIs and reach ROI.

The next post will cover the 4 Key principle for Change Management within offshoring projects.

* Offshoring, Understand the emerging Global Labor market- McKinsey Global Institute – Edited by Diana Farrell – Harvard Business school Press.
**Picture : Flickr, Andy Kaye, Ganesha
*** Thanks to Anne & Anna for their great contribution to this post.

Awarded !

I received the Change Management Trophee 2011 from ESSEC Business School and La Tribune Financial Newspaper ! Feels great !

Think different

Very inspiring.. worth to be shared !

Can traditional Managers be Change leaders ?

Unfortunately, traditional managers seldom make good change leaders. The reason is in the mindset. Good managers try to keep things under control; Change Leaders are determined to shake things up. Good managers drive results via budgets and quotas; Change Leaders achieve objectives by mobilizing a broad base of people. Good managers are often motivated by personal success; Change Leaders want to make a difference in performance. Good managers like to delegate; Change Leaders enjoy getting their hands dirty.

Good managers can probably learn Change Leaders skills if they acquire the right mindset, but few seem to be doing so…

Source : Mc Kinsey Quarterly
Image : estheticcore -Flickr

The 2 sides of change : an Elephant story …

Do you know Dan Heath's book : Switch, How to Change Things When Change Is Hard ?

The core idea of this excellent book is that there are two sides to the way human beings think about any issue.

There’s the rational, analytical, problemsolving side of our brains, which may think, “I need to eat less.” But there’s an emotional side that’s addicted to impulse or comfortable routines, and that side wants a cookie.

At work, the rational side may say that the company needs to go in a different direction. But the emotional side is comfortable with the old ways of thinking and selling, and it has great anxiety about whether the company can change successfully.

Dan Heath’s favorite metaphor for this dynamic comes from the psychologist Jonathan Haidt 1, who talks about a human riding atop an elephant. The Rider represents our analytical, planning side. The Rider decides, “I need to go somewhere, here’s the direction I want to go,” and sets off. But it’s the Elephant, the emotional side, that’s providing the power. The Rider can try to lead the Elephant, but in any direct contest of wills the Elephant is going to win—it has a six-ton advantage.

So part of achieving change, in either our lives or in organizations, is aligning both sides of the brain by pointing out the direction for the Rider but also motivating the Elephant to undertake the journey. Of course, the Path the Elephant walks down matters too. High-ranking executives can shape that Path, that environment, and make the journey easier even when the Elephant is less motivated.2

So, dear Readers, let’s take care of the Elephant too…Lets make our people think : “We’re the kind of people who can successfully make this change.”

1. The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science,

London: William Heinemann, 2006
2. In Switch, the words Rider, Elephant, and Path represent characters in the mental play

that the book describes.

Source :The Emotional side of Change, Mac Kinsey Quarterly

The boss of the bosses # 1

If you are lucky as I am, then you have your CEO supporting your transformation journey... and this is a big hit ! Research and experiences show that four key functions collectively define a successful role for the CEO in a transformation:

1. Making the transformation meaningful. People will go to extraordinary lengths for causes they believe in, and a powerful transformation story will create and reinforce their commitment. The ultimate impact of the story depends on the CEO’s willingness to make the transformation personal, to engage others openly, and to spotlight successes as they emerge.

2. Role-modeling desired mind-sets and behavior. Successful CEOs typically embark on their own personal transformation journey. Their actions encourage employees to support and practice the new types of behavior.

3. Building a strong and committed top team. To harness the transformative power of the top team, CEOs must make tough decisions about who has the ability and motivation to make the journey.

4. Relentlessly pursuing impact. There is no substitute for CEOs rolling up their sleeves and getting personally involved when significant financial and symbolic value is at stake.

Everyone has a role to play in a performance transformation. The role of CEOs is unique in that they stand at the top of the pyramid and all the other members of the organization take cues from them. CEOs who give only lip service to a transformation will find everyone else doing the same. Those who fail to model the desired mind-sets and behavior or who opt out of vital initiatives risk seeing the transformation lose focus. Only the boss of all bosses can ensure that the right people spend the right amount of time driving the necessary changes.

Source : Mc Kinsey Quaterly

SAY NO TO NO

Dear Readers,
It has been a while since I did not post anything...To be honest, I was busy fighting a big ennemy of mine : Negativity.
Here is a thought that keeps me inspired in those difficult days when you have to face some adversity..

Isn’t it high time someone got negative about negativity ?

Yes it is.

Look around. The worls is full of things, that, according to nay-sayers, should never have happened.
“Impossible”
“Impractical"
“No”

And yet “yes”.

Yes, continents have been found.

Yes, men have played golf on the moon.

Yes, genetic save lives.

Yes, Yes, Yes.

What does it take to turn no into yes ?

Curiosity. An open mind. A willingness to take risks.
And, when the problem seems most insoluble, when the challenge is hardest, when everyone else is shaking their heads, to say: let’s go.

Inspired from the excellent text : www.shell.com/realenergy

Photo Flickr Gerry Visco

Using Consultants in Change Programm

Consultant have been working with companies since the early post World war II era, when McKinsey and Boston Group Consulting Group began offering strategic planning advice to corporate executives...

Considering today's pressure on cost, it is important to understand how consultants can help you and how you an make the most of their services. 

Here is the help a consultant can bring you for your change initiative:

1. Diagnostic : a team of junior consutants gathers information both inside and outside the organisation with the goal of :
• determining where the company stands in terms of some measure of organisation performance
• the company problem's and the root causes with respect to that performance measure
2. Capabilities assesment : the capabilities of the companies human and physical resources are assessed
3. Strategy developement : working with management, the consulting team developes a strategy for reaching the desire level of performance.Depending on the situation, that strategy mai include various doses of employee training , process reengineering, organizational restructuring, and even some new information technologies.
4. Implementation : consultant team provide training and work with employees team to plan the change programm and operationalize the strategy.

As you move throught agenda, consultants should gradually assume background roles. Thus, the best appraoch to using consultants is bound to be heavily situational. If the goal is restructuring, change consultants can and should play a major role. They have very specialized knowledge and experience for these rare events. But if the change involves changing how people work, put your own people in change and use consultants as facilitators.


Sources : Surviving Change, Harvard Business press