The Lighthouse Beacon

Tactical Behavior Change
Strategies for Business Success

February 2007

Volume 3
Theme: Change for Good
 

In This Issue
Speaking Engagements
 
Human Resource Topics
co-presented with Paul Martineau
The Employers Association, Inc., Rhode Island Association for Facilities and Services for the Aging (RIAFSA)
Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, Cranston, RI
March 15, 2007
“Ship Shape Leadership” for Credit Managers
The Connecticut Credit Managers Association
Hawthorne Inn and Restaurant, Berlin, CT
March 21, 2007 6 PM
Vision and Values for Spiritual Vitality
de La Salle Christian Brothers, Spring Workshop
Fernwood Resort and Hotel, Bushkill, PA
March 29th to 31st 2007
Watch here for Teleseminars in the future.
—Fun, interactive, and complimentary, a Teleseminar is just like attending a seminar, from the comfort of your own phone.

( Back to top)

Light on Measurement Caveats
 
Customers are seeking value
—the axis of service, results and price
(www.Healthleadersmedia.com)  
( Back to top)

Light on Great Quotes
  
“What you permit,
you promote.”
—Quint Studer
(www.studergroup.com)

“True character comes after we have done things we regret, then ask forgiveness for them. Until then,
you don’t have true character… ”
(paraphrase)

—Danny DeVito
in The Big Kahuna
(motion picture)
 
(Back to top)  

Coaching Resources
  
www.coachfederation.org
 
www.coachu.com
 
www.coachville.com
 
www.lominger.com
 
www.crmlearning.com
 
http://www.integro-inc.com
 
(Back to top)

 
Contact Us
Lighthouse Performance Strategies, Inc.
Katharine Bird White, Editor and Publisher M.S., C.S., CPHQ
Phone: 401-632-4237 / 401-474-0092
Fax: 401-632-4831
www.lighthousePSI.com
kwhite@lighthousePSI.com
 

The Lighthouse Beacon Library
 
(Back to top)

Home Who We Are What We Do Tools
Lead Article:
Change for Good…
What you leverage and measure, you get!

Planning for change is a key phrase of the day. We all know why…we have to get better, be more productive, drive more customer loyalty, make less errors, do more sales, achieve more employee engagement. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is a companion mantra, acknowledging the value of meaningful change metrics.

So we consider a cultural change project, a total quality initiative, a breakthrough training program, and we waffle on what leverage point(s) and measures will evidence success.

How could it be that a company leader gets excited about the potential that a cultural change project could achieve, brings in the right consultant at the right time, for a reasonable investment, but often never pinpoints up front, the exact key variable(s) and associated metrics that will demonstrate successful outcomes?

It is most often because of how difficult it to achieve consensus about what should be measured and how sensitive some of those core issues are which need to be changed.

Wrestling among multiple indicator sets, executives tend to be married to their “discipline familiar” functional metrics, i.e. HR to employee retention, Finance to profitability, Operations to productivity and Quality to process variation. Wherefore art thou those exact measures that would demonstrate this new change initiative is delivering on its promise?

Still further confounding the picture is that while specific “change efficacy” measures may be selected, the dialog ends precipitously short of determining what leverage points within the company are most predictive of the improvement measures?

For example, if a key to profitability in a technology company is the effectiveness of sales conversations with customers in the field, then improving those conversations through a targeted intervention such as incorporating coaching skills into the sales approach, should directly stimulate a measurable increase in sales. Those sales then drive company profitability, and voila, we have a direct correlation with an intervention (sales “coaching” conversations) and profitability.

If this example was fact rather than fiction, all company executives would be “sold” on profitability as a solid measure, and the enhanced, (through coaching) sales conversations as a key leverage point.

Back to exacting measures from executives on culture change projects: What is a change agent to do, as one approaches the executive team right at the beginning of the project? Imagine a hospital daunted by a worsening shortage of nurses, in the context of recruitment and retention rates predicting disaster? The promise of a values driven, behavioral change consultation (See HCV:PF) ™is only as powerful as the potential for improving recruitment/retention metrics by zeroing in on what might be the real cause(s) for why nurses leave the organization.

The impact measures that executives clearly care about is whether the hospital “cultural change” initiative can attract and retain nurses. Extending the dialogue to what leverage points are the “make or break” experience(s) for retaining nurses may uncover that many nurses are psychologically and verbally abused by other health care professionals (other nurses) during their first year of employment, causing them to leave for other potentially more rewarding jobs.

Targeted interventions could then focus on awareness training and zero tolerance for evidence of such abuse, often referred to as “lateral violence” (Griffin et.al, 2004). Tracking the exact measure of nurse retention in the first year of employment after the intervention(s) then, will tell the story on program effectiveness.

How far will your organization go to exact agreement up front from executives and key others, wrestling through to a consensus on leverage points and impact measures? Will brainstorming the leverage points and impact measures include some staff “closest to the action”- it had better. Before any project is launched that holds the promise of change, go to the mat with your entire team to get leverage points and exact measures down pat. Then, and only then, can one best expect on- target delivery on an intervention promise.
References: Griffin, Martha “ Teaching Cognitive Rehearsal as a Shield for Lateral Violence: An Intervention for Newly Licensed Nurses” The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing:  November/December 2004, Vol. 35. No. 6.

For more information on the Healthcare Values:
Patient Safety First© consultation for healthcare,
or the Business Values: Customer(s) First ™, for business, call Lighthouse Performance Strategies, Inc. at 1-401-632-4237 or email kwhite@lighthousePSI.com or Contact Us Online!

(Back to top)

For Previous Issues of the Lighthouse Beacon Newsletter,
go to: The Lighthouse Beacon Library

(Back to top)