Change Teams

I see Change Teams as vehicles for developing TeamNets - a way of embedding real change leadership behaviours into organisations. They enable service managers to deal with the paradox of change - when to focus on doing things right and when to focus on do the right thing to ensure the continued success of the business through times of rapid change. See Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamp's book 'The TeamNet Factor.' ISBN 0-939246-34-1

How can an organisation constantly improve what it is doing today, yet at the same time, constantly be looking for tomorrow's opportunities ? In other words, how can it focus on the present and the future at the same time ?

One way, suggested by Ken Blanchard and Terry Waghorn in their book 'Mission Possible' ISBN 0-07-134827-1 is to use the fact that people tend to be either adaptors or innovators by nature. As a result they suggest two types of Change Teams that involve employees in creative work in addition to their day job.

Improvement Teams - briefed to find and implement improvement ideas for the present, and
Innovation Teams - charged with finding and implementing innovative ideas for the future

Some people declare themseleves as being more disposed to one kind of change rather than the other. One is not better than the other, both have a role to play in today's changing organisation and environments.

Key Characteristics

Based on Michael Kirton's 'Adaptors and Innovators: styles of creativity and problem solving'. ISBN 0-415-11662-7

Before joining a team, participants are asked to choose which list best describes themselves and others. A short Preferences Questionnaire can be used if necessary.

What do the different Change Teams do ?

Improvement Teams
This team is charged with finding out how the service process and customer relationships they currently operate can be improved.

They would be expected to answer questions such as:

Who are our customers and what do they buy from us ?
How are the needs of our customers changing and how can we turn them to our advantage ?
How can we strengthen our relationships with our customers and service partners ?
If our customers could redesign our service, how would they do it ?
Why do our customers choose our competitors ?
How is the service environment changing and how can we turn it to our advantage ?

You can probably think of many more to fit your situation

Innovation Teams
This team is charged with thinking about how the service will have to change to remain viable in a future of radical social and technical change - say over 18 months to 3 years.

They would expect to answer questions such as:

What will the demand for the service look like then ?
What will the service need to be doing to deal with expected changes ?
How could we serve our customers in a more effective way ?
What type of change will be needed - evolutionary or radical ?
What new alliances or capabilities will we need to develop ?

You can probably think of many more to fit your situation

Where do the ideas go for approval and support ?

All the Change Teams send their ideas to the TeamNet Group. This group is composed of senior managers with representatives from each of the teams operating at te time.

It evaluates and coordinates the ideas it receives, sometimes asking a team to do more work or get together with other teams to develop one combined solution. It approves some ideas for immediate implementation where the resources can be found from existing budgets. Others may have to go higher for approval because of their strategic significance or need for longer-term investment.

What Tools are available ?

A wide range of change tools and other resources available to Change Teams can be found on The Change Zone website.