Breakaway Planning: 8 Big Questions to Guide Organizational Change
by Paul Levesque

New York: American Management Association, 1998

When it comes to implementing a big organizational change, there are hundreds of ways to do it wrong. Omit the senior executives from the planning… disseminate a drab mission statement… neglect the customer during the change process…mandate data collection but not data analysis…keep employees in the dark about what's happening -- these are just a few of the misguided tactics that continually derail change efforts.

Yet all of these hazards can be eliminated with careful, thoughtful planning. When it's done properly, planning can transform what's often a chaotic, disruptive experience into a smooth, well-organized one. And Breakaway Planning gives you a clear, straightforward, and field-tested roadmap for making that happen.

At the heart of Breakaway Planning are 8 crucial questions for your leadership team .As a whole, the questions supply a structured, disciplined approach to planning a strategic change initiative. And they serve as a valuable checklist to ensure your plan is airtight and ready to go. Complete with detailed planning strategies and hands-on exercises, the questions prod you to examine:

1. How will we become ambassadors of change? Find out how to impose calm in the midst of upheaval * turn resisters into believers * keep employees focused on the "big picture."
2. How will we spread the word internally? Showcase your company's mission, vision, and values* root out cynicism * supply regular "news" updates and broader "overviews" * squash the rumor mills.
3. How will we acquire and use customer data? Stop relying on hunches * gather solid, timely customer feedback * feed the data back to the organization.
4. How will we bring new employees up to speed? Hire for a "values" fit * emphasize your company's determination and optimism in interviews * spell out your vision to new recruits.
5. How will we make things better for employees? Be suspicious of "sacred cows" * pinpoint daily impediments to fulfilling the plan * correct processes and procedures that create obstacles.
6. How will we make things better for customers? Manage customer perceptions * lead frontline employees through a unique customer-focus process.
7. How will we measure our successes? Eliminate employees' "Big Brother" fear of measurement * tie measurement to celebration * create new and improved measurement systems.
8. How will we celebrate successes? Infuse the spirit of fun and play into the workplace * celebrate crisis prevention as well as crisis solving * recognize good work quickly and specifically.

Breakaway Planning also gives you a unique three-phase process to apply to each question -- and arrive at highly focused, highly specific answers. And you'll find complete instructions on how to manage the entire change initiative, from forming a compelling vision… to preparing a succinct written plan… to implementing the plan and tracking its progress.

Whether your ultimate goal is to reduce costs, enhance quality, increase customer satisfaction, maximize market share, improve safety, or something else, Breakaway Planning arms you with the knowledge and tools to achieve success.

Paul Levesque is president of New Perspectives Associates (NPA), providing workshops, seminars, and presentations to help businesses plan for strategic change and become more customer-focused. He is also director of Catalyst, one of Britain's premier managing consulting firms. Previously, Levesque served as executive consultant with Zenger-Miller, Inc., and, as lead instructor at Zenger-Miller's Service Quality Academy, helped over 350 corporations plan and implement their strategic improvement efforts. He is the author of the WOW Factory: Creating a Customer Focus Revolution in Your Business. He lives in Rockland County, New York. His e-mail is NPALEV@aol.com.