1. - Why do change efforts fail? 1. Lack of a Theoretical approach
2. Lack of knowledge of How to change
2.1 How to align Vision, Mission, individual tasks and processes.
2.2 How to align Processes, Technologies and People
2.3 How to become more flexible
2.4 How to become faster
2.5 How to become more creative
2.6 How to become more perceptive
2.7 How to become more intuitive
2.8 How to become more reflexive
2.9 How to become better motivators
2.10 How to become better leaders to change
2.11 How to become better communicators to change
2.12 How to become more Ethical and why
3. Lack of knowledge of nature of change resistances
3.1. Educational
3.2. Intellectual
3.3. Emotional
3.4. Organizational
4. Lack of adequate strategies to overcome resistances
3.1 Educational
3.2 Intellectual
3.3 Emotional
3.4 Organizational
5. Lack of comprehensive vision of change process
6. Time vs. Distance approach
7. Lack of continuous Diagnostic Evaluation
8. Lack of flexibility in Goal of Change
9. Lack of clear knowledge of client’s need to change (What is at stake)
10. Lack of a clearly accountable process
11. Lack of continuous self motivation rewards
a. In individual tasks
b. In process activities
12. Lack of knowledge of How to develop and implement Capability and Commitment
13. Lack of knowledge of HOW to develop awareness and consciousness
2. - Which are the characteristics of successful organizations?
We believe, and in this we concur with many scholars, consultants and authors that the main characteristics of successful organization today are:
a. Speed of response to the signs of the market
b. Flexibility to adapt to changes from the environment
c. The innovation capability to add value constantly to each individual and group task
If it is true that most everyone concurs that these abilities are of paramount importance in today’s organizations. The problem is HOW TO ACHIEVE THESE CHARACTERISTICS. Organizations cannot afford to hope to find enough of this personnel in job market, they have to learn HOW to develop them within the enterprise. This task requires a new type of education because traditional education does not look after these qualities and in fact, stifles them.
3. - What is the Work-Education System, WES©?
It is a soft technology constructed along 21 years of field research work. It integrates the most important elements of the organization with a particular set of relationships that conform a system: Mission, Vision, Values, Goal of Change, Gaps, Performance Indicators, Operations and the Business Cycle.
Unlike other approaches in the market, it yields a measurable structure that allows the assessment of the process of change and guarantees the success of the change process. At any given time, it is possible to know who is changing, who needs assistance, what is the nature of the obstacle preventing change. WES© furthermore, provides the strategies to overcome the particular obstacles.
If any of the relationships of WES© is altered, the structure is broken and may yield unpredictable results.
4. - Why is WES© Systemic?
WES© is systemic because it considers the organization as an ensemble of elements with a particular set of relationships that integrates the Operations, the Business Cycle, the Vision, and the Mission. Operations, to us, means the ensemble of individual tasks performed by personnel of the organization, not, their role or job description. Tasks are considered as a function of the value chain. Business Cycle is for us, the ensemble of relationships within departments and among departments or units in the organization. The Systemic Approach is performed by means of the comprehensive development of individuals who thereby develop their Systemic and Holistic Thinking. Furthermore, they develop their awareness about their individual impact on the results of the organization.
5. - Why is WES© Holistic?
WES© is holistic because it approaches simultaneously, processes, technologies, and people in the organization, not only Information Technology but other technologies as well.
6 - Is the incorporation of WES© a Change in Culture?
A Change in Culture to us involves a Change of Mentality, a New Behavior in the manner of working and the development of the Organizational Learning Capability, all of which must be integrated in the Operations and in the Business Cycle. It involves the capability and the commitment to eliminate the gaps that prevent the organization from reaching its goals.
7. – Does WES© offer a Comprehensive Process Quality?
Yes, because our work consists of, first, helping the organization create an Aligned Network of technology, processes and personnel; then we help the organization to become constantly aware of gaps and deviations that affect negatively the performance indicators. There is no one particular person in charge of process quality or movement of the indicators; virtually the whole organization becomes attentive of their movement to improve productivity. This alignment permits the organization, among other things, to successfully incorporate useful tools such as Kaplan’s Balanced Score Card; Stern Steward & Co’s. Economic Value Added; ROSE and others that we have successfully incorporated in clients.
8 . - What is the meaning of NEW BEHAVIOR IN THE MANNER OF WORKING?
In the context of WES©, It consists of the permanent incorporation in the personnel tasks, of a MÉTHOD OF ANALISYS, to assess risks; a LOGICAL CREATIVE MODE to add value and certain PERSONAL SKILLS to improve leadership, communications, negotiating and motivating.
9 . - What is the meaning of Organizational Learning?
This is the capability that organizations have to capture, elaborate and generate new concepts and solutions and make them available to everyone therein to add value.
10 . - What is, in WES© applications, a Change Agent?
Change Agents are persons committed and able to perform the desired change in the organization; furthermore, they have the responsibility to carry out the change process.
11. - What is the meaning of a Change of Mentality?
To us a Change of Mentality implies the development of the congruency in Doing, Feeling and Thinking. It is to learn to change, to be able to adapt to continuous changes. It is to assume the responsibility for one’s own actions. It is to be aware of one’s being and one’s own knowledge. It is to learn knowledge and to learn values by means of inward thinking and will power.
12. - What is the meaning of an ALIGNED NETWORK?
In the context of WES©, this concept is of the greatest importance. It refers to the alignment of Technologies, Processes and Personnel in one coherent whole that results from the conditions of achievement that must be present to improve the organization’s results.
13. - What is the meaning of an ALIGNED IMPROVEMENT PLAN?
In the context of WES©, it consists of the analysis of complex situations to align objectives and strategies in all levels of the organization.
14. - In WES© applications, what is the meaning of Educational Gaps?
Educational Gaps refer to what is missing or lacking due to traditional education i.e., the development of generic capabilities and social-emotional control. It has to do with perception, intuition, creativity and so on.
15. - In WES© applications, what is the meaning of Functional Gaps?
Functional Gaps refer to what is missing or lacking in Operations, to achieve desired results.
16. - What can you say about Resistance to Change?
Resistance to Change is a natural human reaction to the unknown.
RC is more emotional than intellectual. It is intellectual when the client has objective reasons to think that the methodology offered is not adequate to his needs.
We are of the opinion that there are few organizations that attempt a Change Program because rationally or intellectually they have reached the decision they must change. Generally organizations change because they feel there are serious threats to the business jeopardizing the organization. These threats force them to change. These threats may take the form of market loss, excessively high costs, fierce competition, and others.
In our experience, and in this we concur with many other consulting firms, in order for the change effort to be successful, it is absolutely necessary to count with a committed leadership that supports the change effort in a visible, active, and decisive manner.
Regarding personnel, there will always be some persons with resistance to change. In fact, some will never change. Other consulting firms say that the number of persons that do not change is in the neighborhood of 85% to 90%. The “guru” of Re Engineering, Mike Hammer, affirms that the number is close to 90 % and those percentages have been confirmed by prestigious organizations such as The Gartner Group, The Kennedy Research Center, Mc Kinsey, Booz – Allen and Hamilton and others equally famous.
In our interventions, this resistance number is only between 10 and 15 % of the participants. The 85 % that does change, permits reaching 100 % of the expected change results within the time agreed.
17. - How to achieve a change in attitude on the job?
Changes of attitude are difficult to achieve because they depend on emotions. Our culture and education have traditionally stifled our show of emotions; consequently, we know little about our emotions. We believe that it is not necessary to be a psychologist or a psychiatrist to learn about emotions. Amazing and less traumatic results are achieved through a proper education where we can learn how to recognize our emotions, what triggers them, how to control them and how to initiate them. Furthermore, changes of attitude are highly dependent on our interests and these are totally left out in our traditional education. A comprehensive education, such as the one that WES© introduces, is of paramount help to learn to know ourselves better; our emotions, our interests, our dexterities and of course, our intellectual skills.
18. - How to achieve a change in performance on the job?
Contrary to common knowledge, we believe that knowing how to do one’s job effectively changes our attitude towards it. We have seen this over and over again no matter how high the job in the organization, or the nature of it. The difficulty in today’s organizations is that situations are much more demanding, complex and changing that they require much more than just intellectual development. Personnel needs a comprehensive development (Intellectual, Emotional, Physical and Social) to be able to cope with the challenges today. In our opinion, only a comprehensive development will make individuals greater than the difficulties encountered in jobs today.
19. - What warrants sustainable and permanent change?
We found that for change to be sustained and permanent, there must be an internal movement in individuals so that everyone holds within him/herself what they have learned: i.e., the new manner of working generated by the comprehensive development of, not only their intellectual capabilities, but also their generic potentialities, that is, the social- emotional control, and other capabilities that are not generally taken care of by traditional education.
We had an experience where after about a year, over 800 people had incorporated the new manner of working. Then due to the outstanding results obtained, 80% of managers were promoted and transferred to other locations and they were replaced by new managers from other locations that had no knowledge of WES© and consequentially showed their resistance to change by wanting to work the way they already knew. After some efforts, their fellow workers convinced them of the advantages of what they had learned and enjoyed doing. It took a couple of months for the new managers to assess the advantages of WES©, and once accepted and supported by the new team of managers the organization went back to the levels of excellence it had enjoyed with the satisfaction of the new managers who also learned to operate with WES©.
Managers that were transferred, to other areas, continued their learned practice applying them in their new positions and areas. However, they did not have the support of their new teams because they did not know WES©. Consequentially, the synergy needed to experience the levels of excellence, did not generate. For that reason they started recommending the incorporation of WES© in their new units. Some of them succeeded in this effort. All of them are highly regarded as managers.
20. - How to measure sustainable change?
We believe this is probably the most important question asked about change and transformation efforts and the core of our Technology, WES©. We found after 21 years of R&D HOW to measure the comprehensive development of individuals and relate it to the ¨hard¨ performance indicators of any organization.
This is part of what we are offering in our alliances.
If you are interested, please contact us at: alliances@marrocotechnologies.com
21.- What is the meaning of KNOWLEDGE CENTER in the context of WES©?
It is the area responsible for the development and sustainability of WES©. At first, personnel are able to capture, learn, reproduce and divulge information so it becomes knowledge. Later, it becomes a learning community and generator of new ideas. Furthermore, it is a unit with the responsibility to maintain the organization with state of the art technology. It fosters the implementation of the best practices.
22. - Does WES© increase the Innovation Capability of the Organization?
Yes, definitely. The Development of the Logical – Creative Thinking is one of the most useful tools of WES©. The development of this capability is measured objectively and effectively in terms of the added value generated. Personnel generates CREATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS in their tasks and/or CREATIVE IMPROVEMENTS in their interrelations among units of the organization. The Innovation Capability of the Organization enables it to propose new solutions to increase the organization’s productivity and competitiveness by means of adding value permanently. This is achieved by eliminating mishaps in the Operations and in the Business Cycle.
23. - How Long does it take to see results?
Although our interventions take typically 50 weeks, normally after 9 weeks, clients begin to see enticing results.
