President’s Message

Masters of Change

Change – it’s not a four-letter word, but it can often be met with the same amount of discomfort and resistance. It’s not uncommon for people to have adverse physical, mental and emotional reactions to change, and it can be a challenge to see the positive outcome when you’re in the midst of adjusting.

But, believe it or not, you already have the skills you need to conquer any type of change. That’s right: As a community manager, you are already a master of change.

In this industry, legislation evolves year after year and the wants and needs of your clients force you to shift with each call, email and association board meeting. As a member of CACM, you are connected to the latest legislative developments and have access to comprehensive continuing education to stay up-to-date on industry best practices.

In addition, you are already adept at listening to your clients – both board members and homeowners – and changing the way you approach each of their problems. Different people require different solutions, and community managers have the know-how to shift perspectives multiple times per day to meet client demands. (If you want to improve these skills, CACM’s Enhance Your Professional Presence course can help. See pages 28 and 55 for upcoming offerings).

To put it simply, change is the very nature of your job, and no matter where you are in your career, you have already developed key ways to manage change on a daily basis. And, on a positive note, this constant change allows you to enjoy great variety in your career, and the flexibility you’ve learned to apply at work can also serve you well in adapting to other unexpected situations.

This industry will undoubtedly continue to change with the passing years, and you may be apprehensive about entering the uncharted territory ahead (i.e., working with the recodified Davis-Stirling Act). But, remember that change is temporary and you will get through it. Remain confident in the change management skills you have already acquired, and rest assured that CACM will work to support you through all the changes ahead.

Karen D. Conlon, CCAM President & CEO

Organizations (homeowners associations included) are constantly challenged by the forces, fall-out and fulfillment of change. So what do you as a business leader/community manager truly need to know about the what, why and how of change? Sit up straight and pay attention, because it may be different from what you think.

If you’re questioning why #1 your organization Be uncomfortable needs to change, when you're we’ve identified your comfortable. problem: complacency. When things are going well and there are no major problems, it’s easy to succumb to it. Yet complacency is like a narcotic that dulls the drive for change. It dulls your vigilance for the need to change and slows your reaction when the need for change arises.

Consider Swiss watches. The Swiss dominated the worldwide watch industry from the early 1900s through the 1960s. In 1968, Swiss watches accounted for more than 65% of worldwide sales and more than 80% of profits. Why? Meticulously crafted watches that were both very accurate and long lasting. The Swiss were so confident in their superior craftsmanship that when newly invented quartz movement watches were unveiled at the World Watch Congress, Swiss manufacturers rejected the concept outright. How could those cheap electronic devices possibly compete with the springs, gears and bearings of a finely crafted Swiss watch?

Seiko, a Japanese company, saw things differently. They realized that not only were quartz watches simpler and less expensive to produce, but they were more accurate than purely mechanical watches. Seiko pounced on the opportunity. By 1980, Swiss watches accounted for less than 10% of worldwide sales and less than 20% of profits. Eighty percent of the jobs in the Swiss watchmaking industry disappeared. But here’s the great irony: electronic, quartz watches were invented by the Swiss. Complacency kills.

Be uncomfortable when you’re comfortable. When you’re comfortable, you lose your edge and become vulnerable. Find the pain that will drive you to change.

What to Do:

When you sense your team getting complacent, try the following exercise: Break them into two groups – two fictitious companies – and give them 90 minutes to figure out how they would crush you as a competitor. What would they do related to products, processes, structure and people?

BY MICHAEL CANIC

Organizations (homeowners associations included) are constantly challenged by the forces, fall-out and fulfillment of change. So what do you as a business leader/community manager truly need to know about the what, why and how of change? Sit up straight and pay attention, because it may be different from what you think.

I’ll offer you a job #2 blending drinks for Don't four hours a day at a assume beachside hut on a safe people resist and stable Caribbean island. change I’ll pay you $10 million per year and give you a threeyear guaranteed contract. Of course I’ll cover your moving expenses, return trips home and private schooling for your children. Did I mention the generous pension plan and platinum medical benefits?

Can you imagine a bigger change in your life? I’ll bet a lot of people would jump at that offer.

People don’t resist change. They resist change they don’t think is in their best interests. We try to sell people on the benefits of change, but what are the benefits to them? And what are the costs? Uncertainty makes people fearful so they resist the change that causes it. When an organization announces a major change, it’s natural for people to think: Will I like it? Will I be good at it? Will it be easy to learn? Will it affect my job security? Will I have the same status? Uncertainty makes people feel insecure. And people who feel insecure resist change. What to Do:

Communicate, communicate, communicate – in groups and one-on-one. Emphasize the “why” of change. What are the consequences (i.e., pros and cons) for them and the organization, of changing or not changing? Acknowledge their concerns. Discuss how to address them.

A common #3 Don’t get everyone on board temptation when implementing change is to focus on getting the naysayers on board. Turn around the naysayers, goes the thinking, and the organization will be more likely to change.

Don’t bother. When you focus on the naysayers you neglect the promoters of change. Feeling neglected, even the most passionate of promoters will eventually surrender; disillusioned that management let them down.

Encourage the promoters, support and coach them, and then visibly recognize and celebrate their successes. By doing that you create the pull for change that Continued on page 10

Change How You Think About Change Continued from page 9 attracts the mass of people you want to influence. If you try to push change on the naysayers, they push back. Don’t feed that dynamic.

You don’t need to get everyone on board. What you need is critical mass. Once you’ve achieved it, then the naysayers become outliers. Now, there’s a fork in the road. Either they get with the change – and they’re welcomed with open arms if they do – or management helps them exercise other career options.

What to Do:

Identify the promoters of change early on. Select people who are highly capable, well-respected and strong influencers to spearhead the effort. Give them lots of encouragement, support and recognition.

Every organization I have #4 Do less, take more time, use more resources ever worked with takes on too much. Too many strategies, too many projects, too much change. And for some reason, everything needs to get done yesterday. Oh, and by who? Of course, the usual cadre of get-it-done types who we continually bury.

So what’s the solution? Do less, take longer, use more resources. What?! What kind of counter-intuitive, capitulating leadership mantra is that? Depending on your history, it could be the right one. If your track record is one of being overly ambitious and not meeting those ambitions, then your track record is failure. This means your people come to expect failure, and you create that culture of failure.

Create the conditions for success. That doesn’t mean the goal is to accomplish whatever, whenever with how-much-of-ever. It means reflecting on the past and recalibrating your thinking: What can we realistically get done, by when, given available resources and the myriad of other demands? Factor in how you typically overestimate what can get done and underestimate the time and resources required to do it.

What to Do:

Rate every potential change initiative against a set of criteria: cost, people resources, time, organizational trauma, probability of success, payoff, urgency and strategic necessity. Based on total available resources, decide which initiatives you will take on and which get deferred. Aligning for Change Before starting to implement your change initiative, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do my people understand the rationale for change? 2. Do they know what success looks like? 3. Do they know specifically what’s expected of them? 4. Do they have the skills, authority and resources to succeed? 5. Do they see it’s in their best interest to change? 6. How will we provide feedback and guidance to help them improve? 7. How will we recognize and celebrate progress and success? 8. How will we hold people constructively accountable? 9. Are our processes and policies aligned to support change? 10. Are our facilities and equipment aligned to support change? 11. Is our organizational structure aligned to support change?

“I don’t like to micromanage,” says the leader. “I like to give my #5 people the freedom they need to get

Put the exec things done.” in execute We all know that to get the most from our people we have to empower them. Yet, so-called empowerment can quickly turn into abandonment, and abandonment leads to failure.

Too many leaders dismiss the execution of change as merely tactical – something to be left to their people. Unsurprisingly, they fall out of touch and the change initiative flounders. They’ve fooled themselves into thinking that leadership no longer involves leading.

Employees want to feel empowered but not abandoned. The role of an executive sponsor is to continually provide guidance, offer support, remove obstacles, monitor progress and recognize

successes. In short, a leader has to stay engaged, even when they empower their people. And staying engaged sends a strong message about the importance of the initiative and the people working on it.

What to Do:

Validate that your people are clear about the objectives and scope of the change initiative. Determine up front what guidance, support and resources they need. Regularly attend team “progress tracking” meetings to keep a pulse on execution and to recognize successes.

Look back at the history #6 of major change initiatives:

Create quality (67% failure rate), acquisitions alignment (77%), IT implementations to create (85%), strategic planning (75%). change Discouragingly familiar, isn’t it? Most change initiatives fail. Why? In a word: inconsistency.

Organizations that fail take a piecemeal approach to change. They put everyone through training, or form teams, or have managers continually promote the change. Yet taking a piecemeal approach leaves other things misaligned: “I’ve been through lean training, but the only thing that seems to matter is getting the product out the door.” “I’m supposed to be on a lean team, but no one has the time to meet.” “My manager says lean is important, but no one’s held accountable for waste and rework.”

Unwittingly, leaders send mixed messages about what’s important and what isn’t. When they send mixed messages it demotivates their people, kills their credibility and undermines their efforts. The change initiative withers and dies.

What to Do:

Alignment means more than just a pinch of training, a dash of teamwork and a dollop of communications. It takes a systematic approach to aligning everything that impacts people with the desired outcome (see “Aligning for Change” at left).

Ultimately, it all starts with you: maintaining a healthy level of discomfort; understanding the dynamics of people and change; not being overly ambitious; staying engaged; and recognizing that consistently aligning everything with success is the best predictor of success.

Michael Canic is co-founder and president of Bridgeway Leadership (www.bridgewayleadership.com), a strategy and execution consulting firm with offices in the U.S. and Canada. Bridgeway’s purpose: Making strategy happen through a relentless focus on alignment, commitment and execution. Michael can be reached at mcanic@bridgewayleadership.com or by text/phone at 303.947.4999.