CHANGE MANAGEMENT TIPS - 4 Steps to Developing Effective Process Change Advisors By David Hale
This information is brought to you by mkt1on1 at http://db2bdh-ednxp4m49ogs247bq7q.hop.clickbank.net The change management Process Advisor (PA) process is a two-way street. It cannot have effective and successful PAs if it does not also educate, support, and coach them. These measures can be covered in a number of ways: training, frequent communication, quarterly meetings, annual retreat, and peer reviews. 1. Training: Seminar program is offered for PAs to teach program goals, PA competencies, expectations, and the purpose of selection and further coaching. PAs are provided with a very clear and structured set of instructions, affectionately called the "PA Waltz," that covers in detail what needs to be done over several months that comprise the development process. The instructions include such information as guidelines for preparing for each phone call and for the one-on-one meetings. PAs also receive a form to use with their advisees for scheduling the telephone contacts, suggested journal input questions, and a journal review sheet to help in preparing for each call. 2. Frequent Communications. The PA and program staff should have frequent contact that includes advice on how to respond to calls or to emails, provides a means of exchanging ideas and questions, and allows for a sharing of tactics that have worked for other PAs. 3. Quarterly Meetings and Yearly Retreat. Each of the meetings has a specific focus and is meant to help PAs and program managers learn from each other and contribute to a general knowledge about the process. The yearly retreat keeps staff updated on the latest program innovations and thinking and provides additional learning and communitybuilding opportunities. Sharing stories, experiences, problems, and concerns increases each PA's understanding of the PA methodology and enhances his or her effectiveness. 4. Peer Reviews. Reviewing each others work and techniques is used as learning and coaching tools for PAs. The PAs discuss their work with one another in review teams, thus expanding the knowledge base of each member of the team as well as providing assessment, challenge, and support to each other. The PA then becomes a valuable resource and coach for other PAs when they work with advisees. Process advising blends face-to-face dialogue with telephone work. It is different from executive coaching, which occurs mostly in one-on-one interactions conducted usually at very senior levels for a select few and which seems to carry a greater sense of urgency for the organization's strategic success. Process advising, because of its focus and design, is valuable to a larger number of people. In one sense, it is for the masses, that is, for people in upper management or on high-potential tracks. The process advising system seems less intense than executive coaching. This may be because it operates within a specified time and a structural framework. That framework includes a clearly articulated intent with specified goals for the development relationship, a set of competencies to use as reference points, a focus on what the advisee's situations or issues are to be worked on and, the development of an ongoing strategic plan. Because of the limited face-to-face time during any change management process, the PA does not usually have the added benefit of being able to read the nonverbal signals that can spur questions or dialogue. The PA does receive the advisee's journal entries prior to each phone conversation and can use the material to understand what has been occurring between calls. Advisees often remark that the face-to-face meeting is extremely beneficial because it is an opportunity to reconnect and focus on what has gone on since the last meeting. Advisees also say that the one-onone feedback lets them connect with their PA in ways that phone calls and emails do not. Studies indicate that three months is about the longest that the PA/Advisee relationship can be enthusiastically kept alive over the telephone.