Key Concepts for Surviving Organizational Change

Start with “Why change?” Change is expensive, dangerous and uncomfortable. The only thing more expensive, dangerous and uncomfortable than changing is not changing when necessary and trying to live with the results.
One key is first understanding our current mental model for how we work, and then fashioning a model that addresses how our work is changing. Repeatedly defining the best way to work makes the definition process easier, faster, and more valuable. The ability to create a new model when needed is a significant competitive advantage.

“It's my conviction that slight shifts in imagination have more impact...than major efforts at change.” Thomas Moore - SoulMates (Preface)

Automation is cutting the time required for repeating processes. The time saved is used for better customer contact.
• What does more valuable customer contact look like?
• What skills are required for better customer interaction?
Peter Drucker says, “You manage things, you lead people.”
Don't change old habits. Replace them with new activities.
Communication is an area that is changing rapidly. Communication is not just talking. Communication is transferring information in usable form to get a desired result at best cost.
Casually asking a busy person to do something for you has less than a 50% chance of success. What can you do to increase the chances of their remembering, understanding correctly, taking appropriate action, and getting you what you wanted?
Eli Goldratt in The Haystack Syndrome defines “information” as “the answer to the question asked.”
I find a lot of opportunities for improving communication come from social media. Thinking through and executing a social media strategy can have impressive results. We are developing standards for effectively using social media, which remind me of developing standards for email ten years ago, and voicemail etiquette ten years before that.