Jan van Veen, Managing Director, moreMomentum continues his exclusive series of articles for Field Service News on ‘4 Winning Habits of Long-Lasting Achievers in Service’ this time turning his attention to the second winning habit: Dialogue...
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Feb 01, 2018 • Features • Management • Jan Van Veen • management • moreMomentum • Motivation • Business Improvement • CHange Management
Jan van Veen, Managing Director, moreMomentum continues his exclusive series of articles for Field Service News on ‘4 Winning Habits of Long-Lasting Achievers in Service’ this time turning his attention to the second winning habit: Dialogue...
A Common Mistake: Paralysis By Control
Recently I had an interesting conversation with a Service Leader from one of the leading printer and copier manufacturers about how to empower co-workers to drive change from the bottom up. They had already abandoned their outcome-oriented performance review system but nevertheless, their teams still find it difficult to drive change at a high pace.
An important reason is that dialogue between different management levels and operational specialists is rather infrequent and even then, most conversations are still about outcomes and targets. Even this informal pressure for results preserves feelings of insecurity and low confidence which blocks attempts to adopt and drive change.
Traditionally, many business leaders assumed that they needed strong control mechanisms to manage performance, a dated belief that is still common today. During the last few decades of relentlessly growing markets, the name of the game was rationalising processes and keeping the ability to scale up quickly enough. One of the challenges was control and predictability.
In today’s world, these traditional planning and control mechanisms do not work anymore. They limit teams’ ability to think and act collectively, to innovate their business and drive change. Planning & control mechanisms punish poor performance and setbacks. Employees sense a default unsafe environment and are pushed into a defensive, survival mode. It is safer to keep aspirations low, externalise challenges, blame others and limit ownership.
This results in a strong force to do more of the same and stick to the status-quo.
The solution: A forward-looking and constructive dialogue across all levels and functions
Our recent research clearly shows that winning and dynamic manufacturers have embedded practices and habits which empower employees to drive continuous, easy change from the inside. These modern mechanisms for dialogue across all levels and function are:
- Forward-looking objectives and priorities which drive change and collaboration
- Constructive reviews
- Forward-looking interventions
1. Promote change and collaboration with the right objectives and priorities
Continuous alignment of objectives and priorities: Winning companies focus on strategic objectives that build strong organisational capabilities for performance and continuous business innovation. Building and maintaining a fit and healthy organisation is the focus of (top) management. The most important objectives and targets are about the organisational capabilities, small changes and bigger innovations.
Aspirations, objectives, strategies, limitations, opportunities and pre-requisites are frequently discussed and adjusted when needed to ensure coherent and aligned actions and initiatives across all individuals, teams and departments.Aspirations, objectives, strategies, limitations, opportunities and pre-requisites are frequently discussed and adjusted when needed to ensure coherent and aligned actions and initiatives across all individuals, teams and departments.
Shared outcome targets: Teams and individuals share the same common objectives for results in operational performance and innovation. Their bonus schemes are based on the same indicators. They are all in the same boat, trying to achieve the same objectives. Each team and individual will be open and looking for ways to contribute to the overall targets. Instead of resisting or getting complacent, they all collaborate where needed.
Individual contribution targets: Each team and individual has full clarity on how they are expected to contribute to achieving the outcome. Think about maintaining and developing organisational capabilities, building personal competencies, collaborating with other teams and the level of effort required. For example, the financial department could contribute to the customer experience by improving invoicing (speed, accuracy, transparency, responsiveness to inquiries).
2. Build confidence & safety with constructive and forward-looking reviews
Positive feedback: Colleagues are open to candid feedback and provide constructive feedback to each other. Feedback is not about performance, but approach, activities, priorities, opportunities and threats and is intended to encourage them to adapt and improve. It is related to aspirations, the vision, the strategy.
Forward-looking: The focus is not on the fact that something went wrong, but on how to get it right. What can be learned from setbacks or issues, how can the approach be adjusted? What are new ideas and approaches? It doesn’t make sense to argue about the past.
Multiple stakeholders: Best practice is to include other stakeholders and experts in the reviews, by collecting their feedback, sharing feedback and asking for their view on the problem. This prevents unnecessary bias, reveals many more opportunities for improvement and will get more active support to easily and rapidly implement the interventions.
3. Solve from 1st principle
Root Cause Analysis: Leading companies make it a critical organisational habit to perform a root analysis for pretty much every issue or set-back. As many issues or opportunities affect more than one team or department, it is a good habit to follow through with a diverse group of people and teams who can contribute to the analysis as well as the solution.
What we see is that the winning companies have developed a routine and structure to document, communicate and decide on root cause analyses and interventions.What we see is that the winning companies have developed a routine and structure to document, communicate and decide on root cause analyses and interventions. Root causes and the success of new interventions are standard topics of meetings and conversations. “No time” is not seen a valid reason to skip the root cause analysis.
Structural solutions: Based on the root cause analysis, managers create long-term interventions that define the fundamental solutions and sustainable decision-criteria. They do not step into the trap of short-term, cost-oriented decisions that would let them fall back from fundamental solutions to symptom fighting.
Phased implementation: For complex and time-consuming solutions they define a phased implementation, where first steps can be low-hanging fruit or quick workarounds when the criticality is high. In such cases they ensure that the phased implementation continues after the first steps, to prevent falling back into symptom fighting.
Benefits
The big benefit of this ongoing and forward-looking dialogue across the entire organisation and all levels is to build an environment where everybody feels confident and safe. They feel they can take the initiative to solve issues and pursue opportunities, to come up with interventions when things go differently than expected and ensure coherence between all initiatives.
In psychology, it’s a well-known phenomenon that too much pressure on outcomes and performance kills learning and change.Employees are open and transparent about their successes and struggles, raise risks and problems, ask for help, provide help and simply do what is needed to perform and move forward for future success. Not because there is pressure from a burning platform, but because they want to.
In psychology, it’s a well-known phenomenon that too much pressure on outcomes and performance kills learning and change.
The Essence
We believe that this is not about better articulating the burning platform and creating a sense of urgency. It is about creating a constructive and forward-thinking environment where your colleagues want to, can and do take the right initiatives and bring them into practice.
Magic happens when you bring together business innovation on one hand and employee development and empowerment on the other.
Are you interested in these 4 winning habits and how to implement them?
Follow our articles and case studies over the coming months and join us for one of our Momentum Impulse Sessions through Europe. Reserve your seat @ http://fs-ne.ws/WQih30gRcev
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Dec 21, 2017 • Features • Alistair Clifford-Jones • Leadent • Legacy systems • CHange Management • Software and Apps • software and apps
Leadent CEO, Alastair Clifford-Jones tackles the tricky issue of ageing technology...
Leadent CEO, Alastair Clifford-Jones tackles the tricky issue of ageing technology...
Many organisations that have implemented field service management solutions now face a dilemma. Recent advances in technology platforms, software and hardware, have caused these organisations, that had previously enjoyed a competitive advantage, to risk being left behind. And it’s not just the advancement of technology that is driving this, the focus for many field service organisations has changed due to consumers’ ever-increasing expectations, and the deregulation of some industries.
Given the pressure on organisations to provide a better customer experience, many assume the solution is to replace or upgrade ageing technology; especially considering that the replacement could be a Cloud or SaaS-based solution that would shift the costs into an OPEX bucket. Whilst this might be seen as a silver bullet, the truth is more complicated.
When organisations first considered field service management systems they were trying move away from the Chaotic Survival state
To become a Supply Led business required a limited change in technology, and more of an organisational change as it is much more about breaking down silos within a business.
However, transforming into a Demand Led organisation requires significant investment, and a completely different way of thinking. This is where organisations need to be truly digitally enabled with multi-channel customer touch-points.
So, what’s the right direction for organisations?
It depends. There are several aspects to be considered.
The first is not just what technology you have, but how well it’s been implemented into the business; are processes understood and adhered to? Does the business model match both the objectives, and process model?
Often organisations believe technology is at the root of their problems – if they could just have faster software or more flexible configuration life would be so much simpler. In reality it’s often the way technology has been implemented and this isn’t just about customisation or configuration, it’s about embedding process and mindset change into the business. Even in today’s world, there are far too many technology-driven implementations that are not owned or controlled by the business.
The second is deciding where the business needs to be. In the diagram above, it is clear the ‘best’ position is on the right-hand side, but this is primarily driven by consumers. If your customers don’t need you to be this type of business, there is no point trying to position yourself there. But don’t kid yourself, this would make you the exception, not the norm.
Your business’s starting point, and where you need it to be will give you an indication of the gap that needs to be closed to deliver competitive advantage. This then begins to formulate a basis for the decision to upgrade or replace technology. But, as ever, there are a number of ways to close this gap, with many requiring some technology, but how do you make the right decision?
The options are:
- Drive more value from a current deployment
- Implement point solutions to add functionality
- Upgrade an existing solution
- Replace the current system
Getting more Value from a Current Deployment
Many implementations have failed to deliver the anticipated value. It’s not that businesses are over optimistic when the business case is developed, but more that they don’t take the opportunity to truly transform. The field service management solution is seen as an operational tool and implemented in a silo.
This silo thinking has resulted in the lack of an integrated view of the end-to-end customer journey.
Getting more from a current deployment is all about the end-to-end customer journey. Often greater value can be achieved from just having an integrated view, which means looking at processes and how the organisation matches this view.
In my experience, there is always more value that can be generated from a current deployment. But the big question is, is it ever enough to meet current and future requirements?
Implementing Point Solutions
If the scheduling and dispatch solution is working well, and an organisation is just trying to improve the customer experience, there is no reason why the existing solution cannot be enhanced by implementing greater functionality via integration with other software such as online booking or customer communications.
This way a customer can get the ‘digital experience’ with minimal disruption to operations. Given integration capabilities and the proliferation of APIs, it is much easier in today’s world to integrate a point solution with current platforms. The main gripe for customers is the lack of information from the organisation. If you keep your customers informed via appropriate channels - a web or mobile app, or even a lowly text message, it can dramatically enhance customer experience.
In addition to improving the customer experience, it alsomakes operational sense. The business case for delivering better customer information can often be satisfied by the reduction in calls to call centres alone.
Upgrade an Existing System
Upgrades come in many forms. Vendors are working hard to shift customers from on-premise solutions to their new cloud variants. While the existing cloud vendors are innovating and adding functionality to stay out in front. Often the decision to upgrade is with the supplier in that support will usually be withdrawn for non-upgraded systems, for example, where the cloud option becomes the only option.
Where the organisation has an option to upgrade to get enhanced technological capabilities, it is very important to understand the impact it will have on the people and processes. In my experience, upgrades often fail because the processes have not be realigned, or the teams have not been properly informed or trained.
Organisations that have really benefited from enhanced functionality have conducted a full impact analysis on the processes and realigned their businesses appropriately to make best use of new capabilities.
Replacing a Current System
To many organisations, replacing a system fills them with dread as the initial implementation was a particularly expensive and painful experience but, in reality, much of the hard work has already been done. Much of that pain was in moving from a manual system to auto-scheduling and mobile dispatch. This was a change management exercise, and isn’t a reason not to replace. In fact, if it was done well, it’d be shame not to further capitalise on that investment.
Of course, there are benefits of replacing a current system beyond those of better functionality, for instance, some new systems offer much greater business flexibility.
Of course, there are benefits of replacing a current system beyond those of better functionality, for instance, some new systems offer much greater business flexibility. For example, the way different providers treat capacity can offer greater benefits; where many assign an engineer at the time of appointment, some now look at the overall capacity and perform the assignment on the day. For the majority of businesses and use cases, this increases efficiency.
If we are looking at moving organisations to the right on the maturity model it’s essential to have an integrated approach to the end-to-end customer experience, which may be constrained by that organisation’s field service management solution.
Don’t Get Left Behind!
As we’ve seen, moving towards a truly Demand Led model for field service can be achieved via a number of different paths. Where your organisation sits within the maturity model and how much focus is placed on the customer journey will dictate the path you need to take.
But in all cases, it is imperative to make those decisions with a critical eye on your own maturity and the end-to-end customer experience in mind. Failure to do so risks leaving the business trailing in the wake of those who do.
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Dec 15, 2017 • Features • Kotter • Research • resources • White Paper • White Papers & eBooks • CHange Management • Cialdini • Asolvi
Resource Type: White Paper Published by: Field Service News (commissioned by Tesseract) Title: The Wind of Change: When and How to Implement your FSM System - A Guide to Change Management Best Practices
Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: Field Service News (commissioned by Tesseract)
Title: The Wind of Change: When and How to Implement your FSM System - A Guide to Change Management Best Practices
Want to know more? Access to this resource is available to Field Service News subscribers only - but if you are a Field Service Professional you may qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription!
Synopsis:
Within the last decade we have seen field service shift from being a necessary evil, to a core differentiator and even in some instances, to ultimately becoming the primary revenue stream.
Whilst this shift may not be as dramatic for all companies, you can be sure that almost every company with a field service operation – including you and your peers, will be at least some way along this path. What is also certain is that as you make your way along this path, at some point you will need to take a look at your current field service processes and the technology you are using to support them. Indeed, technology continues to play an increasingly important role in field service.
Your existing field service management (FSM) solution is likely to be well embedded within your workflow already - but as tools like the Internet of Things and Augmented Reality drive concepts such as ‘connected field service’ from futuristic vision to genuine process, an upgrade of your FSM system is going to be unavoidable. The problem is that a FSM solution is of course mission critical and therefore any disruption caused when changing such an important system must be managed and minimised.
With this in mind this white paper explores how to identify key signs that it is time to upgrade your FSM system as well as examining some best-practice thinking on implementation and change management methodologies.
Overview:
The key topics discussed in this white paper include:
Knowing when to upgrade your FSM system:
Whilst knowing when it’s time to replace your FSM system is based on multiple factors unique to each organisation, there are a number of strong indicators you can monitor to help you make that call at the right time.
A selection of these include...
- Your Own Efficiency
- How does your tech investment compare to industry trends?
- Know your enemy
- Listen to your end-users
- Listen To Your Customers
- Regular reporting nightmares
Change Management Best Practice:
Let’s make no bones about it, a FSM system is mission critical. Whether you are implementing a system for the first time or switching from an older system to a modern equivalent, doing so is a significant change management project. If you are to minimise the negative impact of this program and reap the efficiency and productivity improvements (and see return on investment) as swiftly as possible, then getting that change management process right is very simply a must.
There will of course be different dynamics at play within every organisation, so a comprehensive and detailed plan, put together in a methodical and structured manner is imperative. However, there are certain factors that remain true in almost every change management scenario. Equally, there are widely adopted best practices that can be applied.
Also included in the white paper is a look some key considerations that sit at the heart of good change management:
Understand the task ahead
Change is hard, and without proper understanding of your goals and the challenges you face, successfully managing it can be at best a complicated and drawn out process and at worst an abject failure.
In fact, according to change management guru John Kotter, 70% of change management efforts fail and this is largely due to a lack of preparation, a lack of understanding of best practices or more often than not a combination of both. However, at the heart of every successful change management exercise there is one maxim that holds absolutely true. Change Management is always about people.
Engaging the Head and the Heart
For a change management program to be successful it is absolutely vital we acknowledge that change is about individuals, not organisations. Yes, change will be driven by organisational needs and requirements, but individuals will implement it - individuals will determine its success.
Given this notion, we must next consider how individuals will react to change. Successful change management is as much about feeling as it is about thinking. This is one of the key principals in the Kotter Change Management philosophy and is one that is widely accepted to be an important step on the change management journey.
Principals of Influence
Robert Cialdini’s six principals of influence are certainly also worth considering when planning your change management program and the white paper looks at each of these and how they relate to change management within a field service context. The Six Principals include:
- Reciprocity
- Commitment and consistency
- Social Proof
- Liking
- Authority
- Scarcity
The importance of the change agent:
The white paper explores what a ‘Change Agent’ is and why they are key to successful change management, is another important piece of the puzzle.
Gartner’s Elise Olding neatly sums up this approach stating, “Change resistance is a myth. Employees support enterprise goals when they understand what needs to be done. Change Agents put a face on change and leverage trusted informal leaders to create understanding among employees and influence organisational change”
Breaking down the barriers of resistance:
The goal of a successful change management program should not be to completely eradicate resistance to change - this is an impossible task that will take too much energy. Instead, focus on reducing the impact of resistance, and overcoming it as quickly as possible to move the change management project from concept to full adoption as swiftly as possible.
The true key to successful change management is minimising the impact of resistance in your workforce - and to achieve this we must understand the types of resistance we are likely to encounter.
Generally, these will come in three broad categories which hare explained within the white paper:
- I don’t get it
- I don’t trust you
- I don’t like it
Progressing through the adoption cycle:
Finally, the white paper explains why it is important to have an understanding of the various stages of adoption. In almost any organisation there are generally four groups of adopters that can be plotted on a standard Bell Curve.
Broadly speaking they should be categorised as follows:
- Early Adopters
- The Majority
- Laggards
- Naysayers
Want to know more? Access to this resource is available to Field Service News subscribers only - but if you are a Field Service Professional you may qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription!
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Oct 04, 2017 • Features • Management • Continuous Change • management • Momentum • CHange Management • Jan VCan Veen
Jan Van Veen, continues his latest exclusive Field Service News series exploring the winning habits of long lasting achievers by outlining how a compelling direction can accelerate change...
Jan Van Veen, continues his latest exclusive Field Service News series exploring the winning habits of long lasting achievers by outlining how a compelling direction can accelerate change...
Following our introductory article about the 4 Winning Habits in the previous publication of Field Service News, I will now elaborate on the first winning habit: Direction:
A common mistake: Lack of clarity where the company is heading
A couple of years ago, I spoke with the management team of an international manufacturer of medical devices. They were disappointed because their employees were not taking the initiative to educate themselves on “digital” and IT related topics and to develop the business.
They knew that technology would continue to shift the market dramatically.
They even had a vision: to transition from a device manufacturer to a healthcare IT service provider. Unfortunately, little happened. Employees were too busy with operational fire-fighting and the initiatives they did start had hardly any relation to the company’s future and little coherence between them.
An important reason for this failure was that their vision was not clear and concrete enough for the employees to act upon. They were still unclear about what an IT service provider even was. Which customer problems would they solve? What kind of offerings needed to be developed? What capabilities would they need to develop? And which competencies?
As business leaders, we often think that it’s obvious to our teams what changes are needed in the business and why. After all, we spend a lot of time discussing challenges, priorities and ongoing initiatives. We typically have clear financial objectives for the next few years and other qualitative objectives like “being #1 choice of the customer”.
However, many of us do not provide a clear and compelling picture of where we should be heading and why, or how our organisation should look in a couple of years. So, what is missing?
- There are too few emotional triggers to spur our teams to be highly passionate and motivated.
- Our teams lack insight into which initiatives make sense and how they can contribute. The quality and quantity of the initiatives is far from optimal and there is a lack of coherence between them.
- Our staff have too many reasons to fear the downside of upcoming changes, or at least be uncertain about them. This pushes people into a defensive mode, which is destructive for change and innovation.
The solution: Establish a clear and compelling direction to accelerate change
Our research clearly shows that winning and dynamic manufacturers have declared a clear and compelling direction which results in high momentum for continuous, easy change from the inside.
This makes them more successful today and in the future. Ideally, this direction consists of:
- A meaningful mission
- A bold and inspiring strategic intent
- A concrete picture of the future state of the business
Engage your people with a meaningful mission
A compelling and meaningful mission expresses passion for a cause and has the best of intentions. It declares how you will be relevant for society or your target customers and connects to heart and mind. It also gives a clear indication of how to evolve the business and why. An important benefit of a meaningful mission is that all employees become highly engaged and passionate – they are proud to be part of such an organisation.
Tesla’s original mission was to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible”. Although you could argue whether “sustainable energy” is unique and differentiating for Tesla, it does trigger a lot of passion and eagerness in their staff. It also gives strong direction to their strategy, initiatives and focus. It shouts that Tesla will lead the automotive industry of the future with new technology, infrastructure and products on a global scale. Tesla will be visible, dominant and disruptive.
Rally your people with a bold objective
Most leading companies have a bold objective or strategic intent which rallies their employees. They touch emotions, pride and potentially even the sense of doing right. And they drive focus on initiatives to innovate the business.
Well known examples are:
- Amazon: Every book ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds.
- Google: Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
- Microsoft: “A computer on every desk and in every home.”
- Twitter: To become “the pulse of the planet”.
- Nike: “Beat Adidas”
- •Even though he’s not a company, John F. Kennedy: “Land a man on the moon by the end of this decade and return him safely”.
Some important characteristics of a good strategic intent are:
- They are externally oriented,
- They are hard to achieve, but not impossible,
- They trigger the imagination of employees (and shareholders),
- They define a “bigger game”, in which there is a prize to win
It will require hard work and moving away from comfort zones. Every step the team takes closer to the objective will give them a sense of pride, of belonging and will motivate them to take the next steps.
Focus and coherence with a picture of future state
Too often our vision of how the future business will look is too high level and vague for most of our staff.
They remain unclear about where the company is heading. How will it look in 5 years? Which clients will they be targeting? What are those customers’ needs? What kind of solutions will they be offering? How will they fit in, if at all?
Imagine the amount of momentum for ongoing change and innovation your teams could have, if they all shared the same concrete picture of the company’s future.
Including:
- The key industry trends, such as technology, impact on clients, the changing power of competitors, and potential new entrants.
- Changing needs of clients and other market segments that have not yet been served.
- Shifts in key stakeholders, of the client organisations they’ll be working with.
- Change of value propositions and offerings.
- Change of organisational capabilities and people competencies.
- Change of required technology.
Benefits
Winning companies benefit by having a clear and compelling direction in place. They have created the foundation for proud, engaged and committed employees who want to walk the extra mile, get out of their comfort zone and make innovation happen.
Their employees develop the right initiatives and understand the initiatives of others. This is crucial for coherency and alignment in the organisation without needing to dictate ideas and decisions from the top.
And finally, their employees have much less fear and uncertainty about the personal impact on them of upcoming changes, and therefore are much more open to drive change.
The Essence
If you assume this is about better telling your staff what to do and getting them on board, you have already missed the point: It is about creating a constructive and forward-thinking environment where your staff take the right initiatives and bring them to practice. Changes come from the ‘bottom-up’. I believe this is the power of combining business innovation on one hand, and talent development and empowerment on the other.
Are you interested in learning more about these 4 winning habits, having access to practical examples, and understanding how to implement them? Then Follow our next articles over the coming months and join us for one of our half-day Boardroom Sessions in Birmingham,
Manchester, Germany or the Netherlands. Reserve your seat @ http://fs-ne.ws/tvds30eenO6
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Feb 15, 2017 • Features • Management • Nick Frank • on-Demand Economy • CHange Management • field service • Si2 partners
The key to digital transformation for field service organisations lies in people and not technology writes Nick Frank of Si2 Partners...
The key to digital transformation for field service organisations lies in people and not technology writes Nick Frank of Si2 Partners...
“The rate of increase of industrial devices being connected to the internet is up 25% per year, but customers don’t really appreciate how the capabilities and benefits of the IoT are relevant to their business’
So says Dave Hammond, Product Manager at MAC Solutions. And he should know, as he sells and manages the market leading eWON router, which enables industrial equipment to be accessed securely and remotely, across the Internet. For business leaders, his ‘grass routes’ observations are far more insightful into the challenges of monetising data, then the many articles routinely churned out on the subject.
Despite what you might read, it is only larger businesses that have the resources to invest in developing their own bespoke infrastructure; and even then, most of the tangible gains remain in the area of cost reduction.
They can easily imagine and so justify the investment based on a reduction in costly service visits through remote diagnosis, especially during the warranty period, where they bear 100% of the cost. With the number of devices being put on-line booming, everything sounds pretty good with the market. But Dave and his colleagues at MAC are concerned at the lack of ‘market understanding’ from the UK SME’s they talk to.
In their ‘Connectivity Roadmap’ most customers are stuck at level 2 - ‘Get Connected’, which is all about cost! They struggle to justify moving to the next phase of delivering proactive service revenues and ultimately transforming their business.
So what are the underlying causes of this stagnation and an inability to step up to the challenge?
Part of the reason lies in the lack of maturity of the tool sets being developed by IoT providers such as GE, Microsoft and PTC. In the last 3 years, huge investments have brought these tools into the realms of reality, but they are still relatively cumbersome to integrate into the business processes.
Despite what you might read, it is only larger businesses that have the resources to invest in developing their own bespoke infrastructure; and even then, most of the tangible gains remain in the area of cost reduction.
For many in the industry, another challenge is around culture. Most quarters of industry have struggled to really imagine what the technology can do for their business. They have become trapped in product-centric thinking, rather than deeply analysing where the value is delivered within their customer and industry value chains.
The good news is that the business case to ‘Get Connected’ is so inequitably clear, that at least many engineers have been encouraged to pilot the technology and learn for themselves what it can do.
A second challenge is the conservative nature of many industrial businesses in adapting to fundamental change. Together these represent a significant mind-set issue.
By moving emphasis away from technology towards outcomes and operational excellence, many businesses will be able to deliver more value and hence profitability
This means not only better understanding customers’ needs and their immediate problem.
But moving deeper into how to harness their inherent know-how and technology to help their customers make money. By moving emphasis away from technology towards outcomes and operational excellence, many businesses will be able to deliver more value and hence profitability.
The problem is that this is a ‘back-to-basics’ approach, based on common sense and, as we all know, common sense is one of the hardest elements of business upon which to act. Leaders can start by encouraging an ‘outside-in’ approach, taking a long hard look at the value they add to their customers and how they influence the industry value chain.
Then together with the experiences they gain in understanding the power of these digital technologies, they will develop the insight and confidence to turn data into profits.
So, if you sense your initiatives in developing these new capabilities are slowing down or not meeting your expectations, perhaps there are three basic challenges for you to review...
- Do you have the right level of insight to use your know how to make your customer more profitable?
- Do you know how to use information to make your operations more cost effective?
- Are your people encouraged to explore new ideas and have an environment and process in which innovative ideas can be turned into reality?
Nick can be contacted on nick.frank@Si2partners.com Si2 ON-Demand is a unique advisory and support service that enables top performing leaders to solve problems and get things done, quickly, easily and cost effectively.
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Apr 01, 2016 • Belron • Case Studies • CHange Management • ClickSoftware
When we look at the introduction of any new element into the way our business operates there are a number of factors that define whether that project will be a success or not. Of course there is the the question of whether the tools being...
When we look at the introduction of any new element into the way our business operates there are a number of factors that define whether that project will be a success or not. Of course there is the the question of whether the tools being implemented are capable of delivering all of the improvements in efficiencies that were promised during the selection process.
However, perhaps more importantly to the potential success of any new technology introduced to a workflow is exactly how it is introduced to the workforce. Basically how well the change management process is approached.
Indeed Change Management is a vital element for most businesses as they continue to keep pace with the latest trends in technology to help them gain competitive edge.
In field service in particular, where we are seeing continual and developing adoption of technology, as companies seek to improve the efficiency and productivity of their field service operations, it is perhaps one of the most important functions of senior business leadership.
As such one of the key presentations given at last year’s ClickConnect UK conference was given by Simon Brown, Operations Development Manager, at vehicle repair and replacement giant Belron (who trade as Autoglass within the UK)
Brown joined Belron in 2000 to take a lead role in the division which was part of the Autoglass business analyst team, tasked.with driving change management.
Prior to this Brown had spent his entire post university career having worked in retail developing a wealth of experience in business process based projects as well as experience in implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools.
“Very simply there should be some fundamental facts that all those involved in the change management roll out are aware of”
Therefore Brown’s session at this year’s ClickConnect UK conference was highly anticipated and it provided a great opportunity to gain some insight into the tools Brown used when approaching these tasks.
However, what was also particularly illuminating was some of the out of the box thinking and left-field role models that Brown looked to when building his own specific approach to change management that were revealed as he made his way through his presentation.
There were a number of excellent moments at the recent ClickConnect UK conference and one that stood out in particular was when Simon Brown of vehicle glass replacement giant Belron shared some of his secrets for achieving change management success...
Of course there are a number of well known and well established change management theories and processes with names such as ADKAR, Kotter, and APMG as well as tools such as the Change Curve familiar to those who have explored the area and Brown has embraced a number of these when adapting his own approach - which whilst being sophisticated and comprehensive enough to ensure success in the various projects he’s undertaken with Belron, also remains rooted in what is essentially a fairly simple concept.
Of course there are a number of well known and well established change management theories and processes with names such as ADKAR, Kotter, and APMG as well as tools such as the Change Curve familiar to those who have explored the area and Brown has embraced a number of these when adapting his own approach
If we are going to achieve a successful transition from one approach to another then it is absolutely vital that each of our team absolutely understands what the benefits will be for making the change (Heart), exactly why we are making the change (Head) and exactly how we will be making that change (Hands).
Such a three-pronged approach will help overcome many of the conventional, to be expected barriers to adoption amongst a team.
It will also help speed up adoption, as if done correctly, messaging around the change will engender emotional buy-in, plus speedier adoption of the incoming new tools and processes.
However, before even trying to seek the approval and buy-in from the workforce, it is absolutely crucial and fundamentally important Brown believes that we have full buy-in from the board – something that he admits was a significant part in the successful change management projects he has undertaken whilst at Belron.
In fact that support went right to the very top with Brown able to utilise a video of the video of the Autoglass Managing Director himself outlining why the organisation were about to go through such a significant change in their core operating processes.
What is also important Brown emphasises, is to keep the messaging the same throughout.
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be using varied formats to deliver that messaging – in fact the more ways we can find of delivering the message whether it be via email, video, poster letter, meetings or any other manner you can think of, means more chance of both connecting with different members of the team (different people respond better to different stimuli) and ensuring the message gets understood via consistent reinforcement.
Nor does it mean that those delivering the message (again whether it is in person, print or video) should be sticking doggedly to a highly regimented script full of legalese and marketing blurb.
Again whilst this may tick a number of boxes in the corporate handbook, it will ultimately fail to convey the key ‘what’s-in-it-for-me’ message that will help you connect with the hearts and minds of your workers. What is important however is to keep the same core messaging throughout all the different communication channels.
Repetition is crucial, as is having all senior leaders standing shoulder to shoulder delivering the same core message
In the case of Autoglass such continuity was ensured by delivering a program of two day events for every manager involved within the change management process that was not only supported by the involvement of top tier motivational speakers but also at least one senior director at each event to help clarify exactly what the reasons for undertaking the change were, and what benefits would be delivered both on the personal and the business level.
In Brown’s own words ‘Repetition is crucial, as is having all senior leaders standing shoulder to shoulder delivering the same core message. One of the well-established change management processes that Brown and the team at Belron incorporated into their own change management approach was ADKAR a system developed by one of the leading organisations within the niche consulting sector of Change Management Prosci.
Standing for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Re-enforcement, ADKAR provides a clear easily followed structure to help build a cohesive strategy in how to tackle a change management project and sits at the heart of Belron’s change management processes.
In fact when reflecting back on some of the learnings he had made from previous change
management projects at Autoglass it was straying slightly from the simple ADKAR structure that was their biggest single mistake Brown admits.
Whilst following the stages correctly throughout an initial phase of rolling out field service automation tool ClickSoftware, the one area that got overlooked was the final stage of the process ie: re-enforcement.
“We were so busy getting the next group live that we didn’t spend enough time focussing on the re-enforcement stage” explained Brown and this could potentially lead to undermining much of the good work that had been undertaken so far.
If people fill that empty space [where positive reenforcement discussions should be] with negatives then there is a risk of people re-enforcing those negatives
"If people fill that empty space [where positive reenforcement discussions should be] with negatives then there is a risk of people re-enforcing those negatives” explained Brown.
The other well established tool that Brown embraced is the Change Curve. Essentially a visual tool that shows four key phases an individual will go through when undertaking a change - namely being denial, doubt, exploration and acceptance (although there are numerous variations on these four stages cited by different consultants etc.)
The benefit of using the change curve Brown explained was that first it creates an environment wherein anxiety, which is a natural emotion most people encounter when facing change, is easily and comfortably discussed in a constructive and functional manner.
Secondly and perhaps most importantly is that it provides a single language for discussing the change management process at all levels throughout the process.
For example a manager could discuss where his team are in terms of the change curve, when feeding back to the senior change management team with a clear description that is easily understood by everyone involved in the discussion.
Equally such a conversation could be had on a one-to-one basis with a team member as the manager tries to help them along the change management journey.
As mentioned earlier in this article there are many varying processes and tools that can be applied to change management.
Indeed what Brown and the team at Belron have done very successfully in their approach to establishing their own blueprint for successful change management is to identify those tools which worked well in the framework of their existing corporate persona, and adapted them to their needs - rather than rigidly following a set of business processes that may not quite fit with their existing corporate policies etc.
You have to be a strong, people focussed leader rather than someone who is perhaps more driven by figures, someone who is highly competitive”
One of these that Brown spoke about was New York City Police commissioner William Bratton who famously brought significant change to the NYPD successfully reducing crime rates at a time when all of his predecessors had failed.
Bratton is a fascinating character worthy of study for anyone interested in the traits of leadership, but his work with the NYPD truly struck a chord with Brown who comments ‘I saw in him and what he was doing a number of elements that could be part of the ADKAR model’ Brown explained. “He just intuitively led tremendous change”
And this perhaps brings us to the final ingredient of good change management.
It needs to be led by someone inherently in tune with the people they are trying to guide through the change management process. Something both Bratton and Brown have in common.
“I think you have to be a strong, people focussed leader rather than someone who is perhaps more driven by figures, someone who is highly competitive” Brown concludes and again he is fortunate to be working for an organisation which shares this ethos.
“Strong emotional intelligence, and people leadership are fundamental part of being a leader within our group.” he adds and it is this core trait that seems to be running through the spine of Belron from CEO down.
Whilst this is not easy to replicate, it is clearly at the heart of their continuing success in delivering successful implementations of new systems and tools that have pushed them to forefront of their sector and ahead of their competitors and peers.
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Jul 27, 2015 • Features • CHange Management • disruptive technology • Servitization • truck servicing
Servitization in some sectors and for some companies is driven by market forces, not customer demand. In this exclusive interview with Field Service News, Des Evans, former Managing Director of MAN Truck and Bus UK and now Honorary business...
Servitization in some sectors and for some companies is driven by market forces, not customer demand. In this exclusive interview with Field Service News, Des Evans, former Managing Director of MAN Truck and Bus UK and now Honorary business professor at Aston University Business School, explains how the truck manufacturer transformed its business from a sales-led organisation to one focused on customer service.
As we begin to hear more and more about servitization, often it is the same company names being held up as core examples of adopting this approach. What is interesting is that these companies often tend to be in very disparate industries, but what they all have in common is that they have been able to harness technology to allow themselves to become a disruptive influence within their sector.
For some companies - Rolls Royce, for example - the move to an advanced services model has been client driven. For other companies such as truck manufacturer MAN Truck and Bus UK, however, the need to evolve has been very much market driven, as Des Evans explains.
“Over the past forty years truck volumes have almost halved, so you have to run a lot faster to stand still,” Evans begins “If you are not going to sell more vehicles, or gain more market share (which is expensive) then you have to divert your energies into service operations and into your installed customer base.”
“That was the real focus for us to develop the service business: talking to the installed base that was already in the market,” he continues.
MAN not only transformed their own company considerably, they also transformed the market for ever. Only now are some of their competitors beginning to catch up.
However, being a pioneer involves radical thinking and such thinking really needs to be driven from the top if it is to prove a success. For MAN, fortunately, it was an approach all of the senior executive team believed in.
“I think the organisation was a far more collegiate organisation than most and everything was very much a team effort,” Evans explains. “We had to focus on how we could not only sustain the business model but actually to maintain it. When faced with market volumes halving, whilst it is not exactly a burning bridge, we also knew we had to do something different. When we introduced the new truck model it was the trigger really to introduce the new business model as well.”
As is always the case with disruptive change, technology and fresh thinking walked hand-in-hand in the initial transition.
“The catalyst was the Trucknology generation which introduced electronic, digital vehicles as opposed to analogue, mechanical vehicles. It gave us the opportunity to present a completely new business case to the operator by including three years servicing as standard, not something you charge for. However, it required a completely different service organisation to deliver that and a completely different sales force.”
“The challenge was interesting. It did help us move our market share from 8% to 12%, albeit in a smaller market, but that was what we had to do. We had to increase volume, not necessarily by price cut but by some added-value service.”
Still, despite the new strategy being born out of necessity, it was still reliant on the technology, although the wider picture was also reliant on the culture within an organisation.
You had to get buy-in from all stakeholders.”
Yet despite the approach being both complex and ground breaking at the time, the premise at the heart of everything was in fact incredibly simple, it seems. “The main message for the customer both internally and externally was we were going to improve the profitability of the customer,” Evans explains. “Because we saw first hand that not only was the truck market itself going down but also the profitability of the operators was going down too. Simply, we could no longer afford to sell to a customer base that couldn’t afford to buy our products or services.”
“It was a case of trying to make your customers more profitable, and by doing so you could secure our future business,” Evans concludes.
Whatever the business driver, what MAN Truck and Bus UK has achieved in recent years has been both impressive and intelligent. They have revolutionised their industry and put service back at the heart it.
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Jul 21, 2015 • Features • Future of FIeld Service • future of field service • CHange Management • field service • IFS • software and apps • Uber • Customer Satisfaction and Expectations
Field service organisations must adapt in a rapidly changing world, says Tom Bowe, Industry Director, Enterprise Service Management, IFS.
Field service organisations must adapt in a rapidly changing world, says Tom Bowe, Industry Director, Enterprise Service Management, IFS.
Agility and adaptability were the overarching themes at the recent IFS customer conference in Boston. More than 250 service-focused attendees came to hear user case studies about implementing and using IFS’s service software, watch industry experts apply new trends to real life, and to learn about what IFS is doing to take their service solutions to the next level.
Why? Because the world is changing, rapidly. According to Erik Qualman of Socialnomics fame, 40% of the Fortune 500 will be gone within 10 years. As PJ Jakovljevic of Technology Evaluation tweeted; “You have to be prepared to destroy your own business model before a kid in a dorm room does it for you.”
[quote float="left"]Monolithic legacy systems can no longer keep up with the changing market and customer demand.
We have developed a sort of nine step program to help service organisations achieve service excellence and help them adapt to an ever-changing environment. Here are some of the things you should keep in mind when you are looking to make your service organisation more adaptable, and more successful:[ordered_list style="decimal"]
- Know your business
This may seem a bit obvious, and redundant, but in order to help your organisation streamline processes, maximise service margins, and increase customer satisfaction, you need to have a full understanding of your company’s goals, their future plans, their mission, and the vision. This will allow you to focus your efforts, systems, and processes on the right objectives - Excellence through insight
The power of BI is never-ending. Use your collected data to drive more informed decisions, hone processes and affect change throughout your organisation. This should never be a static, one way function, BI should directly affect your future operations. - Accelerate service achievement
A holistic view of not only your service organisation but your service value chain will accelerate service achievement. Bringing suppliers and other parties you collaborate with into the value chain adds value to them, you and ultimately your customers. - “Uberise” your service
From the minute you order a car on Uber to when you arrive at your destination, Uber provides transparency from identifying the driver and license plate, to showing you on your route, to providing easy, secure payment options. Service businesses can use optimised, automated field service solutions (like IFS Field Service Management) to offer trust, security and reliability to their customers in a similar manner. - Delivery that delights you and your customers
In the past, delivering superior customer service often meant accepting a reduced service margin. Now with powerful technology like M2M sensors, mobility solutions and automated processes, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Let your customers drive your initiatives and reap the benefit at the same time. Better organised internal processes often automatically improve external delivery. - Open up to new things
New trends and technology in the service space can often be overwhelming, but don’t be closed off to what’s new and great in your space. Actively watch the market and evaluate which trends will affect your industry and your business the most. Sometimes this is customer driven. If a new trend can help meet a consumer demand, it is probably more than worthwhile to pursue. - Optimise your world
Today, more people own a mobile device than a toothbrush (Socialnomics, 2014) and over one-third (36%) of consumers prefer using a company website or email to contact a business (2014 American Express Customer Service Barometer). Gone are the days when an excel spreadsheet, white board, or patched together legacy systems can handle customer demands and a mobile workforce effectively. Optimisation and automation allows for a seamless process from call intake to billing, reducing overhead costs, deviations, and errors. - Manage your future
The future doesn’t have to be as unpredictable as it seems. Market research, watching trends, and utilising your business intelligence (and managing your big data effectively) will help give you a crystal ball into what’s coming and allow you to adapt faster, giving you a competitive edge. - Agile, ready for change
If the past decade has shown the business world anything, it is that the most successful organisations are those that are two steps ahead of the game. The best way to future-proof yourself is to function as an agile, flexible operation. With the right systems and vision in place, the changing world will have nothing on you.
IFS Enterprise Service Management is continually investing in our solutions to support our goal of providing service organisations with dynamic scalability, mobile solutions, ease of deployment, and cloud and wearables flexibility.
We are future-proofing ourselves by helping you succeed at what you do best; delivering unrivaled service.
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Jul 17, 2015 • Features • Management • CHange Management • field service software • Service Management Software • solarvista
Solarvista’s Paul Adams explains why pre-project preparation is perhaps the most important stage of any software implementation...
Solarvista’s Paul Adams explains why pre-project preparation is perhaps the most important stage of any software implementation...
OK so you’ve made the case to your board that your field service operation will be more efficient and cost effective if you can move to a new software system. Finally you get the green light to go ahead select and your software and then before you know it your facing managing a huge change to the way your business operates.
Getting the implementation of this software right or wrong could be the difference between your company flourishing or floundering and if it was you that put the case together for this software, then the same may likely apply to your career as well!
So what are the biggest risks and most common pitfalls companies face with enterprise software implementation?
Well perhaps one of the biggest risks around the implementation of field service management software, or indeed any enterprise grade software, is simply understanding and managing expectations. What expectations do you have of your software supplier: i.e. are they just to supply the software or is there an element of change management to be undertaken by them as well?
It’s absolutely key to discuss with your software provider exactly what your expectations are.
It’s absolutely key to discuss with your software provider exactly what your expectations are and through open and honest dialogue you and your provider will be able to agree clear goals and also make sure all expectations are both realistic and easily measured.
Often it is the work that goes on in the pre-project phase that will define how successful an implementation is. It may be natural for some companies, especially larger organisations, to be assessing their processes on a semi-ongoing basis.
However, for many, especially those companies that are going through a rapid period of growth or expansion, this may not be the case. Often the strategic, forward looking stuff can be tricky simply because the number one focus of satisfying customers dominates absolutely everything.
Understand your processes
However it is crucial that before even getting a software vendor involved you make the time to identify exactly what your current ‘as-is’ processes are. What do you and your team do at the ground level day in and day out?
Here it’s all about understanding those nuances and where efficiencies can be made. Understanding where bureaucratic processes have evolved into some monstrous beast and inefficient processes are not questioned simply because they’ve just always been done like that.
Really having a good understanding of your day-to-day business processes is something that any company can do and having this insight is one thing that will massively help further down the line.
When it comes to the actual implementation very rarely is software implementation project just a software implementation project.
It’s natural if you get a lot of fear at user level during a project.
So there is a massive element of change management to be considered as part of the wider project plan. Again setting expectations is key.
It’s vital you outline the reasoning for bringing in the new software, what that means in terms of changing processes and then what that in turn means for the individual end-users - how will the change will benefit them?
And whilst the responsibility for managing this process of course ultimately lies with your company, a software provider can certainly offer guidance and expertise in not just implementing software but also in implementing projects. We can help guide you through the transition and help you manage expectations of both the executive board and the user base.
At Solarvista we often play a big part in the project management as when implementing software we typically go through the business process analysis stages with our customers. We work alongside our customers to understand their processes so we can outline where automation can improve the workflow. In that sense a software provider becomes absolutely integral to the whole change management process, and again a clear understanding of where you are currently and where you see yourselves post implementation will make the whole project run much more efficiently
Ultimately the key factor is knowing your scope, knowing what you want and understanding your expectations. It’s an often-heard phrase in project management that people don’t know they want it until they’ve not got it.
Unless at the start of the process you know exactly what you want, your expectations may well be different from reality. This could then have a serious impact on the success of the project as it could potentially cause delays and additional costs.
Understanding the scope of the project at the outset and really getting to the nitty-gritty of that understanding is therefore key.
Field Service News is published by 1927 Media Ltd, an independent publisher whose sole focus is on the field service sector. As such our entire resources are focused on helping drive the field service sector forwards and aiming to best serve our industry through honest, incisive and innovative media coverage of the global field service sector.
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