Successful Change Requires Integration Across Differentiation

Green lighting change is always easier said than done. Change processes, like implementing a new customer database, would be easy to manage if  they happened in isolation. But they never do: that customer database needs to be implemented just as you introduce a new product line, hire for a key sales role, deal with stock market uncertainties, and manage kinks in the supply chain.

Complexity exists in change, said change management expert Bill Pasmore at a CVDL Senior Executive Roundtable last week, but it doesn't have to hinder it.
As part of the Roundtable, Pasmore shared suggestions for managing concurrent change processes without losing ground or overlooking needed steps. In large, differentiated organizations, Pasmore told the audience of 115 senior executives, integration is key to making sure a change process is successful.

Tom Walter, CEO of Tasty Catering, spoke as part of the Roundtable as well. Change, he said, requires giving up the idea that you know best. To illustrate this, he shared his own experience of being told by young leaders in his company that he needed to change his management style (see video below).



The next Senior Executive Roundtable will be Nov. 8, 2013.