Corporate Intranet

Introduction
No matter what kind of change to the introduction of an organization ultimately you are looking for a change in behavior. Behavior change, and you will change outcomes.

While you are missed by people, processes and technologies, you are not the physical environment. You probably already know how important a well-designed work area to the productivity of people and job satisfaction. The work environment also offers the opportunity to reinforce important topicsand influence people's minds.

The Balanced Scorecard

I faced a difficult challenge in the category of strategies for managing change. I was in my new assignment and new leadership in the company. The people who had inherited, I already worked as hard as they could. The hours were long, the time limits. Your internal customers constantly beat them with the demand for new systems and capabilities.

At the same time, all the operational indicators for thethe organization were in the wrong direction. We were billing millions of customers and our billing system error was climbing. The applications were experiencing outages and system availability was below 98%, totally unacceptable in today's world.

Operating pressures and business requirements were in conflict, and it was caught in the middle. This was the classic way of introducing a balanced scorecard, and we did.

The result table has had a positive impact, and at leastgot my leadership team on the same page in focusing on the right metrics and trying to treat with competing priorities. However, our improvements were not enough, and we quickly hit a wall. People were still in their silos, focusing on what they understand to be their priorities.

Then someone came with an interesting idea. Why does not the blowing up of the Balanced Scorecard in a coded color display three feet by five feet and by post on the walls? More precisely, with several hundredPeople in the organization spread over three floors in two buildings, we would be the scorecard in strategic places, it could not miss the place. Elevator lobbies, break rooms and restrooms all the walls had available we were able to commandeer.

What happened? They talked. Sometimes, making sarcastic remarks. But she paid every week, not so much on the numbers, but the colors. (And finally, they came to understand what we found numbers which colors). They got excited whenbe moved from red to yellow to green. They got curious when something is moving in the wrong direction and suddenly started improving ideas, divided over the old silos.

We had not only the creation of a Balanced Scorecard has succeeded, but its also a part of our culture. And we had it worked through the scorecard part of the physical environment in which people do - by hanging it on the walls.

Another example

I visited a client in a year or so, one of the largestBanks in the U.S. I was at their headquarters, located walking through the part of the plant, a large part of its customer service organization, including senior management and one of its largest call centers.

This bank was in the process of introducing a number of process and technology changes to improve customer service. And while its headquarters were banners from the ceiling and the walls that accentuate certain parts of the change program.

TheMonitors placed in the work areas that appear regularly call center performance had regular "spots" on their change program tied. In this bank, was one of their main strategies to change the management of change: the environment, to change the culture.

It is a brilliant strategy, and it is too-often overlooked. The bank's management has managed to get thousands of people speak a new language, dealing with new processes. Many companies have employees who speakImprove customer service, at this bank, they were talking about how they have been notably improved customer service.

Virtual Workforce

What about strategies for managing change, if people do not co-located? Or, if the company is small and perhaps not in a position to exercise full control over the physical space in which people work?

Consider trying the standard header and trailer to e-mails;, Flash advertisements, or messages on the company intranet. Hiscreative.

Their goal is simple. If people "at work", whether real or virtual space, using the environment as they consider a constant reminder of where you want them to concentrate on what you want them to talk about where they are need to take over the business.

Use direct mail, if you have to. Online newsletters, or instant messages can be as a permanent reminder.

It is the most commonly overlooked strategy for coping with change - the work environment.