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Understanding, attracting and keeping valuable
customers, by transforming your organization into a market-driven one.
(Part two of a two-part installment.)
This month the author continues the discussion of how to develop a market driven organization. Last month he discussed the first two conditions for change.
1. Demonstrate leadership commitment. There is a leader who owns and champions the change, who is investing time and resources and has created a sense of urgency.
2. Understand the need for change. Key implementers know what it means to be market-driven, know what changes need to be made, and see how the change initiative will benefit them and the business.
In contrast with most other discussions of change, our focus is not on the leaders of the organization but on the conditions that will enable their people to produce good results. While there is tremendous diversity among successful leaders in personality, style, abilities, and intereStS,3 most successful market-driven change initiatives were designed to meet six conditionS:4
Condition 3. Mobilize Commitment Do the sponsors of the change. .
* have experience and credibility?
* recognize who else needs to be committed to the change to make it happen?
* know how to rally a coalition of supporters and overcome the expected resistance?
* have the resources they need?
Companies need to create an effective management team to mobilize commitment for change efforts. This team can be drawn together from mavericks inside the firm or-often more effective in a crisis situation-may include outsiders to bring fresh perspectives to the problem. Wherever it is drawn from, the team must demonstrate the experience and credibility to gain the commitment of the entire organization.
A popular-but generally ineffectual-method for mobilizing commitment for a market orientation is to create a council or steering group. This is, more often than not, a charade. Firms use this approach when they feel they should do something, but aren't quite ready for deep-seated change. Commonly, the charter of the council is to elevate skills, share best practices, or understand what it means to be market-driven.
These groups as they are implemented in many organizations have little chance of success. With as many as 30 to 40 people involved and shifting faces, the groups are too large...