I work for a small (265 person) firm in the Sports Vehicle industry that is moving towards a restructure of the management system. Planning includes installing a GM at each of the seven locations, a new paradigm shift from the central management concept of the last twenty years. Along with this change, I want to provide some development opportunities and change management training that will prepare these new GMs for their responsibility sets. Some will be elevated from within the organization and some will be brought in from outside.

The culture is one where the decisions are made on an ad hoc basis in most cases and yet there is a stated desire to build in more long range planning.

My goal is to design a long term system of performance improvement and management development offerings that compliment and enhance the culture, using a proven, successful program as a guide, if possible. This will make it much easier to sell to the executive table.

So...does anyone have any recommendations or history with an off the shelf program or system that can offer the kind of things I am seeking?

Tough situation. Not aware of any off-the-shelf programs that would work. Cultures are so uniquely different that what works best for one company will consistently fall short when ported to another. That's one of the few reasons why culture change programs fail at such high rates.

The best approach is to focus on belief-alignment tools which consist of elements like a compelling saga, cultural death/birth methods, management team transformation, and tribal environmental changes (symbols, rituals, etc.). Crafting these for your particular situation will provide your best chance of success.

See the Drucker Institute for ideas. How much time do you/they have??
Nero Wolfe

Hi,

I have been working with a variety of organizations over the last ten years using a process to help them with strategic and tactical planning. There are two critical parts to this process: first, the people who will actually be involved in implementing the change need to develop the plan; and two, the team leader must follow-up and ensure appropriate follow through. It means too, that the plan needs to be aligned with the business strategy, which should be aligned with the needs of the marketplace.

I will be happy to discuss this further with you, if you would like. You can contact me at: markf@mjfassociates.com

Wouldn't the development opportunities work best if they were aligned specifically with the goals and gaps at your organization? Start at the beginning - analysis. One can't (shouldn't) determine solutions before one knows what solutions one needs.