December 2012

Dear Greg:

Welcome to Plan-Perform-Score! These Insight Bites focus on ideas, thoughts, and tools to alter perspective and improve performance.

  Organizational Change vs. the Boston Marathon

Does it often appear far easier and certainly less frustrating to run in the Boston Marathon than to successfully implement any change in your organization? After failing again and again to install a change that "everyone" agreed was needed, it is easy to understand one's tendency to stop recommending anything (unless one is plain masochistic).

Here are a few thoughts and considerations that might help the next time you venture to attempt to implement change in your organization. (For advice on preparation for the Boston Marathon, buy some good running shoes and give a recent winner a call.)

Lower Your Aim:Don't shoot too high. Select a small and simple project, one that:

• Responds to a current need in your organization
• Requires only currently available resources to implement
• Has the enthusiastic support of people in your organization (a project that benefits all and threatens no one)
• Can be accomplished in a short period of time to provide some positive feedback to the people working on the project

Assume the Worst and Prepare Accordingly: Remember Murphy's Law, "if anything can go wrong, it will - and at the worst possible moment." Thus by assuming the worst, go for an overkill (assign the project much greater importance than on the surface it deserves) and hunt that rabbit with several machine guns and a few hand grenades. Increase your chances for a success.

Blow Success All Out of Proportion: When (let's be positive) you successfully implement a small and simple project, shout it out to the world. Remember, it is a big deal if you have experienced so much trouble and failure in the past. Belavish in your praise of all the participants connected with the project.

Establish a Climate for Change: Remember, the establishment of a climate for change (via the successful small project) in your organization is more important than the initial project itself. Your big achievement has been getting your team to begin to work together in accomplishing group tasks. When people win once, it is far easier to get them up for the next game.

Move on to Bigger and Better Things:Bust loose! After the initial success, gradually select bigger and bigger projects, always remembering the need for early successes on which to build momentum for the future.(Success breeds success.)

Quote & Note

"Discovery consists in seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought." -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Don't be afraid to take the unconventional view. Try to hone the ability to see situations differently and be patient. If you get even one "aha moment" in every 100, the additional clarity and insight can put you way ahead in the game.

Management Law

Scott's First Law:

No matter what goes wrong, it will probably look right..

A cautionary warning that we can get trapped into viewing the world from the same old perspective. We can miss things that are right in front of us, because we don't broaden our perspective. Things only become obvious in hindsight after the ugly event has occurred. For example, Sony never saw Apple's move into the music space until it was way too late.

A.S.K. Advisors Seeking Knowledge-A Comprehensive Guide to Succession and Estate Planning

We are pleased to announce that Greg Pashke, CMC, CMA, CFM, CBA, MBA, CPA is a contributing Co-Author of: A.S.K. - Advisors Seeking Knowledge (Lexis-Nexis, 2012). Greg contributed a chapter on "Defining the Role of the Generalist" and a chapter on Practice Management Evolution. Greg joined dozens ofNorth American and United Kingdom experts under the visionary guidance of Peter Merrick, BA, FMA, TEP, FCSI and President of Merrick Wealth Management in Toronto, Canada to develop this comprehensive resource.

We welcome your feedback on this and all issues of Plan-Perform-Score! Please e-mail your comments to: GPashke@PashkeConsulting.com

If you'd like to tour The One Page Planning & Performance System (TOPPPS) with built in scorecards and performance reports, please call Greg Pashke at (772) 528-3871 or e-mail: GPashke@PashkeConsulting.com

December 2012