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Wed, Mar 28, 2007 0:00 EDT

Top Management Support

Topic: Enterprise Management

Current Rating: 5 Comments: 8

"Top management support!" Everybody who’s selling a new method or system says that this is the key to success. As your monthly curmudgeon, I say that if you have to ask for it, you don’t deserve it.

 

"How’s the mileage on that yacht?"

"If you have to ask, you can’t afford it!"

 

The same applies to top management support. If you feel you need it, something deeper is fundamentally wrong. And unless you address the root causes, even having top management behind you won’t save your project. Of course, if top management is against you, that’s a whole different story. In that case, you either sell top management or pack up and go home.

 

But I contend that a good idea combined with a good change process shouldn’t have to depend on top management support. This month’s column reflects on the fundamentals of change management, and the roles that top management should and should not play in bringing about meaningful change.

 

Why People Request Top Management Support
Generally, the cry for top management support means that someone is trying to implement some change—to be specific, trying to get others to change—and is running into resistance. It may be that IT is "sponsoring" an IT project—ERP, for example—and clients are resisting. Or it may be that well-meaning change agents or "process owners" are trying to force change on IT staff.

 

When faced with resistance to "The Right Thing To Do" from the very people they’re trying to help, some change agents ask top management to command people to accept the change; ergo: the plea for top management support.

 

Why It’s Dangerous to Depend on Top Management Support
Note that, in the last paragraph, I said "accept" the change, not "support" the change. There’s no chance of support. Once people are set against a change, top management cannot command them to modify what’s in their hearts. All that change agents can reasonably ask of top management is to compel unwilling compliance.

 

Consider this: I want you to help me put a hurdle (or so you see it) right in the middle of the door to your office. You’ll have to climb over it every time you come and go. Sure, you hear me saying that this will be good for the shareholders. But be honest with yourself; how do you feel about this project?

 

Wait, before you get uppity, let

You do not have flash or javascript support.
Average (1 vote)
5
 
 
Wed, Apr 4, 2007 14:40 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: MargaretAnn Lee Harvison, project coordinator, state gov't
Rating:

This was an excellent article. It described change management and leadership support in an easy to understand manner. Leaders should be encouraged to read this article as we all struggle with leadership roles in change management. It will be enlightening.

 
Thu, Apr 5, 2007 14:42 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Bill Monroe, chief collaboration offcr, Certificationman.com
Rating:

Top management support may not alleviate resistance from users but it will certainly help to alleviate one of the most frequent causes of project failure: poorly conceived change requests from top management!

 
Thu, Apr 5, 2007 14:51 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: David Rickerson, VP IT, JRH Consulting Grp.
Rating:

Just wanted to say Great Article.

 
Thu, Apr 5, 2007 21:17 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating: 70

How would you say this would play out in a governmental environment of management versus elected officials? Wouldn’t you want at least management behind your endeavor?

 
Fri, Apr 6, 2007 10:23 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: William Crowell, former CIO, Oregon Dept. Human Services
Rating:

My complements, this is an extremely well written and logical approach to the cry for “top management” support. The proverbial help me to make people do what I want them to do. Coming from government, the resistance of a bureaucracy to change is an overwhelming problem. That’s the principle reason “top managers” in government want nothing to do with implementing change. Their role is to discuss and confer on the strategic policy issues facing the government, not running a bureaucracy. Classic examples, Don Regan at the US Treasury, when I asked him about his job as Secretary of the Treasury he said, “I’m the principal economic advisor the President.” My current boss is the Director of Human Services in Oregon and I can assure you he wants nothing to do with changing the way the Agency operates.

Bottom line, what needs to change in government is the bureaucracy and for all the reason you mention in your article their not interested. So what’s the answer? Legislators as the representatives of the people in a democracy need to take charge and start shaking hazelnut trees (something you can actually watch in Oregon).

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