Creating a Perfect Storm--How Do You Manage Change in a Global Implementation?
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2. What is global implementation
of shared services and outsourcing
An intercultural encounter of the most stressful kind?
A walk in the park?
A rerun of War of the Worlds?
An exercise in doing it my way or the highway?
A UN peace-keeping mission?
A recipe for a short career?
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3. Over 500 transitions 51 countries
too many processes to count impossible to tally all the go lives
almost 12,000 FTE 33 years’ experience
32 languages untold business units 1200 focus groups
22 sponsors multi-millions of transactions per annum
unimaginable USD saved innumerable phases
not enough $$$ spent on change management almost 2
million airmiles too many sleepless nights
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5. Why managing change is so critical for
global implementation
Understanding how global stakeholders think and react is a
precondition for success.*
With thanks to Geert Hofstede
Singular corporate cultures don’t exist
Few companies are truly global
Technology has not made us one culture
The way we work is not culture-free
Differing reactions to authority
Differing ways of dealing with conflict
Differing conceptions of our importance
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6. Cultural differences mean navigating
Hierarchies
Reliance on rules
Central versus decentralized decision making
Power of the individual
Being consulted versus being told what to do
Role and power of the boss
Tenor of relations with employees
Status of the type of work
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8. Understand
first Getting to the
core of global
principles implementation
change
Change generally happens with compulsion
WIIFM varies country to country
The center is rarely trusted
Difficult to escape national stereotypes and biases
Communication challenges are multi-fold
Guessing is not an approach
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10. Appealing to cultural preferences
Power of proof of concept
Political considerations
Power distance
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11. It’s all Greek to me…
cultural nuances and language
English as the change language of choice?
Finding the right country-based change agents
Importance of using local terminology
Instilling trust when language is in the way
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12. The “persuasion equation”
Dissimilar stakeholders
Disproportionate power of the middle manager
Using the C-suite as persuader-in-chief
Power of proof of concept
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13. Cultural differences mean navigating
Hierarchies
Reliance on rules
Central versus decentralized decision making
Power of the individual
Being consulted versus being told what to do
Role and power of the boss
Tenor of relations with employees
Status of the type of work
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15. Message
received
Battling cultural differences in sending versus receiving
countries
Combating historical intra-Europe prejudices
Understanding intra-country change challenges (India)
Managing cultural challenges in Asia
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16. Change in the rest of the world
“No worries, mate” from ANZ
The Latin American tango
The Southeast Asia Triangle —
Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia
South Africa
And then there’s China....
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17. Global hotspots
India
for European led US
implementations
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18. Simplify or complicate...
provider biases
BPO… Role of the provider—
is it any easier resources, methodology
Staffing the change
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19. “I wish I knew this when I started this war”
Panelists’ Top Tips
Culture is everything...being attuned is being prepared
Intuition is not enough...don’t guess your battle
plan/plan for battle
Forget my way or the highway...you must adapt your
execution to cultural biases
Show me the money/results are all that matter...in the
end, no one will remember the pain of the process
Tradeoffs are key…speed for compliance, purity for
practicality
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20. “I wish I knew this when I started this war”
Panelists’ Top Tips
The secret sauce is repetition and intensity…say it
again and again and again
Value is created not delivered…break through culture
to demonstrate value
Change management is the be all and end all….or your
global implementation will come up short
Domino effect is powerful…sequence is key
The buck stops here…the first person to embrace
change must be you
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