The Paradox Principles and Conversation Frameworks

The book The Paradox Principles (authored by the Price Waterhouse Team in 1995) is quite interesting in that it joins some seemingly opposing ideas together to arrive at some very powerful management principles.? If you have not read this book, I highly recommend finding a copy. It was a game-changer for me because it made me think about things in ways that I had not thought of in the early days of my career.? Maybe this is a spoiler alert, but below are the Paradox Principles outlined in the book.? Why show them here, you might be asking yourself? The answer is simple.? Conversation Frameworks by Innovative Management Tools support and drive many of these principles.? Let's review how.

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(1) Fortify change with stability.? Conversation Frameworks bring structure into the discussions.? This structure provides consistency of approach and thought process.? This consistency creates stability in how changes and improvements are introduced into organizations.? This stability helps fortify the changes because they are done with purpose and intentionality.?

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(2) Build a formidable enterprise, one individual at a time.? Conversation Frameworks were designed to address the most common and recurring situations, challenges, and problems an organization is facing.? Those situations are most often found at the staff or employee level.? The frameworks don't have impact without including those individuals in the change process.

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(3) Make learning more important than "the answer."? Change is a journey.? It is constant, iterative, and an ever-winding road.? Conversation Frameworks allow for small, incremental changes to be taken, learning every step of the way.? Learning from micro improvements on the way to an objective is possible and encouraged.

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(4) Create a new culture by focusing not on the culture but on the forces that shape it.? Conversation Frameworks introduce the concept of "Guided Reflection" into an organization.? Guided Reflection moments allow everybody to focus on organizational improvements of all shapes and sizes, allowing everybody to be an owner and champion of the organization's success.? That is a culture to embrace.?

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(5) Drive organizational change through personal change.? Conversation Frameworks are designed to include the individuals involved in a process, a project, or in a change initiative.? These individuals participate and embrace personal change as they contribute to the larger objective.

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(6) Empower with strong leadership.? Conversation Frameworks allow leaders to include the staff, empower the staff to give suggestions, provide a space for voices to be heard, and empower the people in the decision-making process.? This willingness to be part of the decision-making process, not THE decision maker shows strong leadership and trust.?

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(7) Foster vigorous debate and steadfast commitment.? Because Conversation Frameworks guide discussions around challenges, problems, issues, and searching for change ideas, there is often discussion and debate.? All participants are allowed to give their points of view, the evidence to support their points of view, and stand for what they feel would be best for their position, the department, and the organization as a whole.? The discussion and debate around a problem set results in Action Items that the participants agree on as a group, creating a commitment to moving forward and completing the Action items.

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(8) Decide who decides.? Conversation Frameworks provide an environment whereby the "highest-ranking member" is not always the best-equipped person to make certain decisions.? Those doing the work are almost often the most "expert" and, therefore, in a better position to decide things that impact them.? In these cases, the decision on "who should decide this?" is quite clear, erasing ambiguity on the topic.

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(9) Re-ignite middle management. ?Middle management is a critical layer in the change management equation.? However, too many middle managers are not 1) equipped with tools to work with the people during moments of change, 2) encouraged to ask for help in change situations, and 3) sure how to connect the directives from up above with direction (execution plans) for the teams.? Many Conversation Frameworks are designed for the departmental level, include the middle manager in the process, and show them as bridges of change between high-level goals/strategies/objectives and day-to-day work to support those initiatives.? The middle managers become the positive agents of change instead of the messenger from above.

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(10) Make strategic planning a line responsibility.? All business problems can be traced back to one of three root causes: People, Process, or Planning.? The planning problems are usually because of a lack of planning.? Conversation Frameworks allow the various levels of an organization to perform strategic planning at their level.? With higher-level objectives and goals established, the various levels can bring that down to their level and do the required planning.? "Strategic" planning is not only reserved for the senior management group.

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(11) Connect the dots.? It is easier for people to connect the dots and arrive at conclusions when they can see the situation visually.? Conversation Frameworks are designed around the premise of collecting information from participants around a topic, creating a "wall" of information on an interactive whiteboard, and guided through a collaborative "connect the dots" to arrive at conclusions or next steps or action plans.? Colors, icons, placement of information, and visual cues facilitate the "connect the dots" process.

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(12) Institutionalize project skills.? One of the best ways to institutionalize project skills is to walk people through best practices, guided reflection around the situation, providing organization and discipline, and learning how to take meaningful action steps toward the project completion.? Conversation Frameworks treat small, incremental changes as mini change management "projects" and encourage a culture of continuous improvement.? Those skills become institutionalized as projects finish successfully and people begin repeating the skills that led them to success.

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(13) Remove threats-reinforce incentives.? Conversation Frameworks invite participation and collaboration toward improvements.? They remove any "get this done, or else" messaging and threats.? They reinforce one of the most basic and often overlooked incentives - a path to personal growth and development in one's job with the least amount of stress, frustration, chaos, and unhappiness.

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(14) Use fewer, broader, more balanced measures.? While Conversation Frameworks are not specifically focused on measurements or KPIs, they do promote a more simplistic way of measuring success: What do we need to focus on, in terms of People (skills, training, and organization), Process (streamlined, waste-free, and functional), and Planning (proactive, up-front planning instead of reactive clean up or regrouping) to achieve success.? Focus on the activities that lead to results as a balance to focusing primarily on the outcome results.

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(15) Measure activities as well as departments.? As a continuation of #14, Conversation Frameworks promote measuring activities the people are performing, the activities inside processes, and the planning activities for changes big and small.? Department staff are the machines for driving an organization forward.? After senior management decides a few key strategic objectives, the "magic" comes when department measurements focus on "how" to get things done, not just "what" needs to be done.

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I welcome your thoughts and comments on this book and Conversation Frameworks.? If you would like to learn more about Conversation Frameworks, I invite you to watch this short video:

Understanding Conversation Frameworks - Innovative Management Tools

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