Robert H. Miles - Corporate Transformation Inhibitors vs. Accelerators (Former HBS Professor)
In this video, Dr. Robert H. Miles, for Harvard Business School professor, now President of Corporate Transformation Resources LLC, steps out of his role as Principal Process Architect reporting directly to the CEO/Transformation Leader, and into the roles of interviewee and professional speaker, reflecting on the major learnings from his personal supervision of over 30 rapid, enterprise-wide transformations.
First, he explains why speed is so important in transformation work.
Second, he reveals a late career gestalt -- "something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts" -- that he refers to as his Accelerated Corporate Transformation, or simply the ACT Method. At the core of this methodology are 6 major Inhibitors of successful rapid transformations, Inhibitors that become embedded in all organizations, especially large ones. Inhibitors that are benign nuisances during steady
state periods; but any one of which can derail a transformation launch.
Third, Miles reveals a simple but powerful, self-administered survey tool--the Readiness Survey--that may be used to identify the embedded Inhibitors and enable transformation leaders to engage and overcome them.
Learn more about the Accelerated Corporate Transformation (ACT) methodology through Robert H. Miles's 10-week online program: https://flevy.com/program/act
Robert H. Miles, Ph.D., President, Corporate Transformation Resources, is a global thought and practice leader in the fields of Corporate Transformation and Executive Leadership. Dr. Miles was a long-time faculty member at Harvard, Yale, and Emory business schools; and at the Stanford Executive Institute. He has published numerous books on Corporate Transformation and is published in the Harvard Business Review.
Through his decades of experience and leading 30+ Corporate Transformations, Bob has pioneered the Accelerated Corporate Transformation (ACT) methodology.
The ACT methodology is a proven, enterprise-level process architecture. It enables an executive leader to rapidly orchestrate the launch of the next major phase of his or her organization in a simple, high-engagement manner to achieve breakthrough results.
The ACT methodology has been successfully implemented in some of the most iconic Corporate Transformations, including Apple, General Electric, IBM Global Services, Symantec, National Semiconductor, Office Depot, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PGA Tour, Rockwell International, Infineon Technologies, Southern Company, and Black & Veatch, as well as a number of emerging high-tech companies.
The ACT process architecture has been designed to quickly focus, align, and engage the full organization and then rigorously follow through for execution. It was also designed to be run by business leaders with light consulting and implementation support the first time through. ACT allows managers at all levels to effectively lead Organizational Transformation and Strategy Execution on their own, and it becomes part of a more rigorous management process by the end of the first year of implementation.
The proven ACT methodology succeeds because in each case, it adapts to the organization's specific Transformation challenges, supports leaders at all levels in the organization, creates well operationalized Transformation initiatives, aligns all subunits and engages all employees, overcomes the major "inhibitors" to Transformation launches, and quickly brings about breakthrough results.
The origins of ACT may be traced back to an innovative executive program chaired by Robert H. Miles at the Harvard Business School. The program invited CEO, business presidents, and their teams to the Harvard campus for 2 weeks, during which time they worked together to help each leader develop a plan for dealing with the major challenge confronting their organization. Executives and their teams returned to campus 9 months later to explore what they learned from trying to overcome their Corporate Transformation challenges. Follow up with these corporate teams and research conducted on their patterns of successes and failures formed the foundations of the ACT methodology.
To learn how to implement ACT in your organization, go here: https://flevy.com/program/act