Business Management Skills

Middle managers tend to be quite good at maintaining business. They work at keeping employees on the straight and narrow. They make certain employees stay in adherence with protocols. They attempt to attain a productive and balanced business situation. Middle management has a tough time with business change because the balance of the work environment is disturbed. Having middle management line up behind an initiative is one of the keys to a successful change effort. One approach to this, named Quad A, can be a very effective means of doing just that.

Qaud A stands for Assess, Analyze, Affirm, and Authorize. By leading key middle managers through these four steps, it can help to get their support for business change initiatives. Assessment takes place in two distinct parts. This first part is focused on addressing the issue of middle managers pushing against change. This can be done by helping the managers develop a comprehension of the change initiative. This will be followed with the overall business case. An assessment of the affected responsibility areas is the next step. The last step is figuring out what problems need to be resolved before a full blown analysis can happen.

The second part of the assess stage occurs once the initial resistance has been overcome. This is where objections against the business change should be aired and listed. The valid concerns should be met with the understanding that solutions will be developed. Middle managers are expected to support the change and help find solutions. There has to be authority in place to assure compliance with these expectations.

The analysis step is where the nitty-gritty of the plans are gone over. This is where impact assessments, risk analysis, and risk mitigation planning occurs. As business never stops, a business continuation plan has to be developed. At this point, it is necessary to identify those most affected by the change and decide what they are to be accountable for doing. Until such time as managers will sign off on the business change strategy, the process will need to go on.

Affirm is the simplest of the stages. The involved middle managers must affirm their belief that the change is operable and will generate the desired outcomes. This is useful in generating a perception of support in the managers as well as getting them to admit that they are out of objections. After that, it is necessary for them to offer an affirmation that, in their opinions, the implementation plans are sufficient and the tools are ready for it to move forward.

The final piece of the model is to authorize. This is the juncture where managers are asked to commit tangible support to the project. They are asked to authorize the business change in writing. They send that authorization to the change team and up the chain of command. Frontline supervisors will have both authorizations and the plans distributed to them. This will include a date for the institution of the new process or procedure. As there are always unpredicted problems during change, the middle managers and frontline supervisors will reach an agreement about resolving those problems as they occur.

Successful completion of the four stag method with the seclected managers will be followed by a similar process with the remainder of the middle managers. In this way, by dealing with the bulk of the problems with a handful of middle managers, the process should run much more quickly and efficiently with remaining middle managers.

For more information, please see our website: Business Change