Implementing change
As employees gain comfort with the proposed change, Mack’s
next step is to move to the planning and implementation stage.
“Once the strategy is set, you move forward and let people know
how they’ll contribute toward the change,” Mack says. “To execute
change effectively, you have to be clear about the outcomes you
want to achieve.”
He says that effective implementation plans are fluid and
tweaked along the way because, invariably, CEOs must adapt their
plans for unanticipated circumstances. He first sets macro-level
business goals with his executive team and then creates microlevel outcome expectations, such as same-store EBITDA growth
targets that need to be achieved by managers in the next 12
months. He keeps a pulse on the change process by reviewing his
team’s progress toward the specific milestones during weekly
executive meetings. Mack says he doesn’t get overly involved with
the plan details, unless the implementation course starts to deviate
from the main business strategy or the milestone check reveals a
lack of progress.
“I’m always involved in decisions involving the critical business
profitability drivers like pricing, menus and advertising, but more
often, I’m not involved in all the details, I’m more of a facilitator,”
Mack says. “It’s more important to spend time getting clear about
where we’re going and be a little less hung up about how we’re
going to get there because that’s what creates alignment. I want to
make sure what I’m doing is consistent with my values and the values of the organization.”
As an example, Mack says he’s supportive of a restaurant manager’s decision to offer menu items that appeal to local diners, but
he says he’d want to know if the manager chose to make a major
change from the restaurant’s primary fare, like diverting from
salad as the main item on the menu.
