After US automakers took a beating from Japanese imports in the 1970s, GM teamed with Toyota to create a wildly successful joint venture called NUMMI. It combined Toyota's legendary attention to quality with deep employee involvement. Not only was it a model of good manufacturing, it was a model of how management and labor could work together. Just think of the lessons GM could learn from this experiment.

I recall a couple of GM managers telling me that GM was interested the successes at NUMMI, so they sent a team to California to study the NUMMI plant to see what they could learn. All they could see were a few relatively minor technological innovations. They missed one of the most important reasons why NUMMI worked so well - the people.

NUMMI is still making cars and trucks, but it seems that GM never learned the lessons from this joint- venture.

I got to wondering: Am I like those GM engineers? Do I miss what's right in front of me? To paraphrase William James, when I look at organizations am I thinking or just rearranging my prejudices? Do I have the capacity to really see what's really going on? Perhaps this might get you wondering about your own organization. I wish you well.

I Need Your Help I am developing a program titled Overview of Change without Migraines. It will probably include two CDs (with the same material available as MP3 files) and a short PDF book.

It will cover all the material I present in presentations at conferences and to clients. So it will cover the following:

• Using the Cycle of Change to Plan, Monitor and Implement New Initiatives
• Ways to Making a Compelling Case for Change so that people are onboard right from the beginning
• How to Get Started on the right foot
• How to Keep Change Alive so that you actually see real results from this change
• How to Get Back on Track if your change begins to derail

Here's what I need from you. What's missing, what would you like to see in a program like this? Thanks.

Change Management News Blog

The recent post covers something I learned in theater improve that has helped me make better presentations. Cha nge Management News

Sincerely,