Rapid Results!
Book

Rapid Results!

How 100-Day Projects Build the Capacity for Large-Scale Change

Robert H. Schaffer and Ron N. Ashkenas
Jossey-Bass, 2005
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Authors and consultants Robert H. Schaffer and Ronald N. Ashkenas address their book to leaders who face the challenge of making rapid changes in their organizations - especially to those who know they need to move performance to a higher level, yet are too impatient to execute large-scale change. Schaffer and Ashkenas flatly deny that you need to make any trade-off between short-term gains and long-range organizational capabilities. They offer advice about such changes as new information systems, research and development, product innovation, mergers and acquisitions, and even the use of rapid-results projects in developing countries. Essentially, they take a step-by-step approach to building your organization’s ability to achieve short-term change with long-term impact. Despite the authors’ occasional self-promotional moments, getAbstract finds that they offer solid, worthwhile information for CEOs, project managers and other executives.

Summary

Short-Term is Not the Enemy of Long-Term

Most management gurus recommend that corporate leaders take the time to lay a foundation for change - including information technology upgrades, human resource development, product innovation and strategic planning. They advise leaders to exercise patience and to expect that change eventually will occur. But most people fear change, so they spend too much time in preparation. They come to believe that only rare, extremely intelligent, capable people actually can implement change.

Change gurus do their clients a disservice by insisting that they trade short-term results for long-term success. Often, change must happen either quickly or not at all. The driver of improved performance is - improved performance. A short-term focus - 100 days - is not a bad thing; it can enable you and your organization to experience improved performance now, rather than just hoping it will come about at some time in the distant future.

Most organizations are capable of much more than they deliver. Sometimes, a crisis brings out the best in an organization. Rapid-results projects create an atmosphere of pressure, similar to the sensation of ...

About the Authors

Robert H. Schaffer founded a consulting firm that has worked with numerous well-known corporations. He is the author of The Breakthrough Strategy and High-Impact Consulting. Ronald N. Ashkenas has written for The Harvard Business Review and is co-author of The Boundaryless Organization and The GE Work-Out.

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