Transcript Managing Change by Projects Wil Deelen, Wil Deelen BV Bert ten

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Managing Change by Projects
Workshop for Young European Actuaries
Wil Deelen
Bert ten Kate
16 September 2006
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Context
 Implementing changes is most done by a project.
Think about European embedded Value, IFRS, etc.
 This is not only a matter of content, but also
 Has an effect on the actuarial organisation: the
process has to be organised around the content.
 It is necessary to work in cooperation with other
disciplines to implement the new development.
=> Change is a combination of content, organising,
and cooperation.
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Objectives
 Awareness that implementing change is a matter of
content, organising the process and cooperation
 Aware and experience the role of communication in
this whole process
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Agenda
 Do Actuaries make good Project managers ?
 Communication, awareness, theory and experience
 Coffee break
 Business case
 Evaluation
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Do Actuaries make good Project Managers?
Do actuaries
make good
project managers?
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Do Actuaries make good Project Managers?
Typical Actuary
• High intellect / technical
excellence
• Works best in singledisciplinary teams
• Tend to be detail focussed
• Managing the content
• Not all are good
communicators, especially
to non-actuaries
• Can find it hard to live with
risk
Typical Project Manager

x
?
x
x
?
• Sufficiently technical to
understand the issues
• Works well in multidisciplinary teams
• Focus on ‘big picture’
• Managing the unexpected
• Good communicator
across disciplines & levels
• Risk manager
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Do Actuaries make good Project Managers?
Important items to tackle are:
 Works well in disciplinary teams
 Managing the “unexpected of a project” , this is
 Managing the expectations of your stakeholder
 Managing the context of a project.
 Good communication across disciplines and levels
=> Important for every item is:
Communication, Communication, Communication
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Agenda
 Do Actuaries make good Project managers ?
 Communication, awareness, theory and experience
 Coffee break
 Business case
 Evaluation
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Communication: experience
Exercise Listening
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Communication: experience
Use active listening skills: This technique is not as
easy as it sounds.
Hearing is not the same as listening. Hearing is the
perception of sound, whereas listening is attention to
what is being said.
Active listening requires that you give the speaker your
complete and undivided attention. When you listen
actively, you are focused on listening, not talking.
Do not get distracted by mentally planning your next
question so that you miss the given response to your
current question.
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Communication: experience
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Trip to South Africa
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Communication: awareness
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC) was set up by the Government of National Unity to
help deal with what happened under apartheid. The
conflict during this period resulted in violence and human
rights abuses from all sides. No section of society
escaped these abuses.
The transformation in South Africa has been done
without a civil war.
What is the secret of their success?
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Communication: awareness
The Law: Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation
Act, No 34 of 1995 had a few conditions to receive
amnesty:
Important Conditions to receive amnesty if :
 The action must be done in the period 1960 and 1994.
1994 is the year Mandela was chosen to President
 The action must have a political motivation
 The accuser must tell the whole truth
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Communication: awareness
In the law there was no word about “you have to say
sorry”
What is the heart of the matter:
Telling the truth and the skill listening.
And after that:
Forgiveness and then reconciliation.
It’s a key for success to solve problems
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Communication: awareness
UBUNTU
"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity
to others".
Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of who we
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all are".
Communication: awareness
Keys of success:
 Telling the truth by listening and no (direct) judgment
 Be willing to give humanity for sake of the whole group
(department)
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Communication: awareness
Desmond Tutu:
“To forgive is not just to be
altruistic, it is the best form of
self-interest”
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Communication: S/L model
An example of arbitrary thoughts, allegations, opinions,
views, ambitions:
 I find green is a nice color
 I think this government does a good job
 I want to earn more money
 I think William is a good manager
 I do not feel appreciated
 I want power
 I do not like the color of the neighbor's house.
 The trains run on schedule most of the time.
 I do not like modern music
All these things are called “ interests”.
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Communication: S/L model
Starting point of the model is that you would like to work
on your interests
 To propagate them.
 to achieve them
 To give meaning to them
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Communication: S/L model
 The things inside the circle are called my interests.
These are the ones that are important to you.
 The interests outside the circle are not or hardly
important fore you.
 The special thing is that we do not communicate about
all our interests. We only want to share a number of
them with other people or in a group, and not with
everyone.
 Therefore an extra circle is added for the interests we
do not like to share with everyone.
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My Hidden interest
My Visible interest
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Communication: S/L model
 My hidden interest’ and ‘my visible interest’ together
are ‘my interest’.
 Depending on whom you communicate to, you or not
like to discuss some interests.
 If the size of the circle depends on the trust you have
in the other person.
Trust means here the degree of relationship you
experience with the other.
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Communication: S/L model
 If we communicate with someone with whom we have
a good relationship, then size of “my visible interest”
will be greater and we will communicate more about
our interests.
 If the relationship becomes less due to circumstances
then the size of the “visible interests” will be smaller
and lesser interests will more likely be discussed.
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Communication: S/L model
The theses of the model are:
 If your interests are next to the center point of the
circle, then they are of greater interest to you then the
ones have more distant from the center point.
 If you strive to maximize your satisfaction of your
interests then the ones near to the center point are
more preferred then the ones have more distant from
the center point.
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Communication: S/L model
 We see now that a conflict arises. The interests you
would like to satisfy are not always the one with the
“open” communication. They prevent a optimal (quick)
satisfaction of those interests.
 What people possibly do is that they are busy
satisfying their “hidden interests” and communicate
that they are satisfying their “visible interest”.
 Conclusion:
People work with hidden agenda’s and are not open
about what they really want. You need communication
skills to open the agenda, by getting the truth
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Communication
FEET EXPERIENCE
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Communication: Feet experience
Ask open- ended questions / making feet:
These are questions that require more detailed
answers than a “yes” or “no” response. Open-ended
questions start with words such as “how,” “who”,
“where”, “when” and “what.”
An example of a closed-ended question would be,
“Do you implement safety checks in the process?”
The obvious answers to this question would be “yes”
or “no.”
An alternative open-ended question that would
prompt the group for more detail would be, “How do
you implement safety checks in the process?”
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Communication: Feet experience
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Agenda
 Do Actuaries make good Project managers ?
 Communication, awareness, theory and experience
 Coffee break
 Business case
 Evaluation
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Agenda
 Do Actuaries make good Project managers ?
 Communication, awareness, theory and experience
 Coffee break
 Business case
 Evaluation
45
Agenda
 Do Actuaries make good Project managers ?
 Communication, awareness, theory and experience
 Coffee break
 Business case
 Evaluation
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Do Actuaries make good Project Managers?
Important items to tackle are:
 Works well in disciplinary teams
 Managing the “unexpected of a project” , this is
 Managing the expectations of your stakeholder
 Managing the context of a project.
 Good communication across disciplines and levels
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Context
 Implementing changes is most done by a project.
Think about European embedded Value, IFRS, etc.
 This is not only a matter of content, but also
 Has an effect on the actuarial organisation: the
process has to be organised around the content.
 It is necessary to work in cooperation with other
disciplines to implement the new development.
=> Change is a combination of content, organising,
and cooperation.
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CONTACT:
WWW.WILDEELEN.NL
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