Stop Swinging for the Fences

Simplify Service Management and Accelerate Transformation

In today’s service landscape, complexity is everywhere. Volatility, tool sprawl, and disconnected practices are undermining enterprise resilience. And yet, the answer isn't to swing harder. It's to swing smarter.

The Unified Service Management (USM) method offers something rare: structural simplicity that can actually enable deep, sustainable transformation.

This article recaps ideas shared in several recent LinkedIn articles, and builds on the excellent thinking of Being First (https://beingfirst.com), and encourages those navigating change to take a fresh look at what transformation really means.

We Don’t Need More Frameworks. We Need Less Noise.

In Walking the Talk, I joked that maybe the heat was getting to me. But the truth is: many orgs are managing the noise instead of reducing it. USM doesn’t add another tool to the chaos. It replaces variation with a unified logic that works everywhere services are delivered.

USM is Built for Transformation

Being First defines transformational change as a fundamental shift in mindsets, behaviors, and culture—not just process. The USM method qualifies, when properly deployed:

• It aligns roles across all teams with a shared logic

• It replaces fragmented processes with 5 universal ones

• It delivers repeatable workflows to manage any kind of service

• It creates structural clarity that enables cultural maturity

Check out the Being First site for a deeper dive into Conscious Change Leadership (CCL)—it’s a great complement to USM for anyone navigating enterprise transformation.

✅ 1. USM provides the structure. CCL provides the human dynamics.

• USM is a management system—it defines roles, processes, workflows, and agreements. It gives you repeatable logic and organizational alignment.

• Conscious Change Leadership (CCL), from Being First, focuses on mindsets, leadership behavior, stakeholder engagement, and cultural transformation.

Together, they span structure AND behavior, which are both essential for real transformation.

✅ 2. USM aligns the operating system; CCL aligns the leadership system.

• USM ensures everyone operates from the same service logic—it’s your governance backbone.

• CCL ensures leaders think systemically, act coherently, and model change—it’s your leadership upgrade.

You can roll out USM without mindset shifts. But to sustain and scale transformation, leaders must also develop the awareness and capability that CCL fosters.

✅ 3. Both are systems thinking models—applied at different levels.

• USM uses systems thinking to redesign the service delivery structure.

• CCL applies systems thinking to organizational behavior and leadership.

They both operate below the waterline of the iceberg—addressing the root causes of dysfunction rather than symptoms.

✅ 4. Transformation is about coherence—not just implementation.

• USM aligns how services are specified, agreed upon, delivered, and improved.

• CCL aligns how people lead, engage, and make meaning of change.

Together, they ensure that the transformation is coherent at every level—strategy, structure, behavior, and culture.

✅ 5. CCL provides the change capability to support USM adoption.

• Many USM deployments stall due to poor launch, sponsor confusion, or cultural resistance—issues CCL is designed to resolve.

• CCL helps establish the conditions for success, as outlined by Being First: vision, leadership alignment, governance, engagement, and capacity.

If you're trying to embed USM across an enterprise, Conscious Change Leadership is your missing accelerant.

Sometimes the Small Swings are the Big Ones

In the article, Reclaiming Control in the Age of Automation, I made the comment that many organizations are accelerating tool adoption, digitizing workflows, and decentralizing decision-making in the name of speed and efficiency. But while transformative change can seem like swinging for the fences, results are usually the result of making solid contact with the right pitch.

USM is that pitch. One simple model. Eight workflows. A structure that works for IT, HR, Finance, Facilities—everywhere.

The Iceberg is Real. Structure Shapes Culture.

Borrowing from the Systems Thinking Iceberg, real change happens below the surface. Many enterprises today are lost in the service management desert. We often react to surface problems (tickets, delays), but the root causes lie in structure and mindset. USM addresses both—and that’s why it works.

Don’t Swing Harder. Set Up a Better System.

• If you’re a CIO tired of chasing the latest practice trend...

• A change leader overwhelmed by fragmented priorities...

• A service manager looking for clarity...

USM may be exactly what you need. And pairing it with the strategic change capabilities promoted by Being First is a smart move for any organization.

Let’s stop swinging for the fences. Let’s make contact with what matters.

To learn more:

• Explore the USM Portal and the USM Wiki

• Check out the resources at Being First

• Or reach out for a conversation—we’re building something together.