Understanding, Initiating and Managing Change by Catherine Adenle

Editor's Notes

• #9: Compare the attention paid to change in the 1990 to the attention in 2000 up until now
• #10: First stage represents the status quo which is unfreeze.Second stage attempts to install the change.Third stage is refreezing desired change.
• #11: Shockand SurpriseConfrontation with unexpected situations - This can happen ‘by accident’ (e.g. losses in particular business units) or planned events (e.g. workshops for personal development and team performance improvement). These situations make people realize that their own patterns of doing things are not suitable for new conditions any more. Thus, their perceived own competence decreases. Denial and DepressionPeople activate values as support for their conviction that change is not necessary. Hence, they believe there is no need for change; their perceived competency increases again.Resignation, Rational UnderstandingPeople realize the need for change. According to this insight, their perceived competence decreases again. People focus on finding short term solutions, thus they only cure symptoms. There is no willingness to change own patterns of behavior. Emotional AcceptanceThis phase, which is also called ‘crisis’ is the most important one. Only if management succeeds to create a willingness for changing values, beliefs, and behaviors, the organization will be able to exploit their real potentials. In the worst case, however, change processes will be stopped or slowed down here. Exercising and LearningThe new acceptance of change creates a new willingness for learning. People start to try new behaviors and processes. They will experience success and failure during this phase. It is the change managers task to create some early wins (e.g. by starting with easier projects). This will lead to an increase in peoples perceived own competence.Realization, Acceptance and Letting Go.People gather more information by learning and exercising. This knowledge has a feedback-effect. People understand which behavior is effective in which situation. This, in turn, opens up their minds for new experiences. These extended patterns of behavior increase organizational flexibility. Perceived competency has reached a higher level than prior to change. New BeginningPeople totally integrate their newly acquired patterns of thinking and acting. The new behaviors become routine.
• #15: It takes time to build employees’ trust but only moments to destroy it. Signs that trust has been erodedinclude lower productivity, poor morale, resistance to change, a strong rumor mill and good staff leaving.To build trust, you need to be honest and open.Even when your employees trust you, they won’t change unless you give them a compelling, logicalreason to. Miss this chance and employees will concoct their own – usually less flattering – reasons for the change‘Walk the talk’ and make sure all managers do the same. Actions speak louder than words.Involve people who are directly affected. Don’t assume that negative people will necessarily sabotageyour project. They will if you let them, but it’s your job to win them over. Converts can become yourgreatest allies. You may not like some of the messages they tell you, especially during the denial andresistance stages. However, acknowledging people’s fears is one way to minimize their anxiety.Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative (or at least keep it to a minimum).Repetition is a powerful tool. People hear a message when they are ready to hear it. Many people whoare constantly bombarded with information become good at screening out “noise”. So, repeat your mainmessages until everyone gets them. Match your messages to the groups affected and to how staff arefeeling at each stage of the project.
• #16: According to Lewin, successful change requires unfreezing the status quo, changing to a new state, and refreezing the change to make it permanent. In the relatively calm environment of the 1950s through the early 1970s, Lewin’s model may have been workable. Given chaotic change and the global village, however, this metaphor is declining. Now change must be a constant state of best-in-class firms.In this new environment, the role of the leader is crucial. He must carefully plan the change through:Scanning the environmentUnderstanding the impact on the five basic elements of the firmDefining his rolesHe must assess the “topology” of the firm and the field where he is going to play by:Mapping the Influence LandscapeIdentifying the Type of ResistanceHe then prepares the change by:Leveraging Negotiation & Overcoming ResistanceAnd finally he implements the change by following the eight steps:Step 1: Establish a sense of urgency; Step 2: Create a guiding coalition; Step 3: Develop a new vision and strategy; Step 4: Communicate the change vision; Step 5: Empower broad-based action; Step 6: Generate short-term wins; Step 7: Consolidate gains and generate more change; Step 8: Anchor new approaches in the cultureNow let’s assemble the puzzle for the actions that we need to take--------Once there is the awareness that change is needed, most leaders establish a sense of urgency to overcome the complacency of employees. A leader needs to put together a winning team that will act as missionaries and implementers of change. They must be empowered enough to lead the change and be a real team. Without direction, change is going nowhere. The leader must develop a shared vision: a general statement of the organization’s intended direction that evokes emotional feelings in the members of the organization. Once the vision is defined, it should be repetitively communicated in clear, simple terms, and expanded.Empower broad based actions as necessary.To maintain employees’ motivation, leaders must allow the team to generate short-term wins. The leader will then leverage those wins to change what needs to be changed in the firm (systems, processes, or behaviors.). The leader must “walk the talk” by making sure the new values are reinforced. Finally, the company must have in place a mechanism for monitoring the progress of the change.Next, is a follow on slide to this, this slide is going to talk about the kind of behavior expected from these actions, once taken.
• #17: As a reminder of the ‘actions’ we have just talked about: The first step is toStep 1: Establish a sense of urgency - People will start telling each other, “let’s go, we need to change things!”.Step 2: Create a guiding coalition – Buy in ofa group powerful enough to guide a big change is formed and they start to work together well.Step 3: Develop a new vision and strategy - The guiding team develops the right vision and strategy for the change effort.Step 4: Communicate the change vision - People begin to buy into the change and this shows in their behavior.Step 5: Empower broad-based action - More people feel able to act, and do act, on the vision.Step 6: Generate short-term wins - Momentum builds, as more and more people try to fulfill the vision, while fewer and fewer resist change.Step 7: Consolidate gains and generate more change - People make wave after wave of changes until the vision is fulfilled.Step 8: Anchor new approaches in the culture - People keep behaving in new ways despite the pull of tradition, turnover of change leaders, etc.Now, let’s have a look at few important guidelines for managing change
• #18: Be sure you have the resources to carry through on implementing the change and the available technical and leadership capacity/bandwidth to lead it. Nothing is worse than launching change that stagnates and fails because management fails to lead- You may communicate your vision, direction and objectives before you communicate your plan. Communications to all stakeholders becomes critical. Communications sounds easy; just tell people what you are doing and why. However, savvy leaders know that communications is as challenging as it is essential. Some of the rules of communication to be followed in planning your own communications strategy are as follows:Communicate with your audience in mind. Tailor communications (same facts different emphasis) to each affected group. This can often best be done best through the leadership of each stakeholder group.However, be sure you only communicate what you know to be true not what you speculate or hope to be trueTypically, someone needs to hear and/or see the same message at least three times before it is retained/understood, particularly if it represents a change in what they previously believed to be true.Use multiple channels of communication, including group presentations, one on one In the final analysis, each person’s individual supervisor is usually the key. Script Q&A (so that multiple presenters in multiple locations deliver the same facts) Be flexible on the details, but plan to stay the course.
• #23: Resistance: understanding a phenomena that is natural to all of us“The normal reaction to change is resistance.”You may have heard this statement many times before, but do we really know if it is true, and how this simple statement can impact our change management work? Do we really believe that resistance is normal, or are we like many business leaders who are surprised by, and disappointed with, employees who resist change?A common mistake made by many business leaders is to assume that by building Awareness of the need for change, they have also created a Desire to engage in that change. The assumption is that one automatically follows the other. Some managers may fall into the trap: If I design a "really good” solution to a business problem, my employees will naturally embrace that solution. In both cases, resistance from employees takes these managers by surprise and they find themselves unprepared to manage that resistance. For exampleA financial services group wanted to consolidate its call centers across several divisions as a cost-savings initiative. A consultant was hired to design the best solution and implement the change. The project just started when rumors began to spread through several departments: “This organizational change is not good for the company.” Supervisors and key managers were resisting the change. In some cases they would not show up for design reviews or they would simply skip key decision-making meetings. Information requested by the consultant was withheld or half-complete.At breaks and around the coffee pot, employees complained about the consolidation effort. Both employees and managers were distracted from their day-to-day work and productivity suffered. Key managers were rumored to quit if the change was implemented.After several months of difficulties and delays, the consultants finally declared the call center consolidation in jeopardy. With the project at a stand-still, the executive sponsor requested an emergency briefing with his leadership team. They quickly identified a department head in one of the call centers as the focal point for the resistance. Arguments against the consolidation – initiated by this manager – were spreading throughout the ranks. It turned out that his supervisors were the same people who were resisting the change and presumably threatening to leave the organization. The only recourse at this point was reassignment or termination of this department head. However, both options would have negative fall-out for the company and the affected manager. The executive sponsor was faced with a stalled project and a potentially lose-lose decision for a long-tenured manager. Resistance to the change was spreading like wildfire.This executive sponsor is not the first or last business leader to be taken by surprise when employees resist change. The underlying principle at work here, as with many changes, is recognizing that resistance is normal, and that our success with change is dependent on how we plan for, recognize and manage resistance. So why do employees resist change? From personal experience, we all know that change creates anxiety and fear. The current state has tremendous holding power, and the possibility of losing what we have grown accustom to (and comfortable with) creates worry and anxiety. For many employees, the future state of workplace changes is often unknown or ill-defined, and this uncertainly creates fear about what lies ahead. These physical and emotional reactions are powerful enough by themselves to create resistance to change. It is likely that each of us have experienced these reactions in our own lives, whether at work or at home. But there is more to resistance than our emotional response. From a change management perspective, we must examine the other drivers that influence an employee’s resistance to change.A good place to start is the nature of the change itself and how this change is impacting the employee:“Were they involved with designing the change?” “Do they know why the change is being made?” “Do they believe that the reasons for making the change are valid?” “Do they trust the ‘senders’ of the change messages within the organization?” “How will the change impact them and their personal situation?”You can begin to appreciate why resistance to change is a normal and natural reaction to change. Even when individuals can align a change with their own self-interest and belief system, the uncertainty of success and fear of the unknown can block change and create resistance. The question, therefore, is not if we will encounter resistance to change, but rather how we support our employees through the change process and manage that resistance. We must, at some point, ask the question: How much resistance might we avoid if we would apply change management effectively?Consider this basic thought process: If resistance to change is a normal and natural reaction, then resistance should be expected. If resistance is expected, then our planning activities should be designed to mitigate that resistance. If our change management strategies and plans are designed to prevent and manage resistance, then we are not surprised by or unprepared for resistance when it happens. (1)Parochial self interestIndividuals are more concerned with the implications for themselves (2)Misunderstanding Communications problems Inadequate information (3)Low tolerance of changeSense of insecurity Different assessment of the situation (4) Disagreement over the need for change
• #24: One method to overcome resistance is based on 5 tools proposed by John Kotter(Professor of Leadership at the Harvard Business School). All 5 tools are founded on the method of negotiation.(1) Education and communication: this is useful where inaccurate or missing information is contributing to employee resistance. (2) Participation and involvement: “People sustain what they help create”. Present the problem to a group of employees and let them collect and analyze data, then select a solution. (3- Facilitation and support (such as training or emotional support): reduce resistance caused by fear and anxiety.(4) Cooptation (such as giving a key resister a key role in the change): to be used when other tactics fail or are too costly. (5) Simply forcing the change or coercion: a fast way of pushing through a change. Useful when speed is necessary but carries some risks (i.e. bitterness of employees). Even in this case negotiation takes place to convince the authority power to exercise coercion on the group.This is taken from the book Leading Change, by John KotterWe can manage resistance early and at its source. In many cases we can prevent resistance or greatly reduce it. We also can stop treating resistance as a “problem employee” or a trouble area. We can understand the many factors that drive resistance, and manage them accordingly, both professionally and with respect for the employees going through change. If we do a really good job at managing change, we will find that change management can shift from preventing and managing resistance to engaging employees and building enthusiasm and passion around the change.The three critical and relevant lessons for change management practitioners related to employee resistance are:Do not react to resistance with surprise; expect it and plan for it. Make resistance management a core element of your change management plans and engage employees in the change process as early as possible.  Be patient with individuals as they work their way through the change process. Enable business leaders and managers to become effective change leaders and teach them how to manage resistance effectively. At the same time, be watchful for persistent and prolonged resistance from managers or business leaders. This level of resistance is a sign of a weak sponsor coalition and can threaten a project and compromise your success. Assess resistance not only from an individual perspective, but also based on the larger organizational context, including culture, history and how much other change is going on within that person’s team or department. Change is equally about the individual as it is the community to which they belong.
• #25: Best Practices Read, re-read and read Prosci's benchmarking report– being familiar with best practices will enable you to answer questions about change management with confidence and credibility. Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report also includes some important findings you can use to position change management in your organization including the costs and consequences of applying change management late on a project and the correlation between effective change management and meeting objectives, staying on schedule and staying on budget. Best Practices teaches us effective methods, efficient ways and powerful tools for managing and leading change – become the subject matter expert in change management.  Business Case Based on the business case for the project, develop a solid business case for change management – remember change management is all about benefit realization. Weave as many of the four benefits of change management – benefit realization, risk mitigation, return on investment and certainty of return – into your change management business case as possible. The stronger you can make the connection between effective change management and realizing project benefits, the stronger your business case will be. Then be ready to defend your business case and educate others about the true bottom line benefit of change management.  Be Specific In planning Sponsor Roadmap activities, be specific with your requests and support your executives fully. Sponsors are often time starved and removed from the potential day-to-day impacts of a change – they need a trusted advisor or coach to help keep them active and visible. Remember, the success of the project is their success, so if you can help them to achieve better results, you’ll win their respect, admiration and support. But be specific with those requests. Executives have limited time and multiple demands – they will value you if you can design and support them in ways that minimize the time requirement and maximize the impact of their actions.  Be Assertive If you approach your executives with timidity, they think you lack confidence and you’ll fail to make your point. Nobody likes to hear about more problems, especially executives who already feel under the gun – give them solutions. Remember you are backed by Best Practice research and methodologies that can help your organization achieve higher levels of success. They need to hear and know this. You may be a pioneer in your organization, with knowledge others don’t have – your task is to boldly move forward with ideas, answers and solutions to the problems that may be plaguing your past and current projects. Don’t wait for someone to ask you for help – assert yourself!  Bring in an Expert Sometimes you need the support of an outside expert to break-through a wall. An outsider has the independence to challenge traditional thinking, breakdown paradigms and “teach the old dogs new tricks”. Use those experts to send a clear message and help bring executives to their own ah-ha moments regarding change management. Then, make sure you are poised to be assertive, armed with Best Practices, have a solid business case and be specific with your requests.  Good luck and remember to share your experiences.
• #26: These are few simple best practice guidelines for any type of change, could be strategic, cultural, people, or systems.---To successfully implement any type of change you have time and be willing to put in a lot of effort.---Communication is key ---Involve other people and carry them alongIt is important that managers are aware that it can take individuals up to a year or two to adjust fully to sudden changes. As we have mentioned earlier, The emotions people feel tend to come in a particular order we all know as the change curve.To help people through this curve, there must be visible leadershipFirst class communication processYour commitment to explore resistance and do something to address thisOngoing support and coaching systemInclusion of people in communication and problem solvingReward is vital, give feedback and show that you recognise achievements