This post is a sub-set of Managing Change. It is the second in a series of eight posts, designed to provide more detailed information about each of the the eight steps of the Change Management Process.

The second step in planning and managing a successful change process is to create a team to guide the decision making about the change. Members of the team should balance leadership with management skills, should be the ‘right people’ in terms of peer group credibility and trust, and who have (or can make) time available to focus on effective teamwork and guiding the change project.

Purpose of the Team.
The purpose of the guiding team is to ensure the change is successfully implemented and entrenched within the organisation. Responsibilities to achieve this include:

• Create the Vision (see Step Three) to describe the purpose of the change;
• Maintain and monitor the communication plan - ensure planned messages are consistent, delivered by various media and speakers and monitor how well the message is being understood and accepted;
• Create the change plan and assign actions to overcome resistance, complacency, fear, agression, etc;
• Govern the change - monitor what has been achieved and what has not yet been closed out of the change plan;
• Define the new behaviours - tell people what they should stop doing, and what they should start doing differently;
• Reward people who are aligning to the change, and hold them up as an example to the rest of the organisation;
• Remove barriers and roadblocks for people in the organisation who are changed with tasks to facilitate the change (see Step Five);
• Communicate and Listen! (see Step Four).

The team must commit to meeting and guiding the change on a regular and frequent basis, which will maintain the momentum for the change.

Composition of the Team
The team should balance a whole range of skills, experiences and viewpoints and include people:

• who share an understanding for the need for the change;
• with strong leadership and visionary skills, who are enthusiastic, articulate and passionate about the change;
• with strong planning and management skills, who have attention to detail and are passionate about getting things done;
• who can communicate with all levels of the organisation using different styles, media and techniques, with strong networks;
• who are trusted and respected by their colleagues;
• who are able to make time for and commit to the change effort and the Guiding Team; and
• from all levels of the organisation. We have seen Guiding Teams fail because they were made up entirely of senior management staff. Select people who can represent and interact with all levels of the organisation.

In other words, these people are usually already very busy creating change within the organisation!

What’s Next? Step Three – Develop the Vision…

This post is a sub-set of Managing Change. It is the first in a series of eight posts, designed to provide more detailed information about each of the the eight steps of the Change Management Process.

The first step in planning and managing a successful change process is to increase the urgency for the change and create dissatisfaction for the status quo.

All change starts with the individual.
Each individual faced with impending change needs to first hear and understand the change before acting and behaving in a manner consistent with the change. As change agents, we must show individuals the need for the change (ie why the change is mandatory) and identify and communicate the corporate and individual benefits of the change. It is only when individuals act and behave in a manner aligned to the change that we see groups (such as business units) working productively and cohesively in the changed environment.

The Change Coping Cycle
We are all created with an in-built mechanism to protect us and give us time to adapt to changes: it is called the Change Coping Cycle. We individually progress through the stages of the Change Coping Cycle, (ie from Shock to Denial, Acknowledgement, Adaptation, Growth and finally an acceptance in a new Comfort Zone.)
Individuals progress through the stages of the Coping Cycle at different speeds and must be allowed time for each stage. People can get stuck for a while in any stage (eg Shock, Denial, Acknowledgement, etc) and need help to move around to the next phase of the Coping Cycle.

Why must we Increase Urgency for the Change?
People typically prefer the status quo to significant change. We are often complacent in the face of communicated change for many reasons, including our natural tendencies to deny that change is needed, especially if we are already busy or stressed at work. Some of the other typical reasons for complacency include:

• The absence of any major and visible crisis;
• Low overall performance standards and a tolerance for current performance ratings;
• Too much ‘happy talk’ from senior management which seems at odds with the need to change;
• Too many visible resources (eg expansive meeting rooms, plush surrounds, flying first class every time, fat cat functions, etc) which seem to contradict the need for change;
• Lack of performance feedback from external sources and measurement systems that perhaps focus on the wrong indicators / metrics;

How to Increase Urgency for the Change

Here’s a set of ideas which we have found useful in the past:

• Show the need for the change. Express the problem and the opportunity clearly, logically and personally. Gain input from business people about the possible solutions.
• Make the message tangible. Use emotions and feelings, not just logic and numbers, which can often be ‘dry’.
• Use evidence you can see to generate urgency for change. Be creative when you demonstrate the nature of the current problem.
• Create actions or activities that dramatise the end of the old way. Don’t just talk about endings – signal the new beginning. Cortez the Conquistador burned the boats on the shores of Veracruz to demonstrate to his troops that there was no ‘going back’!
• Use external feedback. Organise for a customer, supplier, partner, etc to express the problem (or need for change) as they perceive it.
• Don’t underestimate complacency, fear and anger. Try not to be surprised when faced with passive and even aggressive resistance to change.
• ‘Reward’ individuals for demonstrating new behaviours which are aligned to the change and the vision. Rewards can be as simple as a special mention in a memo, a monetary bonus, a gift voucher, some time off in lieu of increased productivity, etc.

What’s Next? Step Two – Build the Guiding Team…

Managing change is ‘hard work’ and fraught with risk of failure. It requires a lot of patience, continuous repetition of key concepts, enthusiasm, understanding, empathy and often the development of a ‘thick skin’. People promoting, leading and enabling change are often faced with passive resistance to change such as silence, withdrawal, absenteeism, lethargy, inactivity, etc. and even ‘open’ resistance such as hostility, aggression, conflict, paranoia, negativity, criticism and sabotage.

So Why Do It?

Successfully managing change can also be incredibly satisfying. Individuals and organisations often seek to implement changes in order to realise some intended individual or business benefits. Often those intended benefits are difficult to express or are in some way unpalatable to the intended audience (eg We want to decrease costs, reduce staff numbers, increase productivity or efficiency, etc).
Managing change using tried and tested concepts and techniques will avoid (or at least minimise) the impact of passive and open resistance to change. Applying good change management techniques in a project environment can:

• manage peoples’ expectations about the change – including their perceived losses and gains from the implemented change;
• mobilise and motivate people to accept the change and get on with it;
• maintain participation and support of all interested parties;
• speed the implementation of change and the realisation of the intended benefits;
• reduce the less-productive time (downtime) associated with doing things a new way, and help people to more quickly become familiar, comfortable and even expert at doing things the new way; and
• institutionalise the changes, so individuals (and the organisation) are not tempted to revert to ‘old’ practices.

How Do You Do It?

We have implemented change programs in many industries, in organisations large and small and with a huge variety of organisational cultures and have found that even the most planned and meticulously executed change management attempts will risk failure without the mandatory, high levels of visible executive sponsorship, individual understanding and belief in the need for the change and concrete benefits for the individuals in the organisation.
Over the years, we have tried various techniques to manage change, and have found that Kotter’s 8 Steps to Managing Change are very useful. We have added our experiences to Kotter’s method.
Using a recipe analogy, the ingredients for a successful implementation of sustained organisational change are quite simple, and should be checked regularly for their effectiveness in supporting the change process:

1. Increase the urgency for the change and create dissatisfaction for the status quo. Show individuals the need for the change (ie why the change is necessary) and identify and communicate the corporate and individual benefits of the change. This step has been further explored in this post.
2. Build the team to guide the implementation and decision-making related to the change project. Members of the guiding team should balance leadership with management skills, should be the ‘right people’ in terms of peer group credibility and trust, and who have (or can make) time available to focus on effective teamwork. This has been further explored in this post.
3. Define and communicate the vision for the change. The vision should be bold, compelling, understood and easily shared with the guiding team and the individuals in their work environment. The vision should express clearly what the new, changed organisation will look like and feel like to the individuals.
4. Communicate (even over-communicate!). Tell people affected as much as you can, as early as you can. Respond to concerns raised, they can at least be acknowledged, if not fully answered. Honour all commitments to communicate. Remember that you will be judged by your actual communications (presentations, e-mails, newsletters, posters, meetings, etc) not by your best intentions to communicate!
5. Empower action. Help people in the changing work environment to succeed in the new world. Communicate what they should stop doing, and what they should start doing differently. ‘Empower’ them by removing the obstacles (eg too much work, not enough time, impossibly high targets, etc). Provide them with the mandate for action, the resources, the time, etc. Coach and support the people empowered to act on behalf of the guiding team, and visibly reward them for demonstrating changing behaviours aligned to the intended business outcomes of the change.
6. Create momentum and support for the changes by implementing Quick Wins. Be aware however, that not all Quick Wins are equal: true quick wins should be implemented quickly in the context of the overall project timeline, should be communicated effectively to the areas most affected, and must be meaningful and unambiguous. If you find yourself arguing about a Quick Win, its often perceived as a loss…
7. Turn your back for a second, and groups of individuals usually prefer to abandon the changes and go back to the ‘old way’. The second-to-last step in the change process is to stop the back-sliding: Don’t Let Up. This step involves actions to maintain the urgency for the changes and can go on for weeks and months.
8. The eighth step in the change process is to make sure the changes stick. This involves all the actions required until you hear people saying about the changes you have been seeking to implement “… but this is how we’ve always done it…”. Old terminology and phrases are a thing of the past, documentation and culture has changed to support the changes, and new employees are indoctrinated in ‘the new way’.