Flawless Execution and High Engagement

What is your take on change management? Are you dealing with change at some level, and not having a good time of it? Have you approached change management in some specific way that really worked well? I’m just planting the seeds-please share your thoughts and experiences!

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Change management is absolutely critical in this ugly economic environment, as I’ve touched on in other posts. Especially now, individuals and their employers need crystal clarity on priority tasks at hand, and need flawless execution without a stumble. But there is something in the way. Total turmoil, deep angst. People have significant questions and concerns about where they are today and where they may be tomorrow. They need to be carefully guided through this mess. It’s a survival issue.

 

Change management theory is one of those mysterious areas that an uninitiated soul may accidentally stumble into, never to be seen again. But it distills down fairly cleanly. This is my cut at condensing a good deal of theory into a practical, applicable model, and I could sure use the help of my peers out there (you!).

 

A poll of select colleagues verified that change management is possibly the most misunderstood, thus the scariest, of the voodoo practices. Specifically, I checked in with Jim. Went like this:

(Me) “Hey Jim, what’s your take on change management?”

(Jim) “Get outta here!”

 

Parables like “Who Moved My Cheese” and “Our Iceberg Is Melting” have addressed dealing with change. RE the latter, author and Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter (http://www.johnkotter.com/bio.html) is one of the premier change management gurus. “Iceberg” even has its own presence on the web (http://www.ouricebergismelting.com/)

People often think only about the IT model of change management that examines impacts on migrating to a new platform. Here, we’re going to look at the people dynamics of change. It’s much less challenging to change systems and platforms.   Nearly everything of consequence we set out to accomplish involves change at some level. The more we understand about the dynamics of change, the better luck we will have getting done what needs to be done.

TIP: don’t even call it “change management”….Just Do It!

 

Many seasoned managers are effective change agents, often times intuitively…they don’t know they are “managing change”, they just do it. It only makes sense that there’s more to the story than pointing the bus down the road. So the bus is leaving. But there are people still sitting on the bench, a couple have been run over, some are running behind, others are hanging out the windows having a blast. People need to be on board.

 

Think about the leadership capabilities Moses had to call on, to get his people to leave the relative comfort of slavery in Egypt and head into the unknown of the desert, for God knew how long. There were human dynamics at play, way beyond the respect people had for the big stick Moses carried.

 

People are funny when it comes to change. Well…maybe not “funny”. More like “irritating and frustrating.” OK…how about maddeningly, painfully stubborn and belligerent? (you just thought about a specific individual or two didn’t you? STOP that!) But, why? Generally, people aren’t change-resistant just because it’s fun to be irritating, frustrating, stubborn and belligerent.

 

Change usually means people have new priorities and they will have to do things differently. The rub is that we are creatures of habit. We’re comfortable and familiar with the way things are, for better or worse.   When The Next Big Change Edict comes along, there is nearly always a gap between where people are today, and where the change will take them. The gap is wide, and there are too many unknowns. It doesn’t matter how smooth the bill of goods is, people simply do not want to leave the old world behind and make the blind jump over to the new world.   Let’s get really nerdy for just a moment and talk about the brain….

Resistance is a survival mechanism, a hold-over from our caveman days. There is a little pea-sized area at the base of our brain that kicks into action when “danger” is imminent. Even today, humans become very nasty creatures when faced with a threat. Extra adrenaline flows to our muscles, which tighten up. Our senses heighten, pupils dilate, hairs stand up so we look bigger and nastier. We go on auto-pilot, fight or flee mode.

Change IS a threat to most. And most people will resist, with only the intensity of resistance varying.

 

Change management requires, first and foremost, a change strategy (and a LOT of answers)

 

Change Management’s three elements –Communicate, Educate, Train — are interconnected and complementary. Educate focuses on the WHAT and WHY, while Train covers the HOW. WHY are we changing? Why Bother? Make the case for change a compelling one. What’s your burning platform? Change TO WHAT? Paint a clear, enticing picture of the future and include goals, objectives and milestones along the way. A long journey requires a few pit stops. What do you EXPECT of us? Define expectations in clear terms, and make sure that accountability to deliver is crystal clear. HOW will we do that? Lay the roadmap on the table, at least in general terms. If you don’t know where you’re going, who is going to follow you?

It is also critical to provide the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities so people can deliver on their expectations. The last thing you can afford to do is set your people up to fail. You will not only fail to reach your goals, but the rising frustration and disengagement will set you back light years.

In How Can Organizations Learn Faster? The Challenge of Entering the Green Room (Sloan Management Review, 1993: 34, 85-92. See link below)  M.I.T Professor Emeritus / change guru Edgar Schein introduced the “burning platform”. Schein proposed that there must be a degree of anxiety before people will change. For people to make the leap, the risk of NOT changing must be greater than the anxiety created by the change. He implied that if there is not a sufficiently hot burning platform issue handy, you have to find one (create a crisis?).

 

Change Management Requires (Second and Foremost!) a Communication Strategy

• WHAT is the message?
• WHO needs to deliver it?
• HOW will it be delivered?
• HOW OFTEN does it need to be repeated?
• WHY should people care?

 All the above crafted and delivered with consistency, clarity, credibility

 

Look for a post on communication strategy later!

 

Last, for a change effort to succeed, people need the appropriate knowledge and skills. And support systems, to do what is expected of them.

 

In closing, a little expert name-dropping…..Ed Schein hung out a lot with Kurt Lewin, the designer of the “Unfreeze-Movement-Refreeze” model of change. Schein’s 1992 MIT white paper, published later in the Sloan Management Review, describes his own Green Room / “burning platform” and Lewin’s Unfreeze model.