Change Management in the Built Environment. Volume 1: Getting Started

February 2015

Change

Management

in the Built

Environment

Contents

Introduction

3

Making the Case for Change

4

Change management and employee engagement are front

of mind for many organizations, but what exactly does

“change management” mean? Per the Association of

Change Management Professionals, change management

is “a deliberate set of activities that facilitate and support

the success of individual and organizational change and the

realization of its intended business results.”

Many companies see tremendous value in change

management, particularly when planning for and

implementing major organizational changes; however,

change management often goes by the wayside when

deciding on changes within these built environments.

Introduction

1. Association of Change

Management Professionals. What is

1

Making the Case

for Change

Industry Trends

Communication during office moves is the traditional approach to change management for many organizations. This typically involves communicating how to use new spaces, how to use tools, and providing a simple welcome kit.

Now many organizations are trending toward a greater emphasis on truly engaging their employees. This includes a thorough change management program with enhanced communication, greater opportunities for

engagement, more training, and post-change reinforcement activities, all focused on building understanding of the change (and “what’s in it for me”), as well as ensuring employees are ready, willing, and able to make the change.

Businesses understand that the people costs are much higher than the costs of a workspace itself. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, salaries and benefits comprise nearly 90% of an employer’s costs; this includes both productive time and unproductive time (absenteeism and presenteeism):2

2. Data from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Building Owners and Managers Association as cited in The Economics of Biophilia, Terrapin Bright Green LLC, 2012.

Gallup found that companies with the most engaged

employees have significantly higher productivity,

profitability, and customer satisfaction than those

with the least engaged employees.

1

This underscores the importance of the impact of the workplace on the way employees perform. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment finds that “the workplace is responsible for 24% of job satisfaction, and that this can affect staff performance by 5% for individuals and (because of the benefits of improved interaction) by 11% for teams.”3

During workplace change, a strong change management approach can help address the issues of productivity by impacting satisfaction. Gallup found that companies with the most engaged employees have significantly higher productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction than those with the least engaged employees.4

3. Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. The Impact

of Office Design on Business Performance. 2005.

4. Gallup, State of the Global

Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for Business Leaders Worldwide, 2013.

Presenteeism 1

Absenteeism 3

Rent 9

Energy 1

Productivity Salaries and Benefits

1

Determining Change Management Implementation

Change in the built environment and/or the way it is used can cause major concern amongst staff. Drivers vary by organizational size and the sophistication of the organization’s real estate strategy.

Typical drivers include:

Reduce Real Estate Costs

With an eye on the bottom line, companies of all sizes are focused on reducing the amount of money spent on real estate; either by reducing the overall portfolio or optimizing the dollars spent per square foot.

Maximizing Utilization

Across industries, much of corporate real estate (particularly individually-assigned spaces) are empty a large portion of the time. Companies seek to reorganize their portfolios to ensure that space is supportive of work activities and well used throughout the day.

Growth or Consolidation

Designing for flexibility to accommodate growth (either organic or by merger/acquisition) and enable reduction of space during consolidations leads companies of all sizes to consider changes to the workplace.

Global

Standardization

Companies with multiple locations seek to standardize real estate for simplicity in managing the portfolio as well as ease of transition.

Cultural Change

Often space is used to help guide the culture of a company; for example, designing space to promote collaboration.

Adoption of Alternative Workplace Strategies

Related to many of the aforementioned drivers, companies are adopting new and different ways of working, whether that be through new types of spaces, new policies about when and where to work, new technologies, or any combination thereof.

1

Regardless of the drivers and type of change, employee engagement is critical to project success. In the 2013 Global Benchmarking Survey, New Ways of Working LLC found that people issues remain the top barriers to successful workplace change implementation: 5

5. New Ways of Working, LLC, AWS

Global Benchmarking Study, 2013

51%

Organizational Culture

51%

Manager Concerns

49%

Resistance / Fear of Change

41%

Executive Endorsement

32%

Concern of Losing Seat

31%

Lack of IT Support

30%

Concern of Losing Contact

21%

1

Impact of Change Management Programs

While it is easy to express that engagement is important, there is always question as to how much impact change management programs have. Prosci’s benchmarking studies (conducted regularly since 1998) show that projects effectively applying change management are six times more likely to meet their project objectives, and twice as likely to stay on budget: 6

Poor

2014 2012

Effectiveness Level of Change Management Program

Percent of Respondents Whose Projects

Met or Exceeded Objectives

17% _16% 49% 46% Fair 80% 77% Good 95% 96% Excellent

Metrics and findings like this help companies understand the importance of change management and communicate the value of investing in a solid change management program to the people making decisions about resources and funding.

6. Prosci. Best Practices in Change

Management. 2012 and 2014

Getting Started

Internal Engagement Buy In

The first step in developing a change plan is ensuring that it can be implemented.

Often project teams understand the need for change management but struggle to get executive-level support and funding to enable program development. Executives may not understand the importance of change management or the levels of effort required to implement a successful change engagement.

To begin to build executive buy in, it is critical to make the case for change management simple: How much does the success of the change depend upon employees adopting and embracing it?

2

How much does the success

of the change depend upon

employees adopting and

2

To get the attention of executives, the following techniques are often successful:

Tailored message. Executives are typically very busy and focused on their own particular segment of the organization and its success. When developing a pitch, consider the executive’s point of view. Elements to consider include:

ƒ Role in organization

ƒ Key issues (what is keeping them up at night?)

ƒ Typical language and jargon

A CFO will likely be focused on cost and performance issues; a CEO may be more interested in the vision; a COO might focus on how the change impacts business functions. Once the point of view is understood, a message using the types of language that will resonate with the audience can be developed.

Scale and Level of Effort. When assessing whether or not to support an initiative, senior-level leadership need to understand the scale and level of effort required. While it is still in the early stages of the process, often there will be some information about the level of transformation of the change. It is also important to discuss anticipated resistance. While the understanding of these topics will evolve throughout the course of the change management process, clear communication about the potential issues is important in gaining executive buy in.

Key Concerns. Typically executive level buy in requires an understanding of cost and risk. In terms of cost, it is important to discuss both hard costs and soft costs. Elements that may be required include consultants, materials, give-aways, and printing. In addition, a focus on the level of internal resources and time required from the project team and impacted stakeholders should be included.

Roles and responsibilities. Executive sponsors must understand their role in the process and the anticipated level of commitment. This may be nominal or more in depth, depending upon the size of the impacted population and scale of the change.

2

7. Meister, Jeanne. Forbes. “Five Workforce Myths Busted.” February 6, 2014.

8. Prosci, op cit.

Engagement Beyond Communication

Developing a change program is not just about creating a communications plan or deploying tools and training; it is about engagement. That means not only telling people what is going to happen, but building a desire for the change and preparing people for the way the change will impact the way they work.

Forbes Magazine recently published an article busting the myth that

training solves all problems: if staff either are not capable of making the change or have no desire to make the change, all the training in the world will not impact their success.7

Further proof that successful change management is not just about communications and training can be found in benchmarking studies. The top three factors for success are listed as:8

ƒ Active and visible executive sponsorship

ƒ Structured change management approach

ƒ Dedicated change management resources and funding

Not surprisingly, the greatest obstacle to success was listed as ineffective change management sponsorship.

Training cannot address

every problem.

“

“

Keith Wiedenkeller, SVP, AMC Theaters

Forbes Magazine

2

Once there is agreement that a change management program is important and the company is willing to commit resources to employee engagement, it is time to get started. The following are critical next steps for developing a change management program:

1.

Define the Change

2.

Assess the Change and Organizational Readiness

3.

Build the Team

4.

Identify the Executive Sponsor

5.

Develop the Change Management Plan

1. Define the Change

It may seem straightforward, but the very first step in developing a

successful change program is identifying the change: What is the problem the change management plan is seeking to solve? Without understanding of the desired end state, it is nearly impossible to develop a successful change plan.

Problem-defining activities may include visioning, gap analysis,

benchmark comparisons, or reviews of trends and best practices, to name a few. Once the problem has been defined, the change management program can be developed to provide a structured process that controls the effort, manages expectations, and boosts proficiency for all involved.

2

2. Assess the Change and Organizational Readiness

Once the problem has been defined, the change and organizational readiness for the change can be assessed.

The following questions should be asked when assessing the extent of the change:

ƒ Extent of the change – will employees feel that it is status quo or transformational?

ƒ How many aspects of the workplace are changing – just the space? Technology? Policy? Reporting structure?

ƒ Number of people impacted – a small group or the entire organization?

ƒ How the change will impact employees – will everyone have a similar experience the change, or will some feel the change more than others?

ƒ How quickly or slowly will the change occur?

ƒ Other project-specific issues

Regardless of how transformational the change may be, the organization’s aptitude for adapting to change will greatly impact speed of adoption.

To plan for this, consider the following aspects of the organization:

ƒ Range of viewpoints across those impacted by the change

ƒ Anticipated resistance

ƒ How much “other” change is going on within the organization

ƒ Whether people believe the change is necessary

ƒ How past changes have been handled and how employees have adapted to them

ƒ Other organization-specific issues

Understanding these factors will enable development of an appropriately scaled change management program.

Regardless of how

transformational the change

may be, the organization’s

aptitude for adapting to

change will greatly impact

speed of adoption.

2

3. Build the Team

Organizations approach change management from a variety of

perspectives. Some may have an internal change management group, or an organizational excellence team. Some may task the human resources department with dedicating a part of their time to change management. Others look to external partnerships.

Each method can be highly effective; it is simply a matter of understanding what fits the culture and the available resources.

Once the team is created, it is important to assess and understand their level of competency: have they done this before? Have they been trained in change management? Do they have the time available to dedicate to the project?

Understanding strengths and weaknesses will help determine where coaching and training may be necessary.

4. Identify the Executive Sponsor

The executive sponsor may be the CEO of the company or a member of the C-suite, or another company leader. The sponsor must be someone in the chain of command of the groups impacted, and if not directly in the chain of command, able to form a strong sponsorship coalition with other executives.

Once a sponsor or coalition of sponsors is determined, the sponsorship should be assessed: is the sponsor supportive of the change? How competent is the sponsor in change management? How influential is the sponsor? Is the sponsor available to participate in the change? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the sponsor?

Following sponsor assessment, the change team should help the sponsor prepare for their role. This may include coaching, providing examples and lessons learned, and helping the sponsor understand their role and responsibilities.

2

5. Develop the Change Management Plan

The change plan should dovetail with the project team’s plan, taking advantage of opportunities to share resources and combine efforts. This plan serves as a roadmap throughout the process and provides the team with ideas of how and when to engage different portions of the population. The plan should help the change migrate throughout the organization, touching senior management, middle management, and end users.

The high-level plan should be agreed upon by the sponsorship coalition, as well as the change management and project teams.

The plan will change; it is intended to serve as a guideline and place key milestones. Once developed, it will become a living document that tracks and plans for engagement opportunities.

Once the change has been defined and steps have been taken to prepare for the change, it is time to begin to manage the change: engage,

communicate, listen, train, coach, celebrate, adapt, and reinforce!

The plan should help the change migrate throughout

the organization, touching senior management,

About Jodi Williams

One of the leaders of RTKL’s Strategic Services and Workplace Interiors team, Jodi Williams brings nearly 15 years of experience in workplace strategy, facility planning, and change management. She leads engagement efforts for public and private sector clients, and has been a featured speaker at industry events such as IFMA World Workplace, Greenbuild, and NeoConEast. In her spare time, Jodi enjoys playing pattycake with her daughter, long walks on the beach with her husband and dog, being judged by her cat, and expending excess energy on the soccer pitch.

RTKL’s Philosophy

As workers change, so changes the workplace. No longer just a place of employment, today’s work environments are a forum for corporate expression, collaboration and communication. The lines between mission and environment have blurred, providing more opportunities for our clients to leverage their workplaces to reach strategic and financial objectives and make deeper, more meaningful connections to their employees and their clients.

RTKL goes beyond traditional architectural and design services to help our clients manage change in the built environment. Our approach has the power to make a client’s project a stronger, better realization of its business.

Too often, clear and compelling business strategies fail to translate into the real environment. Of course it’s partly about recruitment and retention—providing inviting, comfortable work environments that reinforce values and make employees feel like a part of a larger mission—but it’s also about much more.

RTKL works with our clients to explore new ways of thinking about their culture, organization, and interactions between groups. We use our established toolkit to help our clients establish and implement a tailored engagement process that continues through each phase of design and occupancy.

February 2015

Change

Management

in the Built

Environment

Volume 2: Communications

Contents

Introduction

3

Clear and Regular Communication

4

Tailored Messaging

5

Executive Vision

6

Personal Impact Messages

7

Every workplace change, no matter how large or small,

can cause anxiety for employees. Many projects fail

not because they were poorly planned or executed, but

because employees are resistant to the change.

While not the only element of planning for change,

communication is a key component in employee

engagement.

Successful development and implementation of a

communication and engagement plan helps alleviate

anxiety, reduces losses to productivity and even

prevents employee turnover, all of which have a positive

impact on a company’s bottom line.

1

Clear and Regular

Communication

1. Prosci. Best Practices in Change Management. 2012 and 2014 editions.

Frequent and open communication is one of the key contributing factors to successful change, ranking in the top four contributing factors to success in seven consecutive change management surveys. 1

By maintaining frequent communication, employees feel included in the change. They know what and when things are happening, even if there are no new updates.

Frequency of communication should vary based on the degree of change, the organizational readiness, and the project timeline; however, weekly is recommended for most changes, with monthly communications at a minimum. As the change comes closer, communications should become more frequent. Keep all communications simple, focused and concise. Regular communication also helps maintain project velocity, rather than allowing excitement to peter out during “slow” periods of the project. Communications should be clear and straightforward, sharing facts and information on how the population will be impacted.

Typical elements of communications include:

ƒ Project vision and reasons for change

ƒ Basic information about the change

ƒ Project timeline

ƒ Current status

ƒ Impact on the employee

ƒ Opportunities for employees to provide feedback

As part of this process, take time to acknowledge rumors. Instead of allowing misinformation to percolate throughout the staff, directly address issues as they arise while maintaining a positive message.

Keeping communications honest and open reduces opportunities for rumors, makes employees feel trusted, and provides a sense of transparency about the project and the process.

Communications

catalyze the required

individual transitions by

answering questions

employees have

_...

“

2

Tailored Messaging

2. “The Irrational Side of Change Management,” McKinsey Quarterly, April 2009.

3. Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for Business Leaders Worldwide, 2013

With every change, multiple groups are impacted; each will experience the change differently. Communications should be tailored to ensure that each group is aware of how they will be impacted, what to expect, and how to prepare. What is compelling for one person is not necessarily compelling for everyone.2

Examples of different levels of communication

include:

Executive business line leadership: Frequently business line leadership is not involved in the change itself; however, they should be included in the communication plan. Up front, this typically involves high-level corporate goals. Often this includes reminders of expectations and timelines.

Managers (business line): Managers are one of the most highly impacted groups. They will need to know how the change will impact their own daily life, as well as how to support their teams as they go through the process.

End users: The individual employees need to know what is happening, why it is happening, when it is happening, how the change will impact their day-to-day functions, and what they need to do to prepare for the change. Various groups of end users may be impacted differently. For example, administrative staff may have a greater or lesser impact than other employees. Employees who are mobile may be more or less impacted than those who spend most of the day at their desks. Communications should be tailored to address these nuances.

Project support: Support functions will need to know what is changing in the way they do their jobs and support the impacted end users. For example, facilities staff may need to know different cleaning procedures. Human resources may need to know changes to telework policies.

Active disengagement

costs $450–550 billion

per year

_...

State of the Global Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for Business Leaders Worldwide

3

4. “The Hard Side of Change Management,” Harvard Business Review. October, 2005.

Executive Vision

Employees need to know the business reason for the change. This should be clearly communicated, preferably by top executives. This communication should share the vision of the executive leadership and tie the reason for the change to the overall mission of the company. Avoiding clear communication about drivers such as cost and efficiency is deadly to a change management effort; employees will immediately identify “false pretenses.” Lack of honesty and transparency will undermine the entire process.

The executives must be committed to the change and communicate this commitment. Boston Consulting group finds that one of the key factors for successful change is leadership’s commitment to the change.4

This starts from the initial communications and lasts throughout the entire change management process. Upfront and consistent communication will help reduce rumors and increase overall commitment from management and staff levels.

Leadership commitment should be:

Visible: Managers and employees alike need to see and hear the executive level commitment. This often means that executives need to communicate more regularly than usual and using a greater variety of methods and media.

Open and honest: Even when it is a hard change, executives need to stand behind it and be ready and willing to explain why it is the right choice for the company.

Crossing levels: By crossing over from communicating solely with direct reports, and communicating directly with mid and lower level management and staff, executives can further engagement and demonstrate their commitment to the change and the team.

No amount of top-level

support is too much.

Harvard Business Review

4

Personal Impact

Messages

5. Prosci. Best Practices in Change Management. 2012 and 2014 editions.

6. David G. Allen, PhD. Retaining Talent: A Guide to Analyzing and Managing Employee Turnover.

While the overarching vision for change should come from the executive level, messages about “what’s in it for me” typically are best received from a direct supervisor: 70% of employees indicate that the preferred sender of personal messages is the employee’s direct supervisor.5

In a typical change, employees will hear about the initiative from a variety of sources, but when it comes time to understand exactly what is happening and when, they will likely reach out to their direct managers. The change team should consider this and plan accordingly.

Managers will likely not only be highly impacted by the change, but will also be a core component of the change management process. Managers serve as the front line between end users and the project team. Depending upon the extent of the change and level of organizational readiness, they may find themselves regularly working in both planned and spontaneous engagements with staff.

When planning a change engagement, it is important to plan for engagement of managers and account for their time. During the initial engagement of the managers, in addition to introducing the change and its impact on the organization, expectations for managers should be made clear. This includes their role and the anticipated time commitment, as well as any support they can expect to receive from executive leadership, the project and change management teams, and other impacted parties (such as HR).

...turnover costs can be as high as

90 to 200% of an employee’s salary

...

David G. Allen

Learning Styles

Employees have different learning styles and messages will be received differently. It is critical for organizations to provide numerous options for hearing messages and sharing information across multiple media.

When planning for communications,

consider models such as:

7. Kolb, David A. 1984. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs,N.J.

8. Gardner, Howard. Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons in Theory and Practice. Basic Books: 2008.

9. Fleming, N.D. & Mills, C. (1992). Not Another Inventory, Rather a Catalyst for Reflection. To Improve

David Kolb’s Learning Styles Model and Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) 7

This theory highlights four learning styles, defined by how people work in a four stage learning cycle, which includes concrete experiences/feeling; reflective observation/watching; abstract conceptualization/ thinking; and active

experimentation/doing. The four learning styles are:

ƒ Diverging (feel and watch)

ƒ Assimilating (think and watch)

ƒ Converging (think and do)

ƒ Accommodating (feel and do)

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory 8

Gardner focuses on seven intelligences:

ƒ Linguistic (language)

ƒ Logical-mathematical (logic and reasoning)

ƒ Musical (sensitivity to music, sound, rhythm)

ƒ Bodily-Kinesthetic (body movement)

ƒ Spatial-visual (physical space)

ƒ Interpersonal (understanding and interacting with others)

ƒ Intrapersonal (self-awareness)

Neil Fleming’s Visual, Read/ Write, Auditory, Kinesthetic (VARK) Model 9

Fleming developed a systematic set of questions to enable people to understand preferences for intake and output of information.

ƒ Visual

ƒ Auditory (music, discussion, lectures)

ƒ Reading/Writing

ƒ Kinesthetic (hands-on)

Consider using multiple forms of media to communicate and gather feedback. Hundreds of vehicles are available, such as emails, posters, intranet websites, meetings, announcements, to name just a few. Messages should be repeated five to seven times to ensure that they not only reach, but are also absorbed by the intended audience.

About Jodi Williams

One of the leaders of RTKL’s Strategic Services and Workplace Interiors team, Jodi Williams brings nearly 15 years of experience in workplace strategy, facility planning, and change management. She leads engagement efforts for public and private sector clients, and has been a featured speaker at industry events such as IFMA World Workplace, Greenbuild, and NeoConEast. In her spare time, Jodi enjoys playing pattycake with her daughter, long walks on the beach with her husband and dog, being judged by her cat, and expending excess energy on the soccer pitch.

RTKL’s Philosophy

As workers change, so changes the workplace. No longer just a place of employment, today’s work environments are a forum for corporate expression, collaboration and communication. The lines between mission and environment have blurred, providing more opportunities for our clients to leverage their workplaces to reach strategic and financial objectives and make deeper, more meaningful connections to their employees and their clients.

RTKL goes beyond traditional architectural and design services to help our clients manage change in the built environment. Our approach has the power to make a client’s project a stronger, better realization of its business.

Too often, clear and compelling business strategies fail to translate into the real environment. Of course it’s partly about recruitment and retention—providing inviting, comfortable work environments that reinforce values and make employees feel like a part of a larger mission—but it’s also about much more.

RTKL works with our clients to explore new ways of thinking about their culture, organization, and interactions between groups. We use our established toolkit to help our clients establish and implement a tailored engagement process that continues through each phase of design and occupancy.