WHAT DOES GOOD
CHANGE MANAGEMENT LOOK LIKE?
A 45 minute tour of the world of change:
•
Different types of change
•
What typically goes wrong?
•
Good practice and warning signs
– the beginnings of a checklist for auditors?
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK
1
• Establish a sense of urgency
2
• Form a powerful guiding coalition
3
• Create a vision
4
• Communicate the vision
5
• Empower others to act on the vision
6
• Plan for and create short term wins
7
• Consolidate improvements and produce still more change
8
• Institutionalize new approaches
Source: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Kotter, HBR, 1995 Kotter’s 8 Steps to Successful Change
A guiding principle
Most organisational change is iterative and multi-layered
…rather than linear and monochronic!
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK
What type of change
- simple or complex?
4
SIMPLE COMPLEX
Goals clearly defined Goals ambiguous or unclear Not subject to external influences Highly subject to external influences Implementation of single solution Exploration of alternative and/or
multiple solutions Known stakeholder group –
compliance required
Multiple and varied stakeholder groups – involvement required
Technical performance and efficiency at core
Relationships, culture and meaning at core
No mindset shift required Transformation required at many levels Managed via awareness, education,
monitoring + control
Managed via engagement, discussion loops, stage points
Who’s involved?
Senior Leaders/Spo nsors Middle Leaders Project Team Change Agents Change Strategists Project Support ‘Target’ employees StakeholdersWWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK
1
• Establish a sense of urgency
2
• Form a powerful guiding coalition
3
• Create a vision
4
• Communicate the vision
5
• Empower others to act on the vision
6
• Plan for and create short term wins
7
• Consolidate improvements and produce still more change
8
• Institutionalize new approaches
Source: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Kotter, HBR, 1995
The standard problems…
• Poor senior management sponsorship
• Resistance to change from employees
• Insufficient resources
• Plenty of project management but little change
management
• Middle management resistance
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK
The fiendish problems!
8
• Understanding change as linear rather than iterative and
multi-layered
• Lack of organisation-wide awareness of
context/performance
• Top team fragmentation and/or dysfunction
• Poor management of priorities
• Focus on top down communications and upwards reporting
rather than on-going engagement loops
• Lack of attention to capacity building and sustainability
• Poorly defined outcomes and lack of agreed,
implementable measures
The idealised change pathway?
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK
A more realistic change pathway…
Five Essential
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK 12 WARNING SIGNS
The purpose of the change seems flimsy and/or ungrounded
There is silo-thinking or leadership fragmentation and/or dysfunction Middle managers or employees distrust or don’t understand the initiative
Requires space and
time!
GOOD PRACTICE
• Time is taken to stand back from the issues
and get to the root of problems
• The purpose and values underpinning the
change are discussed and new, imaginative perspectives shared
• Interconnections between issues and
WARNING SIGNS
Resistance or alternative viewpoints are reacted to rather than worked with Leaders lack the authority or confidence to clarify what’s important
and make bold decisions
Visions and/or frameworks fail to integrate key perspectives
Requires flexibility
and toughness!
GOOD PRACTICE
• There’s an attractive, high level picture of
the change destination which middle leaders can engage in and shape
• There’s a robust FROM-TO framework
which contains the work to come
• Leaders contract clearly re. roles,
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK 14 WARNING SIGNS
Messaging is inconsistent, unclear and/or sporadic
Bold communication and passionate responses are avoided or discouraged
Nothing much seems to be actually happening!
Requires energy and
clarity!
GOOD PRACTICE
• People are engaged in the work ahead via
clear, motivational goals and high quality, regular communications
• The specific work to be done gets clarified
and actioned
• Experiments and new connections are
WARNING SIGNS
‘Heroics’ are rewarded, rather than taking time to learn or digest
Leaders forget to appreciate others, perhaps feeling a little under-appreciated themselves!
The focus is on completing tasks rather than on system health or longer term capacity
Requires containment
and support
GOOD PRACTICE
• People are encouraged to ask for help if
they lack the skill to proceed
• There’s attention to teambuilding to
ensure that difficulties and differences are worked through
• Leaders bring softer skills of listening,
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK 16 WARNING SIGNS
There is no shared picture of progress
Many people seem either stretched or confused, and some work appears ‘stuck’
People say the goal-posts keep shifting
Requires discipline and
precision!
GOOD PRACTICE
• Results are evaluated against clear aims
• Success is celebrated and failure properly
acknowledged
• The evaluation process leads to a
sharpening of accountability-taking going forward
WHAT DOES GOOD
WWW.INTEGRALCHANGE.CO.UK
WHAT DOES GOOD
CHANGE MANAGEMENT LOOK LIKE?
18
