Transcript

Solu%ons  for  the  Top  5  Change  Management  Mistakes  in  Small  to  Medium  Organiza%ons  

Mistake  #5:  Launching  too  quickly    

Whether  due  to  pressures  from  senior  leaders,  a  Change  Leaders  own  desire  to  get  moving,  or  other  factors  a  poorly  scoped  and  has:ly  planned  change  ini:a:ve  is  doomed  to  struggle  or  fail  from  the  start.    

Solu%on  #5:  “Measure  twice  and  cut  once”  

Use  a  documented  process  for  managing  change  and  don’t  take    short  cuts.    Taking  :me  to  carefully  vet  and  plan  a  change  effort  is  cri:cal  for  success.    In  the  words  of  Winston  Churchill,  “He  who  fails  to  plan  is  planning  to  fail.”    (See:  Prosci)  

Mistake  #4:  Delaying  too  long  

There  will  never  be  a  perfect  plan  and  there  is  almost  always  addi:onal  data  that  could  be  considered.    But,  change  ul:mately  requires  prudent  and  :mely  ac:on.  

Solu%on  #4:  Define  the  decision  parameters        

•  Implement  a  feedback  loop  by  establishing  a  :meline-­‐based  logic  tree  that  iden:fies  key  dependencies  with  “go/no  go”  factors.  (See:  Precision  Tree)  

•  Limit  the  “no  go”  factors  to  only  the  most  significant  items  that  would  put  the  project  or  the  organiza:on  in  serious  jeopardy.    

•  Get  common  agreement  from  decision  makers  in  advance  about  “no  go”  factors  (this  will  hold  the  Change  Leader  accountable).  

•  Determine  the  implica:ons  for  “no  go”  decisions  and  who  will  communicate  what  when  to  ensure  the  people  side  of  change  is  well  managed.  

Mistake  #3:  Giving  an  unwanted  giJ  

•  Limiting the breadth of stakeholders within the organization can be a costly mistake.

•  We have repeatedly seen change in a particular department (HR, Accounting, Sales, Purchasing, Distribution, Inventory, Fulfillment, Marketing, etc.) take place without thinking through upstream and downstream implications.

•  Viewing the project stakeholder scope too narrowly can lead to designing, building, and delivering a less than optimal outcome

Solu%on  #3:  Be  generous  with  stakeholders  

•  Fight  the  desire  to  limit  team  size  •  The  thought  that  “too  many  cooks  in  the  kitchen  who  could  spoil  the  

broth”  is  hard  to  argue  with,  but  you  are  beTer  off  choosing  to  manage  the  tension  of  geUng  the  best  out  of  “cooks”  across  the  organiza:on.    

•  Use  a  RACI  chart  to  manage  expecta:ons.  •  A  useful  exercise:  during  ini:al  scoping,  imagine  the  change  has  

already  happened.    Role  play  problems  upstream  and  downstream  that  could  happen  (no  maTer  how  unlikely).    If  you  get  to  a  ques:on  that  cannot  be  answered  by  the  people  in  the  room,  somebody  is  missing.  If  you  can  answer  all  the  ques:ons  in  the  room,  iden:fy  a  team/department  not  represented  and  run  the  scenarios  by  them.      

Mistake  #2:  Making  assump%ons  

•  As  a  general  rule,  when  working  with  people  you  should  start  from  a  posture  that  always  assumes  intelligence,  but  never  assumes  knowledge,  understanding,  or  buy-­‐in.  

•  Making  assump:ons  is  a  par:cularly  dangerous  mistake  in  the  areas  of  es:ma:ng  the  impact  of  change  on  people  and  the  cost  of  change  to  the  boTom  line.      

•  Senior  Leaders  must  hold  Change  Leaders  accountable  for  rigorous  evalua:on  and  tes:ng  of  assump:ons.    

Solu%on  #2:  Replace  “should”  with  “could”  

•  Change  Leaders  are  prone  to  determining  what  should  be  done.      

•  Organiza:ons  are  o[en  beTer  served  by  a  scenario-­‐based  approach  that  presents  what  could  be  done.      

•  Taking  a  could  approach  forces  evalua:on  of  op:ons  and  explores  assump:ons  from  mul:ple  angles.      

•  If  a  Change  Leader  cannot  present  scenario  based  op:ons  with  carefully  veTed  pros  and  cons  they  have  not  done  their  due  diligence  and  Senior  Leaders  should  reject  the  plan  un:l  scenarios  are  presented.    

Mistake  #1:  Neglec%ng  the  people  

•  User  adop:on  is  the  most  challenging  aspect  of  most  major    change  efforts  

•  People  present  a  complex,  diverse  and  o[en  ambiguous  set  of  challenges  that  add  complexity  to  major  change  ini:a:ves.      

•  When  mishandled,  these  complica:ons  have  the  poten:al  to  lead  to  roadblocks  that  stall  and/or  kill  change  efforts  and  chew  through  company  resources  (money,  :me,  and  energy).      

Solu%on  #1:  Engage  and  mo%vate  

•  The  people  side  is  all  about  mo:va:on.      •  Avoid  focusing  exclusively  on  telling  and  extrinsic  mo:va:on  (“carrots  

and  s:cks”)  •  Influencing  user  adop:on  starts  with  listening  and  finding  the  path  

toward  ac:va:ng  employee  engagement  and  buy-­‐in.    •  There  will  always  be  outliers  that  resist  change  to  the  biTer  end.    But,  

for  most  employees,  engagement  and  intrinsic  mo:va:on  comes  from  being  permiTed  to  make  their  best  contribu:on  and  feeling  valued.    

 •  BoTom  line:  Organiza:onal  Effec:veness  and  Change  Managers  help  

create  compe::ve  advantage  by  fostering  a  culture  of  employee  engagement  and  organiza:onal  agility.  

•  For  more  on  employee  engagement  see  Gallup.    •  For  more  on  mo:va:on  see  work  by  K.  Thomas  and/or  P.  Marciano