Solutions for the Top 5 Change Management Mistakes in Small to Medium Organizations

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 hastily planned change initiative is doomed to struggle or fail from the start.

Solution #5: “Measure twice and cut once”

Use a documented process for managing change and don’t take short cuts. Taking time to carefully vet and plan a change effort is critical 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 additional data that could be considered. But, change ultimately requires prudent and timely action.

Solution #4: Define the decision parameters

• Implement a feedback loop by establishing a timeline-based logic tree that identifies 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 organization in serious jeopardy.

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

• Determine the implications 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 gift

• 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

Solution #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 better off choosing to manage the tension of getting the best out of “cooks” across the organization.

• Use a RACI chart to manage expectations.• A useful exercise: during initial scoping, imagine the change has

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

Mistake #2: Making assumptions

• 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 assumptions is a particularly dangerous mistake in the areas of estimating the impact of change on people and the cost of change to the bottom line.

• Senior Leaders must hold Change Leaders accountable for rigorous evaluation and testing of assumptions.

Solution #2: Replace “should” with “could”

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

• Organizations are often better served by a scenario-based approach that presents what could be done.

• Taking a could approach forces evaluation of options and explores assumptions from multiple angles.

• If a Change Leader cannot present scenario based options with carefully vetted pros and cons they have not done their due diligence and Senior Leaders should reject the plan until scenarios are presented.

Mistake #1: Neglecting the people

• User adoption is the most challenging aspect of most major change efforts

• People present a complex, diverse and often ambiguous set of challenges that add complexity to major change initiatives.

• When mishandled, these complications have the potential to lead to roadblocks that stall and/or kill change efforts and chew through company resources (money, time, and energy).

Solution #1: Engage and motivate

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

and sticks”)• Influencing user adoption starts with listening and finding the path

toward activating employee engagement and buy-in. • There will always be outliers that resist change to the bitter end. But,

for most employees, engagement and intrinsic motivation comes from being permitted to make their best contribution and feeling valued.

• Bottom line: Organizational Effectiveness and Change Managers need to work with Senior Leaders to realize the competitive advantage that comes from having a culture of employee engagement and agility. • For more on employee engagement see Gallup. • For more on motivation see work by K. Thomas and/or P. Marciano