Tragic Photos: Can Change Management Theory help drive action?

A few days ago, I saw a post on Humans of New York that highlighted the work being done by Melissa Fleming in the UN Refugee Agency. In the story, she says, "I don't think I anticipated how difficult it would be to make people care." (Click here to see the full post on HoNY.) This caught my eye, as I'd recently been thinking about a similar topic - Why don't the tragic pictures we see of natural disasters and refugees move more people to action?

With Facebook, Twitter, and 24-hour news sites, we are constantly inundated with heart breaking pictures.  As a mother, the pictures of children in war-torn countries especially move me.  It's impossible to see these pictures without imagining your own children in these situations.  And yet...
Despite feeling awful when I see these pictures, I've never taken action.  I took a very personal look at why, and here's what I discovered.

Yes, these pictures make me aware of the tragedy that is occurring, and I feel terrible thinking about the people suffering.  But the problems feel so big, and I don't really know what I can do to make the situation better.  Which makes me feel helpless, and my inability to help makes me feel guilty, and so I quickly move on to the next article on CNN, hoping it will take away these feelings of sadness, and helplessness, and guilt.

Let's pause there and move from the emotional to the theoretical.  If we assume that as least a few people feel the same way I do when looking at tragic photos in the news, then from an ADKAR perspective, what we have are lots of people who are Aware of the issue, and have a strong Desire to help, but have neither the Knowledge nor Ability to take action.

For example, if you see a picture of a natural disaster, your first inclination might be to donate money.  But to whom should you donate it?  Which charity will make the best use of your money?  Or if you'd prefer to give your time, whom do you get in touch with to volunteer?  What if you don't have the skills they're looking for - how else can you help?

You could do research, find rankings of the best charities and look up the phone number of your Senator so you can call and encourage them to vote for releasing emergency funds.  But this all takes time and effort, which brings us to our second Change Management theory (and, admittedly, one of my favourites) - the Rider, the Elephant, and the Path.  Published by Chip and Dan Heath in their book, Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard, this theory suggests that when our will power to do something runs out, and continuing to change isn't our natural inclination, then we need to find a way to make change easy.

Which brings us to the question I finally arrived at, when examining my own reaction to tragic photos...

How can we make it easy for people to respond to tragic photos by supporting a cause when they don't know what action to take?

How do we smooth their path to action by giving them the knowledge and ability they need to make a change?

I don't have the answer, and there are definitely lots of people out there with much more expertise in this area than me, so I'll share my rough idea below, but I'd prefer to hear your thoughts on the topic in the comments.

My idea: What if every time you saw a tragic photo on Facebook or a news site you could click on it, and a list of 2-3 actions you could do to support the cause would appear.  One might be a "Donate Now" link, that would allow you to donate to a charity that had been pre-vetted and approved by a neutral and trustworthy third party.  Another link may say, "Get Involved," and link you to an organisation in your area that coordinates volunteers.

These links would let people quickly and easily take action, and now, instead of feeling helpless and guilty and quickly moving to the next article in an effort to alleviate those feelings, they feel empowered and proud, which hopefully leads them to search out the next photo and click to learn more about how they can drive change.

What do you think?  How would you help drive action?  Leave your ideas in the comments section below.

The One-Step Change Method

I've been thinking about Change Management quite a bit lately, and I've decided that behind all the methodologies and acronyms, behind the research and tools, there is one thing that drives successful change.

Commitment.

Organisational commitment and personal commitment.

Commitment of time and commitment of resources.

Commitment when the change is hard.

Commitment when everyone else has given up.

Commitment when the newest buzzword, or trend, or shiny object tempts you.

Commitment to sustained change over easy fixes.

Behind Kotter's Eight Steps, ADKAR, the Elephant and Rider, and the mice chasing their cheese is someone who is committed to the change.

If you enjoy the blog, you'll love the book!

Dear readers,

I'm extremely excited to announce that my book, Practical Change Management for IT Projects, will be published next week and is now available for pre-order.  Just click here to order your copy now!

Like the blog, the book is focused on providing practical advice on implementing Change Management.  It's full of templates and exercises that will help you create a Change Management plan.  Based on the Five Pillars of Change, with chapters dedicated to Sponsorship, Stakeholder Management, Communication, Training, and a section on Organization Design, this book provides a comprehensive beginner's guide to Change.

And don't be fooled by the name.  Practical Change Management for IT Projects will be relevant for anyone implementing Change Management on organization, culture, or process projects, as well.

Thank you to all of my loyal readers for making this book possible, and I hope you enjoy the book as much as you do the blog!

Happy reading,
Emily

Change Management and Human Resources: So Happy Together

I was recently invited to participate in an interview with the Change Management Institute about the growing intersection between Change Management and Human Resources.  A transcript of the Q&A is below.  You can also view the original article in the Global Change Management Institute Newsletter by clicking here.

What were your initial training, education and background?  How did you come to be interested in Change Management?  
I joined Accenture straight after graduating from Pennsylvania State University and worked on an SAP project doing Change Management and became hooked! From those first years in Accenture’s Human Performance practice, through my time in IBM’s Strategy and Change division, to my current work in Talent2’s HR Advisory team, I have had the opportunity to help thousands of people navigate through their change journey.
 
When do you think that Change Management began to be recognised as a management discipline? 
Although Change Management was regularly included in large IT projects, up until around five years ago, it was hard for Change Managers to get a seat at the leadership table.  However as more business leaders experience first-hand the benefits Change Management,  practitioners now influence and collaborate with the Project Management Office across functional and technical teams, serving as an adviser to project Sponsors. 
 
How Does Change Management support HR?
One of the main trends we are seeing in recruitment is evolution of HR departments becoming more strategic.  Whether it’s building Executive Sponsorship for change in an organisation or empowering managers to shift some of their attention from their “day job” to their HR responsibilities; we are seeing HR take on more of a leadership role.  And this leadership is often exercised by taking responsibility for communications to ensure that the staff understands the nature and reason for the change; by implementing intensive training program; providing managers with the skills to deal with employee relations issues; engage with all levels of the organisation to get people on-board and implement change.  Change Management practice has supported HR departments achieve their vision of becoming a strategic voice at the C-level.
 
How has the rapid pace of change in organisations influenced HR in regards to how they select candidates? 
The ability to drive change through an organisation has become a significant consideration for selecting and evaluating leaders.  When we conduct leadership assessments for clients, one of the key capabilities we measure is “Leading Change.” 
 
For front-line employees, if you read through job descriptions, you’ll often find that companies explicitly state that a candidate must be able to work in a “fast-paced environment” that is “constantly changing” with the ability to be “self-directed” and adapt to “changing priorities.”  These all paint a picture of a candidate who is ready and able to change with the organisation.  Whether it’s formal or informal, Change Management is starting to become an integral part of most positions across an organisation.
 
How does the role of Change Management differ across companies?
I have worked with large, multi-national companies that actually have entire Change Management teams with detailed methodologies, processes, and tools that are applied consistently to all changes across the organisation. 
 
Other large organisations have one or two HR professionals that are dedicated to Change Management who work as internal consultants to provide guidance to large projects.  Many large and mid-size companies will partner with a company like Talent2 whose specialist HR service offering provides for Change Management methodology and deep experience. 
 
However in smaller organisations, Change Management is often left to IT Managers and Project Managers to juggle with their “day job.”  This is where I most often see companies struggle.
 
Would you advocate for more professional training and accreditation? 
As the demand for Change Management increases, it has become increasingly difficult to identify and select a well-rounded Change Manager.  I think it would be fantastic to have more professional training, as well as a consistent set of standards that people must meet to be accredited in Change Management.  I think the Change Management profession is at a point where it is ready to follow a similar path to maturity that Project Management took, which culminated in professional standards and accreditation such as the Project Management Institute and Prince II, as well as the inclusion of Project Management in projects being considered a “must have,” rather than a “nice to have.”
 
What do you think are the future trends and forecasts for Change Management Practice?
I’ll go back to the connection between Change Management and HR.  Traditional Change Management has focused on five key areas: Executive Sponsorship, Stakeholder Management, Communication, Training, and Organisation Design.  I think more and more, we’re seeing that in order to really embed change in an organisation, Change Management needs to touch a large range of HR functions, as well. 
 
This includes building changes into the performance management process so that people understand the new behaviours that are required and are subsequently measured on whether they demonstrate them.

New Blog Feature: Introducing Polls!

Dear Readers,

I read a lot of articles on Change Management, and I talk to a lot of clients about their Change Management needs, but I've always wanted to gather more input about what people think about Change.  So, I have added a new feature to this blog: polls!

Every couple weeks I will post a new poll question.  It's to the right of this post.  Go ahead, take a look.

Found it?  Good.  Now go ahead and select an answer.

After every few questions, I will post a summary of my findings.  As with all research and surveys, the more responses, the better the data, so please share with your friends and colleagues so that we can get a good sample size for each poll.

Every time I put up a new poll, I'll post about it, so that those of you who subscribe to the blog will be automatically notified.

I look forward to seeing your thoughts about Change Management!

Kind regards,
Emily

Change Management Checklists: Organization Design

Back when I was part of the Human Performance team at Accenture, getting an Org. Design role was the holy grail of Change Management projects.  This was largely because they were rare.  And they were rare because many companies simply don't want to tackle this messy topic while going through an already difficult change.  I would argue, however, that Org. Design is part of ensuring that the change sticks.

Instead of detailing here a checklist of top 10 Org. Design activities, for the last Pillar of Change I'm going to list instead 10 questions you should ask yourself about Org. Design when your company is undergoing a change.

Top Ten Organization Design Questions

• Do I have the right number of people to perform the work after the change is implemented?
• Do my people have the right skills to work in the new world?
• If not, can I upskill them?
• If they can't be upskilled, can I move them into a different role in the organization, or do they need to be moved out of the organization?
• Do the current job descriptions need to be revised based on new job and role responsibilities?
• Do we need to do a remuneration review to ensure compensation is still appropriate for new responsibilities?
• Does the overall organization structure still make sense?
• Do the new and/or existing teams need to change the way they interact?
• Does the reporting structure support the change?
• Have you reviewed the positions you are currently hiring for to ensure they are still required/appropriate in the new world?

Let me know: Does your organization address Org. Design as part of Change Management?

Change Management Checklists: Communication

You could write an entire blog dedicated to communication (in fact, I believe there may be one or two out there).  I'm going to try to condense all of that information into my top 10 communication activities. Read on...

Communication Activities

• Collaborate with the Corporate Communications department (if your organization has one)
• Conduct a vehicle analysis
• Conduct an audience analysis
• Determine the review process for various types of communications and vehicles
• Create a detailed communication plan
• Write communications - keep them short, simple, and relevant
• Spell check, grammar check, and have someone else do a second review
• Develop and monitor feedback channels - remember...communication is a two-way activity!
• Update your communication plan based on feedback you receive
• When you think you've communicated enough, communicate more

Let me know: What is the most effective communication you have ever received at work?

Change Management Checklists: Stakeholder Management

I'll get right to it.

Stakeholder Management Activities

• Conduct a Stakeholder Analysis
• Develop a checklist of behaviors stakeholders should demonstrate by the end of each project phase
• Identify how far along the change curve you want each stakeholder group to be at specific points throughout the project
• Create a Stakeholder Management plan
• Conduct a Change Impact Assessment
• Create a plan to involve stakeholders in the project
• Remember that project team members are stakeholders, too
• Prepare to help stakeholders through the inevitable performance dip that accompanies a change
• Work with Human Resources and your organization's leadership to identify ways to motivate your stakeholders to adopt the change
• Celebrate every time a stakeholder group successfully adopts the change

Let me know: Do you agree with this list?  What else would you add?

Keep it Simple: The Art of Making Difficult Concepts Easy to Understand

Recently, I heard of a web-based tool called The Up-Goer Five Text Editor.  It is designed to help you turn difficult concepts into easy-to-understand language.  Basically, you type a sentence into the editor, and the tool compares each word to its list of the one thousand most used words in the English language.  Any word that is not on the list is underlined in red.  It's then up to you to find a substitute word.

It sounds easy.

It is very, very hard.

I decided to try it out on Change Management.  I started by using the definition of Change Management, as defined by ProSci on their website.  It reads:

Change management is the application of a structured process and tools to enable individuals or groups to transition from a current state to a future state, such that a desired outcome is achieved.

There are 33 words in that definition.  Thirteen of them did not make the cut.  That meant I had to find a way to change 42% of the words in order to meet the tool's criteria, without substantially changing the definition.  This was going to be especially difficult given that the word "management" isn't on the list.

The definition I came up with is below.  Before you read it, though, I challenge you to go to the site and try to come up with your own version of the definition.

My Definition
Try as I might, I just couldn't get rid of the word "tools."  That said, here is the revised definition I created:

The business of the Change team is to use a carefully considered set of steps and tools to help people or groups to change from the present state to a new state, such that a wanted end state is realized.

Let me know:  Did you use the tool to create your own version of the definition?  Share it by posting it in the comments section.

My attempt at using The Up-Goer Five Text Editor to simplify the definition of Change Management.

Change Management: Art or Science?

Today I have a question for you, Readers.  It is one of the ongoing debates among Change Management practitioners: Is Change Management an Art or Science?

Please leave your comments in the comments section below this post, or feel free to e-mail me directly at emilycarrconsulting@gmail.com. 

I'll post my position on the question next week.  I look forward to the debate!

The Danger of Smiling Faces: Fostering Two-Way Communication

There is an on-going debate over how to measure success in Change Management.  Whether your focus is on user adoption, communications, or training, there is a constant stream of "new and improved" methods for determining if your Change program is a success.

Regardless of the formal method used, I've found that the overwhelming majority of people have one fundamental measure for Change Management success: The more people who are happy, the more successful the Change program.  Sometimes we see this explicitly, as with the "Smile Sheets" that so many trainers distribute after each training course.  These surveys ask people whether they liked the course, whether they thought the trainer was good at his job, and whether they thought they learned something.  What the surveys don't do is tell the trainer whether or not he was actually successful in training the end users on a new skill.  I'm not saying these surveys are bad - I use them myself.  They are not, however, a reliable measure of training success.

While Smile Sheets very explicitly show the correlation most people see between happy end users and successful Change Management, the gut-level belief that most people have in this correlation is more often implied.  How often have you heard (or said) these lines?

• I just got out of a meeting where everyone was really negative about the project.  We'd better change our Change Management approach.
• I was talking to some people in the lunch room and they weren't happy about the change.  Why isn't the Change program working?
• I'm getting a ton of calls from people who want don't like the decisions we're making.  You'd better figure out how to make them realize this project is great.

All of these statements imply that because stakeholders are unhappy with the changes you're implementing, the Change Management program is failing and in immediate need of re-work.  Assuming that these statements are coming during the life of the project, however, and not at Go-live or later, I would argue that statements of unhappiness, requests to discuss project decisions, and expressions of annoyance are a sign of success.

What they demonstrate is that people are engaged.  The first stop on the Change Curve is Awareness, and it's not possible to be unhappy with a change unless people are first aware of the change.  Unhappy stakeholders?  Congratulations!  You've successfully reached Awareness. 

The second stop on the Change Curve is Understanding.  People yelling that they don't like how the changes you're making will impact them?  Congratulations!  Your stakeholders understand the change, and you've successfully reached the second step to achieving change.

When I get half-way through a project and all I see are happy, smiling faces, I get worried.  100% happiness tells me that I'm failing miserably at Change Management because one of three things is happening:

1. People don't know a change is coming, which means my communications aren't reaching their intended audience.
2. People don't realize how they will be impacted by the change, which means they don't understand the communications I'm sending.
3. People are pretending to be happy, which means I haven't fostered good two-way communications.

For today, let's focus on the third option and look at:

Practical Tips for Building Two-Way Communications

1. Make it Easy - People are busy.  If you make it difficult to communicate with you or the project team, noone will bother.  If you have an e-mail address, make it easy to remember.  If you want people to respond via a web site, remember to include the link so that all they have to do is click.  The easier it is for people to tell you what's on their minds, the more likely they are to communicate.
2. Make it Confidential - How often have you sat in a meeting where noone offers an opinion, but as soon as you leave everyone hurries to someone else's office where they suddenly have lots to say?  Many people are more comfortable sharing their thoughts in a one-on-one setting than they are in a group.  Even more people are likely to communicate if they know that what they tell you will be anonymous when it's shared with others.  This not only requires that you provide people a safe, confidential forum for communicating, it also requires that they trust you to maintain the confidentiality.  Change Management often falls in the HR department for a reason.  Even if it doesn't, you should practice the same level of discretion as an HR professional.
3. Make it Matter - If you want people to communicate with you on an on-going basis, you have to demonstrate that what they tell you matters.  This means that you pay attention to what they say, take appropriate action based on the conversation, then follow-up to let them know the outcome.  Did they ask you a question?  Make sure you get back to them with the answer.  Did they make a suggestion?  Even if you can't guarantee that their suggestion will be implemented, let them know that it will be considered and tell them when they can expect to hear more.  Did they just want to vent?  Remember that even if you don't agree, everyone is entitled to have an opinion.  One of my major rules of communications: Never ask people for input if you have no intention of seriously considering it and taking appropriate action.

Do you think happy stakeholders is a good way to measure Change Management success?  What other tips do you have for building two-way communication? 

If I Could Have One Wish: Better Documentation

When the first star comes out each evening and I think about what I'd like to wish for, I close my eyes, concentrate really hard, and wish for better documentation on projects.  Unfortunately, many projects don't take the time to develop thorough, consistent documents.  Even worse, some projects don't produce any documentation at all. 

Why do I care?  Change Management is often seen as a separate team working in a little silo of happiness.  At first glance, functional and technical teams can't fathom why a Change Manager would get so upset when she hears that they've decided not to create test scripts or document major project decisions.  Because Change Management is a perpetual "down stream" team, though, almost every action that the project team takes impacts Change Management activities.

Consider these examples:

• Test scripts are often the foundation for training development.  With poor or non-existent scripts, the training developers are forced to re-create the wheel by either researching customizations to the system, trudging through a series of trial-and-error, or peppering the functional teams with endless questions.  All of these methods require extra time that could have been avoided with detailed scripts from which to work.
• Major decisions can occur on a daily basis on projects.  The Change Management team is expected to communicate this information both internally to the team and externally to end users.  If decisions are not documented, the communications person is often left to rely on second-hand notes and water-cooler chatter to figure out what message to send.  This can result in messages that are both inaccurate and late.
• A favorite phrase of many functional leads is, "That's a training issue."  While it very well may be, if there's no place to document issues and risks, the Change team has no way of knowing what concerns they're expected to address.  Three months later when it's time to prepare for Go-live, there's very little chance that all of the teams will remember all of the issues they thought would be handled by Change Management.

If you've never been on a project, or if you're a client who has listened to firms pitch their methodologies, you may be wondering how a lack of documentation could possibly be an issue.  Every firm will tell you about how they have tried and true document templates that will be used throughout the project lifecycle to capture important information about the system and then left behind for the client to reference in the future.  If you've been doing project work for awhile, though, you know that the reality is often very different.  The top 5 excuses I hear for why teams don't want to create documentation:

1. We don't have time.
2. We've done this 100 times.  We don't need to document.  We have all of the information in our heads.
3. The client/end user already understands the system.  We don't need to document it for them.
4. Documentation's a waste of time.  The system/processes are just going to change anyways.
5. We're communicating all of the information verbally.

While I'm tempted to jump in and talk about why none of those excuses are valid, instead I give you:

A Practical List of 5 Documents that Should NEVER Be Skipped

• A Project Work Plan - A project work plan is the backbone of your project.  It ensures that everyone is working toward the same dates, and provides an early warning system if tasks and time lines start to slip.  Without a strong project work plan, teams and individuals cannot properly plan their work and activities.  Many projects don't include Change Management activities in the work plan.  This isn't ideal, but I can live with it.  If a work plan is missing entirely, though, I recommend you pull the emergency cord and halt the project until you can figure out how to put a plan in place.  Whatever the cost of stopping for a week, it will be less than the cost of working for months without a plan, only to discover you're off track.
• Test Scripts - I addressed this above from a Change Management perspective.  Even without considering training development, though, test scripts are still important.  The client should be involved in testing the system, and it is nearly impossible for them to do this without solid test scripts.  Further, you need detailed test scripts to verify that you have built and tested all of the requirements you gathered.  Finally, if you're implementing a system that needs to be SOX compliant, you'll want to have test scripts in place when the auditors come to call.
• Issue/Risk Log - I'll keep it short.  Issues and risks that don't get documented typically don't get resolved.  The choice is yours.
• Decision Log - If you have never sat through a meeting where someone said, "Who made that decision?  I never agreed to that!", and then proceeded to spend the rest of the meeting talking about a decision that was finalized months ago, you're very lucky.  Aside from the benefits a decision log has for the Change team, which are mentioned above, the log assures that everyone has the opportunity to read decisions as they are made.  If they don't agree, they can speak up before work based on that decision proceeds, saving time and money by reducing potential re-work.  They didn't read the log and months later decide they don't like the decision?  Too bad.  The decision log is also extremely helpful when months later people's memories have become fuzzy and disagreement arises about what exactly the decision was. 
• Training Materials - Despite what college students everywhere like to believe, it really isn't possible to learn through osmosis.  If you want end users to understand and use the system you just spent countless hours and money implementing, you need to train them.  You've come this far.  Don't skimp now.

Is your project documenting?  If so, what benefits have you seen?  If not, why not?

Right Investment, Right Impact: Creating a Change Management Budget

Reminder: The statistics used in this post come from IBM's 2008 Global Making Change Work study.

The fourth and final finding in IBM's Making Change Work study is called, "Right Investment, Right Impact."  The study found that

Project success rates were 23% higher when the amount invested in change was greater than 11% of the project budget....Organizations that invested less than 11 percent in change had a 35% success rate; those that invested more than 11 percent had a 43% success rate.

Not only does investing this money in change increase your chance of success over competitors that don't invest the money, it also increases your chance of success above the average 41% of projects that succeed in general.

Let's convert this into dollars.  Based on these statistics, a project with a $1M budget must invest a minimum of $120,000 in Change Management (I'm using a 12% investment, since that's just more than 11%).  I've been on projects with much larger budgets that have invested much less in Change Management. 

Why is there such a lack of budget for Change Management?  I think the number one reason is that people don't understand what Change Management is and the value they'll receive on their investment.  I believe that the second most common reason, though, is that many projects don't know how to create a Change Management budget.  They can't figure out what the money would be spent on, so they see no reason to set any money aside.

Although it will vary a bit by project, I've listed the top 5 Change Management line items that require budget.

Budgeting for Change

1. Outside Help: Most companies are not equipped to handle the full range of Change Management activities internally.  We don't expect the finance guy to possess the skills required to do his own coding, so why do we expect he should be able to do his own Change Management?  Although many companies have the best intentions about having members of their project team deal with Change Management, it's a good idea to budget for outside consultants or contractors.  If you're still not convinced, I refer you back to my earlier post on the need for a professional Change Manager to increase your project's chance of success.
2. Training: Training is one of the most expensive activities covered by Change Management.  A one-hour computer-based training course with all the bells and whistles created by an external company can easily cost you anywhere from $15,000 - $45,000.  Even if you go with a more basic approach, good training development and delivery is still extremely costly.  In addition, most companies end up needing to hire contractors to help with the training development.  This cost can quickly add up.
3. Rewards and Recognition: In today's tight economy, with many companies operating with a skeleton crew, employees are being asked to take on more and more responsibility without necessarily receiving an increase in compensation.  Asking (or telling) your employees that they now need to work on a project in addition to completing their day-to-day jobs can result in revolt.  Setting aside a budget to do some simple Rewards and Recognition throughout the project, whether it's holding team dinners or providing small denomination "Thank You" gift cards, can help your employees feel appreciated and motivated.
4. Field Communications: This item won't apply to everyone, but if you have a large set of employees in the field (e.g., Sales People), it's a good idea to set aside budget for communicating with them.  Many companies prefer to meet with these groups in person, which can run up a hefty tab.  Even if all of the communications will be done through remote means, holding webinars and developing quality electronic communications carry a price tag.  I've also found that many companies feel the need to have "fancier" communications and events for their field departments.  If this is true at your organization, make sure to plan accordingly.
5. Sustainability: Many project plans end at Go-live.  A few continue for 2-4 weeks post Go-live.  Very few recognize that just because a change has been implemented, doesn't mean it has been adopted.  To really ensure that a change becomes embedded in your organization,  you need to consider the need for on-going Change Management activities.  What will you do about training new employees or those who were on leave during the project?  How will you communicate and train employees about on-going changes to a system?  What do you do if a month after go-live, you discover people aren't using the new tools and processes?  And who will be responsible for implementing any new Change activities that are required to deal with these issues?

And thus ends my analysis of IBM's Making Change Work study.  If you're not yet convinced that Change Management is a necessary part of any project, please leave a comment explaining why.  If you're a believer, what do you find to be the most compelling argument in favor of Change Management?

Better Skills, Better Change: Not What You're Expecting

Reminder: All of the numbers used in this post continue to come from IBM's 2008 Global Making Change Work study.

So far, I have been a huge fan of IBM's Making Change Work study.  It provides solid quantitative research in a field that is sorely lacking in scientific study.  They have also drawn some outstanding conclusions from this research.  When I got to the "Better Skills, Better Change" section, though, they threw me for a loop.

If you're like me, when you read the third headline from the study, you were expecting a discussion around training and ensuring your people have the right skills to implement the change.  Instead, the study focuses on having a skilled Change Manager.  In fact, IBM found that, "Projects with a professional Change Manager had a 43 percent success rate, compared to a 36 percent success rate for projects without one." 

What "better skills" should a professional Change Manager possess?  Oddly, the study doesn't say.  It provides excellent advice about ensuring Executive Sponsorship, involving employees in the change, communicating across the organization, and building sustainable change.  None of these topics, however, tell you what skills are necessary for a good Change Manager.  Which leads me to today's practical advice:

Skills Every Good Change Manager Should Possess

As with any position, there are a number of qualities a good Change Manager should possess.  Below are the top three skills I recommend.  If you're hiring a Change Manager, look for these skills.  If your goal is to become a Change Manager, look for training and hands-on opportunities to develop these qualities.

1. Foundational Skills:  A Change Manager should be able to jump in to any aspect of Change Management and actually do work.  If your Change Manager can't a) write a coherent communication, b) plan, develop, and deliver training, c) create and execute a Stakeholder Management plan, and d) explain the methodology he or she is following, it's time to find a new Change Manager.
2. Patience and Diplomacy: Because Change Managers deal with the people impacted by a project, they are often the face of the project.  They are the ones delivering communications and training, responding to inquiries, and, quite often, dealing with upset employees.  I've had clients and end users cry in my office, yell at me in person, over the phone, and via e-mail, and tell me how stupid they think the project is.  It is extremely important that in any of these situations your Change Manger is able to take a deep breath and respond in a calm, professional manner.
3. Professional Polish: Change Managers often work with senior clients much earlier than their counterparts.  It's more common for a Change Manager to interact with C-suite clients than, for example, the testing lead.  As a result, professional polish is mandatory for anyone involved in Change Management. 

Do you agree?  Are there other skills that you feel are more important?

Solid Methods, Solid Benefits: Solid Tips

Reminder: The numbers quoted in this post come from IBM's 2008 Global Making Change Work study.

Now that you're all fired up to gain insight into the changes a project will bring to your organization, IBM's study lays out recommendation number two for implementing a successful project: "Solid Methods, Solid Benefits."  According to the study,

Practitioners who always follow specific and formal change management procedures had a 52 percent project success rate, compared to a 36 percent success rate for practitioners who improvise according to the situation.

That's a 16 percent difference in success rates.

How is the average person supposed to put this advice into practice?  Unless you're a Change Manager, or work for a large organization that has a Change Management department you can tap into, the chances that you just happen to have a solid Change Management methodology on hand is pretty slim.

Don't let this stop you from realizing the full potential for "Solid Benefits."

Practical Tips

If You're Hiring Outside Help:

Many projects will bring in outside consultants to help with implementation.  If your company is doing this, here are some questions I recommend asking about their Change Management methodology during the sales process.

1. Q: Have you included Change Management in your proposal?  A: If the answer is, "No," that's a very bad sign.  Ask them why not, and follow-up by finding out what it would cost to add to the proposal.  If the answer is, "Yes," continue on to the next question.
2. Q: Do you have a Change Management methodology that all of your practitioners follow?  A: If the answer is, "No," I recommend looking at another firm.  If the answer is, "Yes," ask question 3.
3. Q: Do your Project Managers support Change Management and its integration into the project?  Do they understand the Change Management methodology?  A:  I've been on more than one project where a Project Manager said to me, "I don't really understand what you Change people do, and I'm really busy, so I won't be able to provide any support to the work you're doing."  That is never a good sign.  If the Project Manager doesn't understand and support the Change Management methodology, there's a good chance that many of the vital Change activities will be under-resourced or cut from the project entirely.
4. Q: Can your methodology be adjusted to fit our particular culture, project, resources, and needs?  A: Although the IBM study stresses that benefits are achieved as a result of consistently following a structured methodology, it is also important that a methodology has flexibility built into its design.  Not every activity in a methodology is relevant to every project.  To make sure you get the most bang for your buck, work with the consultants to figure out which aspects of the methodology will provide the most value.  This is especially essential if you have a limited budget.

If You're Doing It Yourself

Sometimes hiring consultants just isn't an option.  Sometimes you're the technology guy who is told to "figure out some Change stuff."  Sometimes an organization that has always flown by the seat of its pants suddenly realizes the benefit of having a Change Management methodology and wants you to set one up.  Now what?

1. Read the Experts: If you only have time to read one book, I'd recommend something by John Kotter.  He has a number of books available, but Leading Change is probably his best known.  If you have time for two books, check out Managing at the Speed of Change, by Daryl Conner.  And if you have lots of time, the "Harvard Business Review" has published a number of interesting, thought-provoking articles on Change Management over the years.
2. Online Resources: For overall Change Management information, check out Prosci's Change Management Learning Center.  For in-depth information about training, go to the American Society for Training and Development.
3. Take Some Training: Training options, either in the classroom or on-line, abound.  Since they're always changing and I can't attend them all, I won't recommend any here.  Ask around for recommendations of courses people have attended.
4. Buy It: I know that a few years ago, one of the major consulting firms would sell its methodology to companies for a price.  I have also heard of Change gurus who will come to your organization and put in place a personalized Change Management methodology.  If you have the money, this can be a fast way to put a methodology in place.

You've reaped rewards.  You've garnered benefits.  Up next: "Better Skills, Better Change."

Real Insights, Real Actions: What It Means to You

Reminder: The facts and figures used in this post come from IBM's 2008 Global Making Change Work Study.

Now that you're completely scared that your project will be part of the 59% that fail, let's take a look at the factors that typically cause it to fail, as well as IBM's first finding on how to succeed: Real Insights, Real Actions.

IBM's study found that the three most significant implementation challenges are:

1. Changing Mindsets and Attitudes (58%)
2. Corporate Culture (49%)
3. Complexity is Underestimated (35%)

These are all "soft" people-oriented challenges that can be addressed through a strong Change Management program.

In contrast, the three challenges at the bottom of the list are:

1. Change of Process (15%)
2. Change of IT Systems (12%)
3. Technology Barriers (8%)

These all fall into the "hard" category.  Despite being seen as less of a challenge to success, I have found that these are the areas that people spend the most time and money addressing.

How do we stop focusing all of our resources on the least challenging factors and start addressing the challenges most likely to cause our projects to fail?  IBM's first suggestion is "Real Insights, Real Actions," which they describe as getting a "full, realistic understanding of the upcoming challenges and complexities, followed by specific actions to address them."

Let's Get Practical

"Real Insights, Real Actions" is a great suggestion, but how do you take it from theory to practice?  Here are
five suggestions on how to build this insight into your project plan:

1. Don't wait until it's too late: Many projects don't have a Change Manager join the team until they are finished with the plan and design phases.  The reasoning behind this is that the Change Manager won't have enough work to keep them busy during these phases, so their presence is a waste of time and money.  I've also heard people say that the work a Change Manager does during this phase will just distract the other team members from focusing on their primary work.  Bringing the Change Manger on early, however, allows you to capitalize on the "Real Insights" IBM advocates.  It also ensures that the Change Program is integrated into the overall project plan, reducing future conflicts around resource delegation.  Can't afford to have a full-time Change Manager this early in the project?  Consider bringing them on part time.  A little integration now goes a long way toward ensuring the future success of the project.
2. Conduct an Impact Assessment: Impact Assessments allow you to discover how people, processes, and tools will be impacted (i.e., changed) by your project.  I've often heard clients say they don't need to complete this activity - they already know what the impacts will be.  Maybe they do, but this knowledge doesn't help the project if it only resides in their heads.  Gather this information and put it on paper.  It's also good to remember that what employees at one level of the organization "know" is often very different from what employees at another level of the organization "know."
3. Conduct an Executive Change Readiness Assessment: Executive Sponsorship is one of the most important factors in a project's success.  Just because an Executive sits on the project Steering Committee, however, doesn't mean he or she is ready to support and drive the change.  Interview, survey, chat at the water cooler, but somehow find out how ready the Executives are to make this project a success.  I find that guaranteeing anonymity is often very helpful in making this activity a reality.  I've also found that Executives are more likely to really believe in the anonymity if you have an outside consultant conduct the interviews and surveys.
4. Plan, Plan, Plan: Here's where the "Real Actions" come in.  Now that you've gathered all of this information, it's important to use it.  Change Management isn't about creating pretty PowerPoint presentations.  Take the data you've collected and start building a strong Change Management program.  How will the impacts you've uncovered influence the training and communications you need to create?  If your Executive Sponsors don't really support the project, what actions can you take to help them fulfill their roles?  What unexpected findings could derail the project, and what plans can you put in place to mitigate their impact?  Some consultants will tell you that Change Management is an art that doesn't require planning.  I disagree.  It's like SCUBA diving.  Gather the facts.  Plan the dive.  Dive the plan.
5. Integrate: Integration needs to occur in two forms.  First, once you've created your Change Management Program, make sure that your plan is integrated into the overall project plan.  Change Managers can't work in a vacuum, and if you want time from SMEs (Subject Matter Experts), Business Analysts, Executives, etc., you need to lay claim to that time now.  This is especially important when planning for training development and delivery.  Second, Change Managers need to integrate with other team leads early and often.  Project members often don't understand the role of a Change Manager, so they ignore them.  This leads to duplicated work, missed opportunities, and a Change Program that isn't rooted in the most up-to-date information.  Although functional leads who are heads-down working on design documents may think that helping the Change Manager identify project impacts is a waste of time that distracts them from their primary focus, having integration among the teams is the only way to ensure the Change Program addresses the full range of client needs.

Coming up next: How to put "Solid Methods, Solid Benefits" into practice.

I'm Running a Business Here

No matter how many examples I can give about projects that failed due to a lack of strong Change Management, at the end of the day Executives are trying to run a business.  Anecdotal evidence isn't enough to prove the value of Change Management.  They need hard numbers.

In 2008, IBM once again conducted their Global CEO Study, which identified the ability to deal with change as a top C-suite concern.  On the heels of this finding, IBM followed-up with the Global Making Change Work Study.  This study involved 1,500 practitioners worldwide and delivered a set of findings that demonstrated the value Change Management can bring to a project.  All of the numbers I discuss in the rest of this post come from that study.

Perhaps the most frightening finding was that only "41 percent of projects were considered successful in meeting project objectives within planned time, budget, and quality constraints."  If you and your main competitor are both implementing a project that can give you a substantial competitive edge, only one of you is going to succeed.  The question becomes, how do you ensure that your organization doesn't become part of the 59% failure rate?

Luckily, the study goes on to reveal four elements that can significantly increase a project's chance of success:

• Real Insights, Real Actions
• Solid Methods, Solid Benefits
• Better Skills, Better Change
• Right Investment, Right Impact

In each of my next four posts, we'll look at the numbers that support these findings, as well as practical ways to incorporate these success factors into your next project.

Do We Really Need Change Management?

There is a great deal of skepticism among consultants and clients alike as to the necessity of Change Management.  Often they don't know exactly what Change Management is or what value it will provide, but they do know that it costs money.  Who can blame them for being reluctant to spend money without a clear understanding of the results they'll get for that investment?

Let's start this conversation with an exercise I use with my clients.  First, raise your hand if you've ever been at a company where they were implementing a new project (e.g., a new computer system, new business processes, organizational redesign).  Now, put your hand down if you've ever seen one of the projects fail.

I've never seen more than one or two hands stay up.

I finish by asking the group to share some of the reasons these projects have failed.  I consistently hear the same reasons over and over again, regardless of the size of the company, the industry, or the type of project.

1. Management didn't support the project.  If my boss wasn't going to make the change, why should I?
2. We didn't receive adequate training.  I didn't know how to use the new system/processes, so I continued doing things the old way.
3. I didn't even know there was a project!  No one told us about the upcoming changes until right before the new system/processes were implemented.
4. I didn't understand why we were making the change.  Taking the time to learn the new way of doing things didn't seem as important as focusing on my day-to-day job.
5. Past projects have either failed or been abandoned.  This project will probably be the same.  Why should I waste my time learning about something we won't be using in a month?

It's unusual to hear someone say a project failed because the technology didn't work.  Instead, it becomes apparent very quickly that when projects fail, it is typically because they ignore the people who are impacted by the change. 

Each one of the reasons for failure listed above can be addressed with a strong Change Management program.  Whether it's a plan to increase Executive Sponsorship, a reminder that employees can't learn a new system through osmosis, or the generation of clear communications, Change Management brings the people-side of a project to the forefront.

Have you seen a project fail?  What was the main reason the project didn't succeed?

First Things First...

Before we begin looking at Change Management topics in detail, it's important to understand what exactly we're here to discuss.  What is Change Management? 

First, if you're reading this because you think "Change Management" and "Change Control" are the same thing, you're in the wrong place.  As a Change Manager, I am not the person who decides what changes can be made to a system after design freeze.  Sorry, tech. guys.  That's a different blog.

I also do not define Change Management as "that touchy-feely stuff" or "the team that arranges parties." 

Some people will define Change Management by listing its most common components: Communications, Training, Executive Sponsorship, Stakeholder Management, Organizational Design, and, in some cases, Project Management, and Continuous Improvement.  That's the equivalent, however, of defining a car as four tires, a steering wheel, and a motor. 

If you read books and articles on Change Management, each one will provide a slightly different definition.  They are interesting and well worth reading, but for the purposes of this blog, here is the official Emily Carr definition, "Change Management is the set of processes and activities used to help organizations, teams, and individuals accept, adopt, and master a change to behaviors, processes, and/or technology." 

Do you agree?  What's your definition of Change Management?  Post your definition in the comments section below this post.