The 5tep Change Model

A Change Model that CHANGED the Game...

The 5tep Change Model is a newer concept inspired by historical change models, such as ADKAR, Satir, and Kotter's 8 step model. Change has always been inevitable but the rate at which change occurs has rapidly increased in the past few decades given innovation strategies, increased growth in the business, changes in the economic climate, etc. Time is of the essence!

70% of all change initiatives fail (Blanchard, 2010).

The 5tep Change Model accelerates the change process through five essential steps:

1. Identify the need and urgency of the change
2. Form a guiding team of change agents to create, develop, monitor, and measure the change plan
3. Communicate the change vision and mission to all teams
4. Empower teams to take risks, eliminate barriers, and share feedback during the change process
5. Initiate succession planning for the new normal and adapt to cultural changes

The 5tep Change Model in Action

As of December 12, 2022, there have been 946 tech companies that have laid off approximately 149,786 employees. That means at least 946 tech companies are undergoing a change process such as, a restructure of the organization, a merger and/or acquisition, an adjustment to roles and responsibilities, etc. Yet, many of the leaders within these organizations are either not leveraging or underutilizing a reliable change model. As a result, their employees are likely confused and frustrated as they frantically try to find out how they fit into this change that they know little to nothing about.

29 percent of change initiatives are launched without any formal structure whatsoever (Blanchard, 2010).

By putting The 5tep Change Model into action these organizations will,

• Evaluate the Need for Change
• Choose Teams for the Change Initiative
• Identify Effective Communication Strategies
• Offer Stakeholder Support and Overcome Resistance
• Determine Implementation Strategies
• Execute Sustainability Strategies

Evaluate the Need for Change

As noted, Step 1 of The 5tep Change Model is to identify the need and urgency of the change. Majority of the time when leaders evaluate the need for change it is due to a disruption in their service offerings, resources, processes, and/or procedures and therefore, the organization needs to adapt to the disruption. Typically, they may start with a SWOT Analysis or another form of brainstorming to understand if and why change is needed. Then, they must determine the level of urgency:

• Level 1- change will happen within the next 1-3 months
• Level 2- change will happen within the next 3-6 months
• Level 3- change will happen within the next 6-12 months
• Level 4- change will happen within the next 12+ months

Change can put stress on all stakeholders, especially the ones leading the change as they are usually up against a deadline. The level of urgency helps leaders understand how quickly they'll need to move onto Step 2 of The 5tep Change Model while taking a strategic approach to navigating ambiguity.

Choose Teams for the Change Initiative

Step 2 of The 5tep Change Model involves forming a guiding team of change agents to create, develop, monitor, and measure the change plan. This can be one team or multiple teams depending on the size of the organization. The guiding team of change agents can be a combination of leaders within the organization, influencers within each team, or subject matter experts (SMEs). The more diverse the team(s) is, the better.

The guiding team(s) create the change plan by evaluating what was learned from the brainstorming that took place in Step 1, acknowledge potential gaps in processes, and identify key actions items and norms for the change to be successful. They meet on a recurring basis with assignments in between to further develop the change plan. Outside of using The 5tep Change Model, the team(s) may use other tools to monitor wins and challenges, as well as track risks and eliminate barriers earlier on. To measure success of the change plan, guiding teams leverage short-term wins, surveys, focus groups, etc.

Identify Effective Communication Strategies

The guiding team(s) understands that identifying effective communication strategies is the glue that holds the change vision and the change plan into place. The see-feel-change approach has appeared to be the best approach to gaining buy-in from employees. The see-feel-change approach differs in that of the analysis-think-change but sometimes analysis drives people into the see-feel-change process.?Essentially, people need to see (vision) the change, feel (emotions) that drive an urge to embrace the change, and change (support) the plan by acting on what needs to be done to make the change as successful as possible.

You may have noticed, the communication process starts at Step 1 but expands to the broader teams during Step 3. Effective communication enables teams to organize their thoughts and present solutions that fit the narrative of the change vision. This enables employees to visualize the positive outcomes that will amass from the change. By appealing to their emotions, they form an emotional connection to the employees who initially do not feel as thrilled about the change. This is usually because the change disrupts their current role and responsibilities in a way that can lead to stress and change in employee morale. By seeing and feeling the wins and challenges of the change vision, they commit to doing what they can to help with the change efforts.

One area leaders and/or the guiding team(s) seem to overlook during the see-feel-change communication strategy is the consistency of updates related to the change, especially when change is happening rapidly (levels 1-2).

During a company change process, 42% of employees prefer updates from leadership on a weekly basis and 39% of employees prefer updates whenever possible (LinkedIn Poll).

Offer Stakeholder Support and Overcome Resistance

We officially move onto Step 4. The best way to offer stakeholder support and overcome resistance is to empower stakeholders to take risks and capture their feedback during the change plan. There will be nuances that unexpectedly occur. When the broader team(s) are empowered to take risks and eliminate barriers, they are helping to support these nuances. Sure, setting some boundaries on the risks taken can be preferred but when trusting the people you hire, you learn to embrace any mistakes that result from an associated risk. Empowered people know how and when to create short-term wins— achievements throughout the change process that reward the change advocates, keep the critics at bay, and build momentum.

Capturing feedback from employees creates room to address areas of improvement throughout the change plan as well as recognizing the wins and challenges. Critical thinking is a skill that all stakeholders can expect to develop through the course of a change plan. Not only will the skill be applied during the feedback provided but also through various team building activities (if applicable). It is all about turning feedback into action.

Determine Implementation Strategies

During 5tep 5 of The 5tep Change Model, the implementation and sustainability strategies come to fruition.? Two strategies worth considering are (1) expanding involvement and influence and (2) exploring possibilities. The most efficient way to support change efforts is to "increase the amount of influence and involvement of the people being asked to change, resolving their concerns as you go" (Blanchard, 2010). This goes beyond the change plan and into succession planning.

Succession planning happens as the change is implemented and leads into what the change looks like post implementation. What are the new norms? What is the culture like? Are we in a better place than we were before the change occurred? All of these questions need to be considered to ensure the change leads to long-term success.

Execute Sustainability Strategies

Once the implementation is complete, sustainability strategies keep the succession plan on track. Embedding and extending as well as executing and endorsing are two sustainability strategies that have worked well for guiding teams. Embedding and extending helps to reach all stakeholders by crafting a succession plan that extends beyond the initial change vision to become sustainable long-term. Without this strategy, some or all of the stakeholders may revert back to their previous ways of doing business.

Executing and endorsing the change is a great way to hold stakeholders accountable and achieve the anticipated results in a timely manner. If leaders and/or the guiding team(s) do not hold themselves and the broader teams accountable for adapting to the new norms and cultural changes, this presents a new challenge.

There are many other implementation and sustainability strategies to consider. If you are interested in learning more, please send me a direct message on LinkedIn. I provide consulting to leaders and/or guiding teams looking to implement the The 5tep Change Model effectively.

References

Blanchard, K. (2010). Mastering the art of change. Training Journal, 44–47.

Reddie, A. (2022). During a company change process, how often do you prefer updates from leadership?. Retrieved from LinkedIn Poll.