The Art and Science of Changement

CHANGE PROGRAM FRAMEWORK By: Hi Merit?

Leaders are responsible for change. Change Managers facilitate the process. Hi Merit has, over time, developed a simple methodology that incorporates accountability through methods.

The history of change is inevitable and the word itself, a verb dating to c. 1200 means "to alter, make different, change" and its Latin derivative ?is “Mutatio” later becoming mutation in English.

Change Management methodologies abound such as Dale Carnegie? or PROSCI?. My feeling is that all methods have some utility value given the circumstance, so I give you here, freely, Hi Merit’s method for managing change or as the French say “Changement”.

Humans are naturally hesitant to accept change, being creatures of habit. Habits are paradigms and the normal human prefers to defer change or not to have to deal with it at all.

This business challenge for change requires thought and a plan to facilitate change in the workplace given the natural human disposition.

Let me digress for a moment. I typically present ideas through positive examples, but across my consulting career I have been witness to and impacted by disturbing leader changes which are not driven by customer's or the business' need.

Therefore, I will be kind here and say some leaders simply like to “leave their mark” on the business that they are responsible to operate. This is no doubt a negative and if I can give you an example; when I was in the Air Force our 4-star who ran the Air Force decided to change the uniforms. He will go nameless here but suffice it to say he wanted us to look more like airline captains. Enlisted members get their uniforms free, and officers must pay, so you can guess there might be some resistance to this change. Was it necessary for the business of the Air Force? No, clearly it was not. The very next Air Force chief reversed this implementation and while there was more frustration over another change, most felt it better to go back. In both scenarios 700,000 Air Force members were not given a choice… and so it is with change in the workplace.

Here is summary of the change management methodology for you to use and adhere to for successful change management:

?Definition - Vision - Adaptation - Improvement – Revisit

?STEP 1. Definition.

Primary drivers for change are Leaders > | < Customers. Customers do not run the company, so Leaders are responsible for implementation of any change. Due diligence is required as a matter of understanding what change needs to occur. The key concept here is there is a need to change that is not ‘justified” but defined and applicable risk assessment tools applied such as SWOT and business analysis conducted and supported with facts.

?STEP 2. Vision. ?

Start with the end in mind. A Vision must be aligned with transparency.

Leadership must be involved - creating an awareness of how they and others may react to the change. Leaders should stay involved – become the champion. Leaders should demonstrate commitment, show participation, and clearly define and communicate the vision and challenges for change. Leader willingness to be open about a change with employees in order to gain early employee support and adoption.

?STEP 3. Adaptation.

Typical change management data show only about 10-20% are change agents, leaving a whopping 80-90% of leaders and employees to some degree of “foot dragging”. Leveraging early adopters is essential. Moving 50% of fence sitters into action is a necessary part of change management. This is done through a communication plan and demonstrating the “What’s in it for me?” to employees. The goal is to shift personal attitudes and behavior patterns from disbelief, disagreement to the realization a change will happen. I have written about this in the past and it has to do with the driver of change delivery. The timeline for implementation for the change outcome drives whether the timeline is immediate, within a year or multi-year. The timeline determines the communication plan and potentially the road map necessary for implementation. Bottom line is early adopters, change agents and leaders push the change forward until each cohort of change is moved to action and acceptance. ?

?STEP 4. Improvement.

You have likely heard “measure twice and cut once”. This axiom is indicative of a well-planned change program and its implementation. In the improvement step we use applications such as JIRA, MS Project, SMARTSHEET, or EXCEL to assist in the transition. At the PMO or COE level, we use tools like Planview, Workfront, eHPPM or other platforms to assist in planning. The time spent planning is in direct proportion to the successful implementation of the desired change (defined change).

Basically we can put change into two categories, technology or business and should be managed accordingly, each with its own attributes. We typically employ an IT Project Manager or Business Project Manager to execute the change plan, and sometimes large organizations employ Change Managers to assist. Interestingly the formality is less important to executing the improvement than just completing it. You may have heard, “throw out the bath water and just give me the baby!”. Clearly this axiom alludes to getting it done, period.

Another thought on this step are Management Control Plans or Road Maps. Each of these strategies when accompanied by Action Plans provide a level of accountability which is necessary to complete the change improvement.

My final thought is that leaders are responsible to seek feedback and to communicate progress. ?

?STEP 5. Revisit.

In business it is wise to practice continuous improvement (CI). The reason for this is the Gurus of quality learned as early as 1903 that follow up, re-assessment and re-work may be necessary to improve or perfect the product of service.

Somewhere around 1980 the U.S. Government introduced the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Quality, and Motorola (Motorola’s six Sigma Journey: In Pursuit of Perfection.) achieved 6-Sigma (< 3 failures/million) at its Seguin, Texas plant around 1995, something to my knowledge has yet to be repeated in any industry.

The pursuit of quality is real and worthy of all businesses to pursue by revisiting the change improvement to check progress and see if further improvement can be achieved, not for the sake of change but for efficiency, cost savings or to meet customer expectations!

?**********************************************************

To summarize, it is a leader’s responsibility and duty to change when necessary for the company or the customer and manage this change to successful implementation.

For further information or feedback, please feel free to contact the author, Dave Howell, [email protected] or 210-618-6566.