Change Management: A Key to a Successful Future!

“If you don’t like change, you will like irrelevance even less.”  — General Eric Shineski

 One of the most challenging yet important roles for us in management roles is to effectively lead necessary changes. Change management is not easy—but it’s very important and there are tools we can use to be successful.                                                                                                           

 What is change management? Wikipedia defines as “as approach to transition individuals, teams and organizations to a desired future state.” Let’s explore this topic by looking at why change management is important then we’ll explore some tools to help us excel.

 Why Change?

 We need to change in order to be successful in a future that is different than what we have experienced in the past. President John F. Kennedy drives that point home when he said, “Change is the law of life and those who only look to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”                                                                                                                                

 We also need change to continue to improve our teams and better meet the needs of our stakeholders. Often change is not appealing, but it’s needed to move ahead. Charles Kettering explained, “The world hates change, yet is the only thing that has brought progress.” Let’s look at some models and tools to help us successfully lead and manage change.

John Kotter’s Eight Step Change Model

Dr. John Kotter is a Harvard Business School professor and leading thinker and author on organizational change management. Kotter’s eight step change model is highly regarded and considered by many to be the definitive change model. His model includes the following eight steps:

1.     Create sense of urgency. Help explain why change is necessary. Includes the problem of the status quo and the desirability of a better future. President Ronald Reagan once quipped, "Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in.'"

2.     Build the guiding team. Find effective change leaders. Get the right people in place with the right emotional commitment, and the right mix of skills.

3.     Create a vision for change.Really explain the “why” for the change, and then develop an understandable vision and strategy to achieve the vision.

4.     Communicate the vision. Communicate the vision frequently and powerfully. Address people’s concerns and anxieties openly and honestly.

5.     Remove obstacles. Take action to quickly remove barriers. Recognize and reward those who are making change happen, and identify resisters and help them see what’s needed for success.

6.     Create short-term wins. Nothing motivates more than successes so celebrate positive achievements. One of my key principles is that “success breeds success”.

7.     Keep change going. Embrace and promote the philosophy of continuous improvement. Set goals to build on the momentum you’ve achieved.

8.     Make change stick. Reinforce the value of the successful change, and make sure relevant policies, procedures and practices are being followed.

ADKAR Change Model

Prosci’s ADKAR model is a coaching tool to help guide employees through the change process. ADKAR has ability to identify why changes are not working and help you take the necessary steps to make changes successful. ADKAR stands for:

A = Awareness of need to change

D = Desire to participate and support the change

K = Knowledge of how to make the change

A = Ability to implement the change

R = Reinforcement to sustain the change

The ADKAR components are progressive – in other words the first step in the change process is Awareness for the need for change, then Desire to participate and support the change, etc.     

You can periodically survey your employees and evaluate how they are coming along in the change process. For change to be successful, we need to help lead all of our team members along each of the change steps.

Leadership Role in Implementing Change

Multiple studies have concluded that the number one key to a successful change initiative is effective leadership and management sponsorship. Leaders need to communicate, advocate and ensure overall awareness of the change process. 

Following are important roles for leaders to fill well:

Communicator: Communicate with change leaders, project team and key stakeholders. Explain why the changes are needed and risks of not changing. Correct misinformation as it arises.

Advocate: Demonstrate support for the change through words and actions.

Liaison: Balance the needs of both project and business teams to achieve goals.

Coach: Coach employees through the change process. Includes coaching people to prepare for changes in their roles and explaining new performance expectations.

Resistance Manager: Identify and manage resistance. Respond to questions and concerns.

Personal Change Management Example

Several years ago I had a change in management responsibility and inherited some teams that needed to make some changes. Recent benchmarking had confirmed that the teams were very effective and did quality work. But benchmarking also confirmed that the teams were not as efficient as some of our peers.       

The starting place for effecting change is to make the case for change. In this case, we emphasized the need to become more efficient based on what was best for our key stakeholders. Customers would benefit by paying less for the services we provide. Shareholders would benefit from lower costs. Employees would benefit from being part of industry leading teams that would not be future targets to be outsourced (i.e. higher job security).                                                                                                         

To become more efficient we needed to reduce staff, and reduced 20% of our staffing all through attrition – no involuntary lay-offs! To accomplish this, we clarified expectations, increased performance monitoring and coaching, and provided extra doses of positive reinforcement. Some members of the teams were at or nearing retirement and decided it was a good time to retire – which ended up being a win-win for them and the teams.          

Intentionally working through the ADKAR process, and being intentional about having supportive change management has been key to a successful change. I am especially gratified by two facts: 1) Our performance metrics did not suffer, in fact in some cases improved, and 2) A Job Satisfaction survey showed that overall job satisfaction was actually slightly higher than it was before the change effort! Much of the credit rests with the team Supervisors who did excellent work showing high levels of care and accountability.                            

Managing change is not easy—but if done well pays huge dividends for all involved. Good luck as pursue changes that add value to your team and its stakeholders!          

Wes Friesen (MBA, EMCM, CMDSM, MCOM, MDC, OSPC, CCE, CBF, CBA ICP, CMA, CFM, CM, APP, PHR, CTP) is a proven leader and developer of high performing teams and has extensive experience in both the corporate and non-profit worlds. He is also an award winning University Instructor and Speaker, and is the President of Solomon Training and Development, which provides leadership, management and team building training.

His book, Your Team Can Soar! has 42 valuable lessons that will inspire you, and give you practical pointers to help you—and your team—soar to new heights of performance. Your Team Can Soar! can be ordered from Xulonpress.com/bookstore or wesfriesen.com (under Book) or an online retailer like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Wes can be contacted at [email protected] or at 971-806-0812.