CHANGE MANAGEMENT: Process, People, and the NEW START Model I Use

Change in business is both a voluntary and involuntary imperative. As a corporate executive, I have learned the ability to manage change is a universal skill that applies from the C-suite, offices, operations, and to customer delivery.

As a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, I sense the structured approach of today’s modern change management principles emerged from Lean efficiency principles by Toyota in the 1950s and minimizing variation by Motorola’s Six Sigma system in the 1980s.?Yet these process and product focused models showed little concern for the human aspects of change.

Building off the structured 8 Wastes, PDCA, DMAIC, DMADV, etc. models of Lean and Six Sigma, this human element gap was addressed by Kotter’s 8-Step process in the mid-1990s and more widely by the Prosci ADKAR model shortly thereafter.?These structured approaches to managing change marked the emergence of Change Management as a discipline.

Fear and surprise often lead to disruption in human behavior and then to performance and organizational decay.?I find the dominant concerns with change to be uncertainty about job security, wages and opportunity, shifts in work assignments and effort, scheduling, and social implications.

My experience is that most change management approaches are too narrow (largely human focused) and not intuitive enough to guide leadership through smooth and effective change.?I have landed on a useful model for me, that better combines process and people considerations of change, and I have tweaked it into a memorable acronym called NEW START.

NEW START feathers or gradually evolves the organization and employees culturally and emotionally to prepare to accept and implement change:

? Notice: Recognizing the need for change and including Lean, Six Sigma, or other approaches and the subsequent vision and planning for the change.

? Explore: Engaging and respecting key impacted individuals for insight and refinement as part of the planning.

? Welcome: Informally sharing and allowing limited news of the change to diffuse to departments and personnel for time to dwell on and cycle through acceptance and to contemplate preparation.

? Select: Identifying early adopters as change leaders, trainers, and advocates and allowing departments and personnel to select to support the change.

? Train: Formally training pre-launch procedures.

? Align: Preparing and staging resources, messages, advocates, and bringing on now fully informed late adopters.

? Rollout: Launching the change, now with the will and skill of personnel commitment and departmental resources.

? Track: Following the plan, acknowledging wins, monitoring and adjusting for optimal execution, and forming habits or culture around the change.

Effective change management requires balancing process and people in a structured, yet flexible framework to guide organizations through uninterrupted and optimized operations for long-term success.