Shall We Change Our Change Management?
Apoorva Mathur
Leadership | Talent | Culture | People Strategy & Performance | Consumer NL Consulting Leader | Korn Ferry
I consider myself fortunate that, over the years, I have had a chance to be part of transitions that were significant for the organizations that I was working for. Reflecting upon what I have learnt from these transitions, I came up with three main themes.
1. Those who design and deliver change tend do it in a rational manner, while those who receive it tend to do so in an emotional way. For me, this is the single most important consideration in any change management situation. There are two implications for change managers here. They must acknowledge this tendency in their planning, and they must ensure that communication efforts are two-way and that there is room for change participants to freely express their emotions. This is about treating change participants and stakeholders as individual people - and not just as roles and characters on a 'stakeholder map'.
2. How the main business leader communicates during the change has disproportionate influence on change outcomes. In my view, leaders should follow these 4 C's in their communication:
- Commitment: Provide firm sponsorship early in the change. "I am behind this." "I want us to do this differently."
- Clarity: Do not downplay the pain. Provide specifics. "This will mean extra work for six months." "This will involve a reduction of about 20% of the team".
- Consistency: Have a storyboard. Refer to it at every opportunity. Don't change messages on the go. "As I mentioned in the first townhall..." "Going back to what I shared earlier ..."
- Compassion: Acknowledge the suffering. Show empathy. Make it sincere. Make it personal.
3. There is far more change management to be done than we think there is. We have all worked for large-scale change programmes named after large planets, Greek Gods, and medieval weapons. Very often these are about a large reorganization, a massive change in technology, or perhaps a move to 'flex working'. However, not all situations that require change management interventions come labelled as such. The launch of a product is about change management. A senior leader moving continents is also about change management. The implementation of a new learning initiative is, indeed, also change management. We can significantly increase the probability of success of these events by treating them as change management projects, and by conversing with the people who will be affected.
I believe we have an opportunity to bring change management work out from our Excel sheets and our PowerPoint presentations, and take it to the hearts and minds of our people. Let's do it!
Strategic, Results-Oriented, Coach and Leader
9 年Your first point really resonates with me and the main reason why sometimes change initiatives fail. Change is an emotional process and no matter how much rational thought goes into the messaging the impact on those effected is the same, confusion, denial, disbelief. Change is forced upon employees and they have to move on to succeed. I agree that change management should be a larger focus for organizations and people should be at the center of the conversation.
hi Apoorva, thanks for sharing your article. One of my lasting reflections from 'change management' at Deloitte, and one that I share with participants on programmes now, is that 'if all you are doing is sitting behind a computer, you're not likely to be facilitating change!' I struggle with the concept of 'managing' change in some contexts - the rationality you talk about comes from a paradigm which assumes cause and effect, predictability and mechanism. Our experience of change rarely follows this and yet when we 'manage' change we cling to the belief that we have clear agency (and this contains our anxiety and that of others). Whilst recognising influence of senior leadership we would do well to reflect on how we must work with each other if we face our experience that change is unpredictable and ambiguous....looking forward to your next post!
Loopbaancoach (RL* - Noloc). Loopbaancoaching, ontwikkeling én begeleiding.
9 年Thanks for this great short summary and above all for sharing! 1 = all about connection, engagement, empowerment > emotional basics. 2 = superb and inline with 1 (rational & emotional aspects are reality). 3 = change indeed is continuously ongoing, when this will be taken into account the big projects, interesting names and human capital lost will also be reduced. Organizations will be more flexible and continues future proof. When you take into account the different generations and diversity in work we can also build organizations that are in the middle of our daily society.
Entrepreneur | Family Office | Charity Trustee | Angel Investor | YPO Member
9 年Great article. Head vs Heart comparison is aptly put and if we remember this basic rule while initiating change, it will make a world of difference.
Manager HR&O bij Enver jeugd en opvoedhulp
9 年Thank you Apoorva, nice and thorough contribution. From own experience I would like to add: change in itself is not difficult, provided that we are aware and continuously working on it.