Change is a constant pressure in all roles, but to date, there is little support for managers to develop their ability to manage change.
Change is a constant pressure in all roles, but to date, there is little support for managers to develop their ability to manage change and in building change capability across an organisation. Accidental change has been the norm but this is starting to change. The high number of changes is forcing a re-think. Unless there are more people with a strong understanding of what is needed to scope, plan, implement and adopt change, we will be stuck with lots of ideas and few achievements.
The question of how to build an organisation wide capability for change is a hot topic, evidenced by the number of boards, executive committees and senior leadership teams who ask me for guidance.
I use my 30+ years of experience in change to define the success criteria for building change capability across your organisation.
When building change capability successfully, it is first important to recognise that there is so much change across an organisation. Leadership is not about sponsoring an individual change, it is about leading a transforming organisation. This means understanding and explaining change in the context of all the other changes taking place.
Leaders at all levels, not just executives need skills in identifying and prioritising the changes taking place in their area. The official term for this skill set is “portfolio management” but the activities require an ability to organise information and identify the connections, conflicts and inter-dependencies. These are skills that are relevant to everyone.
If there are multiple changes affecting people at work, it makes sense to recognise that a positive experience of change is as important as achievement of the benefits of the change. A negative experience of one change creates cynicism and decreases motivation for all other changes.
If change is stressful, it creates anxiety and fear, it demands more work, longer hours with little certainty about why it is needed or what the outcome will be. Why would anyone volunteer for more of it?
When building change capability, we need to ensure that along with achieving the improvements and benefits of the change, everyone who was affected by it has been treated well, giving an opportunity to participate and have their voices heard, and been supported to learn new ways of working.
A bias that applies to a lot of communications about change is that those impacted by the change are sat in front of their laptops, reading emails and downloading presentations about what is going to be different. This is because those scoping and planning the changes are often in front of their own laptops, so it is easy to forget that front-line staff have different needs.
We need engaged and persuasive managers with experience of the work affected to demonstrate the changes and create experiences of the new ways of working. These “local” agents of change are a vital link in building change capability as they make the difference between adoption and ignoring the change.
Every aspect of human life experiences change multiple times a day. Everyone has experience of change and their own coping mechanisms. We need to build on this natural ability and resilience for change. Start by celebrating the natural capability we have for change, so that training and skills development is an extension of what already exists.
We must break away from the idea that change is a specialised professional discipline that can only be mastered by a few dedicated Change Managers. There will always be a need for experts in change, as their skills in behavioural change using neuroscience and psychology provide valuable techniques for persuasion, motivation and resilience.
However, simplifying the theories and providing practical, simple, intuitive techniques for generating participation and overcoming resistance is key for everyone. Managers can enthuse their staff about new ways of working, but equally colleagues are vital in supporting each other in changing how they work. We need to be prioritising and building their ability in everyone.
A continuous blocker to change is time. The pressure to excel at existing performance metrics means that many people do not have the time to attend briefings and workshops about new ways of working. Often they do not even have the time read the emails about these events!
There is a simple fix for this. We need to start reflecting in role descriptions and performance criteria that all roles are a balance of doing our work and changing how we work.
There will be differences in the proportion of change versus “business as usual” but that doesn’t change the reality that everyone has some responsibility for changing how they work.
These are my success criteria for building change capability across an organisation. I am sure you can identify lots of other important elements for successful change. Join me at my next webinar Beyond the Change Team: Building Everyday Change Capability Across Your Organisation to share your views.
