Orchestrating Successful Organizational Changes ^©

Adapted from his article published in Contact Magazine

Change is always happening, like a river winding its way to the ocean; it never ceases. If a ship were put into a big river and allowed to float where the river took it, it would most likely end up hitting rocks or obstacles, crashing into the shore or sinking! That's why it is critical that a ship has a captain and crew of character, competence and commitment if it is to reach its destination safely. We can all recall awful stories about ships that were operated by people of poor character, competence and commitment. Many of these stories told of lives lost, ships and cargo destroyed and toxic impacts on the environment.

In business, captains are called leaders. They are there to inspire and influence others to think, say and do the right things. Their responsibility is to help their "crews" take the company "ships" safely to their destinations. Their job is to keep operations on course so that the vision, values, mission and goals of their companies are successfully achieved.

Just like the ship in the river, there are times when changes in direction need to take place in a company. Hopefully, they are planned. Hopefully, timely. Hopefully, in the best interest of everyone. Just like a ship, these changes in direction need to be guided by persons of character, competence and commitment.

As you begin to think about any kind of significant change, be aware of how the change will impact others in your organization and your customers. A new vision, set of driving values, mission or goals constitute significant change. So do new performance standards, new policies or procedures, a new computer equipment installation, or a relocation of your business.

When initiating any kind of change that impacts people, consider some key points. They will help you prevent your company's "ship" from veering dangerously off course or sinking because of poor planning and poor execution of changes by the captain and crew.

1. Involve those who need to help carry out the change in contributing to the planning of the change.

2. Clearly define people's roles in the change, the goals of the change and their achievement indicators.

3. Transmit the goals and objectives for the change in writing to all responsible for helping implement the change.

4. Address people's needs! Disrupt only what needs changing to accomplish your goals for the change. Retain the best of what is being done to get you where you're going, things like friendships, familiar work setting, personally preferred work procedures, and group norms.

5. Design flexibility into the change process. Don't redirect your course too quickly or people may panic and your ship might hit some rocks and sink! Allow people to complete current efforts and take adequate time to assimilate new skills, procedures, support mechanisms, and work behaviors that are needed to successfully institutionalize the change.

6. Be open and honest with everyone impacted by the change. Don't pretend that negative aspects don't exist.

7. Look for areas of agreement between yourself, as a leading orchestrator of the change, and those who oppose it.

8. Whenever possible, focus on the positive aspects and benefits of the change.

9. Establish parameters and define the limits of the change.

10. Design adequate training and allow mental and emotional adjustment time for the people involved.

11. Recognize your own limitations.

Most people have anxiety about change. It's normal. Know that when changes are being initiated, resistance will surface. You can count on it! The goal is to channel it and manage it while helping people grow and go to new levels of excellence and service!

As I've coached leaders in small to large companies in the use of our Pro Active Change Process, I've helped them address may different kinds of change goals. As we've worked together, I've identified thirteen common causes of resistance:

1. The new change goals and benefits are not accepted by the people who have to function with the change.

2. Neither the reasons for change nor the benefits of the change are adequately or effectively communicated.

3. People fear the unknown and can't predict the outcome.

4. People fear failure.

5. People like the current situation.

6. The purpose for change is not clear or relevant.

7. People dislike the person recommending, announcing or implementing the change.

8. People see change as an attack on their performance and react defensively.

9. The timing of announcing the change was wrong or perceived as wrong by the people involved in it.

10. People believe that the change will make the boss look good but not me.

11. People have fear of having to work harder because of the change.

12. People have fear of loss of rights or status because of the change.

13. People have resistance to change just because it is change!

As I've observed people in the middle of the most chaotic change efforts, the change was not being planned or orchestrated by leaders having character, competence and commitment to thinking, saying and doing the right thing. As a result, I've observed people's resistance turn into defensiveness, then toxic attack!

It is tough to help stabilize these situations where people sabotage, emotionally blowup, and steal; where they exhibit aggressive, overt resistance with blaming and finger pointing; where they moan and groan, withhold support, and fence sit; where they give cosmetic agreement but demonstrate behind the scenes lack of initiative or commitment to making the change happen.

You can avoid experiencing these toxic behaviors that kill productivity, restrict cash flow and reduce profitability. As a leader, you need to be proactive with your people rather than reactive when initiating change. You need to have the skills to strategically facilitate people through the change process without creating organizational chaos. As a change facilitator, you need skills to assess the "can do, will do" needs of the individuals with whom you work. As a proactive leader, your thoughtful and timely implementation of change will insure that people's motivation, productivity and morale stay high during the change process and that cash flow and profits are not negatively impacted.

Dr. Gene Hall and his colleagues, when at the University of Texas, Austin, identified two critical pieces of information through their research. This information is desperately needed by leaders when they are trying to involve people in changes. The information is the stage of concern people have about the new change and the level of use or prerequisite knowledge and skills they possess for supporting and successfully implementing the new change. Determining concerns and use are critical prerequisites to making appropriate leadership and managerial decisions about when and how to facilitate each step of the change process.

As a proactive leader who competently and successfully orchestrates successful changes, you need to:

1. Be able to define the seven stages of concern people have about a given change.

2. Define the eight levels of use related to the given change.

3. Interview each individual impacted by the coming change, establish rapport, and determine their stages of concern and levels of use.

4. Use proven leadership strategies to influence, inspire and encourage each person, reduce their concerns and enhance their skills for implementing the change.

Checking for Concerns.

When you determine each person's stage of concern about implementation of the change goals you want to see happen, you'll prevent your company "ship" from crashing or sinking!

Each person you need to be involved in the change is, for the most part, in one of these stages. Their concern can be directed in either direction from the main stage, but it is the main stage that you must identify and to which you must initially respond.

A simple, informal interview process can get you the information you need to determine where people fit. As you talk to your people, listen to what they say and get in touch with the emotions they are expressing through nonverbal language. If you read them right, you'll be able to place them in one of the stages below and then respond to them appropriately.

1. Awareness is the first stage. Here the person exhibits little concern about or involvement with the change.

2. Informational is the second stage. Here the person has a general awareness of the change and interest in learning more detail about it is indicated. The person seems to be unworried personally and is interested in the substantive aspects of the change.

3. Personal is the third stage. Here the individual is uncertain about the demands of the change, personal adequacy to meet those demands, and personal role with the change. This includes analysis of his/her role in relation to reward structure of the organization, decision-making, and consideration of potential conflicts with existing structures or colleagues.

4. Managerial is the fourth stage. Here the person's attention is focused on the processes and tasks of implementing the change and the best use of information and resources. Concerns are related to efficiency, organizing, managing, scheduling, and time demands.

5. Consequence is the fifth stage. Here the person's attention focuses on impact and relevance of the change on outcomes in his/her immediate sphere of influence, including performance, competencies, and adjustments needed to increase employee and organization effectiveness.

6. Collaboration is the sixth stage. Here the person's focus is on coordination and cooperation with others regarding implementation of the change.

7. Refocusing is the seventh stage. Here the person's focus is on exploration of more universal benefits from the change, including major additional changes.

Checking for Competency

Competencies determine the person's level of expertise to use the change. Levels of use are distinct competency levels that represent observably different types of behavior and patterns of implementation and use. These levels characterize a user's development, need for new skills, and readiness to use and implement the change. Each level encompasses a range of behaviors. For diagnostic purposes, behavior for each level is arranged in seven categories. You can use these categories as guide posts for questioning, observing and gathering information about the person's behavior for each level of use.

The seven categories of use behaviors are:

1. Knowledge: User expresses knowledge about characteristics of the change, how to use it, and consequences of its implementation. This is cognitive knowledge related to using the change, not feelings or attitudes.

2. Acquiring Information: User solicits information about the change in a variety of ways, including questioning resource persons, corresponding with resource agencies, reviewing printed materials and making visits.

3. Sharing: User discusses the change with others, shares plans, ideas, resources, outcomes, and problems related to use and/or implementation of the change.

4. Assessing: User examines the potential or actual use of the change or some aspect of it. This can be a mental assessment or can involve actual collection and analysis of data.

5. Planning: User designs and outlines short and/or long-range steps to be taken during process of adopting the change; i.e., aligns resources, schedules activities, meets with others to organize and/or coordinate use of the change.

6. Status Reporting: User describes personal stand at the present time in relation to implementation and use of the change.

7. Performing: User carries out the actions and activities entailed in operation along with incorporating the change.

The seven categories above are intended to be used with each of the following levels of use as focal points for developing diagnostic questions and observations. From the insights you get, you will be able to determine a person's competencies for using the change you want to take place. Just like stages of concern, a person is primarily at one of these use levels at a particular time during the change process.

1. Non-Use is the level at which the user has little or no knowledge of the change, no involvement with the change, and is doing nothing toward becoming involved.

2. Orientation is the level at which the user has acquired or is acquiring information about the change and/or has explored or is exploring its value orientation and its demands upon the user and user system.

3. Preparation is the level at which the user is preparing for first use of the change.

4. Mechanical Use is the level at which the user focuses most effort on the short-term, day-to-day use of the change with little time for reflection. Modifications in use are made more to meet user needs than others' needs. The user is primarily engaged in a step-by-step attempt to master the tasks required to use the change, often resulting in disjointed and superficial use.

5. Routine is the level where use of the change is stabilized. Few, if any, modifications are being made in daily use. Little preparation or thought is being given to improving the change, its use or its consequences.

6. Refinement is the level at which the user varies the use of the change to increase effectiveness within an immediate sphere of influence. Variations are based on knowledge of both short and long-term consequences for self, others, and the organization.

7. Integration is the level at which the user is combining own efforts to use the change with related activities of colleagues to achieve a collective impact on outcomes within their common sphere of influence.

8. Renewal is the level at which the user regularly evaluates the quality of use of the change, seeking major modifications and/or alternatives to present change to achieve increased impact on outcomes. The user examines new developments in the field and explores new goals for self and the system.

If you want to avoid facing resistant people who create chaos in your company when you make changes, being able to relate sensitively to your people and informally interview them to discover their concerns and competency level is critical. Remember, if a person's concerns are high about the change, you don't want to immediately send them off to skills development activities to enhance their competencies. Concerns must be addressed first!

Think about it - emotion always controls logic and action. Concerns are emotional. Take care of them first with each person under your leadership, and you'll find making changes of all types in your company will be easier, quicker, and more successful. As a high integrity leader of change, you'll also live a life that's more satisfying. You'll be more hassle and stress-free of the "revolting" people!