ADAPTIVE

Team members are quick learners and change responsive

A Change Management Process

Those readers who have been following this series will recall that the underpinning 'Star Model' is as follows:

Star Performing Team

Broadly speaking the top half of the model maps the 'hard' or 'performance' factors necessary in teams whereas the bottom half of the model is more concerned with the 'people' factors. A central band across the middle can also be conceived as a 'Process' area in the model (taking in some of the 'performance' and 'people' factors). For an explanation of this see www.tms.co.nz/research  (SPT Research Paper).

Background 

This is the first article in a three part series on 'Adaptive'.

• The first article (Issue#16) discusses, 'A Change Management Process'.
• The second article (Issue#17) will look at some operational tools that can assist and drive change.
• Third article (Issue#18) will consider the issue of developing a learning culture such that change management is more effective.
  

Clarifying the Concepts

As Human Resource professionals and managers we all realise that increasing global competition has put tremendous pressure on countries, organisations, their teams and employees to change (and quickly) their workplace practices and processes. There is a body of research to suggest that most of the time change initiatives such as restructure or reengineering fail. It is suggested here that the reason for this, whilst complex, is often due to muddled definitions, poor planning, lack of rigorous understanding of the method or intervention being employed, and poor support processes. This can be a problem even when the change is initiated internally. When a change is forced from an external source it is likely to be even more challenging.

In order to develop a change management system that works, an organisation, its teams and members need to get some understanding about the following aspects: causes of change; how to monitor and identify the signals; and then, how to develop a change management system to optimise the benefits and minimise any pain.

Causes of Change

This is a time of unprecedented change in our society occurring at faster and faster rates. As well as the global competitive changes earlier referred to, other global factors such as recession, growth, regulation, climate change, politics, war, poverty, lack of key resources (e.g. water, cheap fuel etc.) can all have an impact on the organisation, the team and the employee.

Technology is another major driver. The telephone, radio, TV, and microwave weren't even in use decades ago, yet now it is hard to imagine life without them. In particular the digital and on-line revolution is dramatic. The next wave of communication; entertainment; facebook trends, facilitated by hand held mini computers with high speed and capacity internet interfaces are set to revolutionise our businesses and private lives. The music industry is a graphic example of how quickly and dramatically the market has changed. The impact is to blur the boundaries between our private and organisational lives demonstrating a clear link from technology to change and the way we behave.

Add to all this the sheer will of those people in governments, organisations and teams who want to make a difference. These people make change happen often to assuage their own hopes and desire to create the future.

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How to Monitor and Identify the Signals

Monitoring potential change impacts is crucial for Organisations, Teams and Individuals (OTIs). Since planning and implementation of those plans is an iterative process at each of these layers (OTIs), contingency monitoring is necessary.

Firstly, the strategic planning process itself should regularly scan its environments to understand potential changes and key trends. Then either proactively or in response to an opportunity or a threat strategies, change initiatives and actions are created. A typical list of environments to consider and expand include:

Environment Scan

• Broad Societal Trends for each market
• Economic Business Cycle predictions
• Technology Trends
• Political Impacts
• Globalisation/Mergers/Acquisition issues
• Changes in Industry Structure
• Competitor Profiles
• Internal Environment

By successfully and systematically monitoring important environments OTIs are better able to make change happen, or prepare and cope with inevitable change . However, this is at a macro level and whilst essential for strategy there are often episodes or events that are dramatic enough to require a relatively speedy response, one that can't wait for a formal review of the various environments above.

This type of monitoring is often called 'Contingency Planning'. Whereas Environment Scan monitoring addresses high-probability changes and trends, contingency planning addresses those events that have low probability but are, nevertheless, of high importance from a need to change perspective, should they occur. It can never be ruled out that something completely unexpected might crop up but many potential significant events can be pre-planned.

What needs to be asked here is, "When - not if we see this type of 'event' happening, what will we do?"  We need as OTIs to expect surprises and to prepare for them. These can take the form of threats or opportunities. For example, significantly more customers or clients than expected can be a serious change point. Many an organisation has failed because it failed to cope with unexpected growth by failing to deliver client expectations in terms of either quantity or quality. There may also be obvious (even if unlikely) threats such as losing the main funding source.

The process OTIs can use for Contingency planning is to:

• Identify the most significant (say between 3-5) but unlikely opportunities.
• dentify the most significant (say between 3-5) but unlikely threats.
• For each of the above identify (describe) the ?Trigger Point? that will cause OTI to change direction.
• Develop a change plan to cope with the event should it occur. This would include what to do and who will do it.
• Put in place a system for monitoring each of the opportunities and threats identified to measure and inform those responsible when and if the 'Trigger Point' is reached.

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How to Develop a Change Management System

The best model for developing a Change Management System is Margerison McCann's Team Management Wheel since the 'Types of Work' version of this wheel can easily be seen as a change cycle of  action. This versatile model will be familiar to many readers and continues here in its tradition of being of high utility.

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Advising for Change - How to get the relevant information

As discussed in the section above on how to monitor and identify the signals accurate, timely and relevant information is vital to any business. If important data is not available about the important environments and their potential impact on the future, then decision making will be faulty. Advising is therefore essential to managing change and we need to ask what information do we need?; why do we need it?; where do we get it? who will get it?; and when do we need it?.

• The Advising process covers three main areas - gathering information, storing and being able to retrieve information and then giving information. For OTIs to be able to effectively manage change the relevant information needs collecting, storing and to become easily available to those who need it.

• When a change project becomes formalised then collation of all the relevant background material will become an important 'Advising' function. This should include the causes of the change, the objectives of the change process, by whom or how the change was initiated, those to be involved in the change project, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats surrounding the proposed change and its expected deliverables. Other specific questions likely to bring about clarity include:

• What information is already at hand for this change?
• How was the need identified?
• What is driving this change?
• What are the sponsor?s desired solutions?
• Does it connect to other changes?
• What is the overall purpose?
• What outcomes are to be achieved?
• What will be different?
• What will be done by when?
• What tangible products will be produced by the change?
• Who is the sponsor of this change?
• Who is the change manager?
• What other skills and competencies are required?
• Who else should be involved in this change?

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Innovating for Change - Creating ideas and experimenting

The innovating sector of the wheel is sometimes the cause of or the actual change itself and some structure around an essentially creative and flexible process is essential. This structured process should allow innovation to flow as a process and needs to be built into the fabric of  OTIs. It can be the grand innovation or any major innovation such as a shift in the use of technology or entering a new market. Whatever the nature of the new innovation it has to be scoped by asking:

• What are the boundaries of this change initiative? What's in and what's not in?
• What type of change is it? Functional, cross functional, large, small, long, short, internally focused, externally focused?
• What priority has it? A, B or C?
• Have you negotiated, agreed and signed off an agreement with the sponsor for the change?
• Have we identified the critical success factors?
• How will we design quality into the proposed change?
• What kind of evaluation process needs to be agreed?
• Have we done an initial risk assessment: financial viability; timeline; budget; impact analysis; resource needs.
• How will the change be effected?

The important thing about innovation is that it invariably has a systems knock-on effect. If you change something in one area then it will have an impact on other areas. Despite the added structure above there needs to be a supportive atmosphere that encourages ideas that can be built upon, so that these in turn can lead to truly novel approaches.

Usually Innovation doesn't just happen - it is the result of many hours of thinking, reading and sharing ideas with others. Generally some individual with influence will need to project a vision of how the change will look. Nevertheless, everyone can contribute to this by having:

• An open mind
• An orientation to the future
• An ability to gather information and immerse themselves in the problem, opportunity or issue
• A willingness to listen to and consult with others
• A recognition that linking with others is crucial to success.

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Promoting Change - Selling the Message

The key process here is how best to mobilise commitment to the Change. Although selling the message is important other aspects of the promoting function include: Communicating the features and benefits at all levels through networking. Achieving stakeholder agreement - Who are the key stakeholders? What are their motives and influence? What are their needs and expectations? Selling need for $ and time. Having a communications strategy. Establishing the right image. Making personal contacts and representations.

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Developing the Change - Ways to test and plan

For any change initiative we need to have the right information, a vision for the change and its outcomes and a means to promote commitment. One way to enhance that commitment is to develop a business case. It is essential that the market and the key stakeholders will accept the proposed change. A key part of any developing activity is to see, in advance, how a new idea can be made to work. Overall Developing ensures that all ideas, innovations and market opportunities are fully assessed, so that practical plans can be developed for implementation. These usually involves a report and presentation covering:

• purpose, scope, objectives, impact
• responsibilities, change management, benefits
• estimates of resources, costs and time>
• risks and quality management (e.g. market testing)
• other alternatives considered
• contribution to strategy
• cost benefit analysis
• recommendations.

The developing function should also be the stimulus for creating a timetable for change. Use the 'wheel' to plan the work. How long should each segment take? What are all the jobs which need to be done?

Finally, this function is where a full analysis of the risks are undertaken. Better to 'under promise and over deliver' or put in a more positive way ensure we understand the importance of managing stakeholder expectations.

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Organising the Change Work - Who does what and when

Although the developing function involves creating an overall schedule for the proposed change, the organising sector involves establishing key change targets and then managing day-to-day events to achieve them by setting deadlines, conducting meetings, coordinating activities and deciding priorities. The essence of a change project is how best to organise its implementation. There are tasks or chunks of work which need action within timelines and clarification of which resources can be used. It is important, too, to manage stakeholder expectations, constraints, financial risk and materials.  A classic prompt list includes the following:

• What are our objectives?
• When should we achieve them?
• Who will do what?
• What resources do we need in order to do the job?
• If problems occur, how will we get back on track?
• What are the immediate priorities?

Some tips for OTIs include:

• Set SMART objectives and goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timed).
• Check the objectives you have to see if they fit these criteria, and adjust if necessary. Be sure each team member understands their specific contribution towards each objective.

• Make use of Organising tools. At a simple level, this might be a diary or mobile telephone. Or you may need to use more complex aids as Gantt charts or project management software.
• Set stretch goals. Most people work better if they have a set of goals and objectives to achieve. Goals help focus people?s time and efforts and allow people to perform more effectively and efficiently. The team should have a say in how goals are set and measured.
• Measure progress. Be sure to establish benchmarks for success so the team can continually improve performance.

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Producing - Delivering the change

This is all about producing something tangible. The outcomes envisaged at the outset of a change initiative  will become theintended results as a new product, process or service.Some are done on a day to day basis, for example producing reports, while others might take a longer such as producing a new internet ordering system. This is the part of the change sequence where chunks of work are implemented. This is the doing getting started on time, making sure resources are in place. The tasks associated with the change will be completed against the action plan devised in the organising section. The activity sequence will be driven by that schedule and the key result areas specified. Some prompt questions include:  Is there a useable 'time management' system, change calendar, etc?

there a budget and a means of keeping track as the change proceeds?

How will the change work be integrated with other workloads? How will results be communicated and to whom?

The sharp end of any change project is its implemention. The stakeholders will judge the result from the outputs. Producing involves a systematic way of generating change outputs. If it is left to each person to do things in their own way, it is unlikely that this will occur as efficiently as when everyone works to a plan. The Producing function depends on regular reviews of the operational systems and the establishment of more efficient and effective processes.

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Inspecting the Change - How to get the details right

Inspecting the change is an activity often underrated. It is sometimes seen as adding to costs. However when things go wrong, it is usually because the  inspecting activity has not been carried out as well as it should have been. The Inspection function is of paramount importance. It is essential to finalise any change with some kind of agreement or documented procedure. It is, therefore, necessary to decide: What documentation there will be? Whether it will it be available on a shared drive electronically? Clarification of who can access it/change it?

Overall the aim is to check actual change results against planned results.

To ensure the inspection occurs it needs to be decided at what milestone the change review should take place, how this will  happen - when, what and with whom.

Sometimes the review process shows a need for corrective action. Ideally there should also be some means of checking  the quality during the life of the project too.   Where the feedback loop requires corrective actions then consideration of how to manage these is required.

Put in place an audit procedure to ensure that the inspecting processes are reviewed. Too often procedures are left in place without review and, therefore, become out of date.  'Sunset clauses' to say when a procedure has to be renewed can be useful. It is therefore vital to audit, probably on an annual basis, to ensure your inspecting processes are effective.

Maintaining - Ensuring quality support and service

Another key work function is Maintaining. There is a saying that, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it?. This, in some cases means that maintenance is not done when it should be. When the technology or system does break it is sudden and often costly. Maintaining can be ignored because its benefits may not be obvious in the short term. However, Maintaining the standards, values, systems, hardware and the people dynamics and without time and attention being spent in this area it is inevitable that OTIs will cease to be effective. The next article on 'Adaptive' will in particular look at tools available to maintain the people dynamics during time of change. It is important that people's emotions are appropriately handled and that they be equipped with the necessary skills.

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Linking - Integrating and co-ordinating the Change efforts

This is done primarily in two ways. The first is the internal linking that occurs within a team.  The second is the external linking and focuses on how the team uses the wheel segments with external stakeholders - the customers, clients and other teams with which they interact. In most cases problems are caused by links breaking down: Between team members themselves. Between the team and its suppliers. Between the team and its customers. Between the team and other teams.

Some key linking questions that need to be asked include:

How will overall strategic requirements be linked to priority change projects?

How will co-ordination occur of workload, mangers and change sponsors?

How will the balance of conflicting priorities be managed?

How will the integration  of  any change be managed with the organisation's business and systems practices?

How will it be ensured that resources and admininstration support are linked to priority projects?

Will you hold linking meetings at which people share what is going on and why, so there is a clear understanding of where the priorities and the pressures are, and opportunities to help one another?

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Conclusion

The foregoing article has considered how Organisations, Teams and Individuals need to be 'Adaptive'. It has been argued that in order to be able to cope and adapt to change they need to see change as inevitable and be aware of the sources and origins of potential changes. Awareness heightens our ability to see the need to monitor through environment scanning, contingency planning and learning quickly to deal with opportunities and threats in an innovative way.  

A case has also been made that suggests the best way a team can improve in this area is to roll up their sleeves together and tackle major changes. A change problem or opportunity shared increases innovation, reduces individual strain, and spreads the load.

However, even with the best of intentions things can go badly wrong in any change project unless a robust commonly understood change management system, such as the one outlined above, exists to reinforces the necessity of the best ideas, a wider involvement and effective linking, plus the appropriate amount of analysis and action supported by quality and maintenance endeavours. In particular managing the quality details, the process and the people dynamics is of crucial importance.

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Dr Paul Robinson
Managing Director
Team Leadership Services

P.O. Box 21-194, Henderson, Waitakere 0650, New Zealand
Tel: +64-9-836-5317 Fax +64-9-836-5318
email: paul@tls360.com
Website: www.tls360.com

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