Change Management Tips email Game

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Posted Tips for Managing Change

CHANGE AGENT COMPETENCIES

1. Must be able to accept advice. Posted by Frank 20/02/08.
2. Controls emotions when speaking with colleagues. Posted by Ashish 21/02/08.
3. Finds solutions to problems. Posted by Alan 21/02/08.
4. Listens attentively, asserts positively. Posted by Irina 22/02/08.
5. Effectively manages time. Posted by Julie 22/02/08.
6. Is not patronising. Posted by Alan 22/02/08.

CHANGE ASSUMPTIONS

1. Conflict and disagreement are necessary. Posted by Ralph 20/02/08.
2. Not everyone will accept that change is necessary. Not everyone will stay with the organisation during change. Posted by Frances 21/02/08
3. Change is frustrating. Change is exiciting. Change leadership is often lonely. Change is worthwhile and fulfilling. Posted by Greg 21/02/08.
4. Change takes time with many false dawns. Posted by Julie 22/02/08

CHANGE MODELS

1. The IDEAL model is a good way of looking at change. THe IDEAL model stands for:
   • Influences, internal and external that are impacting on the need for change.
   • Decide on the key components of change
   • Enable the change
   • Achieve the chnage by supporting those resonsible for the change
   • Leadership is required to complete the forgoing
   Posted by James 23/01/08.
2. Complexity Theory suggests that the task of management in change is to deal with uncertainty and chnages in the internal and external environment rather than build long range fied project plans for change. It suggests that the direction of change is determined by the emergence of of groups of people of like minds and cannot be easily predicted. It sees the leader as an orchestrator not a dorector. Posted by Simone 25/01/08.
3. Ackerman in 1997 postulated that there are three types of change:
• Developmental - planned or emergent change that icrementally changes skills or processes
• Transitional - episodic change that takes and organisation from an existing state to a different one. Most change written about in literature and on the net is transitional change.
• Transformational - challenging assumptions about the organisation, its environment and its purpose. The most radical of change often resulting in a continuously learning and adapting organisation.
Posted by Pratap 29/01/08.
4. Conner and Patterson propose eight stages of change.
1. Contact
2. Awarene of the change
3. Understand the change
4. Positive perception
5. Installation
6. Adaptation
7. Institionalization
8. Internalization
Posted by Julie 11/02/08
5. Pettigrew and Whipp developed the Content, Context and Process Model from empirical case studies. Ther model suggests that there are eight factors effecting change:
1. Quality and coherence of policy
key people leading change
2. Co-operative networks
3. Supportive organisational culture
4. Environmental pressure
5. Simplicity and clarity of goals
6. Positive pattern of managerial relations
7. Fit beteween the change agenda and the location (specifically for multi-site operations)
Posted by John 10/02/08

CHANGE STRATEGIES

1. Expert Strategy
An expert strategy may be used when a problem solving process is required. It is applicable to technical problems such as the introduction of a new system. There is little need for involvement in the sysytem beyond the expert project team and user training. Too high a level of participation stalls the project and raises user expectations of tailoring resulting in systems which are difficult to update. Posted by Gerard 24/01/08.
2. Participative Strategy
A participative strategy involves everybody affected by the change. Management drive the process but empower individuals and groups to design and implement the change.Consultants and experts give advice but do not control the cahnge. This strategy takes a long time, however, it builds high levels of support for the change. Posted by Gerard 23/01/08.
3. Boil the Frog.
Make changes so slowly or buried within other programmes that people are unable to se the contrast between the way things are and the way things were except in retrospect. Posted by Ari 24/02/08.
4. Burning Platform
Expose key, strident issues that demand change be made with some degree of control or face the consequence of change being inflicted on the organisation with no control. Posted by jason 25/02/08.
5. Management by Objectives
Tell them what but not how. Make the "how" the contribution of staff to the change. Done well it drives participation. Posted by Shiela 25/02/08.

CHANGE TOOLS

1. The FIVE WHYS
Ask the question "Why?" of a problem five times and you will almost be guaranteed of finding out the root cause. It is a great yet simple tool that rarely fails to get to the core of a problem. Posted by Julie 26/01/08
2. CHANGE AUDIT
Measure the change culture of your organisation. Identify whether your initiatives are characterised by threats or opportunities and a short or long term view. Plot the intiatives on a two by two matrix like a SWOT analysis. Intitaives will fall into one of the four following quadrants:
• Super Tanker - Threats/Long Term
• Space xplorer - Opportunities/Long Term
• Firefighting - Threats/Short Term
• Bandwagon - Opportunities/Short Term
Posted by Martin 02/02/08.
3. A FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
A force field analysis determines what forces are aligned against the change and aligned for the change. Aligned againts the change may inclue technical issues, fear of loss of position or priveleges and fear of the unknown. Aligned for the change may be easier working, better conditions, more responsibility and a more secure future. The trick is to execute a plan to reduce the forces against the change rather than push too hard for the change. Posted by Pretti 10/02/08.

CHANGING CULTURE

1. Measure your existing culture before trying to change culture. Be specific. Quantify it. Then change it. Posted by Ramiz 16/12/07
2. Organisational culture starts and ends with the leadership team. It is they who set the clear or unclear goals. It is they who tolerate or act upon poor peformance. It is they who reward good performance. It is they who set about defining what measures indicate progress towards the goal (performance). It is they who set the ethics for the organisation. Leaders must appraise what culture they generate or allow to continue and identify what THEY need to change to change culture. Posted by Alan 19/01/08.

COMMUNICATING CHANGE

1. Determine what you want people to FEEL, THINK and DO, in that order, when they receive your communication. That is the order in which people respond to a communication. Plan your communication using the most appropriate content, medium, timing and frequency to make people FEEL what you want, THINK about what you want them to and finally DO what you want them to. Posted by Cecilia 10/01/08.
2. Tell them early and tell them often. Posted by Mark 14/01/08.
3. Use face-to-face communication wherever you can. People ue body language for over 70% of their information when they are deciding if the message as spoken or written is genuine. Take away the ability to see what your body does and you take away most of their ability to see how genune you are. Posted by Cecilia 26/01/08.
4. Remember that the responsibility for communication is held by the sender not the receiver. It does not matter what methods, channels or frequency the sender uses, the only way to be sure about what has been comminicated is to ask the receiver what they heard. Posted by Mark 28/01/08.
5. Body language has a great impact on how people perceive your communication. SOLER is an acronym that should help you maintain good body language:
• S - Squarely face the person
• O - Open Posture, no crossed arms or fidgeting
• L - Lean towards the person, not too much but just enough to show interest
• E - Eye contact, maintain it without staring
• R - Relax, don't fidget
Posted by Luisa 29/01/08

LEADERSHIP ROLES

1. Set the specification of success in a change programme, then get out of the way and let others determine how to bring about success. Posted by Julie 02/02/08.
2. Encourage feedback from a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders. Make sure that your Johari's window is wide and open. Posted by Alex 03/02/08.
3. Establish a sense of urgency. Change will not happen without it. People must be taken out of their comfort zones. Posted by Fred 03/02/08.
4. Establish quickly where people fit on a matrix of willingness and ability. The appropriate response for each quadrant is:
• Willing and able - Reward and challenge with new opportunities
• Unwilling but able - Confront
• Willing but unable - Coach
• Unwilling and unable - Move to more suitable roles and environments, possibly outside the organisation
Posted by Alan 20/02/08

MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN

1. One of the most effective ways I find to get reluctant staff involved and shift their thinking about change is to improve their computer skills. Can the chef use Excel to do costings? If not, teach her how to create formulas. Can the manager do proper google searches to find products? Coaching may help. How are the typing skills of staff - most can do with work. Can they use all the power of Outlook for managing messages? It may seem like a side issue, but the resulting increase in self-esteem and access to new knowledge or analytical techniques gives people a mighty shift in their attitude to the change project that's underway. Posted by Ken at Profitable Hospitality 28/01/08
2. The Knowing-Doing Gap is prevalent in change programmes. This is when you know what needs to be done and think you have put into place the right structures and processes but nothing seems to be changing. The gap consists of a number of deceiving factors:
• Thinking that knowing is enough.
• Holding meetings, writing reports and creating committees instead of taking action.
• Measuring things aas a proxy for actually performing.
• Thinking that making a decision is the same as action.
• Endlessly planning rather than taking action.
Adapted from Pfeffer and Sutton (2000). Posted by Alan 28/01/08.
3. Create rolling short term wins to gain and maintain momentum. Publicise the achievements to create a feling of wellbeing. Posted by Margaret 28/01/08.
4. Getting people involved in change, even if it is only to recommend options, has a profound impact on the uptake of change. People feel that their opinions have at least had a chance to be heard and they have contributed to the new reality. Posted by Julie 29/01/08.
5. Fix what is broken first or explain clearly why even though you recognise something is broken, you are delaying the implementation of a fix. Starting a change program that does not address issues which have been longstanding risks the credibilty of the program. Posted by Alan 06/02/08
6. Planning is good but doing is better. Develop rolling plans in ninety day blocks as you implement. This results in more focus on action and ensures that the plans are relevant to the chnage in environment that the actual changes bring. Posted by Julie 20/02/08
7. Follow some of the principles of complexity theory relating to change and go where the energy is. Work with the most enthusiastic staff first to gain momentum. Posted by Neville 18/02/08.
8. Drive the change. Make it clear that change will happen, set a timetable an plan how you will measure the results. Posted by Hank 25/02/08.
9. Assign accountaility for each element of change to one person. Clarify individual roles. Posted by John 25/02/08.

PLANNING CHANGE

1. Build a stakeholder map. Identify all stakeholders an determine who is likely to be for the change and who is likely to be against the change. Additionally determine for each stakeholder what level of power they have. Posted by Leanne 12/12/07
2. Take care planning too linearly and too robotically. Your first change action will change the environment in which your change programme will operate. The plan may be past its use-by date the day it is published. Posted by Claudia 16/01/08.
3. Use a RACI model to be sure of who is doing what during your change programme. RACI stands for:
• Responsible - the person or group doing a task or executing a process.
• Aaccounatble - the PERSON (only one) who is accountable for the task or process being completed.
• Consulted - those who must be included in the completion of a taks or in a decsion to change a process.
• Informed - those who must be told about the completion of a tsak or a chnage in a process.
Posted by Raffa 13/02/08
4. Change is about problem solving. Otherwise, why change? Define your problems well before attempting change by setting out what behaviours have to change, whose behaviour has to change, who will be impacted by the changed behaviour and how the changed behaviour will make things better. If you cannot define change in that way, then you have not thought enough about the problem your change is solving. Posted by Julie 29/02/08.

PREPARING PEOPLE FOR CHANGE

1. Ask employees to participate in building the compelling case for change. Posted by Peter 20/12/07
2. Give people choices. Not everyone wants to participate in change. Create "no recrimination" options for them. Posted by Alan 20/12/07
3. Give people the context of change and understand the change from their context. Do these two things and you will find the "glue" between the process and content of change. Posted by Marcel 29/02/08.

RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

1. People resist the upset or transition involved in change more than the change itself. There is a good deal of work initiated by Bridges (1998) on transition management. Next time you are planning a major chage program, take a look at Transition Management. Posted by Frederick 12/02/08
2. Further to Frederick's post, Transition is an internal psychological reorientation that people go through. They resist the end of what they know and are comfortable with. They resist the chaos of the bit in between where they are and where they will be. They resist the new working environment. Posted by Alan 15/02/08.
3. "Resistance" to change is rational and normal. If you consider it as irrational, you will have lost a great opportunity to "manage" change and will be left hostage to unintended consequences. Spend tme understanding what subjective norms are changing for the people involed in the change. People will always resist a chnage to what they consider normal. Posted by Marcel 28/02/08.

RESOURCES FOR MANAGING CHANGE

1. Geert Hofstede analyzed a large data base of employee values scores collected by IBM between 1967 and 1973 covering more than 70 countries, from which he first used the 40 largest only and afterwards extended the analysis to 50 countries and 3 regions. On his website scores are listed for 74 countries and regions, for five charcteristics of culture; Power Distance - PDI, Individualism - IDV, Masculinity - MAS, Uncertainty Avoidance - UAI and Long-Term Orientation - LTO (only applied to 23 countries). Posted by Kathy 11/12/07
2. A great resource for change, leadership, strategy and almost anything on business is Business Balls. Posted by Alan on 05/01/08
3. Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models, Tools & Techniques of Organizational Change is a good short book for those newly introduced into the field of change management. Posted by Leanne 05/01/08.
4. Twelve Principles for Managing Change. It is what it says. Posted by Jason on 13/01/08
5. Change Management Model by Richard M. DiGeorgio and Associates is a pdf file of a change model on one page. Posted by Jason 14/08/01.
6. Mind Tools is a website with tools for building skills for managing change rather than change management tools. Some are free, some cost money. Posted by Jason 19/01/08.
7. 12Manage is a website with good simple explanations of tools and theories to be applied to change and other fields of business endeavour. Its range is comprehensive. Posted by Jared 04/02/08

RESPONDING TO THE PHASES OF CHANGE

1. DENIAL - Tell
• Explain the reasons for change. The object is to get the argument accepted even if they resist. Posted by Jennifer 27/02/08.
• Show people what you expect - demonstrate the behaviours and actions you want. Posted by Alan 28/02/08.
• Confront people who want to deny the reality of the external enviroment. Posted by Alan 28/02/08.
2. RESISTANCE - Ask
• Acknolwedge feelings and listen to people's concerns. Posted by Jennifer 27/02/08.
• Set up quick wins to build confidence and ask what more could be done. Posted by Alan 28/02/08.
3. EXPLORATION - Tell
• Set short term goals for teams and individuals. Posted by Jennifer 27/02/08.
• Focus on the priorities. If you are going up a blind alley, go up it quickly. Posted by Ali 28/02/08.
Build in a lot of coaching and training. Support people to make the change. Posted by Alan 28/02/08.
4. COMMITTMENT - Ask
• Ask people what they need. Give feedabck on how they are doing. Encourage. Posted by Jennifer 27/08/02.
• Acknowledge success and reward progress. Posted by Alan 28/02/08

REVIEWING CHANGE

1. Change programs are full of unintended consequnces. It is foolish to imagine that any change program we initiate will not have an unintended consequence. Use surveys to keep the pulse of how people are feeling about change and what they attribute to the change program, good or bad. A word of caution; act on what the surveys tell you. Posted by Ross 07/01/08.

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