Why Build a Repeatable Change Leadership Model?

Last Updated - January 2, 2007

Ask any IT professional if they have a repeatable process for Change Management (CM) and you can expect an unequivocal “Yes we do!” as the response, and likely suffer a sideways glance wondering what motivated such a ridiculous question. Actually, they have no other choice when we consider the nature of Change in the scope of their IT world. Systems constantly change to meet new business demands, and/or software applications need frequent additions or modifications. Rigorous testing procedures, validation, and documentation are required. Timelines and project management accountabilities must be assigned, synchronized, monitored, and jeopardy situations identified so contingencies (planned in advance) may be activated. This all makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Now consider this question:

“Is IT the only organization in your enterprise involved in Change?”

Of course not! Why then are they the only ones with a formal, repeatable Change process?


Culture of Continuous Learning and Change

Take IT out of the equation for a moment and substitute a capability called continuous learning. Seamless, frictionless, ubiquitous access to continuous learning are essential for enabling sustainable Change. Training may only represent a small subset of the learning necessary to achieve sustainability. Performance capabilities are also impacted by technology standards, workflows, and certifications that demand low tolerance for error, eliminating poor quality output, or avoidance of extraordinary waste if not executed effectively. Regardless of the nature of Change introduced into the organization, ripple effects across related business functions imply interdependent changes in human performance. Going back to our continuous learning example, there are three critical categories of business enablers that must be addressed with at least as much rigor as IT’s tactical components of Change:

• Learning Technology
• Learning Methodology
• Learning Culture

Certainly, you would expect an IT model to be involved with technology, and in some cases, methodology. What “IT models” do not typically address, nor do most CM efforts, are effective and sustainable impact in a third category – Culture, be it learning oriented or otherwise. Here is where the IT approach comes up short. The missing ingredient is leadership and its change-critical drivers of influencing, inspiring, and integrating different behaviors, and ultimately, different, measurable, human performance outcomes. Cultural changes imply involvement of “people”, and people need strong, consistent leadership when Change requires different performance and expectations of different outcomes – not the least of which are new knowledge, skills, and competencies derived through continuous learning. When behavioral expectations change, individual contributors need answers to key questions, whether their desire to know is expressed verbally or more covertly through resistance and even sabotage of Change initiatives.

Consider the behavior impacting, people-relevance of answers to these questions:

• What is expected of me? What will I have to do differently? When?
• What’s in it for me (WIIFM)? My unit? My Organization?
• What value is gained by my business contribution as a result of this Change?
• Who is dependent on the success of my contributions? What is at risk if I fail?
• What is expected of my department due to this Change?
• How will I know if I am successful – my department – the company?
• What does everyone else think about doing “it” differently?
• Who is going to train me – when – where – how?
• Where do I go for support after training?
• Is this Change temporary or permanent?
• Is this Change supported by senior leadership?
• We’ve tried this before...Why will it be any different this time?

None of these questions are shocking revelations to anyone involved in enabling effective human performance; yet few are addressed consistently in the scope of many CM efforts. Neglecting to anticipate the importance of answering these questions are often the unseen factors that contribute to the undoing of the best-managed Change projects.

Effective Change Management ≠ Effective Change Leadership

We have to give credit to our IT brethren because they recognized the importance of building a “machine” to ensure rigorous processes are repeated accurately and consistently over and over regardless of complexity. Are they visionaries, or are they just employing good survival instincts? Honestly, it is a bit of both; especially when budgets are so slim that only a few projects get through funding scrutiny and get the cherished “green light”. Who can afford to botch an expensive project, when it represents one of twelve others originally under consideration? Do not misunderstand; CM is essential, and it always will be. This paper makes the case for an additional layer beyond CM that addresses leadership. Why? Effective leadership exemplifies a positive business culture for Change through three critical deliverables:

• Influence on new behaviors
• Inspire acceptance of Change
• Integrate Change into new or different work habits

Foundationally, CM does not have a primary focus on these three aspects of effective leadership. CM is better adapted to handle things tactical like process, workflows, and project management. CM does not address the cultural leadership aspects of influencing, inspiring, and integrating necessary behaviors that drive sustainability of Change. Change Leadership (CL), on the other hand, does address those missing cultural aspects. Omitting or disregarding the cultural/people implications of Change are often the top reasons why well-intended Change does not deliver sustainable results.

We’ve all been part of significant Change efforts and endured organization-wide, deployment gala events to kick-off a new way of doing things. Does Total Quality Management (TQM) in the 1990’s come to mind as a perfect example? We all remember the balloons, party, music, celebration, hats and cheesy noise-makers, but by the time the confetti was cleaned up, things were well on their way back to business as usual. What Change? TQ what? Somebody forgot implementation!

Deployment is deceptively easy. Take vendor evaluation and selection for new learning systems as an example. Industry statistics compiled by Bersin & Associates validate that more LMS owners are not happy with results of their deployments than those that are. Why? Are those statistics reflective of deploying the wrong technology? Unfortunately, dissatisfaction most often stems from poor implementation.

CM, in and of itself, failed the test of producing sustainability – despite flawless deployment. “Cultural” elements of a change in learning technology should have been simultaneously addressed – should have been aligned across multiple levels within the organization – and only those three CL deliverables of influence, inspiration and integration could do that effectively.

Try to drive change where the focus is decidedly more nebulous than a new piece of hardware – like organizational learning – or choose anything else that is fraught with embedded values, belief systems, and reliant on trusted tribal knowledge. Watch those in the organization who dig in their heels and resist your efforts, impeding your chances of driving efficient, effective and sustainable Change. If effective CL is not integrated into whatever CM model your organization uses, human resources (the people - not the department), necessary to make the Change effort “stick”, will not respond consistently or willingly to the notion of “if it’s built, we will come”. First-hand experience predicts sustainability will not be attained with CM alone, no matter how effectively the deployment effort was managed.

Critical Success Factors for Leading Change

There are ten critical success factors specific to a repeatable Change Leadership model that must be simultaneously addressed with traditional, tactical regimen of effective CM. They include:

• Validation - Build a Compelling Business Case
• Calibration - Align Business Outcomes with Key Success Metrics
• Sponsorship - Acquire & Engage Appropriate Sponsorship and Access
• Value Proposition - Articulate and Cascade a “Localized” Vision
• Road Map - Map the Entire Journey
• Mobilization - Build Momentum & Create Critical Mass
• Deployment - Validation, Testing & Tactical GoLive
• Implementation - Business Unit/Stakeholder-Level Business Application Integration
• Impact Assessment - Summative Evaluation & Reporting
• Sustainability - Maintain Momentum of Change to Drive a Sustained Capability

Listing these critical success factors does not imply “steps” in a linear process. There is indeed a sense of linearity implied; however, these factors overlay traditional tactical elements of existing CM processes, as illustrated by two embedded elements of building the road map and the actual deployment effort. Deployment is typically where CM ends. Implementation on the other hand, involves influencing people to use the technology effectively and/or consistently following new methods in the context of doing their jobs. These are “people” functions and require leadership to inspire and influence their behavior as well as integration of Change behaviors into day-to-day work routines.

Change Leadership’s Impact on Performance Enablers

Change looks good on paper. In fact, Change plans are very similar in design to football plays drawn up in the team playbook. If the play is executed exactly as planned, the result is a touchdown. Why does that philosophy not work consistently? Every play (plan) is perfect until the other team's players (people) are involved and actual performance is impacted by any number of influences, including the more obvious, like failure to perform effectively, lack of preparation (readiness), ability (knowledge or skills), or environmental obstacles to the Change (tough defense). As any performance consultant will tell you, there are several categories of enablers that impact performance. The severity of impact determines whether or not a Change initiative will be successful, or more importantly – sustainable. These human performance enablers can be grouped under several categories:

• Leadership
• Capability
• Motivation
• Process
• Resources
• Environment

The tactical nature of CM addresses process and resources, and often, some elements that fall under environment. The tactical nature of new processes and workflows may also imply improving capabilities through training programs and continuous learning that deliver new knowledge and/or skills, thus bolstering essential competencies. CL also embraces capability through continuous learning as a function of strategic business alignment; however, the overlap ends there. CM does nothing to address motivation or leadership requirements of the people involved. Can you see where CM’s role has the potential to fall short after the tactical activities of deployment are completed? Integration of CL will fill those important cultural gaps CM was never intended to cover.

Change Leadership as a Repeatable Model

The solution? Deploy and implement a repeatable CL model around the efforts you already expend to drive effective CM. This approach will carry your organization beyond deployment of Change and deliver integration of Change that renders sustained capability. There are several reasons a repeatable model is important:

• Establish consistent “localized” expectations regarding Change early and often for those on the receiving end of the initiative
• Establish consistent expectations and rigor of process to those on the driving end of the initiative
• Compresses the timeline for planning and preparing for leading Change by utilizing templates to ensure consistency of approach
• Provide a process for frequent formative evaluations throughout the timeline to fine tune and align an effective leadership approach
• Provide a robust, two-way, feedback loop across multiple levels of the organization to ensure aligned communications
• Clearly identify actionable, dashboard metrics to appropriate levels of management suitable to reinforce success and tangible results.

It is critical to implement a proven, repeatable Change Leadership Model that seamlessly integrates all ten critical success factors with the CM diligence already utilized by your organization. Remember that driving effective Change is only tactical in nature – until people are involved.

Being able to address varying complexity and the often continuous nature of Change are primary drivers for establishing a methodology that lends itself to repetition. The needs of people involved in Change are no less complex or varying than the tactical nature supported by CM. Change in any business is inevitable, and it is one of the few things we can count on to be consistent. Desired outcomes are not automatic, and they are most certainly not sustainable without effective, post-deployment implementation. Reaching those desired outcomes are determined by how well we "manage and lead" the people who are going to perform differently as a result of Change.

Time to Add CL to Your CM?

Human Performance Outfitters (HPO) is a Learning and Performance Consultancy that specializes in Human Performance Improvement (HPI) initiatives. Pursuing HPI initiatives in your organization, be it 50 people or 50,000, I can guarantee the presence of Change; sometimes simple departmental change - others involving the whole enterprise in complex organizational or cultural transformations. In either case, a repeatable CL model is essential.

If your company is considering integration of essential CL methodologies with your existing CM efforts, give me a call at (317) 437-2555, and we can initiate discovery to determine scope and approach that fits your business requirements.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gary G. Wise Founder/Principle Human Performance Outfitters, LLC. (317) 437-2555 http://www.humanperformanceoutfitters.com
g.wise@humanperformanceoutfitters.com