Article by Michelle Haggerty – COO of Prosci

Sometimes we change because we want to. Sometimes we change because we have to. Due to COVID-19, people and organizations around the globe are adapting to involuntary changes of all kinds. How we choose to use this time will determine how we can grow from it.

FORCED CHANGE AS A DEFINING MOMENT

Part of my role is to connect with other leaders across industries and geographies with a goal of understanding the most pressing issues they’re addressing. Over the last two months, these leaders have shared insights about the challenges and opportunities they’re facing from the global pandemic.

The volume of change is high for nearly everyone. Many leaders are asking their people to adapt to more change in the last five months than in the last five years. Yet, forward thinking leaders are looking for opportunities to make the most of the paradigm shift that is occurring. As a change leader, I am encouraged by this. Whenever we are forced into a change, the way we approach the challenge will determine how it affects and ultimately defines our organization.

THE POWER OF CHANGE-ENABLING ROLES

One way to maximize the growth opportunity in front of us is to enable our people with the right skills. This lays the groundwork for organizations to pivot faster, achieve better outcomes, and emerge from this pandemic more change-agile than ever before.

Every individual—from front-line employees and people managers to Agile team leads and senior leaders—has a specific role to play in change. Prosci’s two decades of research offers clear insights into role-based capabilities and how developing them effectively enhances success. When people understand the importance of their roles and step into them during change, the speed and quality of change increases dramatically.

The change roles here at Prosci have been put to the test by the involuntary changes we had to make during the pandemic. We have needed to pivot in many of the same ways our clients have: moving to a remote workforce practically overnight, shifting to virtual delivery of our training programs within a couple of weeks, and maintaining our vibrant culture without being in our vibrant office. Change at this pace is never perfect and we have learned a lot along the way. But I could not be prouder. It’s a testament to the character of our firm and our shared belief in the difference we can make.

What makes a critical difference at Prosci is that everyone is very clear on their role in change. Our executive team, people managers, project managers, change managers and individual contributors are trained and coached on their specific change roles. As a result, each of us was able to quickly mobilize and orchestrate the many involuntary changes required.

Sustainable change takes a village. And change happens much faster when we have clear expectations for each change-enabling role. When we understand these roles and equip people to play them, we can turn challenging times into high-growth opportunities for ourselves as leaders and for each person in the organization.

WE ARE HERE FOR YOU

As you transition to the next reality for your organization, all of us at Prosci are listening and adapting to help you solve your change challenges. We remain committed to providing virtual, role-based resources and content to help everyone in your organization step into their change role. Together, let’s seize this opportunity to grow personally and professionally—and come out of this pandemic more change capable than ever.

Original Prosci blog post can be found here.

How to harness the full capability of a scattered (and frazzled) team

Written by Liz Wiseman
Contributors: Alyssa Gallagher, Judy Jung, Lauren Hancock, and Jayson Sevison

Also take a look at the DiSC model for guidance on how to better lead remote teams: https://www.changepartners.ee/disc/

Microsoft, Apple, Disney, IBM, Airbnb, Uber

What do these entities have in common?

They’re iconic leaders of their industries.

And they were all formed during recessions.

We’re almost certainly in a recession right now. The official scorekeepers won’t call it that until we have two quarters of negative growth, but the odds of a recession are now close to 100%.

That can be scary. The fact that recessions are inevitable does not reduce how painful they can be, especially if you’re laid off or lose your business.

But recessions do have an accelerating effect on the grit, drive, and determination of entrepreneurs to solve problems. That’s encouraging in the short run — the push to find a treatment and vaccine for the novel coronavirus might be the most determined effort to solve a scientific threat since the Manhattan Project.

But it’s encouraging in the long run, too.

Recessions can focus resources and highlight problems that need to be solved better than boom times can. They push companies to be scrappy and resilient. Look through history, and the most meaningful inventions did not come during cozy periods of growth. They are born from necessity, during times of tragedy like the Great Depression (shopping malls), wars (rockets, nuclear energy), and geopolitical threats (GPS).

This is more than anecdotal.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and there’s evidence that entrepreneurship increases during recessions. Of course, recessions occur a small minority of the time. But according to the Kaufman

Foundation, more than half of Fortune 500 companies were founded during a recession or bear market.

Hard times focus innovation. “The excess energy released from overreaction to setbacks is what innovates!” Nassim Taleb once wrote.

Recessions hurt people; saying they have a silver lining is probably a step too far. But we may look back years from now and marvel at all the innovation that took place that wouldn’t have been possible had we been living in a cozier, safer world than we are today.

Author: Motley Fool, Morgan Housel March 27, 2020

The disciplines of change management and project management are both necessary when executing a project or initiative. Each discipline brings the critical structure needed for effectively implementing change and achieving the results you want. Yet, change management and project management must work together to achieve successful change. Doing so creates a unified value proposition, which sets the foundation for tactical integration and delivers value across all aspects of the project, including both the people side and technical side.

EXAMINING THE DISCIPLINES SIDE BY SIDE

The paragraphs below juxtapose change management and project management, comparing common aspects of each discipline, including focus, definition, intent, process, tools, scaling factors, measurement of success, and practitioners. Although this list highlights the differences between the disciplines, it’s more important to remember the common objective: to deliver successful change.

DEFINITIONS

Change Management – applying processes and tools to manage the people side of change from a current state to a new future state such that you achieve the desired results of the change (and expected return on investment)
Project Management – applying knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements

INTENT

Change Management – to ensure that impacted employees embrace, adopt and use the solution associated with the change
Project Management – to ensure that the solution is designed, developed and delivered effectively

FOCUS

Change Management – employees impacted by a project or initiative (those who must adopt and use the change
Project Management – tasks and activities required to create and implement the technical solution associated with a change

SCALING FACTORS

Change Management – characteristics of the change, attributes of impacted organizations, and degree of “people change” required
Project Management – complexity and degree of technical change associated with the particular project or initiative

PROCESS

Change Management
I Phase – Preparing for Change
II Phase – Managing Change
III Phase – Reinforcing Change
Source: Prosci 3-Phase Process™

Project Management
Initiating
Planning
Executing
Monitoring and controlling
Closing
Source: PMBOK Guide® – Sixth Edition (2017)

TOOLS

Change Management
Individual change model
Readiness assessments
Communication plans
Sponsor roadmaps
Coaching plans
Training plans
Resistance management
Reinforcement mechanisms

Project Management
Statement of work
Project charter
Business case
Work breakdown structure
Gantt chart
Budget estimations
Resource allocation
Schedule and tracking

SUCCESS MEASUREMENT

Change Management – measurement focuses on the people side of change elements, including:
Speed of adoption by impacted employees
Ultimate utilization by impacted employees
Proficiency of impacted employees
Achievement of results and outcomes*
*Because results and outcomes depend on individuals adopting the change, this is a primary focus.

Project Management – measurement focuses on the technical side of change elements, primarily:
On time
On budget
Meets technical requirements
Achievement of results and outcomes*
*In some cases, intended results and outcomes take a secondary role behind time and budget targets.

WHO PRACTICES

Change Management – involves a system of “doers” throughout the organization, not just change management practitioners:
Executives and senior leaders who sponsor the change
Managers and supervisors who coach direct reports through the change

Project Management – typically practiced by a project manager and a project team assigned to a specific project or initiative:
Project managers who manage the tasks, activities and resources to execute the technical side of the effort
Project team comprising subject matter experts and representatives from the organization

BETTER TOGETHER

Project management and change management each contribute a critical ingredient to successful change. Although they vary in terms of focus and approach, each discipline is essential to moving your project and people from the transition state to the desired future state. Understanding how each discipline works alongside the other is the first step in achieving a unified value proposition and the strongest foundation possible for your change initiatives. 

Source: Prosci Article, Author: Tim Creasey

Prosci’s Resistance Checklist draws from benchmarking research with over 900 participants and the feedback and input of hundreds of training participants. The checklist can be used as an audit tool to see if you are utilizing best practices in managing resistance.

1. Are you expecting and planning for resistance?

When human beings are exposed to changes in their surroundings, resistance is a natural and common reaction. This holds true for changes at home and at work. Even if ‘the change’ or ‘the solution’ is expected to improve the employees’ situation, do not be surprised if you experience resistance. Expect and plan for resistance and identify the steps you can take to build buy-in and commitment.

2. Have you identified where in the organization resistance to the change might come from?

For a particular change, think about where resistance might come from and how you will deal with it before you begin implementing a solution. For instance, you can expect to see resistance coming from groups that are heavily invested in how things are done today. You can also expect resistance from the parts of the organization that experience the most drastic changes or where changes have failed in the past. Proactively identifying ‘where’ resistance might come from will help you plan for and deal with this pending resistance.

3. Have you identified what resistance to the change might look like?

Early in the project lifecycle, brainstorm what resistance to change might look like so you can be better prepared to identify it and react to it when it happens. For each group targeted by the change, ask the question “How will resistance manifest itself in this group?” This is a key component of proactively managing resistance and building commitment to change.

4. Have you identified potential risks to the project related to resistance?

Resistance to change is a significant source of risk for the project and the organization as a whole. Resistance to change can result in project delays, projects missing their objectives, return on investment being lower than expected, or a change being totally scrapped. Sit down at the launch of a new project and document the risks associated with resistance and how you can begin to mitigate these risks.

5. Are you ready to diagnose the root causes of resistance?

Many organizations fall into a trap of addressing the symptoms of resistance, and not dealing directly with the root causes of resistance. Be sure to have methods for understanding why employees are resisting change, and deal directly with those root causes.

6. Do you know the top reasons employees resist change?

In Prosci’s Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report, the top reason cited by participants for resistance by employees was that employees were not aware of the business need for change. If you are responsible for managing change, then be sure to address this and the other common reasons for resistance presented in the report.

7. Do you know the top reasons managers resist change?

The top reason for resistance by managers in the most recent study was company culture including risk-adverse cultures, past negative experiences with change, groupism, and mistrust between departments. Notice that none of the top reasons for resistance by managers or employees are related to the particular solution, rather they are tied to how the change is introduced and managed into these groups.

8. Are you using an individual change management model to understand resistance?

Resistance happens at an individual level for specific and unique reasons. One employee’s perspective on the change may be very different than a different employee, even if they are in the same work group. An individual change management model, like The Prosci ADKAR Model, gives you a foundation for understanding how one person goes through change and thus a tool for understanding why a particular individual is resisting a change.

9. Do you have a system in place to identify and react to resistance when it happens?

While there are many measures that can be taken to prevent and mitigate resistance before it impacts the organization, you must also be prepared to address resistance during implementation when it does occur. Prosci’s Change Management Toolkit outlines 10 steps to manage resistance. These steps will give your managers concrete actions to take with their employees.

10. Have you prepared the people you need to respond to resistance?

The most effective ‘managers of resistance’ are those who have credibility and respect with the individual who is resisting a change – likely their supervisor or manager. If you have a VP that is being resistant, it is the Senior VP above that person who should step in. Likewise, if you have a front-line call center agent resisting a change, then that employee’s supervisor is in the best position to manage that resistance. As a project team member or change management resource, your job is to prepare and support managers throughout the organization in their task to manage resistance and help employees through the change process.

This blog post was originally published by Tim Creasey in Prosci blog.

Is certification really necessary? Doesn’t experience alone qualify us? Let’s explore the question—because the bottom line is that there are some definite advantages to receiving change management certification.

The value of certification

First, we can turn to the data. Participants in the Best Practices in Change Management – 2018 Edition were asked if they had attended a change management certification program, and more importantly, whether they would recommend that others become certified in change management.

90% of participants recommended change management certification, and here’s why:

• Gain a structured approach – Certification provides a clear, formalized methodology and process for doing change management. It also provides a structured way of thinking and deepens your understanding of the dynamics of change.
• Build skills and credentials – Certification increases professional credibility and is an important step for advancing your career. Certification also builds confidence in your ability to succeed at change management, and it equips you with a variety of important skills that are applicable within and outside of change management settings.
• Acquire common and universal tools – Certification provides tools, templates, techniques and exposure to methodologies, common practices, language and frameworks that you can immediately apply to change projects—all delivered by experts in the field.
• More likely to achieve desired outcomes – Participants felt that by attending certification, they were more able to help their organizations recognize the value of change management and assist them in creating a standardized approach to managing change that increased proficiency and the likelihood of achieving desired outcomes.

“Now I have specific knowledge on how to implement changes well, systematically and successfully.”

– Pipedrive, Mario Tasane

Change management training – what to expect?

Prosci goal is simple – to provide a hands-on approach to change management that enables you to apply practical tools, best practices, and appropriate models right away on your change project.

Important topics that are covered in the training:

• The nature of change management – Certification provides an overview of what change management really is, why it needs to be implemented, what are the benefits of using it, and how it can increase the success of any project
• Prosci ADKAR model – an overview of the five success factors of change (awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement) and how to achieve change acceptance
• Prosci change management process and specific change management plans – communication plan, sponsors roadmap, resistance management plan and other managerial activities in the context of a change project
• Applying tools to real change – various tools to evaluate change before implementation, such as readiness and impact assessment

As a bonus, upon completion, you can promote yourself as a qualified Prosci Certified Change Practitioner with this snazzy badge!

Check out the next Prosci certification courses here.

Managing and supporting front-line employees through change is essential for the success of your project. To that end, equipping your managers and supervisors with the right tools is equally important. Training plans and communication outlines can get you moving in the right direction, but being prepared for the most common questions from employees will give your managers peace of mind.

Below are the 10 most frequently asked questions by employees about changes.

• Why is change happening now?
• What is the risk of not changing?
• What is the rush?
• If I wait long enough, will the change just go away?
• What will the change mean to me?
• What are my choices?
• What are the benefits of supporting the change?
• What if I disagree with the change?
• What if they have tried before and failed?
• What if I am forced to do more for the same pay?

Answers to the 10 most common employee questions

The questions and answers below provide a basic foundation for a face-to-face question-and-answer session between a supervisor and their employees. Each answer is more powerful and effective when supervisors combine the basic answer with company-specific information and data as it relates to the change—essentially customizing the answer for their organization.

The questions and answers are all part of building awareness among employees. Lack of awareness is often the number one cause of change resistance among employees, yet it is the easiest resistance point to fix.

It may not be just one question that provides the answers employees are looking for and it may not be the same set for each employee, but the following questions and answers will get you on the road to building awareness among employees.

1. Why is change happening now?

You may feel like change is happening suddenly and that it is directed right at you. In reality, most changes begin outside the company many months or even years before internal changes take place. Research shows that most major business changes are a response to changes in the external marketplace.

These external marketplace changes can result in:

• Loss of market share (your company is losing money)
• New offers or capabilities by competitors (they’re creating new business faster than your company)
• Lower prices (their cost of doing business is lower, resulting in better prices to their customers)
• A new business opportunity for growth

External business drivers take time to set in. If they have already affected the bottom line of your company, change is needed immediately. In some cases it is already too late—the internal change should have started much sooner.

2. What is the risk of not changing?

When external marketplace changes become apparent inside the organization, managers suddenly realize the risks of not changing.

For businesses, the risk of not changing could mean:

• Loss of jobs (even at the executive level)
• Failure in the marketplace
• Bankruptcy or loss of revenue

For employees, the risk of not changing could mean:

• Job dissatisfaction
• Fewer promotional opportunities
• Lower job security in the long term
• Immediate loss of employment

3. What is the rush?

Employees usually find out what is happening after the fact. Organizations do not always share financial information or talk about poor performance issues with employees. Therefore, when change is needed quickly, employees may be taken by surprise.

On the one hand, organizations are trying to implement change as quickly as possible. On the other hand, employees are one step behind trying to understand why the change is needed and how they will be impacted.

Unfortunately for the company, most employees are in no hurry to change. In fact, many employees may not see the need to change at all. Forcing employees to change when they do not understand the business reasons can be a lot like pushing a giant cube of Jello—you might have an impact, but no real overall shift occurs.

When the force is removed, everything returns to the way it was before.

4. If I wait long enough, will the change just go away?

If financial success of the organization depends on change, then you can expect the change to happen with or without you. Waiting will usually not change the outcome.

In most cases a company will change, even in the face of resistance from employees and especially if financial success is at stake.

This does not imply that change will be bad for you. In the end, many changes result in positive outcomes for employees. Benefits might include better tools, improved work processes, more secure jobs, and new opportunities for you to advance your career.

5. What will the change mean to me?

Change to a business can include:

• New ways of doing work
• New systems or tools
• New reporting structures
• New job roles
• New products or services
• New markets or geographic locations

How will the change impact me? That depends on your current job, the extent of the change, and the choices you make in response to the change.

With small changes, you may not be impacted at all. With major changes, you may be doing new work, using new tools, or reporting to a new manager. With radical changes to the business, some employees may work in other departments or even move to other companies.

When the change is implemented, each person will be affected differently. In the end, how you react to the change plays an important role in how the change will impact you.

The good news is: The actual impact of the change on you is directly related to how you react to the change.

In other words, you are in control of how you respond to change. Better yet, how the organization views you and your future role in the company may depend on your response to change and the choices you make.

6. What are my choices?

Your choices about how to respond to change will vary as the organization moves through the change process. Think about the change in these time periods:

• When the change is first announced – but before the change is implemented
• During the change process – when the new solution is being deployed
• After the change is in place – following the implementation of the solution

Your choices and their consequences depend on the phase of change you are experiencing. In some cases, choices you make may have negative outcomes. They may be bad for you and for the organization. Other choices you make will benefit you and enhance your ability to thrive in a changing organization.

7. What are the benefits of supporting the change?

The benefits of supporting the change, especially changes that are critical to the success of the organization, include:

• Enhanced respect and reputation within the organization
• Improved growth opportunities (especially for active supporters of the change)
• Increased job satisfaction (knowing you are helping your organization respond effectively to a rapidly changing marketplace)
• Improved job security

8. What if I disagree with the change?

What if I feel they are fixing the wrong problem? Be patient. Keep an open mind. Make sure you understand the business reasons for the change. However, don’t be afraid to voice your specific objections or concerns. If your objections are valid, chances are good they will come to light and be resolved. If you feel strongly against a specific element of the change, let the right people know, and do it in an appropriate manner.

9. What if they have tried before and failed?

The history of your company may include some previous change projects that failed. If failure is what employees are accustomed to, the organization will have a hard time erasing the past. For companies to be successful, everyone must be prepared to accept the past as history and focus on what lies ahead.

10. What if I am forced to do more for the same pay?

When your organization is undergoing a change, this usually means that new processes, systems or skills are required. Your role in the changed environment may include learning these new processes or acquiring new skills. Indeed, some of your responsibilities may change.

For the old way of doing things, compensation may actually decrease as the value of that work to the organization goes down. However, compensation for new work may increase as the value for new services and products increases. This is a part of change.

This blog post was originally published by Tim Creasey in Prosci blog.

The Prosci ADKAR Model was developed by Jeff Hiatt in 1996 and first published in a white paper titled “The Perfect Change” in 1999. Following nearly a decade of research by Prosci on the model, the first book on ADKAR was released in 2006 titled ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community. Since then, the model has enabled and inspired leaders, managers and employees in hundreds of organizations around the world to be successful leaders of change.

The secret to the success of the application of ADKAR is simple: a change happens when individual employees embrace, adopt and use new processes, tools or techniques proficiently. It is the accumulation of individual change that leads to organizational change. When we can use a tool like ADKAR to support individual change, we are in effect supporting organizational change and the achievement of results and outcomes since it is individuals that collectively make up the organization.

We do not need complex plans and methodologies to lead employees through change. Rather, the most successful way to facilitate change with individuals is through the use of simple, easy-to-use, and holistic tools that are based on how employees really experience change; tools and models that outline the specific steps of successful change, enable us to identify unique barrier points and offer effective remedies to overcome those barriers. The ADKAR Model addresses each of these factors so that we can successfully employ it to facilitate individual change.

The letters of ADKAR represent the five essential elements that must be present for an individual to make a change successfully:

• Awareness of the need for change
• Desire to participate and support the change
• Knowledge on how to change
• Ability to implement required skills and behaviors
• Reinforcement to sustain the change

These elements are intentionally sequenced. Earlier elements must be sufficiently achieved before the proceeding elements can be realized. For instance, building Knowledge of how to change is ineffective if an individual does not have Awareness of the need for change or Desire to participate and support the change. ADKAR has been used by thousands to drive more successful change because it presents the structure and sequence required for individuals to make a change.

By understanding how an individual experiences change, you will be in a better position to lead impactful and wide-scale changes in your organization.

AWARENESS

The first element in the ADKAR Model is Awareness. More specifically, this is the awareness of the need for change. Change begins with understanding the “why”, including answers to some basic questions, such as:

• What is the nature of the change?
• Why is the change happening?
• What are the risks of not changing, to me and to the organization?

If we do not understand why a change is needed then we do not have Awareness, and our natural reaction is to resist the change. In fact, Prosci’s benchmarking studies show that a lack of Awareness is the greatest source of resistance for both employees and managers and supervisors.

Action Item:

For a change either in your personal life or at work, describe your personal awareness of the need for change.

• What are the reasons you believe the change is happening?
• What are the risks to you or the organization if you don’t participate in the change?

Example

A large organization is implementing a new document management system. Employees will need to learn new processes around retrieving, editing and sharing documents within the organization. The change is needed in order to make the organization more efficient at tracking and maintaining up-to-date documents. The “why” behind the change comes from a failure of the current system resulting in expensive mistakes and lost documents. At the level of an individual employee, the risks of not changing include the inability to access necessary documents and slower turnaround times on finishing tasks.

DESIRE

Ultimately, change requires an individual to make a personal decision to participate and support a change. Because it requires a personal decision, Desire is often the most difficult ADKAR element in an organizational change. However, leaders and managers can influence this decision by addressing the personal and organizational motivators for the change. The desire element addresses “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM) and “What’s in it for us?” regarding the change.

Action item

List the motivating factors or consequences related to the change that would influence your desire to change. These factors can be positive or negative.

Example

From an individual employee’s perspective, the consequences of not changing pose a risk to their performance at work, which could have other repercussions on their personal success at work. However, if an employee is not as computer savvy as other employees, he or she may be less motivated to learn a new system. On a more positive note, the new system is promised to work better than the old methods of managing documents, so, for many employees, this change may come as welcome relief.

KNOWLEDGE

The Knowledge element of the ADKAR Model is often accounted for with training. Successful change requires knowing how to use the new tools or perform the new skills after implementation and knowing how to change. In many cases, simply attending training does not result in sufficient knowledge. Practice, on-the-job coaching and additional job aids can all help ensure that individuals have the knowledge they need to make a change successfully. And, training without the preceding awareness and desire is ineffective and can actually be more frustrating than beneficial for employees.

Action item

List the skills and knowledge needed to support this change, both during and after the transition.

• Do you need more training, one-on-one coaching, or simply time to study the new system or processes?
• What would help you better understand how to change?

Example

Employees are required to know how to navigate the new document management system and understand how to access files. The training was provided to all impacted employees. In addition, managers were trained and equipped to offer individual coaching and support to their employees to ensure the employees understand and know how to use the new tools and processes. In addition, a “practice” station was established so employees could become more familiar with the look and feel of the new document management system.

ABILITY

Following knowledge, an employee must have the ability to demonstrate new skills and behaviors. It is possible that an employee may understand the change on a theoretical level and even have the knowledge to make the change but ultimately cannot demonstrate the required skills and behaviors. It is at ability – when employees achieve the desired change with new skills and behaviors – that the change comes to life and business results are realized.

Action item

Consider the skills and knowledge understood from the knowledge element and assess your ability to implement this change.

• What challenges do you foresee?
• Are there any barriers inhibiting your ability?

Example

For the majority of employees, adoption of the new system should be smooth, especially when allowed a few weeks to practice. There will be a select few employees who will be unable to learn the new technology, either due to personal limitations or prolonged time required to learn.

REINFORCEMENT

The final element in the ADKAR Model is Reinforcement, a critical step to ensure the change is sustained. Reinforcement includes actions, recognition, mechanisms and rewards that increase the likelihood that the change will be continued. While reinforcement mechanisms can be in place before the change is made, reinforcement at the individual level occurs once the change has been adopted (i.e. ability has been achieved). This does not mean the employee must be proficient to receive reinforcement, but they must first demonstrate some ability for the behavior to be positively reinforced.

Action item

List the reinforcements that will help you to sustain the change.

• What incentives are in place to help make the change stick?
• Are there any opposing incentives to the change?

Example

The organization has tied the successful implementation of this change to employee bonuses. The project sponsor is very active and visible in giving positive feedback to impacted groups who are demonstrating the change. Managers are closely working with struggling employees to ensure they can succeed at the change as well. In addition, managers are continuing to actively remove barriers and manage resistance to the change.

Read more about ADKAR here.

This blog post was originally published by Tim Creasey in Prosci blog.

What is Change Management?

Change management is the application of a structured process and set of tools for leading the people side of change to achieve the desired outcome. Change management is:

• • • A process used by project teams to manage the system, process and organizational changes
    • A leadership competency for enabling change within an organization
    • A strategic capability designed to increase change capacity and responsiveness

Why is Change Management Necessary?

Various studies have shown that the likelihood that projects meet or achieve their objectives is directly related to change management effectiveness. One study with 327 project leaders (the Business Process Reengineering Benchmarking report) indicated that failure to manage the people side of change, and the associated employee resistance, was the top obstacle to project success.

The report cited employee resistance to change five times more frequently than any other project obstacle. Prosci’s correlation data from over 2,000 data points and nine years shows that initiatives with excellent change management are six times more likely to meet objectives than those with poor change management. By simply moving from “poor” to “fair,” change management increases the likelihood of meeting objectives threefold.

Effect on adoption and usage

Applying change management can directly impact adoption and usage. Specifically, it can affect:

• • • • • Speed of adoption: how quickly the organization adopts the change and how well the project stays on schedule
        • Utilization rate: the overall level of participation and ultimate utilization of the new processes, tools and job changes
        • Proficiency: how well employees perform in the new environment and if they are achieving the expected performance levels

Effect on project objectives and ROI

When change management delivers targeted levels of adoption and usage, the probability of achieving business objectives, on time and on budget, increases. When the people side of change is poorly managed, projects fall behind schedule, fewer employees engage in the change, and proficiency levels are lower; projects deliver a lower ROI or in some cases fail completely.

Key Roles for Succeeding in Change Management

The key roles in change management include:

Primary sponsor

The primary sponsor is the individual who authorizes and funds the project. This person is usually in control of the resources, systems and people that are affected by the change. The primary sponsor usually has the authority to determine the scope of the change and its timing.

Sponsor

Sponsor refers to any senior or mid-level manager with responsibility for employees or systems impacted by the change. In this context, a sponsor is defined as any business leader whose support and active engagement are necessary for the change to be successful. Sometimes the term “key stakeholder” is also used to refer to this role.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship refers to the activities expected by employees, and therefore required, of a good sponsor. These behaviors include active and visible participation throughout the project, building a coalition of sponsorship with peers and subordinates, and communicating directly to employees.

Sponsor coalition

The sponsor coalition is the collection of sponsors within the organization. The affected employees report to sponsors within the sponsor coalition. A strong sponsor coalition is a good indicator of project success, whereas a weak sponsor coalition is a good indicator that projects will fall behind schedule, miss objectives, or fail completely.

Managers and supervisors

Managers and supervisors with employees affected by the change play a key role in helping their employees through the transition process. These managers and supervisors are the preferred senders of change messages related to how a change personally impacts employees.

Stakeholders

All sponsors, managers, supervisors and employees affected by the change are stakeholders. In many changes, external partners, vendors and even customers may be considered stakeholders. They all have a stake in the outcome of the change.

Project leader

This role is assigned to the individual who has the overall responsibility to implement the project. The project leader has direct day-to-day control over the project team, project management activities, and all resources associated with the project.

Change management leader

This role is assigned to the individual who creates and implements change management plans for a project. Change management plans include communications, sponsorship, coaching, training and resistance management.

Understanding the Change Management Process

A holistic approach to change management on a project addresses both the organizational and individual change management processes.

Organizational change management

Organizational change management is a process for designing and implementing change management activities that affect broad groups of employees to enable adoption and proficient usage. These activities include:

Phase 1: Preparing for change

• Readiness assessments, risk assessments and strategy development
• Identifying and preparing change management resources
• Creating the necessary sponsorship model and preparing sponsors to effectively lead the change

Phase 2: Managing the change

• Preparing a communications plan for the project
• Creating a roadmap for all key sponsors of the change
• Developing a plan to help managers and supervisors coach employees through the transition
• Creating a training plan
• Developing a resistance management strategy
• Integrating change management with project management
• Executing the plans to drive adoption and usage

Phase 3: Reinforcing the change

• Collecting and analyzing feedback, auditing compliance, and measuring performance
• Identifying root causes to resistance and addressing those points of resistance
• Celebrating successes and transitioning the project over to day-to-day operations

Individual change management

Individual change management manages change at an individual level, with each employee. Successful individual change involves five elements that serve as the sequential building blocks of individual change. When all five elements are present, the individual has successfully transitioned through the change.

• This change model is referred to as the Prosci ADKAR® Model and consists of:

  1. Awareness of the need for change
  2. Desire to engage and participate in the change
  3. Knowledge on how to change
  4. Ability to implement the change
  5. Reinforcement to sustain the change

Organizational change management is used to enable successful individual change management. And when individuals successfully transition through the change, then the organization is able to achieve its objectives.

Enterprise change management

Enterprise change management is the structured and intentional deployment of change management across and throughout an organization. Beyond change management effectively applied on individual projects, organizations with mature change capabilities create an infrastructure to make the management of change an organizational capability and a strategic, competitive advantage. Institutionalizing change management practices, processes, capabilities and competencies make effectively managing the people side of change a core competency and cultural value of the organization. Building an intentional and repeatable strategy for change deployment enables an agile and change-ready organization.

Summary

Change management is about enabling employees to successfully transition through the change to:

• Increase the likelihood that the change will occur successfully and that the objectives of the change will be realized
• Capture the people-dependent ROI of the change
• Manage employee resistance to change
• Build change competency into the organization

Gain the tools to successfully apply change management to a project and communicate the role of change management to others in your organization by attending the Prosci Change Management Certification Program.

 This blog post was originally published by D. Scott Ross in Prosci blog.

When we think of change management, we typically envision the actions that we take – communicating, building sponsorship, managing resistance, etc. However, one of the keys to successfully managing change is the use of an individual change model. Understanding how an individual experiences change is critical for change management activities and interventions to be successful.

REASONS WE NEED AN INDIVIDUAL CHANGE PERSPECTIVE

An individual model for change is necessary for organizational change management to be effective. It defines the outcomes or results that organizational activities are trying to achieve.

It is critical because:

• Successful organizational change only results when individuals are successful at change – How valuable is a new process that no one adopts? How valuable is a new web-based tool that no one uses? How valuable is an ERP if no one is using it correctly? The answer to these questions is the essence of the fact that organizational change is only successful when each impacted individual makes their own successful transition. In fact, a poorly managed change can actually have severe adverse impacts. I remember hearing a story about a man working in a warehouse who was being told by the system that he could not ship product, despite the fact that it was sitting in front of him on the shelf. A customer was being deprived of a product because someone upstream had not used the new ERP system correctly. Any organizational initiative that impacts how people do their jobs is only as successful as each employee at making the personal change.
• While we are all different, as human beings we respond to change fairly predictably – At first glance, your reaction might be “oh no, everybody is unique” – and you are correct. However, the way we as human beings respond to change is actually very similar. For instance, it is basic human nature to be curious about why a change is happening and what has resulted in the need for change.
• An individual change model like ADKAR provides the key building blocks for successful individual change (and hence successful organizational change) – Following the two principles above, we can directly connect an individual change model to achieving organizational goals and objectives. What has sometimes been considered the “soft issues” is actually at the center of meeting the goals our projects and strategic initiatives. An effective individual change model, like Prosci’s ADKAR model, describes what successful change looks like from the individual’s perspective.

RISK OF NOT HAVING AN INDIVIDUAL CHANGE PERSPECTIVE

There are a number of risks to attempting change management without a solid foundation in how individuals go through change. This is perhaps one of the biggest risks of ‘recipe-driven’ change management approaches. We cannot think of change management as merely checking the box and moving forward. Because of principle 1 above, we must focus on how well each individual is moving through their own personal transition for change management to be successful.

Two major risks of trying change management without an individual change model::

• We do the activities, but do not have the appropriate focus on the individuals undergoing change – The individual change model defines the outcome we are trying to achieve when we implement change. In the absences of this individual perspective, project teams run a significant risk of completing activities but not achieving results. In the face of significant resistance, a team might say “but we sent 43 communications” or “everyone went through the training program”. This is evidence of doing change management activities without a focus on what the activities were trying to achieve.
• We have no way of knowing if we have succeeded – Since the individual change model describes the desired outcomes, it also establishes a framework to know if we have been successful. Without the individual change model, it is impossible to tell whether or not change management activities are achieving their desired results.

APPLICATIONS OF THE INDIVIDUAL CHANGE PERSPECTIVE

The ADKAR model has proven to be so effective that it is taught in Prosci’s 3-day certification, 1-day managers program and 4-6 hour executive sessions. Our clients have been very successful when they get each of these very different groups thinking about change in terms of ADKAR.

Speaking practically, there are several main applications of the individual change model:

• Provides focus to organizational change management activities – Individual change models provide focus for the numerous change management activities we complete. For example, it is commonly accepted that communication is critically important to succeed at change. But what should we communicate about? In the absence of an individual change management model, project teams resort to telling others what they have been doing, describing the solution in detail. ADKAR reorients the focus of efforts from “communicating” to “building awareness”, or from “training” to “building knowledge”. This seemingly subtle shift in perspective is what differentiates mediocre change management from exceptional change management. It is what enables project and change teams to truly achieve results.
• Gives direction measuring effectiveness and for corrective actions – How do we know if our change management activities are working? For change management teams, an individual change model like ADKAR allows them to collect data from different groups across the organization to 1) understand how effective their organizational change management activities have been and to 2) take corrective action. For example, if the team determines that awareness of the need for change is low, then adjustments can be made to the communication plans and sponsor plans to correct this situation. If, on the other hand, knowledge and ability are low, then adjustments to training and coaching plans can be made. Without a focus on the outcomes described in an individual change model, it is not always clear what actions should be taken to correct a situation. The individual change model provides a way to assess where the individuals in the organization are related to the change and how to help them move forward.
• Gives managers and supervisors a real tool to use when coaching employees – An individual change model provides managers and supervisors with a tool for managing change at an individual level, the essence of coaching an employee through change. If we want our managers to have effective conversations with employees about a change, then we must equip them with the tools they need. Teaching them about ADKAR and how to use it with their employees prepares them to fulfill their role in making change successful.
• Is an effective tool for both project and ‘non-project’ changes – Not all change in organizations take place in the context of a project. Each and every day, employees, supervisors, managers and senior leaders face change. An individual model of change gives them a tool that can be used to manage these ‘non-project’ changes.

This blog post was originally published by Tim Creasey in Prosci blog.