Compared to the complex topics addressed in this series to date, our current post—the availability of resources to fulfill change management roles—may appear wonderfully straightforward. Identifying team members, assigning individuals to positions and responsibilities, and developing agendas and timetables are familiar activities. However, be warned: The challenges that face the Change Management Team are unique, and its success or failure has enormous implications for the organization.
According to a report by the Katzenbach Center for Strategy, only about half of business transformation initiatives accomplish their goals, and the major reasons for failure are people related issues. When asked to select the top reasons people resist change, 44 percent of employees say they don’t understand the change they’re being asked to make and 38 percent say they don’t agree with it.
That research puts the Change Management Team on the hottest of hot seats. Charged with “managing people through the process of adopting and embracing change,” their responsibilities include helping their colleagues understand the benefits of the change, coaching them in new behaviors, and encouraging them to support the desired future state. For many organizations, especially those undertaking change for the first time, the people element of change can be overwhelming. The more complex the organization’s structure, the more functional areas and business lines it represents, and the greater its geographic spread (complicated by multiple cultures and languages), the more challenging change management becomes.
Three fundamental truths come into play when an organization is determining if it has what it takes to perform change management in-house:
Change management–planning, executing, and communicating the change—requires a larger number and variety of people than they ever imagined.
The formal Change Management Team—typically three to seven mid-level managers and/or individual contributors representing functions and business units most affected by the change—is only a small part of the change management effort. In simplest terms, the Change Management Team builds and enables, providing guidance and creating a change management plan that will be executed by others in the organization. Multiple levels and disciplines must be represented in a multitude of other roles, including:
― Steering committee, usually three to five senior executives, often including HR, IT, Finance and the CEO or his proxy as sponsor, to set direction and take responsibility for the initiative’s feasibility, business plan and achievement of outcomes
― Functional resources and subject matter experts who can interpret the initiative and its impact on their respective areas, in order to provide insight and advice to designers
― Change coaches and champions, as liaison to areas affected by the change, charged with modeling and translating the change into day-to-day terms for affected users
― Technical resources to participate in design, testing, and implementation of the new systems, structure, technology, and/or programs
― Trainers and communicators to undertake implementation efforts, from technical training to creating ongoing messaging and mechanisms to embed the change
In a mid-size company (up to 1,000 employees), a Change Management Team and its extended special teams and resources can easily twenty to forty people spanning all stakeholder groups and levels in the organizational hierarchy. Having enough resources to keep the business running successfully while performing a change initiative can become a real concern.
The skills and attributes of change resources exceed those required to perform “business as usual.”
The roles outlined above demand advanced expertise and specialized personal attributes, particularly in the “soft” skills that are not central to all jobs. Change resources need:
― Vision. The ideal team member is a strong champion of the project, able to see the big picture and to think strategically and cross-functionally He or she must be convinced that the initiative is critical to achieving the desired future state organization and committed to its success.
― Influence. Credibility and respect within the organization allows team members to build support with those who fear or resist the change, helping them understand the benefits and “see the future” of the organization.
― Communication. Translating key messages into simple, meaningful, and compelling terms ensures that each of the organization’s audiences is aware of the change on a macro level, and knows what the change will mean to them personally.
― Coaching and mentoring. For change to be successful, it is necessary to reinforce new and essential skills and behaviors and implant them in the organization.
― Interpersonal skills. Members must be comfortable working in a team with others from different functional and business backgrounds. In addition, they must be empathetic, enthusiastic, and comfortable dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity.
One additional caution: Participation in the change management effort is a high-profile assignment and can be fraught with conflict. Members should be prepared for notoriety as well as the satisfaction that comes from contributing to their organization’s future success.
The best resources for the change team are the organization’s “A” players.
Genuine alarm may set in when business managers realize that their high performing employees are most likely to possess the change management skills defined above. Already in high demand for task forces and other special assignments, the “A” team may resist being diverted from their permanent jobs, just as their managers may resist yet another request to “lend” their prized resources for the greater good of the organization. Project leaders and executive sponsors will need to make a strong case that assigning “A” players to the change effort is not a wish but an imperative.
One way to turn a perceived negative into a positive is capitalize on the opportunities for growth and development that this situation creates: Not only will “A” players learn new and valuable skills in their change management roles; their “understudies” will appreciate the chance to step up and backfill the business-as-usual roles. This de facto succession planning should lessen the sting for managers, who will benefit from a stronger, more engaged team, and for the organization, which is making an investment in its future.
Following an assessment of the internal resources at their disposal, organizations may choose to proceed on their own. However, most will benefit from some form of external assistance. One approach is to hire specialized resources in critical areas where internal expertise is lacking, in short supply, or otherwise unavailable, such as communications and training. Another alternative is to hire a change management consulting firm to manage change end-to-end. In choosing an approach, consider the following benefits of using change management consulting resources:
Expertise. To acquire specialized skills and knowledge that the company doesn’t possess in-house or can’t afford to hire full-time.
Efficiency. To supplement staff with individuals who have experience performing project activities and can turn a project around in an optimal timeframe.
Balance. To establish dedicated project resources, so that other employees can continue to perform their day-to-day responsibilities.
Perspective. To obtain an objective viewpoint and a fresh set of eyes, as well as best practices across functions and industries
Learning. To transfer the consultant’s knowledge, skills, frameworks, and tools to client employees.
Finally, while we cannot guarantee that hiring a change management consultant will lead to project success, we can alert you to one guarantee of failure: Expecting to hand off change management in its entirety to external providers. Successful, sustained change requires active participation from the executives, managers, and employees who know your organization’s structure, culture, history, and operations—and who will remain when the consultant’s role ends. The experience your employees gain will make your organization increasingly change-capable, producing repeated success in the ongoing cycle of change.
