We have passed the magical, mystical date of 1/11/11.
Next up- today’s first business day of the decade.
It might just, finally, be time to jump start change in your organization.
Change Management Tips
- Acknowledge the past. Everyone has become a little fearful. There is hesitation in every move. Confidence has eroded for both individuals and in systems/structure/environment. In your words, in your actions in your empathy, acknowledge this. And then quickly move on. It is after all a brand new year, a brand new decade- things are better right?
- Grab hold of the idea of magical starting points. Think like someone setting out for a Guinness record. From the moment they start their effort is a clean slate. It stays that way as long as they stick to it, hang in there and think more about success than mistakes. Make your change a new record for you and your organization.
- Pinpoint expertise. Counter the flight instinct in your employees/stakeholders (a study I saw yesterday pegged the number of people interested in a new job in 2011 at 85%!) by asking for/using/rewarding their skill and expertise. Use that talent at the right time in the right place and you will work toward that “record change”.
- Avoid blanket inclusion. Change that quickly becomes “un-magical” tends to have a wrap-your-arms-around-everyone approach/perspective. There is a temporary magic from the group hug, but also a quick realization that this is a change that will be guided by people who have jobs to do a certain thing. Save the group hug for the company picnic. Accomplishing is first and foremost.
- Plan. Do not skip this step. By plan I mean gather the information you need to describe end states. I definitely do not mean plan like a project manager or COO (that might be tip 15). Take a big picture view and use that to make the eventual change stick.
- Act. NOT quick wins- this is not the environment for that. Begin to take steps that obviously build toward the end state. Show that you understand change and are ready to apply that understanding to the current scenario of specific change/difficult environment.
- Slot in the right person with the right skill at the right time. And then acknowledge the person and the skill. If you are lucky they will telegraph the energy and motivation you created by being specific to a person and skill.
- Communicate. It is tempting to have this earlier in the list, and yes, you probably will have communicated something at this point. You want your communication to always place people and work at an exact spot. At any given time a stakeholder should know when they will participate, at what level of energy/effort/motivation and who will be before and after them in the change timeline.
- Create collaboration and meeting places. The change process must always have avenues for interaction, comparison, debate and cheerleading. They can be in person, virtual or a combination- the key is to create a way to move the change forward effectively. A hint from the external perspective- focus on cross functional/horizontal avenues. Get the functions to talk and work with each other as a team. Change is not a competition.
- Be flexible, be patient, but do not stand still. The change process must have flexibility. If you did a good job of end state descriptions you will have an idea of how flexible this process needs to be. It is surprising how much you can stretch a rubber band- especially if it is new. Keep the newness; keep the stretch. Give it time. Do not however let yourself be complacent or overcome with doubt and fear (that was 2009 and 2010 remember?).
