Change Leadership / Management: A Business Outcomes Biased ... A Business Outcomes Biased...

Change Leadership / Management:

A Business Outcomes Biased Perspective

Feedback is welcome. For comments or consultation, please contact:

Richard Dickie The "Change" Doctor

E-mail: [email protected] www.WWWHow.ca

Change Leadership / Management: A Business Outcomes Biased Perspective

© 2011 Richard Dickie, All rights reserved. of 43 www.WWWHow.ca | The "Change" Doctor

Disclaimer

The content of this document is based solely on the experience and research of Richard Dickie. The content is freely offered and intended to stimulate the thinking of the reader with respect to CHANGE. There is no claim of absolute completeness or correctness. My understanding of CHANGE will continue to develop to support and help us thrive in the new reality of the constant change being experienced in Business and Society today and tomorrow. Try to enjoy the journey and the side trips (learning and growth opportunities) along the way.

Readers are encouraged to use the perspectives articulated in this white paper freely in their CHANGE projects.

Richard Dickie will not, in any circumstances, be liable for any damage arising out of the use or misuse of this document's content including, without limitation, damages to business, business interruption, loss of business information or other direct or consequential loss.



Table of Contents

Abstract / Overview of Paper ...................................................................................................... 4

Guaranteeing Successful Change Projects (Project View) ......................................................... 6

The evolution of the 5 project CSFs (Critical Success Factors) .............................................. 6

Five Project CSFs explained .................................................................................................. 7

1. Business Outcome Focus - NOT widgets - A VALUE Driven Perspective ....................... 7

2. Stakeholder Commitment. "You Got 'a want it"................................................................ 9

3. The big picture. "Heed the dynamic context" ..................................................................11

4. Dynamic Teams .............................................................................................................13

5. Elegance and Simplicity in Business Processes .............................................................14

Summary ...........................................................................................................................15

Fully integrated Change Management Workstreams (Change View) ........................................17

Business Transformation (Enterprise)....................................................................................19

1. Organizational Executive Leadership .............................................................................19

2. Organization Vision / Strategy ........................................................................................19

3. Opportunity Identification (Tactics) .................................................................................20

4. Impact Assessments ......................................................................................................22

5. Change Initiatives Investment Portfolio Rationalization ..................................................23

6. Chartering ......................................................................................................................24

Effective Change Management (Change initiative Specific) ...................................................26

7. Change Initiative Executive Sponsorship .......................................................................27

8. Governance ...................................................................................................................28

9. Communication ..............................................................................................................30

10. Organizational Readiness ............................................................................................32

11. Change Project or Change Program ............................................................................35

12. Managing Resistance to Change .................................................................................35

13. Behavioural Change Sustainment ................................................................................37

In Conclusion ............................................................................................................................40

References & Useful Readings .................................................................................................41

About the author .......................................................................................................................43



Abstract / Overview of Paper

There are many considerations at play, if a change initiative is to have the best chance of success. I take the perspective that there are several change Workstreams that work together to optimize the potential for success (often far beyond the initial expectations of the Change sponsor).

This paper will first present the project perspective of 5 Project Critical Success Factors (CSFs). I first developed these CSFs in the 80's and first wrote them down in the early nineties (as an added Project Management dimension to help the project managers I was working with). I continued to use the 5 CSFs as one framework in my own work when assessing the health of projects / programs or organizations. The short version of the 5 Project / Change CSFs is:

1) Clarity of Desired Business Outcome - NOT widgets - A VALUE driven perspective 2) Stakeholder Commitment. You Got 'a want it 3) The Big Picture. "Heed the ever changing context" 4) Dynamic Teams - Value Diversity, Beware of Clones 5) Elegance / Simplifying Business Processes

I will then present my perspective of all the change leadership elements that have to be addressed to effect successful organizational change or organizational transformation. My perspective was developed through exposure to many consultants and my personal leadership experiences. I continued to test what I was doing, whether as an organizational leader, a program/project manager or a work culture change executive against my fundamental 5 project CSFs. I have continued field testing both my Project CSF model and my Fully integrated Change Management Model extensively.

The short version of the fully integrated Change Management workstreams is:

WHAT WHO

Business Transformation (Enterprise) 1. Organization Executive Leadership Executive Leadership 2. Organization Vision / Strategy Executive Leadership 3. Opportunity Identification (Tactics) Everyone & PMO process 4. Impact assessments Stakeholders & PMO/CM 5. Change Initiatives Portfolio Rationalization Governance 6. Chartering Executive Sponsor & PMO/CM



Effective Change management (Change Initiative Specific) 7. Change Initiative Executive Sponsorship Executive Sponsor & CM 8. Governance Exec Sponsor & Stakeholder Reps 9. Communication Stakeholder leadership & CM 10. Organizational Readiness Stakeholder Leadership & CM

• Assessments Stakeholders, CM & PM Teams • Job / Organization re-design Stakeholders & HR / CM • Capability Building Stakeholders & HR & CM

11. Change Project or Change program Project team 12. Managing Resistance to Change Stakeholder leadership & CM 13. Behavioural Change sustainment. Exec Sponsors, Operations, CM



Guaranteeing Successful Change Projects (Project View)

The evolution of the 5 project CSFs (Critical Success Factors) In my early career with one of the top 3 global integrated oil & Gas companies, I developed a reputation for 2 things.

• As an Information Technology (IT) technical whiz kid • As someone who could be counted on to deliver complex IT projects that delighted

clients

I was having a lot of fun delivering value to my clients as a project / program manager. My leadership at the time assumed that there was a cause and effect relationship between my technical prowess and my project success - this in my experience is a false belief. Project Management success has much more to do with leadership skills than technical skills.

My last major technical project was the development and implementation of a corporate standard Maintenance Management System for the corporation's 5 US refineries. This project had failed twice, and because of my reputation I was brought in to give it one more try.

The project ended up being a great success with all the refineries and corporate feeling that the team had somehow accomplished a miracle. They wanted me to bottle the secret sauce and asked me to put together a course for project managers to teach them my secrets for delivering successful projects. I considered doing this for a short time only to realize I did not consciously know what I did that was different than other Project Managers - I just did it! I returned to Canada to take a Leadership turnaround role for a troubled organization. But... What a great question!! What's the secret Sauce? What are the critical success factors that, when done well, "Guarantee" project success?

Over the next several years, (in addition to a series of Leadership roles) I pursued the answer to that question. I reflected on my personal experiences, talked to other experienced Project Managers, vendors and customers to get their perspective. I looked for common attributes / characteristics of projects which clients viewed as outstanding successes, as well as some which had failed spectacularly. This research led to the development of the 5 CSFs, I will share in this paper.

I have used the "5 CSFs of successful projects" many times as a project health assessment framework, even as an organizational health assessment tool and validated the model with many examples.

It's worthy of note that none of the 5 CSFs relate directly to the traditional project success metrics of On-time, On-spec, On-budget - these are manufacturing type performance metrics. The 5 project CSFs relate more to Business Outcomes and Sustainability - these are Change Management success metrics. It seems my project success secrets had more to do with Change Management than with just Project Management techniques or technical know-how. Note: At the time (70's, 80's), Organizational Change Management (OCM) was not yet

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developed as a methodology. So the secret sauce was that I was somehow doing many of the things naturally that are now recognize as Organizational Change Management.

In 2009, I made a career change from Corporate America leadership roles to that of an independent consultant, focusing on helping clients successfully introduce sustainable Change. While I was getting organized to provide this service, I encountered the OCM acronym. Within 30 seconds of research I had an epiphany. "While it didn't have a label until then, that's exactly what I've been doing my whole career!!"

Five Project CSFs explained

1. Business Outcome Focus - NOT widgets - A VALUE Driven Perspective

Figure 1.0 Typical IT high level project Change cycle.

When all goes well the Sponsor (playing the banker beneficiary role) first describes a desired Change in business and commits to invest dollars and people to make that Change happen.

The second step is for a team to conduct a "Means Analysis" (What can we do to achieve the sponsors objectives?). This results in an approved solution direction. The next step is to develop and execute a plan to develop new tools / processes /skills etc. to enable the organization to operate in the desired new changed paradigm.



The final phase is implementation / transformation where new skills are learned, new processes are built into the operating fabric of the organization.

The success of the project is measured, by the sponsor, in terms of how well the intended business Change was realized - what value was realized by the business? Often the technical project team focuses on building the enabling tool or designing new processes. Success then often becomes viewed by the project team, in terms of executing the project tasks and measuring success in manufacturing terms of On-time, On-spec, On-budget. This is a limiting perspective and does not ensure that the sponsor expectations are met.

Project success must be thought of as exceeding sponsors expectations of value within a reasonable timeframe and budget. This statement is not a license for project managers to be irresponsible with respect to budget, but rather to emphasize that being On-time On-spec On-budget is of no value if the anticipated business outcome / value is not achieved. A recent research paper by Thomas G. Lechler, PhD and John C. Byrne PhD titled "The Mindset For Creating Project Value", partially sponsored and published by the Project Management Institute takes the position that Project Managers who take the mindset of maximizing Value and looking for opportunity in the uncertainties that develop during a project versus the traditional project manager mindset of minimizing the variation of the triple constrains of schedule, scope and budget is of more value to the customers and should be the real measure of project success. This new developing perspective is encouraging and in harmony with the Change Management perspective.

It is very useful for Projects to take the perspective that they are about Change Facilitation - not just product / service development. Project teams must be skilled in transition management / change management processes.

Kurt Lewin first described a 3 stage change model in 1947 which has been used extensively for the past 6 decades in one form or another.

Figure 2.0 Kurt Lewin Change Model



Lewin's Refreeze phase in analogous to the project implementation / transformation phase of the IT project model in Figure 1.0. This is the most important phase of any change project and unfortunately the one which is most frequently under planned and under resourced. The Change must not only be well implemented in terms of building capability in the organization to operate in the changed environment, but the organization must develop a new inertia to sustain the Change. Re-enforcement processes must be in place to prevent back-sliding to the previous mode of operation. Reference the white paper "The Many Plans that Drive the Change Engine" by the same author.

Success is meeting Customer / Sponsor expectations - not just building/implementing new plants or systems, etc. efficiently.

A poor product well implemented is generally more successful than a great product poorly implemented!! Reinforcing Actions

The key to enhancing the likelihood of success is to ensure, at every opportunity, that the project team is reminded of the desired business outcome of the project and that every decision is made in the context of furthering the achievement of the business outcome.

• Communications to all affected stakeholders at the beginning of the project is all about the scope of the initiative, WHY it is important to the organization, how individuals will be affected and how success will be measured.

• Reinforce the importance of the expected business outcomes in regular team meetings and celebrations.

• Invite the Sponsor and other affected stakeholder leaders to team events to strengthen the message.

• Emphasize the importance of planning and resourcing the implementation phase. This phase is often under resourced and under planned especially if the development phase is outsourced to a vendor specializing in customizing a tool e.g. an ERP implementation (Contracting terms for outsourced project success are usually based on technical deliverables rather than business outcomes).

2. Stakeholder Commitment. "You Got 'ta want it".

There are only two conditions for commitment. First you have a clear understanding of the desired outcome and secondly you must have a strong belief that the desired outcome is important.

An important corollary to this statement is that knowing HOW is not a pre-condition for commitment. If knowing HOW were a pre-condition of commitment then you can only do old things over, you could never do anything new.

http://www.wwwhow.ca/resources/The%20change%20engine.pdf�




Figure 3.0 Stakeholders

Commitment of the business can be eroded by changes in business priorities. Commitment of the project team can be eroded by failure of management to demonstrate trust in the project team or failure of business to provide necessary resources. This can result in erosion of project performance, missed project milestones and further erosion of management trust.

Early danger signals that leadership are not really as committed as required for success are:

• Financial support but not people support. If leadership is able to provide the budget, but seem reluctant to assign key people to the project, this is a sign of lack of commitment. It is a sign that they do not believe in the full value of the project and choose to assign their best people to other "higher value" initiatives.

• "Leadership" willingness to delegate control to a "Supplier". Whether the technical project team is staffed with internal resources or uses a heavy compliment of contractors or vendor staff, it is a sign of leadership's lack of commitment. If leaders/sponsors fail to be heavily engaged and delegate accountability to the "Supplier", it is a sign of lack of committment. If leaders/sponsors are not willing to be actively engaged, the project will not have the sponsorship it requires. The



project is at risk of becoming a technical project only and the desired business outcomes will be in jeopardy.

Reinforcing Actions

Continuously assess business' commitment to, readiness for, and capability of Change. The project team needs to be proactive in keeping the stakeholders engaged. If there is erosion in commitment or lack of enthusiastic involvement then a root cause analysis needs to be undertaken and corrective action initiated.

Communicate! Communicate!! Communicate!!! The key to engaging and maintaining stakeholder commitment is Communications. Communications between:

• Executive sponsor (Governance structure) and Project to keep project informed of changing business context and provide executive decisions / interventions,

• Project and Governance to keep leadership apprised of status of project and request interventions if appropriate,

• Executive sponsorship and impacted operational stakeholders to provide understanding of WHY the Change is important and build support,

• The Project and impacted operational stakeholders to provide detailed understanding of the WHAT and HOW of the Change,

• Impacted operational stakeholders providing feedback and requirements to Project and Executive Sponsorship.

Continuing to invest in a project, without full and sustained commitment of all stakeholders, IS IRRESPONSIBLE!!

3. The big picture. "Heed the dynamic context"

As illustrated in the paper "OMG: Accelerating Pace of Change Implications - Are you ready??" by the same author, the amount of change being experienced in the work place today is having a dramatic effect on business and Change initiatives. The new reality is that it is very unlikely that a Change can be implemented and stabilized before another Change is initiated impacting the same stakeholders or even the scope of the current project. This makes it critical that every Change initiative maintain contact with the environment around them and be able to change scope and approach in accordance with changes in the context. Projects must be nimble and fluid in response to the ever changing context. I refer to this as remaining in contact with the big picture which is always in flux.

Some realities: • No change stands alone • Business priorities are never static • Every project has a tendency to expand in scope

http://www.wwwhow.ca/resources/Accelerating%20%20Pace%20of%20Change.pdf�



• Most current information environments are not integrated - the result of responsibly optimizing the parts.

Figure 4.0 Dynamic Change Context

Figure 4.0 illustrates some of the dynamics that are generally in play with every project. The amount of Change being experienced today dictates that every project will be impacted by change of some sort as the organization responds to external forces. The project will have to be nimble and flexible if it is to succeed in delivering the expected business outcomes.

External to your company there may be dramatic changes in available technology, global economics, societal movements, customer requirements, new competition, market position, government legislation, or even global political instability.

These external Changes may affect business performance and change business priorities. Business units may have to initiate more Change projects which can affect the priority and availability of resources to your project. Impacted staff in the business units may start to experience Change fatigue as a result of many projects implementing Changes in a short period of time.



Architectures are very important to help decision makers make informed decisions when called for by a change in scope or priority or resources available to a project. An Enterprise Architecture is comprised of:

• Business Architecture, answers the questions WHAT do they do?, WHO does it?, WHICH information is required?, WHERE is it done?

• Information Architecture, focuses on Data, how access is provided to the data, which systems provide or use data.

• Technology Architecture, comprises several components; security, data technology, collaboration technology, application technology, integration technology, network and platforms, service management technologies and standards.

In a future view, Architecture is a blueprint of the overall vision. It is independent of priorities. All Change initiatives should be at a minimum aligned with the vision architecture and optimally help the business move toward the vision. At the enterprise level, architecture illustrates a goal.

In the current view, Architecture is a blueprint of where you are. At the enterprise level it makes visible the current problems and the opportunities.

Reinforcing actions

• Scope & align projects to current business priorities (PMO) • Ensure that projects are working together to optimize performance at an enterprise level

(PMO) • Monitor external environment for context changes (Leadership & PMO) • Include a "Big Picture" (Architecture Alignment) validity test in the scope change control

process (Governance)

4. Dynamic Teams

Fundamental Belief: People working together can produce results that are unachievable by many people working as individuals.

Characteristics of effective teams: • Commitment to a common goal (CSF 1 & CSF 2) • Mutual respect and trust between members • Most teams start out as a group of individuals. They become a team through the

experience and hard work. • Comprised of individuals with different cultural, professional, and demographic

backgrounds. Successful teams see those differences as assets - not barriers.

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Reinforcing Actions 1. Be very clear on the accountabilities & expectations, vision and principles for the

team in this engagement 2. Staff projects with skills and capabilities appropriate to the goal 3. Include a diversity of backgrounds and beliefs in the team. Looking at the problem(s)

from different perspectives often improves the solution and encourages the whole team to be open minded

4. Use regular team building activities to help individuals become a better team. 5. Encourage ACTIVE listening 6. Recognize and celebrate accomplishments

5. Elegance and Simplicity in Business Processes

Business processes have a natural tendency to get more complex over time. When a process needs to be enhanced to take care of some new situation, in addition to all the existing cases, often the process is just slightly changed to include the new situation. The process is not examined as a whole and re-designed to handle all cases and future cases in a better way. This enhancement process is more like deciding whether to use the blue band-aid or the red one, when in reality the patient needs to go to the hospital and have the bullet removed.

After not too many years, processes have been extended or modified so many times that they breakdown completely. (Band-aids on the band-aids)

Projects that have been wildly successful in the eyes of the client share the characteristic that the business processes have been simplified - even to the point that they are often seen as elegant. Companies that are re-designing their business processes from the ground up are seeing dramatic improvement in their business performance.

Information Technology is increasingly accepted as a new business process enabler and a key part of the fabric of business culture in successful companies.

Reinforcing actions

Take a more systemic view - an integrated view.

Look beyond the specific constraints of the business unit you work in. Perhaps if some of the work was done by another unit who already is accessing the required information for a different purpose, the task currently being performed in your unit could be done more efficiently/effectively elsewhere..

I once participated in a business process re-design where the current business process owner and his staff flow charted the current business process on butcher paper and hung it in the hall outside their business unit area. They then invited the whole department and others to look at their process and provide feedback which would be critical of why it was



done the way it was and to suggest alterations. The feedback was documented in the form of post-its pasted on the brown butcher paper. Everyone could see the feedback. The transparency was very empowering and the resultant re-designed process influenced by the feedback was very successful. Feedback tended to be in the form of:

• What if… • Why do we have to…. • This process step does not add value...

Sometimes when implementing ERP systems, considerable effort is expended in configuring and customizing the vendor software to conform to existing, or slightly changed, business processes. ERP systems are designed around generally accepted best practices. ERP systems add more business value when the business processes that the tool is designed to support are considered as the new default business processes. This is a good example of searching for simplification and elegance. Only when legal requirements require customization should customization be done.

Summary

Paying attention to these 5 project CSFs dramatically improves the likelihood of project success and are something that successful projects have in common.

1. Maintain Business Outcome Focus • Projects are in the business enabling Business Change • Successful projects have a mindset focused on creating VALUE vs. just

efficiently creating widgets

2. Stakeholder Commitment • You got 'a want it • Communicate!, Communicate!!~, Communicate!!!

3. Be guided by the "Big Picture" • Maintain contact with the ever changing context • Do the right things right within the overall context • The project team is a Key Stakeholder - they are the Change agents

4. Create and maintain effective Teams • Synergy, diversity, respect and trust

5. Elegance and Simplicity in Business Practices • Make It Simple should be a project mantra



These 5 CSFs can effectively be used as a framework when assessing the health of a project. They can also be used as a framework for assessing organizational health.

1. Every Business Unit needs to be clear on enterprise vision, mission and strategies. 2. All employees and business units need to understand and believe in the mission of the

organization. 3. Every employee needs to understand their role in the context of enterprise vision and

strategies. 4. All employees must be recognized and rewarded for their contributions to the Business

Unit and customer satisfaction. 5. A continuous improvement program to continuously improve the business processes of

their business unit is in place. In very effective organizations. this is an imbedded work culture.



Fully integrated Change Management Workstreams (Change View)

As my career took on more organizational leadership / management roles, I found that the 5 "Project" CSFs were still applicable, but some new dimensions were added as I focused on change from a leaders perspective.

As a leader you are all about Change. You set the direction, the style and the strategies for the business unit, the division, the enterprise. You actively engage with the organization (other leaders, managers and employees) to communicate the vision and receive feedback to help the entire organization remain aligned and supportive of the vision. You also interact with government and industry groups to keep aware of trends or potentially even attempt to shape the external future.

As a manager you are all about optimizing the status quo - performance of the current operating model.

Ideally Leaders have some management skills (and certainly appreciate the management perspective). As a manager you should have some leadership skills and be open to supporting the need for fundamental Change when it comes along.

The fully integrated Change Management model depicted in Figure 5.0 is a result of my leadership experiences and is a higher level of abstraction than the 5 Project CSFs. The model makes a distinction between the processes required to transform / sustain an enterprise and those processes necessary to ensure the myriad of Change initiatives planned and at play in an enterprise are successful in delivering expected business outcomes. The numbers on Figure 5.0 reference their respective descriptive sections to follow in this document.

All projects/programs are directly or indirectly about Change. They are designed to deliver some effect for the sponsors, the customers, the shareholders or the employees. In general Change Initiatives are intended to create sustained positive change.

Disclaimer: The Approaches / Tools comments included for each Change workstream are representative and not intended to be a complete list. I'd be interested in hearing what has worked for you. The white paper "The Many Plans that Drive the Change Engine" by the same author, provides some additional complementary information.




Figure 5.0 Integrated Change Workstreams



Business Transformation (Enterprise)

1. Organizational Executive Leadership

Today's private and public organizations are experiencing many challenges and constant Change. (Refer to figure 4.0 and "OMG: The Accelerating Pace of Change Implications- Are you Ready?" paper by same author). Strong Executive Leadership is a requirement for all organizations to thrive in today's dynamic business, economic, societal, global and technological environments. Strong leaders:

• Maintain awareness of the constantly changing context • Are committed to make required changes to business model and business strategies in

response to changing business context • Are effective communicators to help the entire organization be enthusiastic and on the

same page in supporting the vision and goals of the organization • Are able to create a sense of urgency in the organization for change. Reference John P

Kotter's first step of leading change. • Have broad expertise, high credibility, leadership and management skills, energy,

passion, idealism, pragmatism, cunning, towering impatience, unrealistic unwillingness to allow any barrier to set them back.

Strong leadership is always required but it is absolutely critical when a Change in strategy is required. Change in strategy is required for example when market share is eroding, an M&A transaction is in play, new leadership style triggered by new CEO, etc.

Approach / Tools

1. Devote time regularly in Sr. Leader meetings to discuss industry and other trends which could impact the business either as a threat or opportunity

2. Commit to regular updates and reviews of the Strategic Plan for the business 3. As Jim Collins describes in his book "Good to Great", focus on WHO before WHAT. Get

the right people on the bus 4. Be active in industry groups (This helps maintain insight on industry trends) 5. Actively listen to all demographic groups - internal and external to the organization 6. Use specialist consultants for leadership coaching when appropriate

• Create trust and commitment through carefully planned off-site events with lots of talk and joint activities

• Create common goals sensible to the head, appealing to the hearts • Be skilled in and/or seek coaching in; Inspiration techniques, Ability to persuade,

Increasing influence, Motivation techniques, Developing charisma, etc.

2. Organization Vision / Strategy

When Executive Leaders decide that a significant Change in direction for the organization is required, the first step is re-visioning, re-purposing, re-strategizing the organization. Execution of these steps must be lead by the most senior executive of the organization being re-



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strategized. This is usually the CEO. External Organizational Consultants can be engaged to help facilitate workshops and provide some external insights but the executive leaders must always own the outcomes (The new strategic plan).

In dynamic business environments, corporations re-tool / re-visit their vision and strategies regularly to ensure they continue to perform for their shareholders or other constituents.

Vision & Strategies are the guiding lights for the enterprise. Without clarity of corporate Vision and Strategies, you are wandering in the dark without ever being sure what you are looking for. This can work, for a time, if your business is a monopoly or a dictatorial political regime, but even in these extremes, it is a sub-optimal approach to be lacking in clearly understood and communicated visions & strategies.

"There is nothing wrong with Change, as long as it is in the right direction" - Winston Churchill

"Look before, or you'll find yourself behind!" Benjamin Franklin

Approach / Tools

There are several approaches to Strategic planning which have been somewhat successful. (Charles Summer, Thomas Schelling, Beckhard, David Hanna.) In my experience the Michael A. Beitler approach is the most generic practice. What follows is a brief outline of the Beitler approach to Strategy Planning.

1. Review the current Mission Statement 2. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) Analysis 3. Brainstorm Alternatives 4. Brainstorm feasibility and consequences of each alternative 5. Choice of Strategy(s). This is relatively easy if first 4 steps are executed well 6. Analyse Organizational Readiness / Support. The McKinsey & Company 7 S model can

help here. (Assessment of organizational Maturity). 7. Write up the Strategic plan emphasising how each functional area is expected to

contribute to organizational success 8. Development of Tactics 9. Assignment of responsibility (Executive sponsorship for each tactic / change initiative).

Consultants are often engaged in this workstream to facilitate the development of the business strategic plan and are often retained on an on-going basis as trusted advisors in the process keeping the plan evergreen.

3. Opportunity Identification (Tactics)

Once you have a set of strategies designed to move the organization towards its vision and goals, you need to identify a set of tactics (Change initiatives/projects) which will actualize the strategy(s). The most logical source of ideas & proposed Change initiatives is directly in response to the question "What tactics do we need to employ to realize our strategies &

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goals?". This is, however, not the only source new ideas for Change. Identification of a desired Change can be triggered by:

• Advances in technology present opportunities to do work more efficiently and effectively. • A new issue / external threat creates a risk. e.g. erosion in market share, social media,

etc. • Ideas for improvement may come bottom-up directly from employees or business units. • "Wish List" backlogs of ideas from the business units.

The best solution to a problem dissolves many problems. So exploration of the solution space (Identification of a new Change initiative) requires an exploration of the problem space that is broader than a stated problem from the client. Beware of Change initiatives (solutions) that map 1-1, are isomorphic with problems. Elegant solutions will solve many problems. To get to the root of the problem it is important to ask the WHY question often (Explore the cause and effect relationship). When you find and address the root cause, there is a high likelihood that significant value will be added to the business. Poor problem definition, unfortunately, is often an input to the process. Don't move to opportunity/solution discussion until everyone agrees with the problem statement. Albert Einstein once said "If I was given an hour to solve the problems of the world, I would spend 59 minutes on problem definition and 1 minute on solutions". A very good problem definition is critical to the eventual success of every Change initiative.

Approaches & Tools

The approach in this workstream varies dependent on the 3 levels of change model. Reference the "Know the Type/Level of change you're trying to make" paper by the same author. The general structured approach is Problem / Opportunity definition workshops and interviews. Creativity / Innovation workshops can also play a role here in changing work culture and creating an environment where ideas are free flowing. Toolkit for Thinking is a good website for an overview of some very useful tools.

From the "3 levels of Change paper",

Level 1 Continuous Improvement Sample tools: Flow Chart, Nominal Group Technique (NGT), Cause & Effect, Scatter Diagram, Process Capability Check Sheet, Pareto Chart, Run Chart, Control Chart, Force Field Analysis.

Level 2 Transitional / Structural Sample tools: Visioning, Road mapping, Empowerment, Org Structure review.

Level 3 Transformational / Paradigm Shift Sample tools: Six thinking hats, Brainstorming, Challenge assumptions, Mind mapping, Reverse the problem, Looking outside your field, Org Structure review.

http://www.wwwhow.ca/resources/3%20Levels%20of%20Change.pdf�

http://www.toolkitforthinking.com/home�




CAUTION: Vendors sell products/services - not necessarily solutions to your problems - that is a call only the business can make. Informed and open minded operational staff will know whether a proposed solution is a good idea - listen to them.

Try to develop solutions at a higher level of abstraction than the problems they are addressing.

Be nimble with the politics. The best solutions are the ones that are best for the enterprise - sometimes that is not easy to reconcile with a common executive perspective based in the believe that "If it's good for me, it's good for my division and the enterprise!" This can be true, but it should not be a basic assumption.

4. Impact Assessments

Impact assessments are performed as a Business Transformation workstream to gather additional data on the proposed Change initiative:

• Size in terms of budget and people required to be involved in the project • Size in terms of people impacted • Potential availability and capability of an executive sponsor to champion the initiative • The degree of difficulty and likelihood that the organization will be able to embrace and

adopt this change • High level risk assessment for the initiative • The degree of alignment of this change with corporate goals and strategies • Identification of stakeholders who will be impacted. This is useful in assessing the

degree of difficulty and also providing some guidance on which senior leaders need to participate in the guiding coalition (Kotter's second step in his book "Leading Change") for the change if it is initiated

• Review and integrate outstanding "wish list" from business units.

Due Diligence is often short shifted because of perceived expense. Leadership often retain the false belief that they can work any surprises out during the development phase (This is often true, but always more expensive).

If Impact assessments are not done well, the business case will be of poor quality, and requirements for mitigating actions to minimize productivity dips during project implementation may be missed.

Approach / Tools

1. Leader / Manager / Supervisor interviews 2. Change Leaders and Sponsorship assessments 3. Risk Assessments. (Initialize the Risk Register for Governance & Project to manage on

an ongoing basis). 4. KT Potential Problem Opportunity Analysis

http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/LeadingChangeKotter.pdf�

http://www.kepner-tregoe.com/knowledge-center/articles/�



5. Change Initiatives Investment Portfolio Rationalization

At this stage in the process, we now have a large portfolio of proposed Change initiatives. They have been sized, valued and assessed for alignment with corporate goals. In most cases, the resulting "wish list" is far larger the corporate funding and staffing available. A process of rationalizing the portfolio to decide which initiatives will be approved to go forward needs to be executed. In smaller companies where the senior decision makers have a detailed understanding of all the initiatives, this can be done in a structured meeting. These senior leaders need to meet regularly (at least monthly) to review status' of initiatives underway, make executive interventions, if required, and re-tune the portfolio. If the business context has changed some projects approved for funding may need to come off the approved list and others added, or resources assigned to projects underway may need to be re-deployed thus affecting schedules and placing support and enthusiasm at risk. In some cases it may even be necessary to cancel a project which is already underway.

For larger companies, the process of rationalizing the portfolio of opportunities should be formalized. Without formalization, initiatives are prone to being prioritized based on marketing skills of the sponsor instead of objective criteria of the corporation. The rationalization / prioritization criteria should be established early and documented in the business plan. The impact assessment process should "Score" each of the proposed Change initiatives against the pre-approved Value criteria.

Prior to ranking the portfolio, the organizational readiness for Change must be assessed. What is the appetite for Change? What is the leadership and staff attitude toward Change? Is there an enterprise wide culture Change initiative envisioned to increase receptiveness of the Change? The 3 levels of change discussed in the white paper "Knowing the Type / Level of change you're trying to make" by the same author also provides insights on how aggressive you can be with your portfolio. For example,

• If your organization Embraces Change there is no practical limit to the amount of level 1 (Continuous Improvement) change that can be adopted successfully.

• More than one Change initiative that requires Change in the organization value/belief system (Paradigm Shift) should not be attempted concurrently.

Projects that are not visibly aligned to corporate Vision & Strategies are a waste of precious resources.

Approach / Tools

1. Establish roles and responsibilities for executing and approving the results of the process. Use of a RASIC chart to document this is a good idea.

2. Establish Change initiative Value assessment criteria. Criteria should always include an element of alignment with corporate goals, contribution to movement toward the vision, a financial measure, risk assessment, competitive advantage. One methodology I've used



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix�



effectively for IT portfolios is described in the book "Information Economics" by Parker and Benson. Their methodology includes 7 drivers and 4 risk categories. Whatever the criteria it should be documented in the business plan.

3. Evaluate each proposed initiative against the criteria. 4. Engage the "decision committee" to weight the criteria in order of relative importance to

the corporation. e.g. If immediate operating expense reduction is a key strategy, then change initiatives that have quick payback will be valued highly.

5. Rank the portfolio based on scores and weighting factors. 6. Present analyzed and ranked portfolio to "decision committee" for review,

rationalization and decisions. 7. Throughout the course of executing the Change initiative portfolio, projects will vary in

their performance to schedule and business priorities may change. The performance status of the portfolio should be reviewed on a regular basis and adjustments made when necessary.

8. In many companies, administering the above process is often the responsibility of the Program Management Office (PMO).

6. Chartering

Project Charter, Terms of reference, Statement of Work (SOW) are all labels for the output of this workstream. This workstream creates clear documentation of the goals/objectives of the initiative and the approach and resources which will be available to the Change initiative project team.

High resistance to change and/or poor team spirit are often signs that chartering has been poorly executed.

The Charter document at a minimum must include: Background (Problem Definition) Linkage to corporate vision/ goals/ strategies Goal / Objectives Change Proposal Approach & Schedule Business Case Initial Risk Register Resources (People, Funding, Equipment) Results expected and team reporting structure Executive Sponsor & Governance structure

Corporations have many options on where to invest discretionary funds. A clear charter and business case are critical inputs to the Change portfolio investment management process.

The Change / Project team requires a clear understanding of the business outcomes that are expected from the investment (Project CSF #1). If the change initiative is launched with fuzzy objectives and boundaries, success is impossible. A quality Change Initiative Charter is critical.

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http://www.keane.com/resources%2Fpdf%2FWhitePapers%2FPgMO.pdf�



Approach / Tools

1. Change Management professionals can provide assistance to the sponsor and solution architects in the development of: • The Charter / Statement of Work (SOW) / Terms of reference. • The Business Case • The initial Risk Register • Stakeholder Engagement Plans

2. The kick-off session: Too often, I see lots of effort put into creating a charter but little effort in ensuring it is communicated to the Change / Project team and affected stakeholders. The kick-off session is the first critical step in communicating the charter. This is a face to face session. The meeting is lead by the executive sponsor. Leader representation from the affected stakeholder groups and all members of the Change initiative project team are present.

3. As the Change initiative progresses, new team members are added and new stakeholders are engaged. Communication events to ensure everyone has a good understanding of the charter and also has the opportunity to provide feedback on the charter must be repeated often throughout the course of the Change initiative.

4. Publicize the charter enterprise wide and perhaps community/industry wide (Part of the Communication Plan)

5. If the charter changes during the project, and this is not an unreasonable expectation in today's constantly changing business environment, the new approved charter must be effectively communicated to all stakeholders. The communication should be multi-channel with a face to face component. The communication should focus on the WHY of the Change in the charter and include a passionate "Call to action" for the new charter.

6. The "supervisor" of employees impacted by the Change are key communicators of the Change and provide ongoing visible support for the Change. This active relationship between line management and employees is critical in addressing resistance to Change. Change Management professionals should be line management coaches to help them be effective in execution of their Change Management responsibilities.

Effective Change Management (Change initiative Specific) Since the turn of the Century, the value of paying attention to Change Management (The people side of change) has been recognized as critical, if the business outcomes of a specific Change initiative are to be realized. Most of the methodologies that have appeared are good but are individual Change initiative centric. Because of this, the Change management activities are often subsumed under the technical project. This is better than nothing but not ideal. Change Management activities are focused on ensuring the business outcomes are achieved - Change Management is business focused. Project Management on the other hand is focused on providing new tools and processes. Project Management and Change Management are both critical to the success of a change initiative and must work in harmony, but it puts the overall



success of the project at risk if Change Management is wholly subsumed inside a technical project.

Refer to paper "Change Management and Project Management relationships" by the same author.

7. Change Initiative Executive Sponsorship

Prosci® research identifies that the strongest correlation to project success (achievement of desired business outcomes) is the strength of the active and visible engagement in the project by the executive project sponsor(s). Sustained leadership support is necessary to provide the resources (People, $, facilities, Technology). A champion is necessary to deal with politics and knock down the inevitable barriers that pop up during a project. A champion is necessary to help sustain the impacted stakeholder understanding of the connection between WHAT the change will do and WHY it is important to the enterprise. Determining the right sponsorship and enrolling the players is a critical early step. A sense of urgency and sponsorship are critical components to understand before any Change program is initiated. Inputs to creating this sense of urgency may come from customers, shareholders, employees and competitors.

Funding for the Change initiative is a necessary but not sufficient condition to ensure success. In addition to funding, every Change initiative needs a champion / executive sponsor and active support from the executive level. John P. Kotter refers to this workstream as "Building a guiding Coalition". This is especially critical when the change is a business transformation.

PROJECTS SHOULD BE CANCELLED OR PUT ON HOLD IF STRONG EXECUTIVE PROJECT SPONSORSHIP IS NOT IN PLACE!!

Doing anything alone is difficult. Doing anything which is intended to effect Business Transformation requires very strong "organizational will" which can only be achieved by sustained commitment of executive leadership. For Change which is localized to a single business system or business unit, a single Change champion with management / leadership authority can be successful but broad support always helps.

The ideal executive sponsor will have positional power, broad expertise, high credibility, leadership and management skills, energy, passion, idealism, pragmatism, cunning, towering impatience, unrealistic unwillingness to allow any barrier to set them back.

Approach / tools

1. Potential sponsors should be assessed on 2 dimensions • How supportive are they of the proposed Change • How knowledgeable / capable they are on Change Management and in particular the

role of an executive sponsor.

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http://www.change-management.com/�




2. Change Management professionals should reinforce, with the executive sponsor(s), the role of the executive sponsor and provide coaching/support throughout the Change initiative.

3. Change Management professionals should work closely with the executive sponsor on the Communications and Engagement plans.

4. Change Management professionals should re-test / re-assess stakeholder commitment whenever there are changes in key personnel.

5. Change Management professionals should help the executive sponsor and project manager design workshops and communications throughout the initiative, e.g. • Change Initiative kick-off • Team building sessions • Stakeholder engagement sessions • etc.

8. Governance

From Wikipedia, "Project governance is the management framework within which project decisions are made. Project governance is a critical element of any project since while the accountabilities and responsibilities associated with an organization’s business as usual activities are laid down in their organizational governance arrangements, seldom does an equivalent framework exist to govern the development of its capital investments (projects). For instance, the organization chart provides a good indication of who in the organization is responsible for any particular operational activity the organization conducts. But unless an organization has specifically developed a project governance policy, no such chart is likely to exist for project development activity.

Therefore, the role of project governance is to provide a decision making framework that is logical, robust and repeatable to govern an organization’s capital investments. In this way, an organization will have a structured approach to conducting both its business as usual activities and its business Change, or project, activities."

Information is provided by the project team on progress, costs, risks, scope The governance body provides executive interventions or approvals for changes to the overall Change Initiative execution plan. Information is provided to the project team by the governance body on changes in the business context in which the project is operating and to which the Change is to be implemented.

All projects / programs require an effective and efficient Governance process. The goal of the governance process is to ensure that the expected business outcomes of the project are achieved. The goal of Change Management is to ensure that the outcomes are achieved effectively with minimal or no negative side effects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_governance�



The governance body is chaired by the executive sponsor and comprised of representative executives from impacted stakeholder groups + senior executive of the prime Change development organization. In John P. Kotter's 8 steps for leading change, the governance body would be referred to as a guiding coalition for a specific project. John Kotter uses the term more broadly, referring to the governance process for a business transformation or a program of Change. The guiding coalition / governance body should develop and communicate the vision / strategy for the initiative.

Risk Management is the on-going process of looking for unintended side effects of a Change initiative and putting plans in place to mitigate their negative impacts. A formal Risk Management process with a visible risk register should be incorporated into regular meetings of the governance body.

The goal of Risk Management is to identify and mitigate barriers / threats to the successful execution of a Change initiative. - An ounce of mitigation prevents a metric ton of pain.

It is a reality in today's business environment of constant change / disruption that unplanned events will impact your Change initiative. Historically Risk Management processes are designed/applied to minimize the impact of the unplanned for events. A new perspective is emerging of looking at these events with the perspective of "How can these unplanned for events be used to add value to the initiative?" Reference Lechler, Thomas G. PhD & Byrne, John C. PhD, 2010, The Mindset For Creating Project Value Responding to unplanned events with a mindset to identify how this event can be exploited to add value to your initiative (usually results in changes in scope) vs. the traditional mind set of just mitigating risk is a powerful skill to employ in the new reality of constant Change.

Approach / Tools

1. Ensure that the governance body has the appropriate make up and is itself chartered with clear responsibilities and accountabilities.

2. Project risk can be defined as a possible event or activity that can impact the project's progress, result or outcome in a positive or negative way. A risk can be assessed using two factors: impact and probability. Risk management is one of the 9 disciplines defined in PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) and is formally practiced by project management professionals looking after the technical side of a project. For Change Management (the people side of change), it is just as important but not always formally practiced. The governance body should insist that risks on the Change Management side of the project be looked at with the same scrutiny as the technical side of the change initiative. Formalize a single risk register to include both PM and CM risks.

3. The initial set of risks are identified in the impact assessments before the project is approved for chartering. Evergreening the risk assessment needs to be inculcated as an ongoing process throughout the life of the Change Initiative. A progressive


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact�

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governance body attuned to the new reality of constant Change will also include an opportunity to increase value register.

4. It is often very beneficial to use an external Change Consultant to assess the health of a project from Change Management, Leadership and Project Management perspectives. The overall framework described in this paper is useful as a backdrop for that assessment. In my experience, projects that are weak in any of the change workstreams are at risk and unfortunately the risk may not be visible to internal parties.

5. Anticipate what could go wrong and commission a plan to prevent it. The KT Potential Problem Opportunity Analysis tool is excellent for this purpose..

6. Regular (minimum of monthly) meetings of the governance body are held for the project team to steward progress and raise issues and opportunities which require executive intervention. The results of these meetings are shared with the extended stakeholder groups and project constituents.

7. Establish clear expectations for the post change organization performance metrics.

9. Communication

The importance and effort required in this work stream cannot be under estimated. Research indicates that often a message needs to be repeated 5 to 7 times before it is fully heard and understood. Keeping all the stakeholders informed on the nature/value and importance of the Change and the progress of the Change is critical to the success of any Change initiative. This work stream needs to be pervasive before, during, and after a Change. Successful organizations view change as a program rather than a project. In that framework, the communication work stream is "Continuous".

As a business transformation workstream, communication focuses on ensuring everyone understands the Vision / Strategies / Goals of the enterprise.

As a specific Change initiative workstream, communication focuses on: • reinforcing the change initiative connection to the enterprise vision / strategies and goals • keeping the governance body apprised of project progress and issues • keeping the affected stakeholders aware of progress and expectations • seeking feedback from affected stakeholders and responsibly utilizing the feedback to

improve the likelihood of success and identify new opportunities to add value to the enterprise

• fully transparent engagement of the stakeholders to generate and sustain trust and enrol / engage them as supporters of the change.

Keeping all Stakeholders engaged is critical to sustain support and enthusiasm for the project. Communication needs to be bi-directional so that current risks and levels of resistance can be quantified and dealt with by the project. Short term successes should be well communicated to sustain momentum and are also a good opportunity to re-enforce the vision and leaders commitment to the vision.

http://www.kepner-tregoe.com/theKTWay/OurProcesses-PPOA.cfm�

http://www.kepner-tregoe.com/theKTWay/OurProcesses-PPOA.cfm�



Low morale, high resistance to the Change are red flags that there may be weaknesses in the execution of the communications plan - a lack of connection of people to the vision and importance of the Change initiative. There may also be a lack of relatedness (What's in it for me?) to the Vision / Strategy of the corporation.

In order for people to support a change they must: 1) Understand it and (project CSF #1 discussed earlier) 2) Believe it is important (Project CSF #2 discussed earlier). 3) See what's in it for them

An effective on-going bi-directional communication plan for all stakeholders (sponsors, change initiative project team, and affected parties) to sustain support and ensure the benefits of the change initiative are realized is critical.

Approach / Tools

1) The enterprise Vision / Strategy (Covered in the Business Transformation section) ideally has been widely communicated already and is there as a backdrop for the project. If it exists but has been poorly communicated, this is a risk that needs to be addressed. The project team needs to include the corporate vision / strategy explicitly in their communication plan and enrol Sr. leaders to present. If a corporate Vision / Strategy is not apparent, the lack thereof should be added as a major risk factor to the Risk Register and raised with the governance body to be escalated.

2) The communication plan is developed by the Change team and approved by the project sponsor and governance body. Ideally the first pass of the communication plan is included in the project charter. The project kick-off session and the announcement of the WHY and WHAT of the Change initiative are initial specific Change initiative communications events.

3) If the enterprise has corporate communications staff and regular channels of communication to the organization, these channels should be used at every opportunity.

4) Communications are delivered / presented by the business sponsor whenever possible. This builds credibility and trust for the message. If this is not a regular occurrence then there is a risk to the ultimate project success and should be added to the risk register and addressed by the governance body. Change Management experts can help raise and address this kind of issue.

5) A Change Management communications specialist should be used when possible to manage the communications plan, write copy and draft presentations for the executive sponsor(s).

6) When the impacted stakeholders are onboard, the desired outcome is virtually assured. A visible and active feedback loop to encourage support, drive the engagement and improve the product/service being developed / implemented is a critical communications and action activity.



10. Organizational Readiness

The importance of active on-going engagement with impacted employees and the leadership of the impacted employees is often undervalued (Especially in highly technical Change initiatives). It is generally a mistake to think that once the new tool or new process is developed that you can do a little training of the impacted staff and all will be well. As we've discussed throughout this paper, success will only be achieved if the impacted staff understand the WHY and the WHAT of the Change, they believe the Change is important, and the Change is being actively supported by their leadership.

The communications workstream is the key enabler to get the impacted employees and organizations attitudinally ready and supporting Change.

Organizational readiness must be assessed regularly and additional actions put in place if Readiness is forecast to be at risk on or after "Go-live" date .

Job / Organization Re-design and Capability Building are specific project tasks that need to be completed to ensure the HOW of the Change, the organizational knowledge and ability to operate in the new changed environment is present before "Go-live" date.

If the organization is not ready on "Go-live" date and the Change implementation is forced, significant reduction of operational performance will occur, any lingering resistance to the Change will surface and potentially de-rail the initiative completely. Forcing a "Go-live" before the organization is ready, for political reasons, is short sighted and will always be more costly and realize less benefits in the long run.

10a. Assessments Prior to launching the initiative (Chartering) and prior to Portfolio ranking (if this step is formalized), an Organizational Maturity assessment should be done. Potentially work culture Change initiatives should be embarked on as precedent initiatives to pre-condition the work environment to be more receptive and adoptive to change, in general.

Several assessments are useful during the development phase to build confidence that all will be ready for "go live" date and beyond.

1) A quality assurance review of the project charter and the communications plan should be conducted prior to project initiation. The PMO, Change Management professional or Change consultant can perform this assessment and report findings and recommended actions to the Governance body.

2) Project Management Issues Log, Risk Register, Opportunity Register and performance to schedule reports are used to assess the likelihood that the technical side of the project will deliver to the expected schedule. (Hint: Process and Operational testing is often under estimated. Make sure there is adequate time in the schedule for operational testing).



3) Even though the team may feel they have communicated all they need to the impacted stakeholders, that doesn't mean it was heard and fully understood (remember the rule of 5 to 7 times to communicate a message before it is heard). A good technique is to conduct a formal readiness assessment survey (supported by the governance body). This is usually in the form of a questionnaire designed to make visible to impacted employees their actual readiness for change and to get feedback on what still needs to be done before they will "be ready".

4) Ideally before the Project is Kicked-off, an assessment is done evaluating the Sponsors / Leaders of the impacted organizations on 2 dimensions (their level of support for the Change and their personal knowledge and ability to perform their role as sponsor of the Change). This assessment is performed by a change management professional during face to face interviews with the leader. It is a Change Management role to make the leaders aware of the sponsor responsibilities and coach them in developing any missing skills. Throughout the project these assessments should be revisited and additional actions taken if required.

5) During the project execution, it is always a good idea, to have an external 3rd party take a look at the "Health" of the project by asking some of the questions posed in this paper or other models. These health checks are valuable even if the result is a triple AAA rating (That provides assurance that the investment is going to pay out). The more usual case is that there are areas that can be improved and remedial actions result in reduced costs and accelerated benefits. For large projects of significant duration, this assessment is recommended to be conducted more than once. Metrics for any deficient health dimensions should be defined and operationalized so the governance body can monitor monthly.

6) Prior to implementation, the metrics should be defined which will be used to measure adoption rate and benefits realization. The process to gather the data for these metrics should be put in place on "Go-live" and reported to the governance body regularly along with recommendations for dealing with any gaps in expectations. Hopefully a baseline was established before "Go-Live".

10b. Job / Organization re-design

Most change initiatives require some changes to jobs/roles and potentially organization structure. This workstream details the specific changes required.

The Impact assessment workstream will usually indentify if there is a need for organization structure re-design or specific job/role re-designs. The need for organization and job re-design should be re-visited during the development phase based on detailed process re-design in the technical project and feedback from the impacted organizations. Efforts should be taken in the communications plan to present these kind of changes as opportunities for personal growth and advancement.



Failure to address necessary changes in this area allows the inertia of status quo / BAU to subvert the desired overall Change. This area must be addressed overtly and visibly. Org-redesign is often an executive blind spot because of the implicit threat to their current fiefdoms. When this happens, it needs to be dealt with directly in the "Resistance to Change" workstream.

Approach / Tools

1) Gap analysis between current and future work processes is needed to define new roles and new skills. This gap analysis is a direct input to the training plan.

2) When a new organization design is required, leadership capability assessments are required to assess leaders current capabilities and their ability to grow into and perform new roles.

3) Functional organizations are most common today. A socio / technical approach often works well if an organization structured around function is required. There are other types of organization structure that should be considered as well. For example, Product-Serviced based, Processes based, Matrix based and Network based. The traditional function based organization is not known for speed of decision making. In a world where the pace of Change continues to accelerate, the functional organization is going to have to morph in some way to keep pace with the competition.

4) Outplacement services should be engaged if the organization re-design requires fewer or different people resources in the future.

5) An important aspect of defining jobs and structure is how the roles work together. A very useful tool in this space is RASIC.

10c. Capability Building Capability building. includes training, re-skilling. hiring and staffing new roles.

Succession planning is not included directly in the scope of this work stream but if one exists, it is an important input.

Changes in work processes require training of staff that will perform new work processes. In some cases new work processes eliminate existing jobs. This may create an opportunity to re-skill an individual instead of firing/hiring.

Far too often, the amount of effort required in this workstream is underestimated and not well planned.

Approach / Tools

1) Change management specialists can provide assistance in developing and managing the training plan

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2) Specialists in training development and training delivery should work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs - business & technical) to develop the training materials and deliver the training

3) Training should use multiple channels and be available face to face and in self study formats

4) Training is most effective if the student has the ability to practice what has been taught, prior to having to do it for real. The concept of providing a "Sandbox" where the student can practice in a no risk very realistic environment is a good practice

5) Recruiting specialists should be used if new staff are to be acquired. 6) Utilize Organizational Development and Organizational Consultants to facilitate

Organizational re-design. 7) Utilize HR professionals to facilitate job re-design when needed.

11. Change Project or Change Program

This workstream is the technical project responsible for creating new processes and tools to enable the business Change desired.

To manage the complexity of the myriad of interrelated technical activities and often large complements of professional staff, a formal Project Management methodology must be employed.

This workstream is the technical core of the change initiative activities whether formally defined as a project or a group of projects within a general Program.

Sometimes the Change Management workstreams are imbedded within the Technical Project structure. This can work if the technical Project Manager is a bit of a renaissance man and is passionate about Change Management and is business outcomes / value focused. In any event the Technical project and Change Management workstreams have to work in harmony and both be accountable to the governing body. Refer to paper titled "Change Management and Project Management Relationships" by the same author.

Approach / Tools

Formal PPM methodologies are appropriate in this workstream. Which methodology you choose is not as important as having one. PMBOK (PMP) and PRINCE2 are two of the most popular formal PM methodologies.

12. Managing Resistance to Change

No matter how simple the Change, it is human nature to resist moving off the status Quo. The status Quo has inertia. If this resistance is not addressed effectively, the change desired by the sponsor has little chance of being efficiently and effectively achieved. The key tactics in helping reduce change resistance are creating dissatisfaction with the Status Quo – This helps people

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want to change. The second tactic is to help people understand WHY the change is a good thing for them and the enterprise. Both require lots of Communication

The key in this workstream is to:

1. help people, in a position to support the Change, understand the benefits of the Change 2. help people who are having the Change foist upon them, with some perceived negative

effects, understand their natural human reactions and how to deal with them effectively. Reference white paper "Supporting the Emergence of a Culture of Embracing Change" by the same author.

3. answer the What's in it for me? (WIIFM) question from the impacted individuals personal frame of reference.

Activities to reduce resistance to change are always included in a robust Change Initiative work plan. If not, symptoms of change resistance will appear regularly

• Low morale • Productivity drop-offs • Leadership "failing to be the Change" • Staff turnover

Resistance to change has 2 fundamental roots 1) Ignorance. Lack of understanding of the change and its importance 2) Fear of the unknown: The Change threatens the individual’s way of life/work.

Potentially a sense of loss. Taking decisive action (tough decisions) to eliminate barriers will visibly demonstrate that the sponsorship is serious in their commitment to the Change.

Need to be prepared to work with individuals to help them understand why they are stressing. This coaching is best performed by the individuals direct supervisor or the most senior executive sponsor.

if the resistance is not pro-actively addressed, resistance to the Change will be strengthened both consciously and unconsciously and the Change Initiative will either fail out-right or be very expensive and take much longer than is necessary to accomplish.

Special Case: When the Change is such that there may be no opportunity for an employee to be part of the new changed environment e.g. a plant is being shut down or employee is not interested in re-skilling, then you have a situation where the status quo comfort zone has been removed and the future is unknown.

In this case, the employee urgently needs to develop a clear image of a positive future for his individual situation. HR Specialists and Outplacement services should be engaged early.

http://www.wwwhow.ca/resources/Embracing%20Change%20Culture.pdf�




For a small percentage of people losing the status quo and not knowing where to go, is a very difficult time and assistance from a behavioural science specialist may be required. These cases need to be addressed urgently for the individual well being and also for the negative effect these strong resisters can have on the atmosphere surrounding the Change initiative.

Approach / Tools

1) Consider the use ADKAR®, a method developed by Prosci®, which is very useful for generating momentum for change in individuals and for diagnosing where resistance is sourced. The Acronym stands for Awareness of need for change, Desire to make the change, Knowledge in how to perform the change, Ability to make the change, Reinforcement to sustain the change.

2) Conduct assessment interviews to scope the type and scale of resistance. Organizational readiness assessments also provide insights on root causes of resistance.

3) Develop a work plan (and regularly review) to address the resistance, likely to include but not restricted to enhanced Project, Charter, Impact Assessments, Sponsorship, and Communication plans.

4) Get people involved. Make the change initiative real for everyone. Engage impacted staff in a variety of workshops: • Engineer active participation and ensure visible follow-up on feedback. • Specifics on how the Change will impact them and plans for training or possibly re-

assignments. • "Endings and Beginnings" workshops to address what is ending, what the new

beginning looks like, how the transition will occur and some of the emotions it is natural to feel in the process.

• "Coping with change" workshops for high impact individuals/groups. • Workshops to reinforce the WHY of the change and listen to feedback.

5) Dr. Scott Wooding, in his theory of Psychodynamic Change Leadership, identifies that for about 10% of people change is very very difficult. This theory is based on cognitive dissonance theory and personality influences. People who fall in this category will need specialized help from the behaviour science discipline to effect sustained Change. Change Management professionals will be able to recognize these individuals needs but will not have the Behavioural Science credentials to address the issues.

13. Behavioural Change Sustainment

The primary goal of effective Change Management is to ensure the Change initiative is implemented in a way that sustains the desired Change and the business outcomes are thus achieved. This workstream is all about benefit realization.

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This is an on-going workstream - should be initiated early and continue after the formal technical project is ended.

It is generally accepted that there will be a drop in productivity when a change is first implemented. In theory this is expected because the operating staff are on a learning curve in the new way of doing things and have not yet achieved full proficiency. A key Change Management objective is to minimize or even eliminate this "productivity dip".

Unless the staff who will be executing the new processes or tools are fully committed to the Change, the requisite change in behaviour will not likely happen and be retained.

Unless leadership support a Change in work culture that enrols everyone to a continuous improvement work culture this Change and the identification and implementation of others will be inhibited.

Major Changes often take years to become fully inculcated in the transformed business. The stakeholders need to sustain their enthusiasm for the Change. Their passion can be reinforced by carefully designed celebrations of achievements along the path to the goal. It is critical that the celebrations acknowledge that the ultimate goal is still a work in progress.

NEVER DECLARE OVERALL VICTORY TOO EARLY!! (IF EVER)

In today's world of constant Change, it is increasingly unlikely that the business outcome achieved by an initiative that has morphed to fit a dynamic environment (with appropriate changes in charter) along the Change journey, will be the same as those originally envisioned. This is OK (often desirable) - the Change will deliver the new desired business outcomes - they will just not be the same as the original. Add in a Continuous Improvement culture and it becomes a little artificial to ever declare overall victory. Change becomes a continual journey with regular changes in direction (Vision & Strategies), continually initiating new projects and continually improving existing processes and tools to improve operational performance and a constant march towards the dynamic vision. Change is a program, bounded by budget and benefit realization. Assuming continual Change must become the new norm.

Approach / Tools

1. Provide a "Sand box" no risk environment prior to "Go-Live" for operating staff to practice the new ways and build confidence that they are ready for "Go-Live".

2. During the transition phase it is important to communicate the process that will be used during the post implementation phase to measure the gap between expected new behaviour and actual new behaviour. In the post implementation phase measure the gap (at least monthly), analyse the root cause of the gap and take corrective action.

3. An ongoing process also needs to be implemented to measure the rate of business benefit realization, Operating staff adoption and proficiency in the "new way"..

4. Create a feedback loop to capture Continuous Improvement ideas and a visible plan to review and actuate. Creating/reinforcing a Continuous Improvement work culture



should be a an important secondary goal of every Change initiative. When a Continuous Improvement work culture is in place, sustainment of the Change is easier and the culture is more receptive to the inevitable continuing Change of the future.

5. The recognition and rewards system needs to be reviewed with every Change implementation to ensure that the reward system is aligned with the new expected behaviours. "What gets measured, gets done" - Peter Drucker

6. A well executed Communications workstream is a great help to build the support in the impacted organizations to sustain the Change. Transparent communications continues to be very important during the post implementation phase to communicate adoption challenges and planned reinforcing actions.

7. There are many success stories in a large Change initiative. These need to be captured, recognized and celebrated. These celebrations reinforce the motivation to make the Change a sustainable success. Indentify milestones in the plan worthy of celebration. Knocking down a barrier creatively is often a good cause for celebration. Overcoming a barrier can be just a motivational as achieving a goal. The Change management team and executive sponsor(s) should own the responsibility of spotting and celebrating successes.



In Conclusion

Change is a process not an event. Even through the graphics and documentation of the workstreams imply a sequence in executing the workstreams, the truth is many of the workstreams are on-going throughout the life of an initiative and the on-going management / leadership of an enterprise. Some workstreams are active throughout the initiative e.g. governance, communications, change resistance management, executive sponsorship. Others are reviewed and enhanced regularly e.g. impact assessments, portfolio rationalization, readiness assessments, behavioural sustainment.

Executing CM well can go a long way to ensure project costs are appropriate and don't get out of control dealing with issues that arise due to poor CM.

CM should be viewed as an assurance cost to ensure that the desired business outcomes are realized - NOT as an afterthought in the planning for a technical project implementation. The optimum view is that the CM process defines the need for a technical project and CM activities exist before, during and after a technical project.

All workstreams are important, and depending on the scale and scope of the Change, the effort required to achieve success can vary greatly.

The two most critical elements are:

1) active executive sponsorship and 2) engagement of all stakeholders.

Without the presence of these two elements, sustained Change is very, very unlikely - it becomes irresponsible to continue the initiative in this case. This point is directly related to Project CSF #2 "Stakeholder commitment talked about earlier in this paper.

Beware of over processizing Change Management. The key is stakeholder Commitment and Business Outcomes focus NOT the execution of a prescribed set of tasks.

Not performing the CM workstreams well puts the desired business outcome at risk as well as wastes the investment and the opportunity to invest in something else. Dot it right or don't do it at all!

Maintain focus... but remain open minded and make course corrections when the context changes.



References & Useful Readings

Ackoff, Russell L., 1981, Creating the Corporate Future: Plan or be Planned for, John Wiley & Sons

Aguayo, Rafael, 1991, Dr. Demming: The American who taught the Japanese about quality, Simon & Schuster

Beitler, Michael A., 2005, Organizational Change Interventions: A practitioners Guide for Change Leaders and Consultants, www.mikebeitler.com

Change Consulting Group - LinkedIn

Collins, Jim, 2001, Good to Great, Harper Business

Covey, Stephen R., 1992, Principle Centred Leadership, Simon & Schuster

De Bono, Edward, 1986, Six Thinking Hats, Little, Brown & Company

Dickie, Richard, 2011, The WWWHow Model, www.WWWHow.ca

Dickie, Richard, 2011, OMG: The Accelerating Pace of Change - Implications. Are you ready?, www.WWWHow.ca

Dickie, Richard, 2011, Knowing the Type/Level of Change You're Trying to Make, www.WWWHow.ca

Dickie, Richard, 2011, The Influence of your Cure Beliefs about Change - on Change, www.WWWHow.ca

Dickie, Richard, 2011, The Many Plans that Drive the Change Engine, www.WWWHow.ca

Dickie, Richard, 2017, Supporting the Emerging Culture of Embracing Change, www.WWWHow.ca

Hammer, Michael, 1996, Beyond Reengineering, How process centred organization is changing our work and our lives. Harper Business

Harrison, Don, Implementation Management Associates - Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM)

Hiatt, Jeffrey M, 2006 ADKAR: A model for change in Business Government and our community, Prosci Research

Institute for the Future http://www.iftf.org/

Kahan, Seth, 2010 Getting Change Right: How leaders transform organizations from the inside out, Jossey Boss

http://www.wwwhow.ca/resources/The%20WWWHow%20Model.pdf�



http://www.wwwhow.ca/resources/Change%20Core%20Beliefs.pdf�



http://www.imaworldwide.com/�



Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, 1983 The Change Masters New York Simon & Schuster

Kotter, John P, 1996 Leading Change, Harvard Business Press

Kurzweil, Ray, 2001, Law of Accelerating Returns,

Kurzweil, Ray, 2005, The Singularity is near, Penguin Books

Lechler, Thomas G. PhD & Byrne, John C. PhD, 2010, The Mindset For Creating Project Value, Project Management Institute

Lewin, Kurt (1947). “Frontiers in group dynamics: II. channels of group life; social planning and action research”. Human Relations 1; 143.

Lewin, Kurt 1951 Field Theory in Social Science Dorwin Cartwright New York, Harper

McKinsey & Co, The 7-S Model http://www.12manage.com/methods_7S.html

Parker, Marilyn & Benson, Robert, 1988, Information Economics, Linking business performance to information technology, Prentice Hall

Peters, Thomas J. & Waterman, Robert H. Jr., 1982, In Search of Excellence, Harper & Row

Project Management Institute, 2008, A guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMI

Rock, David, 2006, Quiet Leadership, HarperCollins

Senge, Peter, 1990, The Fifth Discipline, The art and practice of the learning organization, Doubleday

Snowden, D.J. Boone, M. 2007. "A Leader's Framework for Decision Making". Harvard Business Review, November 2007

Toffler, Alvin, 1990, Power Shift, Bantam Doubleday

von Oech, Roger, 1998, A Whack on the Side of the Head: How you can be more Creative, Warner Books

http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-law-of-accelerating-returns�



About the author Richard's formal education is in applied mathematics and computer science from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. His practical education is derived from his work experience in IT Project / program management and organizational leadership (Oil & Gas & IT Services Industries). He is certified in Prosci's® Change management methodology (2011) and IMA's AIM© Change Management Methodology (2012).

Richard is passionate about helping business enterprises, teams, and individuals succeed in introducing sustained positive change - The Critical Success Factors of actualizing effective change are fundamentally the same whether the change is the introduction of a new business culture, a new business function, a new business system or a new technology.

Richard's consulting clients include fortune 500 companies and mid-size companies in Oil & Gas, Transportation, Telecommunications, Insurance and Professional Services.

Richard’s early career focused on the project management arena where he quickly became known for his ability to lead complex programs and rescue dysfunctional projects and organizations. The common thread throughout his career is his success in introducing sustainable change, both as an organization leader and a project/program manager. He has worked for several of the world’s largest companies, including Imperial Oil, Exxon and HP, where his projects have taken him from Canada to the US, Malaysia, Qatar and New Zealand. His ability to diagnose and remediate difficult business problems and to communicate effectively has made him a strong leader and efficient team builder, an innovative, an energetic and versatile consultant.

In 2009, Richard left corporate America as an employee to focus his passion for "Helping Clients Succeed" by launching an organizational change consulting business. In 2017, Richard wound up his consulting company and is now semi-retired.

Feedback is welcome, For comments or consultation, please contact:

Richard Dickie The "Change" Doctor

E-mail: [email protected] www.WWWHow.ca

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