Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting1

HR TransformationThinking There, Getting There, Living There

@cfieldstyler /cherylfieldstyler

Cheryl Fields TylerFounder and CEO, Blue Beyond Consulting

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting2

Compelling Business Value

Why is change so difficult?

There are so many more ways to fail than to succeed.

Best practice fallacy keeps us from enlisting, listening, and learning

The business value promise is simply not persuasive

Unsuccessful Change

Successful Change

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P L A N S A N D E X E C U T I O N

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting3

Change leadership and change management is essential

Change Leaders Change Managers

Vision Strategies Plans Projects

A sensible and appealing picture of

the future

A logic for how the vision can be

achieved

Specific steps and timetables to

implement the strategies

Specific tasks with teams, budgets, objectives and

metrics

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting4

Change leadership and change management

Change Leadership

Inspiring, motivating, guiding the change

Change Management

Facilitating, implementing, executing the change

Where are we going and why?

What will the future be like?

How do we know we are making progress?

How do we manage the business in the transition?

What is the compelling benefit for the business?

What will change when?

How will the change happen?

How will all the different changes be coordinated?

How do I get the tools and skills to do my job?

What do you need from me?

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting5

A framework to plan, lead and manage changePlan

“Thinking There”What and Why• Define compelling business case, future state vision, and

desired business outcomes • Establish scope and nature of changes required to

achieve desired future state• Define the cultural, values, and behavioral shifts required

to achieve change

Who• Establish executive sponsorship and guiding coalition• Identify the necessary critical mass of leaders, sponsors,

and stakeholders that need to be engaged to drive and effect change

• Create aligned team to drive change

How• Identify organizational capabilities and motivators• Create roadmap—what needs to be done by whom, what

needs to be accomplished to achieve future state• Charter change program structure and scope• Establish change metrics and measures

Implement“Getting There”

Engage• Involve critical mass of leaders, sponsors, and

stakeholders• Establish frequent and effective two-way communication• Create forums for collaborative problem-solving and

learning

Execute• Build and sustain capability of the team to drive change• Ensure the means of change are defined and delivered

through initiatives, deliverables, projects and programs• Implement, troubleshoot, pace, and accelerate• Drive accountability

Learn• Celebrate successes and learn from miss-steps • Build sustained organizational capability to lead and

manage change• Ensure know-how transfer

Sustain“Living There”

Manage• Ensure business outcomes are achieved, scaled, and

sustained• Ensure leadership ownership• Structure HR policies, practices to reinforce the key

behavioral changes

Improve• Test and improve processes, systems, and tools• Establish operational and continuous improvement

metrics

Refresh• Celebrate and acknowledge contribution• Establish vision for next phase of the journey

Optimize• Ensure cross-organizational “pollination” and learning• Move change adept leaders across organization

THE CHANGE JOURNEYC R I T I C A L S U C C E S S F A C T O R S

Establish hope and consequence for critical mass of employees

Build team and leadership capability to lead change

Consistent and effective communicationLeverage —or change—culture

Compelling case for change

Sustain CEO/ELT leadership commitmentEstablish plausible, clear line of sight to future

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting6

Plan — The “Thinking There” Phase

Plan“Thinking There”

What and Why• Define compelling business case, future state vision, and

desired business outcomes • Establish scope and nature of changes required to

achieve desired future state• Define the cultural, values, and behavioral shifts required

to achieve change

Who• Establish executive sponsorship and guiding coalition• Identify the necessary critical mass of leaders, sponsors,

and stakeholders that need to be engaged to drive and effect change

• Create aligned team to drive change

How• Identify organizational capabilities and motivators• Create roadmap—what needs to be done by whom, what

needs to be accomplished to achieve future state• Charter change program structure and scope• Establish change metrics and measures

Common pitfalls of the planning phaseBusiness case is cost focused—no credible value proposition

Culture transformation aspects are not well thought through or planned for

Guiding coalition is not fully formed, fully resourced, and accountable—and may not have the right participants

Leaders/sponsors delegate change leadership

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting7

Implement— The “Getting There” Phase

Implement“Getting There”

Engage• Involve critical mass of leaders, sponsors, and

stakeholders• Establish frequent and effective two-way communication• Create forums for collaborative problem-solving and

learning

Execute• Build and sustain capability of the team to drive change• Ensure the means of change are defined and delivered

through initiatives, deliverables, projects and programs• Implement, troubleshoot, pace, and accelerate• Drive accountability

Learn• Celebrate successes and learn from miss-steps • Build sustained organizational capability to lead and

manage change• Ensure know-how transfer

Common pitfalls of the implementation phase

Change management mentality is primary

Change leadership is inadequate or ineffectual

People are seen as the “resistance”—not the allies and essential partners

Quick wins = “first wins” vs. incremental, consistent progress

Metrics are all lagging indicators not leading indicators

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting8

Why change leadership failsFails to anchor change to external market imperatives, business strategy, positive business value, and positive culture values—makes it personality, cost-focused

Lack of compelling vision for the future that makes sense for the business and for people

Too much talk—information push, and too little conversation and listening

Fails to engage other leaders—and sustain that engagement

Lack of sustained Senior Leadership accountability—accountability delegated without consequence to sponsors

All vision—but no realistic implementation roadmap

Unwilling to deliver “tough news”—unwilling to talk about real challenges and implications

Assumes people are the enemy and they don’t want to or can’t change

Sponsor(s) get into “change bubble”—loses connection to the “real business” and to peers

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting9

Why change management failsToo much trust in technology

Primary lens is “change resistance”

Over confidence in “change management” methodologies—and “change experts”

Not enough leader and middle management stakeholder engagement, contribution, collaboration and learning

Not enough specific support, engagement and training of front-line managers/supervisors

Change communication is incremental and not early and frequent enough—and not linked to a bigger plot line centered on purpose and value of change

Change team gets into the “change bubble”—jargon, secrecy, in-group, adversarial, marginalized, etc.

Too little and ineffective employee training—”once and done” mentality

Lack of “in situation” learning and adjustments

Too much focus on the “swim lanes”—vs. the pool

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting10

Importance of generating short-term, incremental wins

What makes a good short-term win?

Impact of short-term wins on major change Short-term/

incremental wins are not just key to progress—they are essential for engagement, accountability, and culture change

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting11

Sustain — The “Living There” Phase

Common pitfalls of the sustaining phaseThe highest risk and highest reward

Tends to feel a bit “after the parade”—with all the chaos and clean up that implies

It’s often not included in the change strategy—or funded as part of the transformation budget

People lose interest

It’s where change fails

Sustain“Living There”

Manage• Ensure business outcomes are achieved, scaled, and

sustained• Ensure leadership ownership• Structure HR policies, practices to reinforce the key

behavioral changes

Improve• Test and improve processes, systems, and tools• Establish operational and continuous improvement

metrics

Refresh• Celebrate and acknowledge contribution• Establish vision for next phase of the journey

Optimize• Ensure cross-organizational “pollination” and learning• Move change adept leaders across organization

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting12

Sustaining the change

It has to be someone’s job

Ensuring change is truly sustained has to be owned by someone

Anchoring change depends

on the resultsNew approaches usually sink in after its clear that they work and

are better than old methods

Requires ongoing communication and reinforcement

Telling vivid stories repeatedly about what’s different and why it matters, creating lore,

recognizing “caught being good” moments—all are essential to making change stick

Leadership accountability has to be real

Goals, rewards, communication, behaviors—all have to be evident

and aligned to future state

May involve turnover Sometimes the only way to

change a culture is to change key people

Aligning HR/talent processes and decisions is crucial If people processes are not

changed to be compatible with the desired future state culture, the old

culture will reassert itself

Culture change comes last, not first Most lasting changes in

behaviors come at the end of the change process

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting13

Steps to develop people’s commitment to change

HearUnderstand

Curiosity, skepticism,“what took you so long”

SupportTry

Eagerness, fear, anxiety and

desire for inclusion

UseOwn

Some will opt out, some will lean in, some will comply

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Goal: Engagement that generates Hope and Consequence

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting14

Change is learningEvery new capability requires learningApplying existing capabilities in new ways requires learningApplying new capabilities in new ways requires learning

STAGE 1

UnconsciousIncompetence

Irrational Confidence

STAGE 2

ConsciousIncompetence

Fear, Anxiety,Embarrassment

STAGE 3

UnconsciousCompetence

Tentative confidence,needs reassurance

STAGE 4

ConsciousCompetence

Confident, but may forget how to help others learn

Transformation — Thinking There, Getting There, Living There | Blue Beyond Consulting15

Thank you.