CHANGING CHANGE MANAGEMENT – DO WE NEED TO?

It's been some time since I last wrote an article but for some reason, I felt a sudden urge to get something in writing about another much-debated subject ...

CHANGING CHANGE MANAGEMENT

For some while now, and certainly during and since the pandemic there has been a “clarion call” from various professional bodies and individuals that we need to change the way we practice Change Management.

My question is … is this a legitimate call?

Let’s first look at what some of the “experts” (and I use that term loosely) have had to say (extracts only).

NOTE: These were not all related to the impact of the pandemic but the context in which they are written is relatable and why I wrote this article.

From McKinsey in 2015 ...

Research tells us that most change efforts fail [still peddling the old 70% myth]. Yet change methodologies are stuck in a predigital era. It’s high time to start catching up.

Change management as it is traditionally applied is outdated. We know, for example, that 70 percent of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support. We also know that when people are truly invested in change it is 30 percent more likely to stick. While companies have been obsessing about how to use digital to improve their customer-facing businesses, the application of digital tools to promote and accelerate internal change has received far less scrutiny. However, applying new digital tools can make change more meaningful—and durable—both for the individuals who are experiencing it and for those who are implementing it.

Digitizing five areas in particular can help make internal change efforts more effective and enduring.

1. Provide just-in-time feedback

The best feedback processes are designed to offer the right information when the recipient can actually act on it. Just-in-time feedback gives recipients the opportunity to make adjustments to their behavior and to witness the effects of these adjustments on performance.

2. Personalize the experience

Personalization is about filtering information in a way that is uniquely relevant to the user and showing each individual’s role in and contribution to a greater group goal. An easy-to-use system can be an effective motivator and engender positive peer pressure.

3. Sidestep hierarchy

Creating direct connections among people across the organization allows them to sidestep cumbersome hierarchal protocols and shorten the time it takes to get things done. It also fosters more direct and instant connections that allow employees to share important information, find answers quickly, and get help and advice from people they trust.

4. Build empathy, community, and shared purpose

In increasingly global organizations, communities involved in change efforts are often physically distant from one another. Providing an outlet for colleagues to share and see all the information related to a task, including progress updates and informal commentary, can create an important esprit de corps.

5. Demonstrate progress

Organizational change is like turning a ship: the people at the front can see the change but the people at the back may not notice for a while. Digital change tools are helpful in this case to communicate progress so that people can see what is happening in real-time. More sophisticated tools can also show individual contributions toward the common goal.

Finally …

Digital tools and platforms, if correctly applied, offer a powerful new way to accelerate and amplify the ability of an organization to change. However, let’s be clear: the tool should not drive the solution. Each company should have a clear view of the new behavior it wants to reinforce and find a digital solution to support it. The best solutions are tightly focused on a specific task and are rolled out only after successful pilots are completed. The chances of success increase when management actively encourages feedback from users and incorporates it to give them a sense of ownership in the process.

From Forbes in 2019 ...

Traditional change management as we know it is obsolete. Even the very notion that change can be managed feels absurd given the reality and pace of business today. The intent of business executives, to deliver results more sustainably and more quickly, remains the same, but the context in which organizations operate today is fundamentally shifting, and so is the way in which we should think about change.

They go on to say that there are three critical shifts are fundamentally reshaping corporate change:

1. From point-in-time to all-the-time

Change is no longer a project with a defined start and end. It is continuous, and accelerating. On average, employees now experience three major changes each year, compared with fewer than two in 2012, and nearly three-quarters of organizations expect more change initiatives to come in the next few years. As one executive I recently spoke to put it, “As soon as I’m done with one transformation, the next one begins!”

2. From analog to digital

Advances in technology are reshaping both the challenges and possibilities change offers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the nature of jobs and is shifting work that humans once did to machines. It necessitates a broader rethinking of the future of work. Yes, many jobs will go away, but many will be created, too, requiring smart management through this period of immense dislocation. Amazon in 2016 increased the number of robots it used by 50%, from 30,000 to 45,000 robots, securing a reduction in its costs and delivery times. Over the same period, it increased its human workforce by 50% to focus it on tasks requiring soft capabilities that would help better serve customers.

3. From fixed to flexible

The very nature of the workforce is changing. Millennials already account for nearly 50% of the US workforce, and they are reshaping expectations. Over 90% expect to stay in a job for less than 3 years, far lower than historical average of 4.4. At the same time, the so-called gig economy is contributing to a labor market characterized by nontraditional, independent and short-term working relationships. One-third of all US workers have some type of gig work arrangement in place. Organizations’ boundaries are becoming more porous. Increasingly it is not just the internal but also the external ecosystem—comprising new kinds of talent, flexible working arrangements, and external contractors and advisors—that defines an organization.

Finally …

The scope of these three shifts is massive. It requires that we adjust to a future in which change cannot and should not be “managed.” A new normal, no longer defined by risk, fear and avoidance but rather by possibility, agility and opportunity, mandates that we not just manage change, but rather embrace it.

From Gartner in 2019 ...

More than 80% of organizations manage change from the top down. This typically means that senior leaders exclusively make strategic decisions, create implementation plans, and then roll out organization-wide communication to gain workforce buy-in. This straightforward strategy once enabled rapid change because organizations were largely vertical; leaders held all the key information, and the workforce was structured in clear, hierarchical reporting lines. In that environment, top-down change strategies mirrored organizations’ structure and workflow. Compare that to how things look today:

• Organizations have more complex, matrixed reporting lines and interdependencies.
• Employees have more access to information about their jobs, business environment, and each other.

The upshot? Top-down change strategies are fundamentally disconnected from today’s workflow, and they’re slowing organizations down. Sixty-six percent of CHROs are dissatisfied with the speed of change implementation. Organizations need a better path forward in this evolving change environment.

In our survey of more than 6,500 employees and over 100 CHROs around the globe, we found that the best organizations rely on their workforce, not just executives, to lead change. These organizations moved away from top-down change management toward more inclusive strategies by making three significant shifts:

1. Co-create change strategy.

Leaders recognize the value of employees’ input regarding customer needs and how work is done on the ground. However, while 74% of leaders say they involved employees in creating change strategy, only 42% of employees feel they were truly included. Leaders fear being overwhelmed by opinions when deadlines have to be met, so they typically set change strategies and solicit employee feedback after decisions have been made. But solicitation is not co-creation.

2. Shift implementation planning to employees.

To create consistent and fast change, leaders typically decide how to implement changes and then communicate directions to the workforce. But this method no longer works in the current change environment. Seventy-two percent of leaders we surveyed admit they do not know what employees must do differently during change because they are too disconnected from the work, and priorities change too quickly for leaders to catch up.

3. Focus communication on “talking,” not “telling.”

Most organizations communicate change from the top down. Leaders frame change as a positive story to get employee buy-in, and they tell it frequently to drive understanding. But telling — or, at times, commanding — employees does not drive understanding or commitment to change. Instead, we found that top-down communication actually reduces employees’ understanding of change down the line and increases employee anger, anxiety and resistance toward the change.

From KPMG in 2022 …

The world has changed in the past two years — you don’t need to be told that. We’ve experienced the biggest working experiment in history — and the biggest challenge for change management. Many of us are coming out of the other side into a new working world. We’ve been catapulted into the future of work, whether we like it or not. The challenge now is to build something smart, enduring, and more human. Change management has a vital role in bringing those traits to a transformed world of work. The “Great Reassessment” reflects a fundamental shift in employee priorities, which can be seen across a range of organizations and industries. The following change management trends have emerged:

Change by design

In a world of constant flux, change is not a fixed destination. By the time you get there, “there” has already moved on. Instead, change management is an enduring journey. Because of the impact of pandemic-induced team disbursement, along with the accelerated pace of change that accompanies digital business—the context in which change management should operate has also changed. Change by design is the response to that new landscape.

Key takeaway: Organizations should transition from standard input and activity measurements (“speeds and feeds”) to an experience-based outcome focus. This means that change journeys are expected to increasingly emphasize capability gaps and the new skills required to execute targeted outcomes. Leadership defines the end goals, but the process of getting to the finish line is determined directly by those running the race. They will likely be the ones to say how they need to be equipped in their change journey to meet stated goals. This approach allows talent growth to match the task and builds trust throughout the organization.

Change by evidence

Lasting change requires systemic intervention. The day-to-day environment should be understood rather than limiting insights to semi-annual performance reviews. This can be achieved by exploring sentiment analytics and feedback in real-time. To help ensure that every employee has a voice and feels heard—and to allow the organization to respond continuously, enhanced employee listening posts are a must. Listening technologies are available to make employee sentiment quantifiable and actionable. It could come in the form of a portal where any employee can start a conversation, add to a thread, or pose a question—with all input transparently tracked. Or it could come in the form of small-scale pulse surveys, pop-up one-off topic surveys, or from external inputs such as social media.

Key takeaway: The new world of change is bringing together analytics and behavioral science so that the interventions designed to nurture new organizational structures, attitudes, and mindsets are based on the analytical insight of the “system” that is being created. Platforms such as Microsoft Viva or Workplace by Facebook that combine analytics with collaboration, learning, sentiment analysis, and insights into the flow of work will likely become fundamental to shaping the change journey as it unfolds in real-time.

Change by leadership

Modern change leadership should act as the organization’s North Star, embracing “the art of the possible.” However, it should go beyond leadership assertion that simply instructs, “Follow me.” Instead, change leadership is about creating the right architecture and culture to enable the change and for employees to understand it in their terms. Today’s employees want easy transitions between different types of work and a holistic experience where they can provide meaningful contributions in line with their values. Supporting this want, digitization is driving a fundamental shift from static jobs to project-based skills and tasks. The role of change leaders is to shape dynamic project outcomes that bring connection, purpose, and energy to the organization.

Key takeaway: The new skills for leaders, if they are to shape the “architecture for change,” will likely be about design thinking, storytelling, and political nous—all approaches based on empathetic listening. When sharing experiences, programs, and values in these ways, stronger connections are made across the organization, and possibilities for open communication are increased. Transformative outcomes result with employees saying, “We did this,” rather than leaders saying, “I did this.”

Finally …

The intensity of the pandemic has transformed change management just as much as it has impacted the way many of us work. It’s an understatement to say that the change management process has been tested — it’s been an involuntary experiment of epic proportions. We’ve learned some critical lessons that will likely serve us going forward. That’s fortunate because, for the sake of the planet and the societies we live in, we cannot afford to return to the way things used to be.

My thoughts on the above ...

IMHO if you read them carefully and sometimes "between the lines" what they say is not really advocating something new, but rather just putting out new phrases that say what has always been happening so is this really new thinking?

To finish with here are extracts from two articles I have previously written which sum up my personal view on the subject ... some views have changed since the pandemic others haven't changed at all!

From 2018 ...

When I see posts/articles about the future of Change Management I get the impression that people are looking for the "next big thing" and I sometimes wonder why. Some seem to make sense whilst others are what I would term "pie in the sky" type thinking but each to their own I say.

My view is that current approaches to Change Management are fine so long as you don't try and religiously follow them to the letter but therein lies the problem. For fear of offending some of you, I am going to say that it is more down to how individual practices change rather than the approach/methodology being used. I have said this many times before (but I will say it again), no "one size fits all" so it is better to have knowledge and experience of a number of approaches/methodologies from which you can adapt/adopt to fit specific circumstances"

From 2019 ...

We have to look at an approach that includes “pace” when it is needed but also can take “time” when there is no need for “pace”. I’m going to call this Relevant Change Management. But how do we practice it?

Let me suggest a few ways:

There is an old phrase that springs to mind which is like a “clarion call” to all Change Managers … it goes “we’ve always done it that way” so let’s turn that around on ourselves. Take a look at what we know and have been doing since "time immemorial" and adapt what we have learned and/or have been taught to see if we can cut out the “unnecessary” and streamline the “necessary”.

Take each assignment we work on as a stand-alone and use our acute understanding of the challenges to develop a bespoke approach that incorporates both aspects of “pace” and “time” for any given situation. This will mean taking everything we do into context and make rational decisions to categorise what we want to do into “relevant” or “irrelevant” actions and prioritise on “relevant”.

Look at different, more innovative ways of involving people to help them understand the change rather than e.g.:

• Developing a cumbersome and rigid communications, engagement or training plan.
• Undertaking a lengthy stakeholder analysis and engagement exercise that has you analyzing people sometimes for the sake of analyzing them.
• Doing an impact analysis when it’s clear where exactly the impacts are going to be.

We Change Managers are sometimes to blame for being too rigid and inflexible because when we have done something before and it has worked we think it can work again. No not in today’s exciting new world order.

We should no longer foist “our way” on an unsuspecting public (the stakeholders) and automatically think they will be with us on the journey. This may mean a certain amount of personal “shape-shifting” but hey we are Change Managers so shouldn’t we be able to manage to change ourselves?

In summary ...

Of course, everyone will have a different view about the need to CHANGE CHANGE MANAGEMENT and that is a given. I hope the extracts which I have highlighted and my own personal view will give you some food for thought.

And, of course, there is the whole question of Agile and Lean Change Management, which I haven't covered, but it is arguable that the content of this article is suggesting that we do become more [introduce your own word here] in order to make the discipline more acceptable to organisations and the C Suite alike and be able to react to the speed in which change is happening today.

That's it again. I hope you enjoyed the read albeit a long one. Looking forward to your reactions and comments.