Measuring change is no longer a nice to have. It’s a must-have for a lot of organisations. A lot of stakeholders are now demanding to see and understand what is happening in the world of change. With the enhanced volume of change and therefore the increased investment made by the organisations, it’s no wonder.
Why are stakeholders demanding to see change data?
When we look across the room amongst the various disciplines, data forms an integral part of any function. Finance – tick. HR – tick, yes pretty much all aspects of people are tracked and reported. Operations – tick, as we have all types of performance KPIs and efficiency indicators. Technology – tick, since every part of technology can easily be measured and reported. Marketing – tick, as marketing outcomes are tied to revenue and customer sentiments.
With Covid it is even more the case that data is integral. We can no longer ‘walk the factory’ to sense what is happening. To see what is happening and what is going to happen stakeholders revert to data. In our virtual working environment, stakeholders require a constant dashboard of data to track how things are progressing.
Why is measuring change not an activity?
In the past it used to be that measuring change is only something you do in a project when you want to see if stakeholders are ready for the change. No more. Most organisations have a multitude of changes running concurrently. There is no choice to select 1 or 2 changes to roll out. With significant business challenges, most organisations are finding that running with multiple changes is the norm.
With multiple changes, increased stakeholder demands and appetite, measuring change is no longer just an activity. Measuring change takes a set of structured routines. It requires effective governance design. It takes experience and analytical expertise. Most of all, it is not a once-off event, it is a continual building of organisational muscle and capability. We are heading into the world of change analytics capability.
What is change analytics capability and how do I attain this?
Here are 7 core components of building and maturing change analytics capability:
1. Establishing change data management procedures and practices
This is about setting up the right steps in place so that change data can be identified, collected, and documented. This includes identifying the types of change data you would like to collect and how to go about collecting them. It will be easier to start with the core set of data required and then build from these as needed. This will reduce the risk of overwhelming your stakeholders.
After the right metrics and collection channels have been identified then it’s about building the regular routines to collect and document the metrics.
2. Sponsorship and leadership of change analytics
To really reap the value of change analytics you will need to gain the blessing and sponsorship of your leaders. Well, at least in time. In the beginning, you may need some time to come up with compelling data that tell the story that you want them to before you show your leaders. Eventually, without strong leadership buy-in, change data will not be effectively leveraged to make business decisions.
Getting your leaders’ blessing isn’t just a verbal exercise. It means that they are signing-up to regularly review, discuss and utilise change data to realise business value.
3. Build talent and organisation to support change analytics
Think about the various stakeholders and what you need them to understand in terms of change data. The way you educate stakeholders will be different to how you educate operations managers or the PMO. Plot out how you plan to help them get familiar with change data. Do you need particular roles to support data analysis? Is it a Change Analyst who is focused on the regular upkeep and consolidation of change data? What roles do you need other team members to play?
4. Insight generation
With a full set of change data infront of you, it’s now time to dive into them to generate insights. What is the data telling you? How do they support other data sources to form a clear picture of what is happening in the workforce? Is the data accurate and updated? Generating insights from the data takes skills and experience. It takes the ability to integrate different sources of data outside of change data themselves.
5. Insight application
This is about setting up the right routines and processes so that any insights generated may be discussed and applied. It could be through various governance forums, leadership or planning meetings that insights are shared and socialised. An integral part of this step is applying the insight by making business decisions. For example, do we delay the initiative roll out or invest more to support leaders? Are there reasons for us to speed up roll out to support the workforce?
6. Change analytics capability development
Change analytics is a capability.
With good change data emerging, you also need to have the right people with the right skills to collect, process and interpret the data. You may also want to think about which teams need what analytical skills. Do you have people in the team who are sufficiently analytical and data-oriented? Do they know how to interpret the data to form trends and predictions?
You may want to think about organising capability sessions or training to strengthen data analysis skills. Are there members in the different governance bodies that need support to be more confident in using change data?
7. Realising business value through change analytics
The last part of the equation is realising business value through change analytics. This is about tracking and documenting the value realised through using change analytics. It could include incidents where the business decision made has lead to significant risk reduction or operations protection. It could be enhanced leadership confidence mitigating risks in negative customer experience. Tracking value generated is critical to make clear to stakeholders the value of the overall investment.
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The term “single view of change” is starting to gain more popularity and organisations are starting to understand why they need this and what it looks like. The term refers to an artifact that shows the different change initiatives being mapped together. This is usually presented in a calendar format that shows when the initiatives will impact the organisation over time. In this article, we will look closely at what the single view of change is, what stakeholders are looking for in this artifact and how to use it.
Typical formats for single view of change
Red, amber and green cells for each project across time
Business unit based heatmap across time
Here are some examples from The Change Compass as reference.
Different views may be selected for the HeatmapThe data may be grouped/ordered by different fields (Go-Live is shown as a star)
In the past year there has been increasing interest from organisations talking about single view of change (SVOC) and wanting to derive this view. What we’ve observed at The Change Compass are the following trends:
Senior managers or executives are often the ones who are requesting the SVOC.
This usually arises as the number of change initiatives starts to increase and there is feedback that there could be too much change for employees to handle or change fatigue. This is not a surprise given the companies are already struggling to keep up with competitive, technology, and regulatory changes. Covid has added to these changes and compounded the overall change load.
Senior managers are after data to make decisions on. And managing change is no exception. Gone are the days when managers can make decisions based on opinions and hunches. With Covid, there are employees working remotely and so performance needs to be managed based on data – there is simply no other way. In a similar vein, change data is integral to making business decisions.
An example of stakeholders requesting SVOC
When I was the Head of Change at National Australia Bank there was a strong focus on deriving a single view of change. This was not always the case. There were constant complaints from employees that there was too much change. On the other hand, senior managers often responded with “we’re still able to run the business and the business has not broken, so let’s keep going”.
One of the key reasons that senior managers were requesting SVOC was that initiatives are by design in silos. Each initiative team designs the initiative independent of other initiatives. From a technical perspective, there are various architects who are accountable for advising on what the technology stack should look like and what is in the best interest of the organisation across initiatives. However, from a people change perspective there were no practices in which changes across the board are harmonised and sequenced.
Eventually, at National Australia Bank we built a clunky way of capturing change impact data that did meet stakeholder needs. My realisation was that stakeholders that request SVOC were not after the artifacts per se. In fact what they were after most were:
Determining when there would be too much change saturation leading to change fatigue
Ability to determine what needs to be moved and how/when initiatives can be moved if there is contention
Understanding key risks that could arise in executing on a range of change initiatives that could disrupt the business or impact initiative benefit realisation
Understanding what change activities are organised and how they are impacting business-as-usual operations so that effective resourcing can be in place
What this means is that stakeholders are asking for SVOC, when they are really asking for a way to manage the change portfolio in a way that reduces risk for the organisation and maximise benefits targeted. Managing change at a portfolio level is a new concept and discipline for most organisations.
Over the years in working with organisations through The Change Compass, I’ve noticed the following trends across different organisations when it comes to creating and using SVOC.
Change saturation can mean different things to different stakeholders. This reflects on the different parts of change management focus areas for organisations. Some focus on the humanistic aspects of change for individuals. This includes the personal experience and stress of change fatigue. Others focus on the impacts of business performance and resourcing.
Some of the presented reasons for change saturation
“Our employees tell us there is too much change”. This needs to be carefully considered when providing feedback to senior managers. Some could be skeptical of the feedback and respond with comments such as “there are always complaints about too much change”. A balanced view including employee feedback as well as other business indicators would be advised. For example, efficiency levels or absenteeism.
Not adopting a change portfolio approach – Just seeing the risks and business problems with SVOC will not necessarily resolve the issues. It is about making business decisions with the information that will create impact.
Poor portfolio management – If this is the reason then most companies have poor portfolio management because change portfolio management is still in its infancy for most organisations.
Responses of execs determine the outcomes – some still insist on persisting with change in the face of change saturation. From what we have seen a lot of senior managers usually learn from the aftermath of change saturation before they will make decisions to avoid it in the first place. Help your senior managers to understand the consequences and what it means to business data. Of course, the more detailed data you can provide the more convincing your argument is going to be.
Because companies haven’t invested in people capability – Having better change capability can impact the way employees perceive and undergo the change journey. More change mature teams tends to be able to absorb more and faster changes than those who are less mature. However, change maturity takes time and investment to build and is not a lever that can be pulled overnight.
Not effectively setting expectations and agenda for what is coming. Setting clear expectations is the first step. Without knowing what changes to expect the change outcome could be impacted. However, this is only one part of the change equation. Having achieved clarity of expectation is just the first step. There are lots of other steps to take to create an effective change journey.
External factors affecting the load of change may not be easily filtered by the organisation. Lots of organisations are facing multiple impacts of change from different arenas, technology, regulations, competition, and other industry changes. In many cases, the changes piled on top of each other creating a significant change load that cannot be easily moved out. In this case, organisations need to be realistic about what can be achieved given this load of change. Would investing in capability help to lift the ability to undergo a heightened change volume? Can we package changes so that they are more streamlined and integrated, and thereby reducing cognitive load for impacted employees?
The role of change practitioners
Through using a SVOC change practitioners can play different roles in adding value to the organisation.
Change portfolio management: Managing a portfolio from a change impact perspective is a role that can add significant value. The benefits of adopting a portfolio approach can result in initiatives being harmonised. From the user perspective, changes are better linked and grouped versus being isolated from each other.
Architecting and designing delivery: With better alignment and synchronisation, initiative rollout can be better designed as a whole, with a convincing set of strategies and themes that make sense for impacted employees.
Executive consultation and influencing: Armed with data it is much easier to influence senior executives. The trick is to select the few data visualisations that tell the story of key risks to the organisation, and the size of the problems involved. This also needs to be paired with recommended solutions.
Business change capability building – With SVOC change capability building is not just about rolling out generic skills, but targeted content delivered at the right junctures to equip the business with the right skills to be better equipped for a targeted set of changes
Next steps
Are you working on a SVOC? Do you have questions? If you would like to talk to us to understand how others have fared in their SVOC journeys click the following button to book time. We’re happy to share with you some of the tips and tricks in deriving SVOC.
Captured during a 5-day trek in Tasmania’s southwestern wilderness known as the Western Arthurs, this photograph reflects a journey undertaken four years prior, just before devastating bushfires swept through Tasmania, altering its pristine landscapes. The region, notorious for persistent rain and limited sunshine, graced us with consecutive sunlit days, making it a standout global hiking experience, rivaling trails in the Italian Dolomites, the Himalayas, and the Canadian Rockies.
Embarking on a 5-day expedition in Tasmania’s southwest demands self-sufficiency—carrying all your food, drinking from rivers, and sleeping in a tent with no huts or running water. The solitude is profound, with few fellow hikers; most of the time, it’s just you and Mother Nature.
Childhood lessons painted Mother Nature as a battlefield for survival, where each tree competes fiercely for sunlight, nutrients, and dominance over the land. However, this narrative is challenged by Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. Over two decades of study revealed that a forest’s essence lies not in individual tree struggles but in subterranean partnerships. Simard unveiled the symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi, known as mycorrhizas—thread-like fungi merging with tree roots. They aid trees in extracting water and nutrients, receiving carbon-rich sugars produced through photosynthesis in return. (For more details, refer to the New York Times article.)
Mycorrhizas serve as the connective tissue of the forest, intertwining trees of different species through an extensive web. This transforms the forest into more than a mere collection of trees. In times of crisis, a tree at the brink of death may altruistically share a substantial portion of its carbon with neighboring trees. The forest thus emphasizes cooperation, negotiation, reciprocity, and selflessness alongside survival and competition.
Remarkably, this ecosystem mirrors the principles of effective change networks. A change network possesses the capacity to reach every individual in a company. Unlike being confined to a specific business unit or hierarchy level, a well-designed change network transcends organizational boundaries.
Let’s delve deeper into the characteristics of a robust and efficient change network…
1) Project-agnostic
In the dynamic landscape of change networks, a paradigm shift from the traditional project-specific model to a project-agnostic approach emerges as a strategic imperative. The conventional methodology, with its exclusive focus on single projects, often results in a staggering 69% of projects achieving initial objectives, while 15% are considered failures. This project-specific model, besides its high failure rate, also contributes to significant resource wastage. Identifying, training, and sustaining a robust change champion network for each project frequently overshoots the project’s lifecycle, hindering desired outcomes and accounting for the 70% failure rate in projects.
Contrastingly, a more efficient paradigm involves nurturing change champions with the ability to support multiple projects. This not only optimizes resource allocation but also aligns with the agile principle, as highlighted by the 56% of companies that exclusively use a single project management methodology.
These versatile change champions, akin to Starbucks’ “My Starbucks Idea” initiative, play a pivotal role in connecting the dots across projects, providing invaluable insights, and fostering a culture of collaboration. Starbucks’ successful implementation of change through customer-driven ideas, resulting in over 5 million monthly page visits, is a testament to the power of adaptable change networks.
Drawing a parallel to the natural world, where mycorrhizas take time to strengthen and fortify the forest, change champions undergo a transformative journey with each project involvement. Their sustained engagement refines their change management skills and delivery expertise, enhancing their proficiency with every endeavor.
The diverse and creative approaches observed in change champions, ranging from themed outfits to innovative reminders, reflect the adaptability crucial for effective end-user engagement. This adaptability serves as the cornerstone of a thriving change champion network, where experimentation and varied strategies contribute to its vibrancy and success. Similar to the ever-evolving forest ecosystem, change networks flourish when nurtured with creativity and adaptability.
2) Cuts across layers
In the realm of change networks, adopting a project-agnostic approach emerges as a strategic shift from the traditional project-specific model. The conventional method involves forming change networks tailored exclusively to a single project, with champions disbanded at the project’s conclusion.
However, this model poses inherent challenges, leading to significant resource wastage. The effort to identify, train, and sustain a robust change champion network for each project often exceeds the project’s lifespan, impeding desired outcomes.
To address this, the change champion network needs to cut across not only different parts of the business but also different layers of the organization. A lot of change champion networks are designed at the mid-layer of the organization, typically involving middle managers. While middle managers can influence the outcome of the change more than frontline staff members, relying solely on this layer may not be sufficient.
Here’s why:
Detail Feedback: Middle managers are often not the ‘end users’ of systems or processes, making it challenging for them to provide detailed feedback on the suitability of the change, sentiments of end users, or necessary adjustments in the change solution.
Signal Loss: Depending on the organization, there may be 1-3 layers between middle managers and end users, resulting in potential ‘signal loss’ where thoughts, emotions, and feedback from the lowest layers of the organization may not be effectively communicated.
Limited Testing Input: Middle managers are usually not directly involved in system or process testing, limiting their ability to provide detailed input to shape the change. Their contributions often focus on higher-level strategies for engaging impacted teams.
To build a strong, vibrant, and extensive change champion network, engagement needs to extend to different layers of the organization, not just the middle layers but also the lower layers. While top layers may be engaged through various committees, middle and lower layers require dedicated change champions.
Similar to the mycorrhizas connecting different trees in a forest, the change champion network, when stronger and more extensive, becomes more capable of influencing and driving change both vertically and horizontally across the company. This inclusivity ensures that smaller business groups are not neglected or deprioritized, contributing to the overall success and adaptability of the change network.
3) Routine interfaces
In the intricate ecosystem of a forest, mycorrhizas play a vital role by providing essential sustenance, and supplying critical nitrogen, water, and other nutrients to plants. In the organizational landscape, change champions serve a similar crucial function. Armed with comprehensive knowledge and a deep understanding of the change, along with the latest updates on its impacts, they possess the ability to interpret messages in a way that resonates with those directly affected, using a language that is tailored to each team’s unique history, priorities, and culture.
Unlike program-level communication, which may be too generalized, the interaction with change champions is a dynamic, two-way process. They engage with impacted employees, actively assessing and understanding where individuals stand in their change journey. This engagement leads to a clear comprehension of the specific communication, learning, or leadership support needs of impacted teams. High-performing change champions delve beyond the surface, understanding the motivations and demotivators of the teams they serve. This wealth of insights becomes a powerful set of messages that can be fed back to the central project mothership.
What sets high-performing change champions apart is not just their ability to communicate and collect feedback; they proactively sense-check and virtually “walk the floor” to feel the pulse of the employees. Often, change champions are directly impacted by themselves, fostering a natural empathy that enables them to connect with others undergoing change. In this dynamic, there is a delicate balance between self-interest and selflessness, as change champions strive not only to navigate their own challenges but also to extend support and assistance to those in need. This nuanced approach mirrors the harmony found in natural ecosystems, where organisms cooperate for mutual benefit.
4) Cross-network collaboration
Within the expansive framework of an extensive change network, diverse sub-teams of change champions naturally emerge, often organized by business units or grade levels. While connecting with peers within the same level might be straightforward, establishing collaboration across hierarchies, especially with those perceived as ‘managers,’ can pose challenges.
To overcome these challenges, intentional routines must be established to facilitate frequent sharing and collaboration among different change champion teams. In the natural world, trees emit chemical alarm signals to warn nearby trees of potential danger. Similarly, within a business context, a team from one business unit may sense a looming risk for change failure based on their experiences, which they can share with other teams yet to undergo the change.
Conversely, successful experiments in one part of the business should be readily proliferated in other areas of the organization. For instance, in a large insurance company, a change champion network recognized the need for frontline staff working virtually to have a platform for immediate queries and responses. The solution was a chat channel implemented under Microsoft Teams, approved by IT. In this channel, frontline staff could freely pose questions about system usage, shortcuts, and outages, and addressing customer concerns.
Initially, the channel had few questions, but as prompt and helpful responses were provided, engagement grew. Today, it stands as one of the most active Teams chat channels in the company, showcasing the effectiveness of cross-network collaboration. This success story has inspired similar initiatives in other businesses, emphasizing the ripple effect of successful collaboration practices within change networks.
5) Nurturing the network
Sustaining a change champion network is an ongoing endeavor that demands continuous nurturing, engagement, support, and leadership. Similar to any community, these networks thrive when provided with the right conditions and resources. Several key activities contribute to the nurturing of a dynamic and effective change champion network:
Onboarding and Expectation Setting: New members need comprehensive onboarding sessions where they receive information about the network’s objectives, core principles, expected time commitments, and other essential details.
Change Capability Sessions: Continuous learning is crucial for change champions. Sessions covering various topics, such as impact assessment, change communication, feedback provision during testing, and engagement with impacted stakeholder groups, help enhance their skills.
Leader Support: The involvement of senior leaders in certain sessions can provide valuable support and visibility to the network’s efforts, emphasizing the importance of their work in the broader organizational context.
Cross-Business Unit Networking: Structured agendas for cross-business unit change champion networking sessions create opportunities for sharing ideas and best practices, fostering a collaborative environment.
Routine Forums: Establishing routine forums for discussing project-specific topics allows members to stay informed and aligned with ongoing initiatives.
Formal Acknowledgments and Prizes: Recognizing key milestones and achievements through formal acknowledgments and prizes not only celebrates success but also motivates members to actively contribute.
Data Access: Providing change champions with access to change data, including impact assessments, readiness metrics, and change roadmaps, empowers them with valuable insights into upcoming changes and their stakeholder implications.
Regular Membership Reviews: Like any dynamic network, regular reviews of membership are essential. Some members may not meet expectations, and their roles might need to be filled by others. Expecting turnover and proactively managing it ensures a continuous influx of fresh perspectives and contributions.
Change champions, armed with comprehensive data on change impact, play a pivotal role in facilitating a clear understanding of impending changes and their ramifications for stakeholders. Regular reinforcement, support, and occasional challenges contribute to the resilience and effectiveness of the change champion network.
6) Supporting multiple initiatives
In the dynamic landscape of organizational change, it’s common for each business unit to undergo multiple initiatives simultaneously. Change champions play a pivotal role in navigating this complex terrain, supporting various initiatives and connecting the dots to form a coherent narrative for the impacted audience. Here’s why having change champions who can support multiple initiatives is crucial:
Holistic Understanding: Change champions, acting as the linchpin between different initiatives, provide a holistic understanding of the changes unfolding within a business unit. This comprehensive view enables them to craft a cohesive story that resonates with the audience, fostering better comprehension and buy-in.
Connecting the Dots: A key function of change champions is to connect disparate initiatives into a unified narrative. By highlighting interdependencies and common goals, they contribute to a more seamless and integrated change experience for stakeholders.
Predicting Crunch Periods: Change champions need to anticipate and understand the crunch periods for their business unit. By supporting multiple initiatives, they become adept at forecasting when the organization might face heightened challenges and risks that could impact daily operations.
Strategic Risk Management: With insights into multiple initiatives, change champions become strategic risk managers. They can identify potential points of friction, overlaps, or resource constraints and proactively address them, mitigating risks that could hinder the success of the initiatives.
Example of a single view of change from The Change Compass
Example of Change Outcome: The Change Compass
In analogy to mycorrhizal networks that span diverse ecosystems, organizations face the challenge of not only developing robust change champion networks internally but also fostering connections with external networks. Just as mycorrhizal networks link various landscapes, change champion networks can extend their impact beyond organizational boundaries.
Research indicates that when change champion networks from different companies link up, a wealth of learning and collaboration unfolds. This interconnectedness leads to a blossoming of reciprocity, negotiation, and even selflessness. Organizations stand to gain immensely by facilitating the exchange of insights and experiences among diverse change champion networks, creating a thriving ecosystem of change management knowledge and practices.
Elevate your change management strategy! Book a weekly demo with us and explore how our solutions can empower your change champion network.
This is the 2nd benchmarking report on change practices across the globe. In this exclusive benchmarking study we focused on a small select group of organisations across multiple industries across the globe to understand their organisational change practices. We compare the results of this study versus that carried out 2 years ago to examine any trends in organisational practices.
The key topics we benchmarked in this study include:
1. Change analytics – How organisations use change data to support their change work
2. Business change capability – How organisations go about building and developing change capability
3. Change portfolio management – How organisations manage a set of change initiatives
4. Project delivery – How organisations support project delivery from a change management perspective.
Leveraging a tool such as The Change Compass is not just about data entry and interpreting data. It is about building organisational capability in managing change. This means that business stakeholders needs to be engaged, coached and supported to be able to leverage change data to make operations decisions. This also means that other stakeholders such as the PMO (project management office) and senior managers are also to use change data for planning purposes.
To find out more about how to structure the approach for leveraging the value from a change tool such as The Change Compass click the following link to download the infographic.
At the time of the article Space X ‘Resilience’ (name of the shuttle) successfully took off into space with 4 astronauts. The astronauts wore super sleek white costumes that were tapered to the body and minimalist in design. They look quite different than the bulky spacesuits that we are all accustomed to in our heads from the 60s. What stood out for me was that this was a diverse team of astronauts. There was 1 female, 1 black, and 1 Asian. This was definitely not the all-white Caucasian males we are used to seeing in the past. It made me ponder about diversity and the change journey that companies are driving.
We all know the drill with most change journeys. It ‘must’ start at the top. It needs to be driven by senior managers. Then the rest of the managers need to support it and convince their people about the change journey. So what is wrong with this? Well, we also know that things often don’t go according to plan. Employees may ‘resist’ the change. They would then be labeled as ‘resistors’. The change manager on the project will then need to devise a plan to deal with these resistors to ensure the change goes smoothly despite them.
Diversity in Change Design
Anticipating Challenges: The crux of this transformative approach lies in its foresight to identify potential challenges before they materialize. Incorporating diversity early in the change design process constructs a dynamic framework that embraces myriad perspectives, experiences, and insights.
Practical Infusion of Diversity: Effectively infusing diversity into change strategies demands a conscious effort across dimensions. Assembling a diverse team of stakeholders from the project’s initiation ensures representation from various facets of the organization.
Shaping Resilience and Innovation: The primary objective is to cultivate resilience and innovation through intentionally incorporating diverse perspectives. Research consistently highlights the adaptability of diverse teams in facing challenges, tapping into a reservoir of creativity born from collaboration among individuals with varied backgrounds.
Beyond Tokenism: Infusing diversity transcends token gestures; it’s about creating an environment where diverse voices are not only heard but also valued and integrated into decision-making processes.
Early Stakeholder Engagement: Adopting an agile mindset, organizations should proactively assemble a diverse stakeholder group at the project’s inception, ensuring early engagement and integrating a broad spectrum of perspectives.
Anticipating Resistance and Brainstorming Solutions: Diversity in stakeholder engagement empowers organizations to interact early, identify potential push-backs, and collaboratively brainstorm solutions. This proactive strategy addresses resistance at its roots, mitigating risks during the implementation phase.
Ideation and Creativity: Inspired by Ideo’s principles, the ideation stage prioritizes quantity over the quality of ideas. Encouraging creativity without premature judgment recognizes that innovation often emerges from seemingly unconventional ideas.
Involvement at Every Level: Moving beyond the traditional top-down approach, organizations should envision change being driven from top-down, bottom-up, middle-out, and across every layer of the organizational hierarchy.
Challenges and Solutions: In the landscape of change, integrating diversity can encounter hurdles. A common challenge surfaces in the form of resistance, where employees perceive diversity initiatives as superficial. To overcome this, fostering open communication is vital. Actively involving employees in the change process not only allows them to voice concerns but also instills a sense of ownership and alignment with the change goals.
Another challenge lies in aligning diverse perspectives cohesively, which may lead to ambiguity or conflicting goals. This calls for robust communication channels and cross-functional collaboration. Encouraging a dialogue that integrates different viewpoints ensures a unified vision that accommodates the richness of diverse perspectives.
Measurable Outcomes: Embracing diversity in change design yields measurable outcomes. Teams reflecting diverse backgrounds consistently showcase heightened innovation and problem-solving capabilities. This innovation often translates into quantifiable improvements in product development, process efficiency, and overall organizational performance.
Measurable outcomes extend to employee engagement and satisfaction. Organizations fostering diversity experience higher levels of employee morale and commitment quantified through employee surveys, retention rates, and increased productivity. These metrics form a compelling narrative for the strategic value of diversity in driving successful change.
As we conclude this exploration into the transformative power of diversity in organizational change, it’s clear that diversity is more than a checkbox—it’s a dynamic force shaping the future of successful change management. The ‘Resilience’ shuttle journey serves as a metaphor for the resilience and innovation that embracing diversity brings to organizational journeys.
In essence, diversity propels change beyond resistance, transforming it into a collaborative, inclusive, and innovative process. The ‘Resilience’ shuttle journey serves as a metaphor for successful organizational change. Embracing diversity in change design is not merely a philosophical stance but a practical imperative. By incorporating diverse perspectives early on, organizations proactively navigate challenges, foster innovation, and drive transformative change from all directions.
As you embark on your change journey, remember that diversity is not just a strategy—it’s the cornerstone of lasting, impactful transformation.
Embark on a Diverse Journey with The Change Compass! Discover how our platform empowers you to embrace diversity in your change initiatives. Book your weekly demo now.
As change practitioners, we often feel that we create success behind the scenes. We design great change experiences, and if all goes well, then people won’t notice it. By this, I mean that if the impacted person has a smooth experience, and there are no negative incidents or frustrations, then he/she won’t notice the change curve that had just occurred. However, there is more to this.
Analyzing the System
Designing and executing good change experiences is not just about how skillful the practitioner is. It’s about understanding the system. An effective change approach involves assessing what the change needs to be and diagnosing key components of the overall system required to transition impacted stakeholders from current to future. What are these?
For example, you are implementing a new system, and you hear that the last system implementation did not go smoothly. You conduct a series of interviews with key stakeholders to understand what happened. What you found was that there was insufficient drivership from leaders. There was adequate communication and training as a part of the rollout. However, the change was not sufficiently reinforced by middle managers, and therefore after the first 2 months where there was good traction, things slowly faded away. Users started to not use the new system.
In your analysis of the overall system, elements included:
The extent of commitment and visible reinforcement from various leaders
The understanding of the why and how this was communicated
How effective learning interventions were
Effectiveness of launch visibility on the behaviors of impacted stakeholders
Influence of manager/leader levels on the behaviors of impacted stakeholders
Preventing Failures Through Problem-Solving
In Dan’s book, some of the key concepts of how one can become an invisible hero by problem-solving before the problem happens include:
Focus on changing the overall system, versus just one problem
Identify what has become normal and zoom in on this as a problem
Systems can be complicated, and therefore when you tweak elements of the system expect the unexpected
Design ongoing feedback to ensure ultimate success
Detect problems before they arise by addressing any early warning signs
Use key points of leverage to exert the greatest impact
By focusing on the overall system, the change practitioner can start to become less reactive and more proactive. A proactive situation is one where you’ve incorporated key risks and challenges and addressed these early on before issues happen. You’ve anticipated stakeholder concerns, potential embedment issues, lack of sponsorship, and ineffective reinforcement of stakeholder behaviors. This is what Dan Heath means by ‘upstream’, that you deal with problems before they occur.
Expanding Perspectives Across the Portfolio
Let’s take this one step further. Organizations are all implementing multiple initiatives. Stakeholders are not rats in the lab that only face one singular project. At any one time, they are usually facing multiple changes. Some large and some small. To truly look at the whole system, we need to consider the system from the impacted person’s perspective.
Some examples of this include:
Key targeted behaviors driven across multiple projects
Overall change capacity is impacted by operational factors such as customer work volumes, seasonal work changes, and of course any Covid implications
The sizes of impacts of various projects, and the priority placed on each of them
The nature of impacts on different stakeholder groups and how impacts on one stakeholder group could, in turn, result in an impact on another group
At The Change Compass, we focus on providing data visualisation to show elements of the system, whether it’s the relative change capacity of stakeholder groups, to what extent change saturation is exceeded, identifying key behavior changes targeted across initiatives, identifying hotspots for potential synergy across initiatives, or assess which initiatives are at most at risk due to level of impact versus stakeholder readiness levels.
Are you ready to be an invisible hero? To what extent are you already incorporating systems analysis and planning as a part of your change approach and implementation? With the right data, stakeholder feedback, and focus, examining the whole system does not need to be complicated, cumbersome, or time-consuming. In the post-Covid agile world where things are constantly in flux, examining the system is even more critical. This is the ultimate test of the change practitioner in being the architect and tinker.
Leading change as we know it will no longer be the same. Our audience has changed. Our industries have changed. The way people work is changing. The way to engage people is changing. And change has to change as well. I recently spoke with a manager from a government department who said that their organisation has been thrusted into a digital workforce by a 10-year leap. What they had thought unimaginable has literally occurred overnight. Even against a culture and workforce that had resisted virtual ways of working for many years, this is suddenly the current reality. How shall change management keep up with the post-Covid world? How might we as change leaders lead differently?
In this guide we will be dissecting each section of what has changed around us and how change management approach needs to change going forward.
Theme 1: Increased speed of digitisation, automation and robotics
Given the challenges of social distancing and virtual ways of working, many companies are leveraging this opportunity to speed up the implementation of digitisation. Call centres workforce offshore has been constantly disrupted due to Covid. As a result, companies have implemented working from home for call centre consultants. Others have invested deeply in automation and robotics to better cope with oncoming customer call volumes.
Even today, there are already several AI-enabled robot call centre agents who are able to handle a range of common customer enquires and tasks. Many are designed to speak just like humans are are at times almost indistinguishable from a real human voice. We may not be there just yet in terms of dealing with more complex customer enquires. However, given the significant pace of technical development, we are not far from this.
This is an AI call centre agent from ‘Amelia’
Chinese companies have been fast-reacting in response to Covid given widespread business impacts on their operating models. For example, JD.com Is a Chinese e-commerce company that has been removing human touchpoints in its operation through process automation and robotics. JD.com has invested in high tech and AI delivery through drones and, autonomous technology and robots and has one of the largest drone delivery system capabilities in the world. During Covid they ramped up their network to supply household goods to those who are in lockdown.
What does this mean for change management? Change management also needs to catch up and gear-up for the digital organisation. Just as digital call centre agents become the workforce of the company, digital engagement and data centricity should be the focus for the change practice. Key focus areas for the change practice should be:
A) Automation and digitisation – A standard, repeatable and effective way of engaging with stakeholders must be a key focus area. This includes:
Surveying, pulsing and measuring stakeholder readiness in a way that is standardised, scale-able and repeatable with effective reporting. Examples could be Microsoft Forms, Survey Monkey or Google Forms that are setup to continuously track stakeholder readiness
Engagement tools to support co-design and involvement of employees. There is a myriad of digital tools already available such as Yammer, Trello, Microsoft 365 tools such as Teams, and Slack.
Change impact assessment and portfolio management. Leverage digital ways of capturing, sharing and reporting on change impacts of a range of stakeholders such as customers, partners and employees. With the speed of change iterations across initiatives and increasing numbers of changes emerging, this is a core capability for the future agile organisation. Tools such as The Change Compass may assist.
A sample report from The Change Compass
Use of robotics in engaging with a virtual workforce. Projects and initiatives drivers have still relied on traditional ways of engaging with stakeholders and employees such as emails and newsletters.
To be more engaging, dynamic, and scalable, it may also make sense for the larger and more complex initiatives to leverage bots in engaging with and addressing stakeholder concerns. With a range of providers available, bots may be designed with minimal effort required. Standard FAQs may be combined with prompting questions. Surveys may also be incorporated within bots as well.
The best part of all of these digital tools is that analytics and reporting are designed into the tool and therefore saving change leaders significant time and effort in using data to report on progress. In the digital and virtual organisation, data needs to be constantly nurtured, measured and updated. Opinions and assertions will no longer be tolerated. Agile teams base decisions on updated data and trends.
As change leaders we have the opportunity to measure and foresee changing perceptions, readiness and needs of stakeholders. In traditional organisations, leaders would walk the floor or physically approach staff to gauge concerns. The new organisation needs to be geared for constant, data-based sources of stakeholder sentiments, using not just lagging indicators (e.g. employee satisfaction, and readiness surveys) but leading indicators such as sentiment analysis.
Theme 2: Increasingly frequent business disruptions
With what seems to be increasingly frequent business disruptions such as natural disasters, epidemics, and business models, companies need to be agile, resilient and flexible. What would have been typical corporate practices of 3 or 5 year long-range planning can now be thrown out the door. It doesn’t mean that companies no longer need to do long-range planning, but that plans need to flexible enough to take into account constant disruptions and industry changes.
This also needs to be supported by an organisation that is capable of flexing up, down and across. This means, upsizing and downsizing as required to better cater for customer volumes. Flexing across to other supplementary or complementary products or services as required to discover and benefit from new revenue sources.
What does this mean for change leaders?
With Covid, most organisations have experienced the criticality of having an effective business continuity plan. To execute this, it requires the ability to suddenly change directions within a short period of time. Leaders need to be able to effectively engage with and establish trust with their teams during these tumultuous times.
Business disruptions can bring out the best or the worse in the existing capability of the organisation. Without existing trust between the leadership and employees, any changes in the course of the company may lead to confusion, greater distrust, stress and therefore significant dip in performance.
Some may argue that this seems natural since during the change process it is normal to expect a dip into the ‘valley of despair’ during the initial period of the change, prior to confidence being established. However, several McKinsey studies have disproved this and that companies do not necessarily need to go through a significant dip in performance in order to rise up to ‘normal’ performance levels.
This well known ‘Change Curve’ has been proven to be false in a lot of situations
Building change agility
To deal with constant and unexpected disruptions organisations must build agility. What is agility and how does one build it?
McKinsey (2015, Aghina & De Smet) proposed that agility is about driving speed with stability. This is the balance between stability (resilience, reliability and efficiency) as well dynamism (fast, nimble and adaptive). This means having a relatively stable set of design structures, governance arrangements and processes within a relatively unchanging set of core elements, or a fixed backbone. To match this, a set of loose, dynamic elements that can be adapted quickly to new challenges and opportunities.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) outlined that change agility is about increasing the likelihood that its strategies will be realised, through effective portfolio, program, project and change management. This includes:
Establishing a common understanding of sponsor behaviours and expectations
Modify reward systems to favour team collaboration over individual contributions
Establish decision authorities at the lowest possible level, eliminate layers of governance structures
So what should change leaders do?
Build transparency and trust through constant engagement and involvement. One-way talk is not going to cut it if the goal is to achieve a deeper level of organisational engagement. Employees need to be involved in understanding organisational challenges and have the opportunities to be involved in contributing to and shaping how the organisation is addressing business risks and challenges.
This requires discipline and ongoing commitment, starting with small micro-habits such as communications styles, leveraging the right communication mediums and instil ongoing assessment of these channels and employee sentiments toward engagement effectiveness.
Digitally, what this can look like is a leader who uses several mediums such as Yammer, intranet, email and regular town hall to engage in 2-way dialogue with employees. For organisations that do not yet have leadership trust, there may be initial reluctance to speak openly and candidly. Openness to share opinions and feeling safe to do so needs to be gradually cultivated and cannot be forced. Trust can only come with authenticity. The leader also needs to demonstrate that feedback, opinions and recommendations have been listened to.
How do change managers support change agility within initiatives?
Whilst most change managers are focused on supporting one particular initiative, there is a critical role that change managers can play to support change agility.
Designing change releases into smaller pockets of ongoing releases
By designing smaller, and more digestible releases into the organisation, the initiative is supporting the ongoing development of change capability for small, ongoing changes. Over time, the continuous experience of small changes will help to shape the organisation to get used to small changes are the new norm. Change becomes business as usual.
Small changes are also more likely to be successful as the quantum of change is much easier to adopt than larger changes. The perception of the difficulty to adopt the change is mitigated. The actual process of change is also a smaller step to take.
2. Setting the pace of change
Just as the design of change releases can shape the organisation, so can the pace of change. Change managers should work with their initiative(s) to design the speed of change so that it enhances organisational learning for greater speeds of change over time. Just like running, one starts training by doing shorter runs within shorter distances. Over time, distances and pace can be increased to build overall running speed.
Organisations that are experienced in concurrent and ongoing weekly changes are used to having to get ready for and adjust to changes as the norm. They know where to go for information and help. They are also confident that the support mechanisms are there so there is good trust in their leaders and in the support system for change (whether digital channels or particular initiative roles).
Previous experiences from a faster pace of change means that they are used to knowing what to go through in terms of change. They are familiar with what questions to ask, what support is required and even how to support one another.
3. Design effective engagement routines that support deep engagement
Most organisations have standard business as usual communication routines such as monthly newsletters, town halls, team meetings, etc. The usual practice is to leverage these channels to let impacted stakeholders group know about impending changes.
What’s the problem with this? The problem comes when there is lots of changes impacting the same stakeholder group and the existing communication routines don’t seem to have enough time to go through everything. For example, using team meetings to communicate changes to impacted customer facing staff could be a standard practice. If the team time becomes overwhelmed with various announcements of changes with limited time for other BAU activities such as development, general communications and engagement then there lies the problem.
How do we get around this? Build the expectation to leverage existing digital platforms and promote a ‘self help’ culture whereby teams regularly visit intranet pages, Yammer, read emails or newsletters to find out what is happening. If the only time an impacted customer facing staff finds out about the change is through a team meeting then this is not the most effective use of meeting time.
A more effective engagement mix might be a combination of multiple mediums, using emails, yammer, other digital channels such as intranet pages to communicate the message. If the expectation is set with customer facing staff and there is existing practice of proactive seeking of information, then this decreases the risk of reliance on one particular channel.
The act of proactively seeking information also by itself enhances the engagement of the impacted customer facing staff who would then seek information mediums that they are familiar with and are comfortable using. Any team meetings or town halls could then be used for Q&A and interactions versus information download.
Leverage the power of digital engagement channels
4. Incorporate the emphasis on agility within learning interventions
Learning agility is the “propensity to continually learn, unlearn and relearn mental patterns and applications from various sources” (Mercer). Learning agility supports and promotes agility mindsets and behaviours.
An employee who is agile in learning is willing and able to learn new things fast, is open-minded, inquisitive and has the patience and drive to learn new areas. To achieve this, employees need supportive leaders who emphasise the importance of continuous learning and also role model this behaviour.
They also need a learning environment where there is time allocated to learn on the job. Leaders take into account failures as a part of learning and establish a culture that is safe to fail. Many organisations such as Google, Intel and Microsoft in fact celebrate failure when the right steps are taken as a part of the learning process.
When you are designing learning interventions as a part of your initiative, design interventions that support learning agility. For example, as a part of learning content, encourage learners to try practicing the new behaviours as exercises. Provide online feedback loops to support continuous learning. Leader learning should promote the above-mentioned behaviours of supporting employees to try different behaviours and any failures that may occur.
Initiative-based learning should also support broader organisational agility through emphasising on the role of innovation and implementing test-and-learn or experiments. For example, content exercise could include asking the learner to come up with ways of arriving at the desired outcome. If the outcome is to follow particular process steps, ask the employee to come up with ways to proactively support and champion this new process across the team.
5. Build an effective narrative around the need for agility
To build or support an agile organisation, communication is key. A compelling narrative or story must be built and implemented that tells the ‘why’ of agility. What is agility important for the organisation? Why not? What does this mean? How to achieve agility? These are common elements of a clear narrative.
A clear and compelling narrative should be developed and linked with various initiatives. Through this, multiple communications from different initiatives are supporting the same message. With each change, the impacted employees are receiving the message about the importance and need for having an agile mindset.
Each leader should also be encouraged to tell their own stories to support the narrative. Nothing is more powerful than an authentic story told by a leader. Ideally the story should be personal and reflects an experience that the leader has been through that shares the theme of agility. Stories loose their power and effectiveness if they are just read out and full of ‘corporate speak’.
Juggling a multitude of continuous agile changes
In the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world where things are constantly evolving and where agile practices are the norm, how change management is set up should also change.
Imagine you’re spinning 30 plates at the same time. Some plates are smaller some are bigger. Some are spinning at a faster rate than others. Some need to finish spinning earlier than others. There are new plates that need to be added to be spun. To add to the complexity, the plates are constantly evolving. Some are changing colours, others are changing sizes. As a result, how you spin each will need to change as well based on how they are evolving. This is what a lot of organisations are facing right now.
Managing multiple changes can be like spinning lots of plates
So how should one deal with this situation?
Change management vision and strategy
A clear and logical change management vision and strategy is required to support where the organisation is heading towards. With the various changes mentioned previously, the role of change management is to realise the strategy through a successfully delivered business plan, including various initiatives.
Understanding where the organisation is heading towards, the end state and the roadmap to get there, the change management function needs to identify key strategies to enable successful change. Is the strategy focused on driving agility through leadership and agile practices? Should change management focus primarily on initiative delivery, capability development or governance and reporting?
Is there a clear translation of how each change strategy or tactic will support the realisation of each part of the business plan?
2. Resourcing
To support the various initiatives as a change management function we need to look strategically at the skills required and the volume of work upcoming. What are the emerging change skills required to support the initiatives? Is there a large volume of regulatory changes? What about digital projects? Depending on the nature of projects emerging a strategic workforce planning exercise is required to plan forward. Develop scenarios of volume of projects and change support requirements to develop likely resourcing demands.
A mapping of various change skills should be carried out to flesh out key skills required to support upcoming initiatives. Learning and development skills, stakeholder engagement, sponsorship coaching, communications, organisational design, impact assessment, etc. may be common change skills to map out.
After the workforce planning exercise is completed there should also be a quick quarterly review process to assess to what extent the plan should still remain the same or that it needs to alter based on what has changed. In this way, the change function can regularly keep tab on any evolvement in resourcing needs.
3. Managing the portfolio of changes
With multiple constant changes that are being iterated constantly, a portfolio approach to managing changes is required. A portfolio approach to managing change requires a view of the change initiatives across the board. With a view of all initiatives, one can then better make decisions about prioritisation, change capacity, capability required, operational implications and change maturity required.
Data has become and will continue to become a critical enabler for change management, just like most other disciplines. With data, change professionals can make significant impact on business effectiveness and drive benefit realisation.
Real time data can help support fast and agile decision making and allow the business to move with speed
With sufficient historical data organisations can also make predictive analysis to understand what the future may hold using data
Audience data can allow change professionals to address specific stakeholder needs based on data such as preferences, readiness and engagement levels
Portfolio level impact and readiness data can help leaders zoom in on high risk initiatives
Drive data-based decision making versus stakeholder opinions and assertions
Digitisation of change data to manage the increasing complexity of measuring change across initiatives
To read more about developing change analytics maturity please visit the following article.
Instead of being structured around individual projects, to support evolving initiatives from a scale and effectiveness perspectives change practices need to re-think the best structural options.
Another popular way is for change practices to be structured around change functions such as learning and development and communications. However, to be more adaptable and flexible to support emerging initiatives it may make sense to adopt an ‘agile team’ structure where teams are organised around portfolios and impacted business units, rather than disciplines.
The advantage of these options will be that change will be better positions to scale up or down as required depending on resource requirements. Focus around business units will ensure a more business-centric approach to change that takes into account multiple initiatives that impact the same stakeholder group.
Leveraging the right engagement channels with new ways of working can be challenging
Theme 3: Evolving virtual ways of working post Covid
Post Covid organisations will examine their ways of working and re-assess what is possible to manage any residual Covid risks as well as leveraging virtual working capabilities developed during Covid. Organisations will leverage virtual working as much as possible as it reduces cost of operating, however, balancing this with face to face office time to maximise productivity and effectiveness.
Organisations also need to take virtual working to the next level by building greater organisational capability. For example, previously most brain storming sessions could only be done via face to face. Now companies need to buckle down and truly leverage various digital tools to enable team discussions, collaboration and idea sharing, 100% virtually. With some working in the office and others at home or other locations, this will be critical.
For change practitioners a key element of the new ways of working is engagement approaches. Truly engaging employees and stakeholders in the post Covid world will be challenging. We all know that face to face communication trumps other forms of communication in terms of impact. However, when this option is not available, clear practices need to be established to maximise engagement effectiveness.
Meeting practices. Organisations should establish clear meeting practices that are effective virtually, such as ‘round the grounds’ checking on how each participant is feeling or thinking, pausing for feedback, asking questions to check understanding, using video to show body language, etc.
Strengthen organisational culture of employees proactively using particular digital channels for communication. A significant effort needs to be placed on enabling employees to habitually check and participate in digital channels such as Yammer or Microsoft Teams to exchange ideas and keep up with changes. With the pace of change increasing, reliance on email and intranet pages is no longer sufficient and also because these are largely 1-way communication vehicles. With a culture where employees are proactively engaged in digital engagement channels, driving change will be more effective as an outcome
Diversity of audience. Organisations are now realising that if they are able to have most of their employees work virtually, this means they are not restricted to hiring talent from particular locations. This means the talent pool can be national or even international. With a greater diversity of physical locale of employees and even cultures, come challenges with engagement and communications. Particular cultural or regional references may need curbing to ensure there is an inclusive working environment. Strategies may also need to be developed when implementing change initiatives to this in multiple physical locations.
Performance management. Managing performance virtually will be more complex for managers who cannot ‘see’ the employee. A degree of trust and outcome based management needs to occur. For the change practitioner, the focus is on how to measure and track performance within a mixed working environment both physically and virtually. For digital changes it may be easier to measure change virtually, but for other changes there may be challenges in sensing behaviour change in a virtual environment.
Health and safety management. With more employees working from home there are risks such as ‘digital stress’ (from too many video meetings for example) and environmental risks such as children or other family disruptions. During Covid the working day seems to have expanded, by 2 hours in Britain, France and Spain and 3 hours longer in America (The Economist). Change practitioners need to be sensitive to this when there are multiple changes happening, likely leading to risks in health and safety of employees.
The post Covid world presents challenges for organisations and therefore the change practitioner. With challenge comes opportunities. The environment is ripe for the change discipline to take the bull by the horn and transform into a strategic and value adding service to the organisation. One that is critical to its ongoing transformation and one that is evolving with the times.
To read more about project planning post Covid click here.
