Change Saturation is a concept that describes our capacity for change as limited … like a cup. We have a limited amount of capacity for change. When there is too much change going on the cup spills over and there is ‘change saturation’. When this happens with too much change then there is stress in the impacted stakeholder groups.
It could be that there is intense increase in workload or work complexity. Performance could drop as a result. When frontline staff experience change saturation it could be that they don’t have the capacity to support all the customer enquires leading to longer customer wait times. Customer satisfaction levels could be impacted. Employee satisfaction could also be impacted.
What causes it?
There are 3 causes for change saturation
1. There are too many initiatives going on at the same time. The totality of changes across multiple initiatives leads to the cup being overfilled. This is the reality of corporate life. There aren’t many organizations that are only executing one initiative at any one time. However, it also depends on the level of impact within each initiative and not just the number of initiatives in total. If every initiative has very little impact it could be smaller in total than a very large complex change initiative with very high impact. It will take a lot of peanuts to fill up a jar, versus a few large biscuits.
2. The change initiatives are occurring too fast. We have all been through highly agile initiatives that have short sprints, that pivot quickly and implement the change quickly as well. Often due to discoveries and learnings along the way there are project delays as the project figures out how to get itself on track. However, the original go-live date has not been changed so as to meet senior stakeholder expectations and to manage project cost. What this means is that the impacted business suddenly has much less time to get ready for the change compared to the original timeline. This condensed timeline to go through and embed the changes leads to increased change saturation.
3. Business circumstances have lead to the cup being overfilled. In the case of COVID19, most businesses are going through challenging times. Some are struggling to cope with increased customer volumes, whilst others have lost significant business and can no longer operate. During these times businesses revert to survival mode, or their business continuity plan. The top focus remains to delivery its core services with all other priorities to take a back seat. The very nature of this environment means that a large part of the organisation is under immense pressure to perform. The cup is saturated even before any additional planned initiatives. To read more about Planning for change during COVID19 click here.
How to measure it
Every part of the organization may have a different level of change saturation. This is because different teams play different functional roles by definition. As a result one department may be impacted by the same change differently compared to another.
Therefore it is important to be able to measure the change saturation point for a part of the business if we are aiming to manage it. Change saturation should not just be a point of discussion just based on feelings and perceptions.
How do we measure the change saturation point for one part of the business? Measuring change saturation is not purely a science but more of an art.
Take for example, you have been working closely with the call centre team and have monitored their business performance across different initiatives over the past few months. Last month you noticed that they had reached a point where there were more initiatives being implemented than previously.
On top of this you noticed that some of their performance metrics that may be linked to change saturation were negatively affected. These included increased call waiting time, decreased customer satisfaction, increased staff turnover, and challenges for planners to schedule sufficient resources to cover shifts and undergo allocated initiative activities such as training. Team leaders also provided feedback that there was too much change going on and managing workload was challenging.
You can then calculate this change saturation by assigning a weighting to each change initiative in terms of its change impacts on the business. Then adding the various change impacts for last month will give you a total factor of change saturation. Last month your assessment, together with the call centre business, is that there was definite change saturation. So, if you see this level of change approaching in your planning coming up, then this would be a red signal for you to start to work with your stakeholders on managing this upcoming Change saturation.
Here is an example of measuring change saturation with The Change Compass.
The green line depicts change saturation for this department
It is important to note that some businesses may be calling out that they have change saturation simply to lower the expectation bar. By lowering the bar expected to undergo change volume, it is then easier for them to meet their performance targets. This is why it is important to measure change saturation. Anyone can claim that their cup is overflowing with change without data to support.
How to manage it
There are 2 main ways to manage change saturation. Either you reduce the change saturation level or you increase the change capacity (increasing the size of the cup).
Short term – Reduce change saturation
1. Stop all change initiative roll out during COVID19. If your organization is undergoing significant challenges and it was deemed that the cup is already overflowing in terms of capacity, then work with your business to determine how long of a period would there need to be a hold of any change implementation. This decision may be reviewed on a monthly basis or fortnightly basis to enable careful monitoring of the development COVID19 impact on the organisation.
2. Delay the roll-out of change initiatives to reduce change saturation. Work with your stakeholders to re-prioritise certain initiatives and push out others to better manage the change saturation. During COVID19 your organization may have a significantly reduced level of change tolerance, whether its because everyone is adjusting to working from home or its ‘all hands on deck’ in serving the customer. Work with your stakeholders to understand what initiatives are critical in order to meet any shorter or medium-term business objectives or deemed a priority by senior managers. Then determine the roadmap of implementation taking into account business change capacity.
3. Use a scenario approach to model the period in which COVID19 may be impacting your organisation and therefore model the recommended change implementation sequences. This approach requires that you have a good awareness of the existing planned initiatives across the business. You may need to adopt a logic-based approach to assess the change saturation points if you have not collected historical data. Here is an example of a scenario planning feature from The Change Compass where you can visually model likely scenarios of change roll-out sequences.
Initiatives may be dragged around to model different change scenarios
Long term – Build change capacity and resilience
1. Hire more people. For some parts of the organisation where there the change saturation is on frontline consultants servicing the customer. It may be possible to increase change capacity to some extent by hiring more staff to serve the customer. However, this depends how effective the organization is in quickly hire and onboard frontline consultants to reach ‘time to performance’. For other parts of the organisation where the subject matter experts may be in short demand because of COVID19, leveraging potential business substitutes where available may be an option. This approach may be used in conjunction with other recommendations to reduce change saturation.
2. Improve the change capability of leaders. One of the most important levers in building change capacity and resilience is the effectiveness of leaders. We have all seen how some leaders who are engaging, open, actively make way for the change, and address any obstacles, have led teams to undergo significant change journeys. Other leaders may be undergoing the same change journey but somehow have not had the same success. Instead, they could be plagued with change resistance and stagnation due to the ability of its leader. Change leadership development of leaders is a long term play and not a quick win by any means.
3. Work on change maturity. Organisations that have higher change maturity have more capacity for change and are more resilient to constant changes. Change maturity measures such as change leadership capability, business change readiness and project change implementation maturity. This is also a long term play, requiring significant focus and time investment.
Is your business re-planning existing initiatives or in the middle of reverting to business continuity plans?
What is the role of the change practitioner in the midst of coronavirus? In all the chaos and sudden shifts in organizations around the world in response to the implications of the virus comes significant opportunities. The change practitioner can be well-positioned to provide significant value to guide the organization in planning for change.
Listen to our recorded webinar to gain a broader understanding of…
How to help your business re-plan a portfolio of changes
How to ensure that your project’s timeline fits in with business changes
Helping your project to deploy and maneuver around limited business capacityTweaking your change approach when everyone is working from home
Engaging various stakeholder groups during these times
Plan for change scenarios to anticipate impacts from coronavirus on your organization
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Webinar: Planning for Change During COVID-19
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“When disaster strikes, it tears the curtain away from the festering problems that we have beneath them,”
Obama
Most of the world is now shrouded in a thick cloud that is the coronavirus. It is shaping a lot of our daily lives, from shopping, travelling, visiting friends, work, economy and not the least health. Some businesses are going under whilst others struck with sudden increased demand. Chaos and panic abound. There will certainly be significant levels of economic and therefore industry impacts resulting from the virus. As a result of the sudden shifts in business decisions, what is the role of the change practitioner? With the right tools, data and approach, the change practitioner can be the lynch-pin to enable the organisation to plan effectively through the impacts of the virus.
Let’s outline some of the current landscape and what a lot of businesses are undergoing.
Offshore staffing changes
Many companies are impacted by quarantine decisions. In certain countries such as the Philippines there is a significant presence of offshore operations. To rapidly contain the spread of the virus the Philippines government on Monday has ordered community quarantines covering half of the population leading to business shutdowns. What this means is that many companies have suddenly found themselves in the position of having to rapidly ramp up their onshore operations to deal with customer call volumes.
Even those who have other offshore operations not in the Philippines will be wise to review their business continuity planning in the event that their business partners are impacted.
Work from home
To protect employees from the spread of the virus a significant number of companies have asked all of their employees to work from home where possible. This also leads to a significant shift in the ways of working for these organisations, especially if the core skills of leading and managing workforce virtually are new skill sets. To read more about how to deal with the impacts of the virus go to our article Managing Change During the Cornoavirus.
Restricted travel
Most companies have also implemented restrictions on travel. Some countries have even implemented international travel quarantines, essentially reducing the majority of inflows of visitors.
Resource ramp-up
For those companies who need to ramp up onshore operations, this presents challenges in terms of the speed of resource ramp-up to meet customer demands. Challenges include the availability of technical equipment such as headsets and laptops, as well as finding the talent pool when there is restricted travelling.
Other companies are significantly benefiting from the current situation, for example, digital retailers such as Amazon, Ebay or medical equipment providers and suppliers.
Resource ramp down and cost containment
A lot of retailers are hard hit by the sudden slow-down of retail foot traffic. Airlines have drastically cut flights and travel agencies are hit by the lack of travel bookings. Some have started to lay off staff in anticipation of continuing downturn in customer numbers. Even for those who have not yet laid off staff, there is focus on cost containment amidst cost challenges from declining revenue.
Business continuity plans
Most of the businesses negatively impacted by the virus in a significant way are resorting to their business continuity plan. This means that the chain of command may be different from business-as-usual and decision making may be faster or slower depending on the nature of the decision. This also means that any business plans in place may change. Focus and resources may be shifted leading to significant change for employees.
Business replanning implications
Given significant disturbances to business-as-usual activities, what are the options in terms of existing change initiatives? Most organizations will be in the middle of reviewing or re-planning existing focus areas including change initiatives. The following are some of the likely scenarios.
Prioritise or re-prioritise existing initiatives
Defer existing initiatives as needed
Resource planning: Subject matter expert or business representative availability given any business continuity challenges, project resources (increased or decreased demand)
Scenario planning: Some companies are modelling various scenarios of the impact of the virus on the business in order to make arrangements from a risk and mitigation perspective
The role of the change practitioner
Impacts of changing plans
Given most large organizations are already undergoing various change initiatives to stay competitive, the changes caused by the coronavirus adds to the volume and pace of existing planned set of changes. The project management office, as well as other planning teams will benefit significantly from access to change impact information and data to make balanced decisions on any business replanning activities.
Some of these include:
Initiatives and impacts from a business unit perspective
Geographic differences in planned initiative impacts
Planned customer impacts
Visualisation of any existing black-out periods and other periods of high customer volumes or high employee workload periods (e.g. quarter-ends for Finance and peak customer policy renewal/purchasing periods)
Stakeholder group impact, e.g. customer-facing vs. non-customer facing staff
Hot spot analysis of team capacity impacts on top of existing planned initiatives
Impacts on customer segments
Impacts on partners and suppliers
Example of data visualisation from The Change Compass
Model likely scenarios of moving initiatives
The other area in which the change practitioner may add significant value in the business replanning exercise is in helping to articulate and visualise the impact of moving initiatives. As outlined previously, these could be the result of re-sequencing, re-prioritisation or scenario planning to better manage risk exposure for the organisation.
In modelling the impacts of various scenarios, key call outs include:
Resourcing and capacity challenges
Change volume hotspots
Change velocity against existing business change capacity
Feasibility of allowing embedment of change between initiatives
Advantages or disadvantages of any change release ‘packaging’
Example of data visualisation from The Change Compass
Plan restructuring exercises
Often restructuring exercises are lead by senior managers with the guidance of human resource partners from a people and HR policy perspective. However, the value of the change practitioner is in designing the restructuring as a project, containing scoped phases and planned according to a sequence of logical steps based on sound change principles. After all, restructuring exerts the highest impact on individuals more than other changes.
Restructuring is no different than other change initiatives. There needs to be clear articulation of the reasons or the ‘why’ behind the restructuring, logical articulation of how decisions are made, clear detailing of impacts to the organisations and people overall, and a series of planned steps in which to engage impacted stakeholders to support them through the change.
Adjusting change approaches to fit in with virtual working
With the sudden switch to working from home or virtual working, some employees may not be familiar or comfortable with this way of working. Existing change initiatives may have been designed with face-to-face sessions such as town halls, training sessions etc. With the virtual working environment change practitioners need to readjust the change approach and think through ways of driving effective change virtually.
These include such as:
Effective virtual facilitation
Ability to use technology to aid engagement
More frequent communications than previously planned
Allowing more implementation time due to the challenges of virtual working
Continuous engagement of employees during this change
In order to proactively engage the employee during this time of change, follow core change principles. For example, engage early and continuous to outline the direction of the organisation, and check-in continuously to gage employee sentiments to assess their change journey. Adjust and pivot as needed to provide any additional support. Share any wins such as examples of effective virtual working tips and employee profiles. Share stories of how effective teams have overcome the potential challenges of social isolation and still deliver solid business outcomes.
The world is now watching and experiencing an emerging
coronavirus pandemic. There is
widespread anticipation and fear in many parts of the world, especially those
with higher rates of infection. This poses an interesting scenario of testing
the capability of organisations in managing change during coronavirus. And in fact …. the virus itself is a change
that forces organisations to work and organise itself differently.
The change caused by coronavirus is vast. Travel bookings are cancelled and prohibited. Employees in highly infected areas are told
to work from home. Expatriates are sent
home and many face forced quarantine. In
Australia, Australian evacuees from Wuhan in China (where the virus was first
spread to humans) are placed in Christmas Island detention centres. In many parts of the world, cities have
become ghost towns. Soccer stadiums lay
empty. Some countries have even closed borders
to countries infected with high rates of the virus. In Hong Kong office staff are working from
home, along with their partners. And
often within close proximity of where their children are playing, which can be
challenging.
No doubt about it – the coronavirus is one of the tests of
an organisation’s ability to undergo change.
Some are more prepared than others.
So how does an organisation manage the changes inflicted by
coronavirus?
Change leadership
Most companies follow the usual approaches of sending out
notifications on company policies and any restrictions such as business travel
and working from home policies. However,
in this time of uncertainty leaders need to stand out and help navigate through
the various changes caused by the virus.
This means communicating early and frequently about what is
happening and relaying any useful information as needed such as travel and
technology needs. Leaders need to gage any
employee sentiments and concerns about what is happening around them. Promote discussions as needed to sense-check
any employee concerns and offer support.
Effective change leaders also need to proactive interpret what the changes mean to the team and assess the various impacts of the change. Does it make sense for all team members to work from home? Are there any connectivity issues? Does the team have the skills to work virtually? How are the team’s deliverables going to be impacted by the virus in terms of potential increases or decreases in workload? What other teams might benefit from the support of the team in the current environment?
Rules of engagement
With any significant changes in ways of working and
operating there needs to be clear rules of engagement set for employees.
For example:
To support virtual working what are the ground rules if any in terms of responsiveness and virtual engagement? Does there need to be regular individual checking throughout the meeting to ensure everyone has a chance to speak?
Are there meeting rules that are required to ensure the team remains cohesive and engaged? Does there need to be a separate minute taker, time keeper, etc.?
Do individual expectations need to be reset within a changed workplace? How does everyone show their work output within a virtual environment? And what is the expectation on virtual collaboration?
Are there rules of expectations for those who are sick or have a cold/flu in terms of not being in the workplace?
How is performance evaluated within a virtual working situation?
Agile organisations can easily bend and flex according to
changing industry pressures and customer requirements. If business volumes drop, what are the ways
in which the organisation can scale down as needed to stay afloat? This is more than just about business
continuity plans as it is about the flexibility of the operating model and ways
of working to undergo rapid change.
Using virtual tools for collaboration
When the previous epidemic SARS hit back in 2003 working
virtually was less prevalent. Now,
equipped with a range of technological tools, organizations can easily make
things work much more effectively in a virtual environment.
The trick is not to assume that one magical tool will meet
all of your needs. Instead, use
different tools for different purposes.
Here are some digital tools that may help:
Telecommunications: Google Hangout, Skype, Zoom
Project tracking: Basecamp, Trello, Jira
Online discussion boards: Microsoft Teams, Slack, Yammer
Virtual collaboration: Draw.io, Google Docs
Visual graphics: Canva
Working virtually can also mean that some of the body languages cannot be seen and therefore using visual aids is more critical in a virtual working environment more than in a face-to-face situation. Using visual aids helps to make communication even clearer and easier to follow for the audience.
Draw.io is worth mentioning as it is free and also super
easy to use. There is a range of
different templates that are ready to use.
A team can use this to start brainstorming ideas, work through a logic
tree, fill in a flow-chart, develop a project approach, define a timeline, etc.
Balancing planned initiatives
Most organisations are already balancing multiple changes at
any given time prior to the arrival of coronavirus. What this means to most organisations is that
the impact of coronavirus is one more change that piles on top of existing
change initiatives.
Organisations need to carefully assess the planned set of
changes and ascertain to what extent existing changes may need to be tweaked as
a result of the virus. Do initiatives
need to be delayed or paused? Or will the
implementation approach need to be different as a result of the virtual nature
of work for more targeted employees?
Will communication mediums need to change as a result? What about learning mediums? What are the feasible learning platforms and
how effective are these for targeted employees?
Data visualisation tools for change such as The Change Compass can provide a visual way of understanding the volume and pace of change across the organisation. In particular, assessing the collective impacts of events such as the virus on the employees given other planned changes. This, in turn, can help with business decision making regarding the roll -out of the various changes to maximise business readiness and adoption.
The concept of managing a set of projects or initiatives may be new in the area of change management, but it is commonplace for many large financial services firms in the project management arena. The idea is that across a large number of projects, these are then divided into a few portfolios to better manage the outcomes within each portfolio, versus a scattered, project-by-project approach.
Where did the concept of portfolio management come from? And how do we best apply this within a change management context when multiple changes are going on at any one time?
In finance, a portfolio refers to a combination of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, and cash. The goal of managing a portfolio is to get the best outcome according to risk tolerance, time frame, and investment objectives.
This is not all that different in change management. Change interventions and activities are designed to maximize the return on investment and the embedment of change. Change measurement and reporting focus on leading risk indicators such as change readiness, stakeholder engagement levels, and progress of capability development in terms of training completion rates.
Like finance investments, initiatives also have different priorities and risk exposures. Those that are higher priority and have higher risk exposures need greater focus than those that are lower priority and have less risk exposure. Therefore, clear prioritization is critical to ensure clarity of focus.
The timing of initiatives is also a notable comparison. Some initiatives take a long time to implement and embed, requiring significant continued sustainability to execute. Other initiatives may be much faster to implement, reaping the benefits sooner. From a change management perspective, focusing on the people’s requirements as a result of the speed of implementation is key. A project for the long haul requires continuous updates and engagement, versus something more intense and quick in roll-out.
So what can we learn from financial portfolio management approach?
Focus on Data
Data is king in finance. The goal of the overall portfolio can only be assessed in terms of its financial performance. Imagine trying to understand the performance of a financial portfolio without being able to look at its performance. It is the same for change management. We need to be able to assess the outcome of various initiatives within the portfolio. For example:
What are the impacts across initiatives? How do they impact the same business unit or stakeholder groups? Which business units are at risk due to the change volume planned? How can the risk be managed or mitigated? How is the change embedment tracking? This can be measured in terms of change readiness or in terms of more project-specific measures such as specific behaviors or any efficiencies or savings targeted.
Speed of implementation is also key to measure. Is there a clear sense of the speed at which different projects within the portfolio are operating? What are the short and sharp ones versus the long and arduous projects?
2. Focus on Risk
In a way, managing change can be seen as an investment in risk mitigation as mentioned previously. In overviewing the various projects within the portfolio, be aware of their corresponding risk exposures. Some of how we can value the risk exposure of initiatives related to change include:
Projects that are deemed higher risk because the quantum of change impact is higher and more complex than others Stakeholder support and drivers level Sponsor style and level of involvement in breaking through any obstacles and being visible
Project team health: Is the team cohesive and high-performing or plagued with conflicting personalities and siloed work streams? Level of awareness across impacted employees.
Example of data visualization of a change portfolio from The Change Compass
Example of data visualization of a change portfolio from The Change Compass
3. Focus on Analysis and Reporting
A finance portfolio manager spends his/her time understanding the performance and risks of each investment and the overall portfolio. In the same way, to understand how the overall change portfolio is performing, it is key to review the whole group of initiatives regularly.
Some routines can be designed into business-as-usual activities. For example, as a part of regular business planning sessions, one aspect could be to review the performance of the change portfolio metrics and reports. This would involve various stakeholders in the planning process, thereby focusing their attention on managing change and giving them accountability in this regard.
Often change approaches are built not using a structured and
well-defined series of logics but often using a cookie-cutter, standard change
approach or change strategy template. In
some cases, a ‘gut-feel’ may also be used based on stakeholder wishes or
preferences. These are subject to
stakeholder criticism nor do not achieve the goals of the initiative.
The usual standard change approach for most initiatives often
entail the following.
Stakeholder engagement – setting up forums and sending emails to stakeholders
Training – planning for and executing training delivery to ensure users understand the new system/process
Pre-go live readiness – send reminder emails and build intranet articles to raise awareness
How might we better derive change approach using sound logic and an evidence-backed approach?
One way to construct a logical, structured and well-thought-through change approach is by using a logic tree. A logic tree is a visualization that captures all the component parts of a problem, in order to make it easier to identify a hypothesis that can then be tested using data and analysis. Logic trees are great for making decisions by visually decomposing the various elements and reviewing these holistically.
In the following example, a family uses a logic tree to decide which new town to move to by narrowing almost 30 possible potential locations to just one. In the following diagram (from Bulletproof problem solving, Wiley 2019) you can see how this family started with the problem it is trying to solve, and then broke down the problem into its elements. Then within each branch a weighting is assigned to each branch, in terms of percentages. Then each sub-branch is also assigned weightings.
Example of a logic tree in deciding where to live
Then as a next step data can be collected to determine which town meets the various criteria as defined in the logic tree. By doing this, laying out the various components, and analysing its weightings, you can derive the best location.
This is how McKinsey consultants and other strategy consultants
solve large complex problems. The logic
tree forces you to structure your problem versus being lost in focusing on
certain approaches and neglecting others.
Any problem can be solved using this approach. Even the largest of problems can be broken
down into its smallest components.
Strategy consultants then go through every branch to analyse
them and collect data to prove or disprove each branch one by one. This means, that each branch or hypothesis is
tested and proven or disproven. In this
way, every option is considered and the chance of making a wrong decision is
greatly reduced.
So how might we build a logic tree that helps derive the
change approach for an initiative?
Start by defining the problem or question to be addressed. What is the goal of the initiative? Is it to implement a new system that is fully adopted by its users? Is it to increase cross-selling by sharing customer information across business units?
Think of the broader buckets of each branch. What are the core types of change approaches to address the problem? Think widely and carefully about all the types of buckets possible that would address the problem.
Expand the branches until you have covered all possibilities
Go through and assign a weighting in percentage terms to each branch and then use this to determine the focus and importance you may want to place on certain branches in terms of research and data collection
Go through each branch and systematically to reject any that do not apply based on data. For example, one branch could be to use video as a channel to communicate. However if the data shows that previous usage of video to communicate key messages did not result in raising awareness for this stakeholder group, then reject this option
Here is one partial example of deriving a change approach for a customer complaints project.
One important principle to note when building branches is to ensure that the branches are MECE. MECE stands for mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. Mutually exclusive means that you need to ensure that each branch is unique and does not overlap with any other branch. Collectively exhaustive means that every option or alternative has been considered and nothing is left off. In this way, the branches you have built are bulletproof from a logical structure perspective.
Building a change approach using a structured approach that is data-supported and logic tested will earn significant stride with the most critical of your stakeholders. You can even hold a workshop to work with your stakeholders to define the logic tree and assign weightings so that that the agreed approach is one that is clearly visible and logically sound.
Another important point to keep in mind is how each of the branches of the logic tree change approach will interface into the overall change environment. When planning on the execution of the overall change approach or each branch of the approach, one needs to be clear around the velocity and volume of change and what else is happening in the change landscape. Using data visualisation tools such as The Change Compass is one way to grasp and plan around the change environment.
We surveyed senior change practitioners on their key challenges in using change data to generate insights, and here is what we found …
Change practitioners seem to face quite a lot of challenges across the board in measuring change and demonstrating the value of managing change. For many, there appears to be a level of angst and frustration in not being able to break through and demonstrate insight through change data in a clear and simple way.
Why did we survey this topic? In the new economy, our world is increasingly dominated by technology and data. More than ever data is all around us and our ability to access a range of data is becoming more prevalent. At our fingertips, we can access our phone to see how many steps we have taken today, work email and even workplace chat platforms.
In the business world, the same applies even more so. All facets of how business is being will increasingly be dominated by data. The availability of data. The insight that can be generated by data to make decisions. Data is king and a competitive advantage.
However, in change management, our ability to use data has mainly been restricted to ‘soft’ qualitative data. Of course, all types of data are useful both hard and soft data. However, most of our stakeholders who make decisions on project execution, funding, and prioritisation are focused on hard metrics. We really cannot blame them because hard metrics tell a direct compelling picture, whereas soft, qualitative data requires a level of interpretation and maybe less direct in the implication.
We surveyed a sample of senior change practitioners and received 30+ responses. After sorting through the feedback and responses we grouped them into the following 7 themes. We also directly address each of the challenges posed.
1. Getting buy-in from stakeholders on data input
Some mention the importance of stakeholder support and buy-in in collecting change data. This can be quite challenging if your stakeholder does not see the value of the change data that you are collecting. Since the bulk of change data is derived from each of the impacted businesses and those involved in the initiative, it is critical that the impacted stakeholders are supportive to ensure that data may be collected and response is sufficient.
A key element in ensuring that your stakeholder buy-in to your change data plans is to come up with a ‘sales pitch’ for them personally. Each stakeholder is concerned about their own priorities and challenges. If the change data can be positioned to address one of their pain points, then it will be hard to imagine any stakeholder who will not be interested.
2. How to measure cultural & behavioural change
This is probably the biggest challenge called out across respondents. Most change practitioners work on embedding some form of behaviour change. As a result, being able to measure the behaviour change is critical to demonstrate the value of having a change manager onboard and the value of change tactics.
And since most initiatives are not end-to-end transformations of everything within the organization, there is usually a limited set of behaviours that the initiative aims to change. Working on measuring a small set of behaviours can be challenging because it is not that we are measuring the whole culture of the organisation, which can be measured by culture inventories such as Organization Culture Inventory (OCI).
One way to do this is to start by defining the actual behaviours you are trying to measure in very specific detail, in a way that is behavioural and observable. For example, customer service representatives will be able to resolve customer complaints in the first contact without escalating to their team leader. This can easily be measured using the data from the CRM system that the representative uses.
Then we can break this down into more discrete ‘micro-behaviours’ that will contribute to the overall behavioural outcome. For example, in this example, it could be 1) Establish rapport within the first 3-5 minutes of the conversation and 2) ability to identify a customer complaint 3) Apply structured complaint resolution strategies as per training content 4) Regular supervisor coaching and guidance on complaint resolution performance. These behaviours can be recorded using call listening audits, self-ratings, and/or supervisor ratings.
3. Data requires time, resources and effort to collect.
Change practitioners told us that the amount of work involved in collecting, sorting through, and analysing data is very resource-intensive. Because of this many try and avoid this as they do not have sufficient time or resources to collect data.
A lot of the work required is also very manual. Many mentioned automation as something they are looking forward to. Change data that can be automated to save time and energy to follow up, collect, followed by data analysis is one that everyone looks forward to.
The solution is to leverage various digital tools to better automate the capturing, analysis and visualization of data. For example, Change Tracking is a tool now owned by Accenture that measures change readiness and generated reports. For various task management and collaboration features, most use such as Trello or Jira/Confluence. To measure change impact and change capacity, try The Change Compass.
4. Change capacity
The capacity for the impacted business stakeholder to undergo and embed the change is often the first that comes to mind when it comes to change data and reporting. Most respondents mention manually developing a change heatmap to try and depict the potential change capacity.
However, what the change heatmap actually depicts is the amount of change impact the various initiatives have added up together. This shows how much change impact there is and not the actual capacity that the impacted stakeholder groups have. It could be that certain parts of the organization are agile, mature and have great leaders. Therefore, they are able to have a much greater capacity to undergo larger volumes of change than another part of the organization. To read more about change heatmaps go to The death of the change heat map.
To resolve this it is important to map out the level of change capacity. How does one do this? By using historical data and comparing the level of change against business feedback such as performance indicators, and employee and leader feedback. To automate this process whereby you’re able to visualize the impacts of change against the plotted change capacity levels of each part of the business leverage The Change Compass.
5. Change prioritisation
Respondents call out the fact that often prioritisation of initiatives is made based on typical project manager data points such as cost, timeline, funding and business results. The gap is that change data should also be taken into account. Data such as the velocity of the change, the volume of the change, change capacity, risk of impact on business performance, business readiness, all should be valid data points to consider in making prioritisation decisions.
With the ability to access a range of data points, the organisation is better able to make balanced decisions to maximise benefits and minimise risk. The fact is that with the various challenges listed here in not being able to access a range of change data, decision-makers simply make decisions based on whatever they can get their hands on.
6. Data recency and validity
The usefulness of data is only as good as its recency and validity. Outdated data cannot be used to make decisions. What respondents call out is that it is difficult to ensure that data is constantly updated and valid. Once again, keeping data recent takes significant time and effort. However, various digital tools can again be leveraged to support data recency. At The Change Compass we build in a feature to remind users to update information and data recency is also depicted in reports to reinforce the update of data.
Change governance is critical to be able to support and govern the change data collected and reported. Change governance does not need to be a separate body created just for the purpose of governance change data. It could be a business unit planning meeting or a part of a PMO agenda for example. The purpose of the governance body here is to reinforce the importance of data, review any generated insights, and make decisions on how to apply insights to business decisions.
As a change community, our challenge ahead remains how we adopt and embrace the new world of data and insights. The more we are able to leverage data and not shy away from it. The more we are able to move the discipline forward to that which is seen as directly driving business value and has a critical seat at the table in decision making.
Change Management is full of concepts and frameworks that are outdated and not based on empirical research. It seems that in the business world, we are very comfortable with concepts that sound like they make sense intuitively. If the concept is simple and interesting then we’re in. We don’t require them to have any scientific proof and research is often not required.
Let’s take one example. The Kubler-Ross model is one of the most popular models that outlines the 5 stages of grief a psychiatrist in the book ‘On Death and Dying’. The 5 stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. However, there is a lack of empirical research supporting these 5 stages, and in fact, research suggests other expressions of grief.
Moreover, we’ve somehow applied this model to change management assuming that it is relevant. Whilst dying is a change process, this context cannot be generalised across all other changes such as implementing a new system, a new product, or a new policy. Moreover, there is no research supporting this. We all know that there are lots of people who do not go through these phases during lots of change processes. And certainly, it would be hard to imagine someone going through these phases after buying a new desirable iPhone from a previous older model.
Now, if there are so many popular concepts that are not backed up by research what should we use that is based on proven evidence? Self-determination theory (SDT) by Edward Deci and Richard Bryan should be one that the change management community adopts. It is a broad-based theory about human motivation that focuses on people’s inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. There has been significant research supporting this theory since the 1970s and more research is underway.
What is the self-determination theory about motivation?
The theory states that there are 3 innate human needs that if met will provide motivation, motivation to undertake tasks, to develop, and to undergo change. These 3 elements are:
1) Competence
The experience of mastery and being effective at one’s activity. When people feel that they have the skills required to be successful they are much more likely to take on tasks that will help them achieve their goals
2) Relatedness
The need to feel belonging and connectedness to others.
3) Autonomy
The feeling of choice and control over one’s focus.
Each of the three elements contributes to motivation, by having the right level of skills and confidence, by wanting to be connected to others, and by feeling in control over one’s focus or task.
Some implications of these 3 elements on how we manage change include:
1) Simply conducting training may not address someone’s level of competence. The outcome is that they need to feel confident. This means that there should be a holistic focus on a range of learning interventions to promote and support confidence, such as managerial acknowledgment, catering to individual learning styles, supportive learning environment/community after training sessions, etc.
2) Change activities should not be implemented for individuals in isolation from others. For example, if learning is utilized, the change approach should be designed to provide visibility on how others are undergoing the change process, and where they are sharing their experiences. This is why change champions are so important since effective champions promote and build a supportive community
3) Especially for more significant changes, it is important to design into the change process a sense of autonomy for those impacted. This may seem contradictory to how most companies implement change, i.e. one that is characterized by one common set of activities for all employees. What this important to emphasise according to SDT is to build in employee involvement so that they feel that they are shaping and developing the change versus being negatively impacted by it with no choice whatsoever.
There are 2 types of motivations:
1) Controlled Motivation
• “The carrot and the stick” approach to motivating someone • Seduced into the behaviour • Coerced into the behavior, often with the threat of punishment • Experience of tension and anxiety
Employees who work in a controlled motivation environment usually have negative emotions and their confidence and well-being also suffer. Also, in this environment, employees usually take the shortest path to reach the desired outcome. This may or may not have the best consequences for the company. If the company is trying to stipulate a set of behaviors, these may be avoided or blind-sighted to get to the ultimate ‘measure’.
2) Autonomous motivation:
• Experience of volition and choice about the work that one is doing • If the person enjoys the work and finds it interesting, then the autonomous motivation level increases • If the values of the work are consistent with the values of the individual this also increases motivation • If the person endorses the work, then he or she will also be more motivated to undertake the work
Organisations want more autonomous individuals that are aligned their work. Why?
Because research has found that autonomous workers are:
• More creative • Better problem solvers and be able to think outside of the box • Better performance • More positive emotions • Better psychological and physical wellbeing
So how do we promote a change environment that develops autonomous workers?
• Take the perspectives of the workers and their mindset, and be clear about what moves them, what bugs them, what they get excited or bored about, their core values and interests, etc.
• Providing them with choice and the ability to participate in the change and the decision-making process where possible. This will encourage their buy-in and engagement.
• Support them with exploring different ideas and trying new ways of approaching the work differently. This approach is also very consistent with agile ways of working, encouraging innovation, and a ‘safe to fail’ environment.
• Encouraging them to be self-starters and self-initiated.
• Provide them with a strong and meaningful rationale of the ‘why’ of the purpose of the change so that they understand the reasons behind the change.
Edward Deci goes on further to state “Don’t ask how you can motivate others, ask how you can create the conditions for them to motivate themselves”.
From activity-driven to design-driven
One of the biggest implications of SDT is that next time you design your change intervention you should focus away from key standard change management activities such as communications and training. Instead, focus on creating and designing an environment from which people can motivate themselves.
This is a fundamental shift for a lot of change practitioners and requires a depth of understanding about how the organisation functions and what will move its dial. It is not about implementing 1 or 2 core activities, it is about implementing a range of interventions to shape the environment to support change.
Some practical ways in which you can design an environment to promote change motivation:
1) Workshops for participants to brainstorm and discuss ways in which they can undergo the change journey;
2) Share stories of how other employees have experienced change personally; Use different mediums in which to communicate the change, to appeal to different people preferences (e.g. video, online, face-to-face, posters, etc.);
3) Leverage key influencers to influence the community. Provide a sandbox or other platforms (such as an online platform, showcase room, etc.) from which employees may experience and play with the new environment;
4) Break up the change journey into small steps and milestones and acknowledge each progression;
5) Encourage community discussions about the change;
The challenge in building change environments
When we start to design a holistic environment for change, more often than not we are designing this for a set of changes and not just one initiative. In this complex, continuously changing environment, we need to be able to keep tabs on what the changing environment looks like and how it is evolving amongst the various change initiatives.
As different change environment interventions ramp up, we need to be able to visualise how these interventions and activities are impacting the employees and their environment. This includes being able to visualise the pace, scale, nature, and multiplicity of the changes across various parts of the organisation. Using data visualisation tools such as The Change Compass is valuable for organisations within agile environments.
Using the insights and core concepts from the self-determination theory will serve significant value for the change management community. Not only are its concepts well-researched and proven by research but there is a range of directly applicable implications for the change practitioner. No longer do we have to work with frameworks that are fashionable but lack the rigor of empirical research. The challenge now is how we adopt this within our change approach and ‘change the way we approach to change’.
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Move over older concepts and motivation theories such as Lewin’s, Bridges and Kubler-Ross models that are dated and not based on years of rigorous research….. It’s time we started to focus on well-researched and evidence-backed models that explain people’s behaviours in change. Of course there is no single approach that may provide the best results in the motivation of a group of employees. However, this framework provides valuable insights of the types of motivation for individual employees that lead to employee commitment to organizational change.
Change management practitioners often grapple with the challenge of employee motivation to embrace change. A powerful framework that can guide this process is Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation (versus eternal factors) and the fulfilment of basic hierarchy of needs of people within the work environment. This theory of human motivation takes into account critical tiers of human needs of employee development or professional development that leads to the outcome of employee engagement. By understanding and applying SDT, practitioners can create environments that foster genuine motivation for change.
Understanding Self-Determination Theory
SDT identifies three core psychological needs essential for motivation:
Autonomy: The need to feel in control of one’s actions and decisions as one of the basic needs that leads to employee satisfaction and a positive work environment. When individuals perceive they have a choice, they are more likely to engage willingly in change initiatives.
Competence: This refers to the desire to feel effective and capable at the individual level that leads to employee performance. Providing opportunities for skill development, career development, performance reviews and positive feedback can enhance individuals’ sense of competence, making them more motivated to pursue change.
Relatedness: The need to feel connected and understood by others also leads to job satisfaction. Building supportive relationships and social connections foster a sense of belonging, which can significantly enhance motivation. This is a basic condition of human nature that focuses on intrinsic factors rather than external factors of needs theory that lead to job enrichment.
By addressing these needs, change management practitioners can cultivate an environment where individuals are intrinsically motivated to engage in and sustain change.
Applications in Change Management
Foster Autonomy: Encourage team members to take ownership of their roles in the change process with targeted performance goals. Allow them to set personal goals related to the change initiative and choose how they want to achieve those goals forms a solid foundation. This autonomy can lead to greater commitment and enthusiasm.
Build Competence: Offer training sessions and resources that help individuals develop the skills necessary for the change. Celebrate small wins to reinforce their capabilities, which boosts confidence and motivation.
Enhance Relatedness: Create opportunities for collaboration and open communication among team members. Establishing peer support systems or mentorship programs can help individuals feel connected, fostering a supportive environment conducive to change.
Linking SDT with Agile Teams
In Agile environments, where adaptability and collaboration are crucial, SDT aligns perfectly with team dynamics:
Empowered Teams: Agile practices emphasize self-organizing teams, which inherently supports autonomy. Team members are encouraged to make decisions collectively, enhancing their sense of ownership over the process.
Continuous Feedback: Agile methodologies promote regular feedback loops, which not only help build competence but also reinforce a culture of learning and growth.
Collaboration: Agile teams thrive on collaboration, fulfilling the need for relatedness. Daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and pair programming foster connections among team members, enhancing their commitment to shared goals.
Motivating change is not just about implementing new processes; it’s about understanding what drives people. By leveraging Self-Determination Theory, change management practitioners can create an environment that nurtures autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This approach not only facilitates smoother transitions but also cultivates a culture of intrinsic motivation—essential for sustaining long-term change. Embracing these principles within Agile frameworks further enhances team dynamics, making the journey toward change both effective and empowering.
Click here to download the infographic on ‘Self-Determination Theory’ of motivation. Stay tuned for our up-coming article on this.
