CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Tom Etter and Bin Yu
Change Management





Most change efforts fail
Two thirds fail because of failure to reach intended
results
Efforts at “reengineering” experience a 70%
failure rate
Companies who fail to sustain significant change
end up facing crises
John Kotter – 8 phases of driving successful change
8 Steps to Managing Change
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Establish a Sense of Urgency
Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
Create a Vision
Communicate the Vision
Empower Others to Act on the Vision
Plan for and Create Short-Term Wins
Consolidate Improvements and Produce More
Change
Institutionalize New Approaches
1. Establish a Sense of Urgency

Exhibit Vulnerability in Organization
 Examine
market and competitive realities
 Identify and discuss crises, potential crises, or major
opportunities
1. Establish a Sense of Urgency

Over 50% of organizations fail to create a
sense of urgency
 Underestimate
the difficulty in moving people from
their comfort zone.
 Lack of patience
 Complacency
1. Establish a Sense of Urgency

Sources of Complacency










Too much happy talk from senior management
The absence of a major and visible crisis
Too many visible resources
Low overall performance standards
Organizational structures that focus employees on narrow functional
goals
Internal measurement systems that focus on the wrong performance
indexes
A lack of sufficient performance feedback from external sources
A kill-the-messenger, low-candor, low-confrontation culture
Human nature, with its capacity for denial, especially if already
busy/stressed
?
1. Establish a Sense of Urgency

When is the level of urgency high enough?

When 75% of leadership honestly believes a change is
necessary.
1. Establish a Sense of Urgency

Ways to raise urgency level

Create a crisis
Allowing financial loss
 Exposing managers to weaknesses
 Allowing for error


Eliminate obvious examples of excess

Company jet, country club, etc.
Set performance targets so high they can’t be reached by
conducting business as usual
 Insist on more productivity and broader measures of
performance

2. Form A Powerful Guiding Coalition





Assemble group with enough power to lead change
effort
Encourage the group to work together as a team
Regardless of size, needs at least 3-5 people
Grow team to 20-50 range in large companies
Failures due to:
No history of teamwork at top
 Undervalue importance
 Strong sense of urgency not established
 Selecting wrong leadership

2. Form A Powerful Guiding Coalition

Building the coalition
 Find
the right people
 Strong
position power
 Broad expertise
 High credibility
 Create
trust
 Carefully
planned off-site events
 Lots of talk and joint activities
 Develop
common goal
 Sensible
to the head
 Appealing to the heart
3. Create A Vision




Create vision for directing change effort
Develop strategies for achieving that vision
A vision says something that clarifies direction
The vision pulls the organization toward the change
3. Creating A Vision

Characteristics of an effective vision
 Imaginable
 Desirable
 Feasible
 Focused
 Flexible
 Communicable
3. Vision Example
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is nationally recognized as a
Sustainable Learning Community* -- a land grant, sea grant, and space grant
university that unites the spirit of discovery with the challenge of
sustainability across its Curriculum, Operations, Research and Engagement:
• Curriculum: Educating citizen-professionals to advance sustainability in their
civic and professional lives
• Operations: Embodying first principles and best practices of sustainability
• Research: Serving society with scholarship that responds to the most pressing
issues of sustainability
• Engagement: Collaborating locally to globally with extension and outreach
-- through four initiatives designed around four foundational systems of
sustainability – biodiversity, climate, food, and culture.
3. Create A Vision

Example
University of New
Hampshire
 Sustainable Learning
Community


Land grant, sea grant and
space grant university

Unites the spirit of
discovery with the
challenge of sustainability
across its 4 initiatives....




Curriculum
Operations
Research
Engagement
....designed around 4
foundational systems of
sustainability....




Biodiversity
Climate
Food
Culture
4. Communicate the Vision




Management must decide how much communication of the
vision is needed
Do not limit it to one communication
Use deeds along with words
Will fail unless most members....





Understand
Appreciate
Commit
Try to make happen effort happen
Use every existing communication channel and opportunity
4. Communicate the Vision

Key Elements in Effective Communication of a
Vision:
Simplicity
 Metaphor, analogy and example
 Multiple forms
 Repetition
 Leadership by example
 Explanation of seeming inconsistencies
 Give-and-take

5. Empower Others to Act on Vision
Eliminate obstacles to change
 Change systems or structures that seriously
undermine the mission
 Encourage risk taking and nontraditional ideas,
activities and actions
 Make tough decisions in removing people who
don’t ascribe to the vision

5. Empower Others to Act on Vision

Barriers to Empowerment
 Employees
understand the vision & want to make it a
reality but are boxed in by....
 Formal
structures making it difficult to act
 A lack of needed skills undermines action
 Personnel & information systems make it difficult to act
 Bosses discourage actions aimed at implementing the new
vision
5. Empower Others to Act on Vision

Empowering people to effect change
 Communicate
a sensible vision to employees
 Make structures compatible with the vision
 Provide the training employees needed
 Align information & personnel systems to the vision
 Confront supervisors who undercut needed change
6. Planning for & Creating Short-Term Wins


Create and plan for visible performance
improvements
Recognize and reward employees involved in the
improvements
6. Planning for & Creating Short-Term Wins

The Value of Short-Term Wins
 Provide
evidence that sacrifices are worth it
 Reward change agents with pat on the back
 Help fine-tune vision and strategies
 Undermine cynics and self-serving resisters
 Keep bosses on board
 Build momentum
7. Consolidate Improvements & Sustain
Momentum For Change




Use increased credibility to change systems,
structures and polices that don’t fit the vision.
Hire, promote & develop employees who can
implement the vision.
Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes
and change agents.
Confront even bigger issues and problems.
Change Management >Project Management
Project vs. Change Management
24
Project Management is the
application of knowledge, skills,
tools and techniques to project
activities to meet project
requirements (i.e. to affect
change).
Change Management is the process,
tools and techniques to manage
the people-side of change to
achieve the required business
outcome (i.e. to assure the change
is accepted; not rejected).
Change
Management
Project
Management
Adopted from Prosci Research
Change vs. Project Management
New:
• Processes
• Systems
• Org Structure
• Job Roles
25 Existing:
• Processes
• Systems
• Org Structure
• Job Roles
Project Management
Current State
Transition
Period
Future State
Change Management
Person affected by
existing:
• Processes
• Systems
• Org Structure
• Job Roles
Person successfully
transitions / accepts new:
• Processes
• Systems
• Org Structure
• Job Roles
Continous
Improvement
Change Management Processes/ Tools
26
Provides situational awareness.
Helps us “Get Ready”
•Output examples:
•Change characteristic profile
•Organizational attributes profile
•CM Strategy
•CM Team Structure
•Sponsor assessment; roles
Create Plans, then execute them.
Five “should’s”:
•Communication Plan
•Sponsor Roadmap
•Training Plan
•Coaching Plan
•Resistance Management Plan
Ensure the change is Sustained.
Output examples:
•Reinforcement mechanisms
•Compliance audit reports
•Corrective action plans
•Recognition approaches
•Success celebrations
•After action review
Change Management Competency

Organizations must change faster than was previously required in response to a
rapidly changing world; managing the people-side of change is essential to
successful change.
Level
Organizational
CM competency is evident in all
Continuous process
 CM competency can be measured via Prosci’s Maturity Model:
5
Competency
levels of the org and is part of the
improvement in place
org’s IP and competitive edge
Level
4
Organizational
Standards
Organization-wide standards and
methods are broadly deployed for
managing / leading change
Selection of common
approach, which is
normally used by most
areas of the firm
Level
3
Multiple Projects
Comprehensive approach for CM
applied in multiple projects
Some examples of best
practice are evident
Level
2
Isolated Projects
Some elements of CM are applied
in some individual projects
Many different tactics
used inconsistently
Level 1
Ad hoc or Absent
Little or no CM applied
People-dependent; no
formal practices / plans
Highest probability
and responsiveness
Highest rate of project
failure, productivity
loss
Tips for Successful Change Management
28
Involve staff
from all levels in
the change
Constantly assess
strategies
Be conscious of
ripple effects
Distinguish
between urgent
and important
Show strong,
united
leadership
Consider
emotional and
behavioral issues
Confront the brutal facts but keep the faith
From Barbara Johnson, PhD