Navigating Transitions
Understanding and Leading Others Through Change
2012
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Overview
Leading change means:
 anticipating the impacts of
trends and changes
conditions,
 being flexible in the face of
continual transitions in the
organization’s culture,
 teaching yourself and
others to build skills for
dealing with constant
change.
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Training Objectives
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Examine your individual style and make more
effective use of your personal capacity for
navigating change in order to influence and
lead others through transitions.
Apply the 5 Elements for Effective
Organizational Change and the 5 Steps for
Leading Change to enterprise-level and
business unit-level change initiatives that you
are involved in.
Illustrate key components of being a more
strength based effective leader of change.
Describe the dynamics of individual
transitions and how employees will need to
be coached during the different stages of
change.
Demonstrate coaching and other methods in
order to move people through fear and
resistance.
Identify communication techniques to more
effectively message change to keep others
informed and involved, galvanize support,
and deal with the many challenges of
change.
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Your Experience with Change
The key to your universe is that you can choose.
— Carl Frederick
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Self Reflection: What Have You
Learned About Change?
Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied
by drawbacks and discomforts. —Arnold Bennett
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Change Style Indicator
Source: Change Style Indicator: Discovery Learning, 2000
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Change Style Indicator
Contributions of the 3 Styles During Change
Conservers
Pragmatics
Originators
Get things done on schedule
Willing to address the needs of the
organization as they arise
Understand complex problems
Work well within organizational structure
Get things done in spite of rules, not
because of them
Bring strong design and conceptual skills
Attend to detail and factual information
Negotiate and encourage cooperation and
compromise to get problems solved
Push the organization to understand the
system as a whole
Demonstrate strong follow-through skills
Take a realistic and practical approach
Support and encourage risk-taking behavior
Encourage and adhere to routine
Draw people together around a common
purpose
Provide future-oriented insights and vision
for the organization
Respect rules and authority
Organize ideas into action plans
Serve as catalysts for change
Handle day-to-day operations efficiently
Have short-term and long-term perspective
Initiate new ideas, projects, and activities
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Change Style Indicator
Potential Pitfalls of the 3 Styles During Change
Conservers
Pragmatic
Originators
May be rigid in thought and action
May be indecisive and undirected
May not adjust vision to facts, logic, or
practicalities of situation
May discourage innovation by promoting
existing rules and policies
May not promote ideas and properties
enough
May be lost in theory
May not see beyond the present details to
understand the broader strategic context
May try to please too many people at the
same time
May overextend themselves – moving on to
new projects without completing them
May delay completion of task because of
perfectionism
May appear to be noncommittal
May not adapt well to policies and
procedures
May delay action too long by overly
reflecting on situation
May be easily influenced
May appear unyielding and discourage
others from challenging them
May appear unyielding and set in ways
May negotiate compromise that is too
middle of the road
May ignore the impact of ideas on system
and people
May over focus on small details
May wait for others to decide before taking
action
May overlook relevant details
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The Dynamics of Organizational Transitions
Tell me and I’ll forget
Show me and I’ll remember
Involve me and I’ll understand
Gandhi
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The 5 Elements of Organizational Change
Question: How can you use this model as an effective tool for “leading
from any chair?”
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5 Step Model for Leading Transitions
Assess
− Organizational
culture
− Awareness and
understanding
− Leadership
competency
− Staff readiness
− Operational
capacity
Plan
− Vision
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Structure
Process
Messaging
Communication
Training
Business
transitions
− Metrics
Prepare
− Communication
materials and
channels
− Training
curriculum and
materials
− Readiness
activities
− Metrics reports
Execute
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Communicate
Conduct training
Coach staff
Execute business
transitions
− Measure and
report progress
− Gather feedback
− Make course
corrections
Sustain
− Monitor
implementation
− Provide
encouragement
and support
− Reward and
recognize
− Continue
execution
Discussion: Give an example of a change inside of DHS or OHA that followed the 5 Steps
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Change Leader Roles
Program and District Managers
Line Managers, Supervisors, and Leads
Lead and champion the change
Champion the change – get engaged
Live, lead, and model the behaviors and
attitudes that are supportive of change
Live, lead, and model the behaviors and
attitudes that are supportive of change
Help subordinate managers understand
what’s coming
Prepare and coach staff
Communicate the vision frequently and
proactively
Communicate the vision frequently and
proactively
Be the conduit for determining what
managers and staff need to be successful
Listen to and report on what staff are
saying – be the voice of the field/end user
Anticipate problems and make it safe for
lower level managers to escalate issues
Understand current business process and
LEAN techniques for improving processes
Provide data and input to executives so
they understand the impacts and
implications of decisions
Escalate issues so barriers, challenges,
and concerns can be addressed quickly
Encourage feedback about the changes to Correct misinformation and
determine what is working/not working
misperceptions
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Change Leadership
Discussion: How does being a leader of change and transition fit within this
model? Where does it show up? How does it connect?
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The Dynamics of Individual Transitions
Change is a process
Not an event.
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The Dynamics of Individual Change
People aren’t usually stressed out because there’s too much change.
They are uneasy with the level of ambiguity in their environment.
They are unsure about their competency to do the things they are being asked to do.
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3-Phase States of Change
How things are done
today?
How to move from current
to future?
How things will be done
tomorrow?
Awareness of the need for change – sets the foundation for helping individuals make personal choices
about the change
Desire to participate in and support the change – is created by answering “what’s in it for me?”
Knowledge on how to change – is built by conveying the skills, training, tools, processes, roles and
responsibilities that are required to change.
Ability to implement required skills and behaviors – is achieved by providing the necessary coaching
and time to master new skills and processes.
Reinforcement to sustain the change – is accomplished through recognition and reward for the hard
work and energy the person displays in making the change.
To effectively lead change, you must help people navigate transitions.
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Leading Others Through Transitions
Not everything that is
faced can be changed,
but nothing can be
changed until it is faced.
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What is Coaching?
• The purpose of coaching is to help employees
achieve their potential and to improve business
and professional performance in specific areas.
• Coaching is a collaborative process.
• A person has to be willing to be coached.
• Coaching is NOT:
– Performance feedback connected to ongoing
performance deficiencies
– Discipline or corrective action
– Therapy or advising
– Mentoring
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Coaching Through Change
• The role of change coach involves:
– Supporting employees through the process of
change they experience when projects and
initiatives impact their day-to-day work
– Helping them address the barrier points that are
inhibiting successful change.
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Discussion
• As a group, identify
some motivating
factors you know are
effective.
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Identifying Resistance
• Engage in two-way communications with employees
impacted by the change.
• Interview managers responsible for past changes.
• Gauge reactions, watch body language, and pay attention
to casual remarks
• Set deliverables and monitor their progress.
You can use the Assessment Tools in Appendix C to help
uncover resistance and the reasons for resistance
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Techniques for Dealing with Resistance
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Listen and understand objections
Focus on the “what” not the “how”
Remove barriers
Provide simple, clear choices and
consequences
• Show the benefits in a real and tangible way
• Make a personal appeal
• Convert the strongest dissenters
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The five building blocks of successful
change
Awareness of the need for change
Desire to participate and support the
change
Knowledge on how to change
Ability to implement required skills and
behaviors
Reinforcement to sustain the change
Adapted from Prosci 2008
What to Communicate?
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Purpose of the change
Clear vision for the change
Role that each person will play
Tools and support that will be provided
How people can get more information
Where to go with questions and feedback
Timeline and next steps
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Communication Tips
The two most effective
methods for
communicating change
to employees:
• One-to-one or face-to-face
discussions
• Small group meetings
The most trusted
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Your Action Plan
In the final analysis, change sticks when it becomes the
way we do things around here. — John Kotter
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Final Discussion
• What are your “take
away’s” from this
workshop?
• What will start doing,
do differently, or do
more of as a result of
what you’ve learned
today?
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