Planning the Process of Change
Author: Stephan Polshaw
Once the need for change within an organisation is recognised, it is necessary for someone with sufficient experience and influence to be allocated the responsibility of making it happen. Without an agent of change, inertia will support the status quo.
Those shouldering that responsibility should remember the old maxim; ‘few plan to fail, but many fail to plan’. This holds as true in the field of change management as for any other type of project.
Should you find yourself in a position where you need to bring about change, whether that is for yourself or others, the first question that you should ask is ‘Is the change within my control?’
To establish this, you should separate the factors surrounding the change into three key areas; Self, Others and The Process, and examine them.
If the change is within your control and does not rely on or need the approval of others, the responsibility for any lack of progress has to lie with yourself.
An example of this is ‘Pat’ the newly promoted manager, who is conscious of spending a disproportionate amount of time in ‘hands on’ activities to the detriment of effectively managing the team, even though there is sufficient time, ability and support to do so. Quite often Pat will have a host of ‘reasons’ why there is a need to be like this. Yet, all around, colleagues can see the reality. It is Pat’s choice to do it this way.
If the change does involve others, it will fall into one of two distinct categories; “Action Based Change” and “Attitude Based Change”.
Examples of “Action Based Changes” include; a new product on an assembly line or a new computer system. Once a true “Action Based Change” is introduced, the product or system dictates the actions of those involved and cannot operate without compliance.
To illustrate the difference think of the effect of asking people to use a different entrance into their place of work as opposed to bricking up the entrance. In the latter case, people may approach the old way either in ignorance or by habit, but they will not gain entry. Change management activities to support this kind of change should focus on skills training and information transfer because the system is self-policing.
Examples of “Attitude Based Change” include customer service, assuming responsibility, and empowerment. In the case above, the manager, Pat was expected to perform new actions and didn’t. However, the system continued for a time, albeit inefficiently. The implementer of this change (Pat’s promotion) would have done well to focus on mentoring for Pat with an emphasis on Pat’s values and beliefs.
Having established whether the change is within your control and whether or not it is an “Action Based Change”, the most appropriate Process of Change can be planned.
The Process should be drawn out in terms of a plan of action with timescales and milestones. A good way to do this is to list all of the actions and activities that you can think of, that need to take place. These will vary depending on the type of change and the scale and complexity of the change. Put each action or activity on individual Post-it notes. Don’t worry about getting these in chronological order at this stage. If a new activity pops into your head just jot it down on another note.
Once you run out of ideas, the Post-its can be laid out in a logical sequence on a sufficiently large enough surface moving the Post-its round until you are satisfied with the order. You may find through doing this, that additional actions becomes obvious. If so, write these out as before and slot them into the sequence. This method lends itself to group work as different members of the team can recognise the need for an activity in relation to their own strengths and experience.
A time scale can now be added. This may be dictated by a pre-set deadline, or it may be drawn in by examination of the activities and how long these are likely to take. Either way, it is worth doing a ‘Reality Check’ and where appropriate, consulting others for confirmation of assumptions. It is storing up trouble for later if impossible timescales are imposed.
This now forms the basis of a Gantt chart, and can be further developed to identify where parallel activities can take place or where certain actions are dependant upon others being completed.
It is imperative for successful management of your change to have a Completion Criteria, i.e. some meaningful description of the end point. Without this, anyone involved does not know when to stop or what the boundaries of change are. Finally, do consider not only what you want to achieve but also where you definitely don’t want to go, and make this known to all involved. In the bricking up the doorway example, you don’t want staff climbing in through the nearest window! Bringing about change often entails the breaking down of some old rules or patterns of behaviour. This leaves a void, and without clear description and direction people have the uncanny knack of replacing these voids with a Frankenstein like monster assembled from the old parts.
Here’s to fruitful and successful planning of change.