Change–Just KISS Contributed by Ron Leeman on October 22, 2015 in Organization, Change, & HR I recently contributed to a thread about models and methodologies on LinkedIn and said “Are we making change too complicated? Isn’t it just is a simple matter of getting from A to B and ensuring your people join you on the journey! Just a thought!” In an update I posted regarding my article 70% of Change Management Initiatives Fail – Really? a connection posted “For me Change Management is very often over complicated (another subject for discussion).” Well, this is not a discussion, but an article, because I truly believe that change is as simple as you make it. Do others feel the same? Well, Forbes seem to. In a 2012 article titled How To Lead Change: 3 Simple Steps, they said “As much as some people want to create complexity around the topic of leading change,
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Change–Just KISS
Contributed by Ron Leeman on October 22, 2015 in Organization, Change, & HR
I recently contributed to a thread about models and methodologies on LinkedIn and said “Are
we making change too complicated? Isn’t it just is a simple matter of getting from A to B and
ensuring your people join you on the journey! Just a thought!”
In an update I posted regarding my article 70% of Change Management Initiatives Fail –
Really? a connection posted “For me Change Management is very often over complicated
(another subject for discussion).”
Well, this is not a discussion, but an article, because I truly believe that change is as simple as
you make it.
Do others feel the same?
Well, Forbes seem to. In a 2012 article titled How To Lead Change: 3 Simple Steps, they
said “As much as some people want to create complexity around the topic of leading change,
They will cling to what they know and understand because change brings uncertainty,
fear and anxiety.
Attitudes like “it may not be the greatest place to work, but its home” are real.
Understanding these individual feelings and attitudes are critical to the successful
implementation of change and knowing how to overcome a person’s natural resistance will
enable:
Change to be implemented more effectively.
The negative effects on performance to be minimized.
The chances of success to be optimized.
There is a distribution of attitudes starting at one of the spectrum, the BLOCKER, to the
other end, the CHAMPION.
So, keep it simple and talk to people in a language they understand.
Tell them about the following:
Messages about the Business Today such as:
Business issues and drivers that created the need for change
Competitive issues or changes in the market place
Customer issues
Financial issues
What might happen if the change is not made
Messages about the Change itself such as:
A vision of the organisation after the change has taken place
Scope of the change … process, organisation and/or technology
Objectives for the change … what does success look like
Overall time frame in which to implement the change
Alignment of the change with the business strategy
How big is the change … what is the gap between now and where we want to be
Who is most impacted by the change and who is least impacted
The basics of what is changing … how and when and also what is not changing
Messages about the Impact of the Change such as:
The impact of the change on the day-to-day activities of each stakeholder group
WIIFM – what’s in it for me from an employees perspective
Implications of the change on job security – will I have a job afterwards
Specific behaviours expected from employees including support of the change
Differing ways to provide feedback about the change
Procedures for getting help and assistance during the change
The expectation that change will happen and that it is not a choice.
Keep it direct and personal and convince them that they will be part of the change process.
Once you have told them, keep on communicating.
This is important because if people do not understand what is going on they will resist. You
need to have a clear an unambiguous way of communicating to them. I use a simple 4-stage
approach:
Messages to be communicated.
Stakeholder groups to be communicated to.
Channels to be communicated through.
Frequency of communication.
When communicating please remember:
Recognize that everything you say and do influences your company … you represent
change!
Be visible and listen.
Repeat messages: ideas sink in deeply only if they have been heard many times.
KISS: eliminate jargon.
That’s it really. Tell it the way it is, don’t over-complicate, talk to people in a language that
they understand, keep them on-board and informed, be personable.
Have I convinced you?
About Ron Leeman
Ron Leeman has been involved in “change and process” work for more years than he cares to remember. He has worked extensively across the UK, Europe, and globally--and has an enviable track-record of delivering organisational change and process
initiatives across a wide cross section of industry sectors. In 2012, Ron was bestowed with a “Change Leader of Tomorrow” award by the World HRD Congress “in recognition of my remarkable progress in initiating changes enough for others in the same industry to follow my example”. Ron is firm believer in knowledge transfer and now wants to share his vast knowledge with those who are considering getting into or at various stages of “change” and/or “process” work or those working on specific Projects wanting to gain practical insights into “how to” type situations. You can connect with Ron Leeman on LinkedIn here, where you can view his 85+ Recommendations and in excess of 800 Endorsements from clients and co-workers alike to give you an indication of the quality of service that he has provided and can offer. Ron is also a document author on Flevy. Browse his frameworks on Change Management, Process Analysis, and Program Management here: http://flevy.com/seller/highwayofchange.
Flevy (www.flevy.com) is the marketplace for premium documents. These documents can range from Business Frameworks to Financial Models to PowerPoint Templates. Flevy was founded under the principle that companies waste a lot of time and money recreating the same foundational businessdocuments. Our vision is for Flevy to become a comprehensive knowledge base of business documents. All rganizations, from startups to large enterprises, can use Flevy— whether it's to jumpstart projects, to find reference or comparison materials, or just to learn.