Well, here is experiment #2 on the webinar blog. Time will tell whether I keep these going - so if you are interested be sure to demonstrate that with your participation. Enjoy!
The webinar on September 5th, 2007 was about the role of mangers and supervisors in leading change. Quy Nguyen Huy makes the point perfectly in his article 'In Praise of Middle Managers' in the September 2001 HBR: "Indeed, middle managers may be corner-office executive's most effective allies when it's time to make a major change."
Managers and supervisors play a critical role because they are the eyes, ears, mouths and arms of the organization. They are the closest to front-line employees - the employees who have to change how they do their job for a project to be a success.
When we teach change management, we make the point that change happens one person at a time, and ADKAR is the tool we use to evaluate how an individual is doing in making the change. Many participants in our program immediately comment: That is all well and good, but how am I supposed to keep tabs on the 2500 employees that are impacted by the change?!? The answer is, you as the change management resource are not supposed to - their supervisors do!
Managers and supervisors play a role in three of the organizational change management levers in Prosci's methodology - the role of communicator, resistance manager and coach. It is their unique position and relationships that make them such a critical cog in the change management program.
Finally, it is our (read: the organization and the change management resource) job to adequately prepare managers and supervisors to lead change. We must provide them with 1) the skills and knowledge to fulfill their role and 2) the accurate, timely project information they need to share with their employees. Prosci's one-day manager program is an interactive session to teach managers and supervisors the basics of change and their role in supporting their employees.
What do you think? How have you prepared and charged managers and supervisors to lead change? What challenges have you faced?
Thanks.
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4 comments:
It works. Good webinar - many thanks to others for useful and thought provoking input.
Great webinar! It is good to see validation of the fact that Managers and Supervisors (or Team Leads as we call them in my organization) need to be key in the change. I also enjoyed the discussion. Hope we were of some help to you Paul.
Hi All,
Great webinar today. Thanks to all who took part in the discussion.
I'm cycling through these topics for a second time (most of them) as I also participated in the Spring/Summer 2007 series. While I did derive benefit from the first series, I find myself gaining new insights from the same information. After all, I have changed myself in that time. Just a plug for those who may be trying to decide if once was enough...
I'm looking forward to next week's webinar. In my experience, sponsors/leaders so often delegate their role in change. They claim that they simply don't have the time. Prosci's research will show how misguided and dangerous that approach is!
With that practice, I've seen the "current" change fail. The words spoken and the results of change intended will not align. Credibility of message will be shot. When future changes are undertaken, this history of poorly managed change in the organization immediately places the "new" current change in a highly resistant environment.
Looking forward to learning more about how to address this common sponsorship practice.
I also found yesterday's session very useful. I do however have concerns about the practicality of the coaching sessions for managers, where you are in a very large organisation. There are over 5000 employees over 28 offices in our firm, so it becomes quite a challenge to rollout any change firmwide. Any advice on tools or techniques that work well to gain managers support in a large organisation would be much appreciated.
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