Prosci's Change Management Blog

Webinar - 2007 BP insights - Nov 14 2007

2007-11-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

First off, I am thrilled with the 2007 Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report. This was by far the biggest research undertaking for us - both in terms of participants (426 from 59 countries) and content (40% larger than the 2005 report). I am very proud of the output and think you will find the insights and findings invaluable.
http://www.change-management.com/best-practices-report.htm

On the insights webinar, we started with the foundation of the report (5th study over the last 10 years, questions and content areas) and the profiles of those reporting (both about the participants and the projects they reported on). We then turned to six insights that I thought were particularly interesting:

1. Impact of effective change management - the data shows a direct correlation, so if we are serious about achieving our objectives we better start managing the people side of change

2. Greatest contributors to success - sponsorship comes out as #1 for the fifth time, list is similar to 2005 with the addition of dedicated resources

3. Resource allocation - about 25% of project FTE, some 'rules of thumb' relative to project size, still not enough resources

4. Sponsor role - most do not understand their role, three primary responsibilities that are predictors of the success or failure of the project

5. Change saturation - it is real, it has consequences, it has solutions - but the first step is building an appreciation of what change saturation is and what it means to the performance of the organization

6. Building support for CM - it is the change management specialists who must mobilize the people involved in managing change (senior leaders, project teams, managers, supervisors, etc), examples go a long way

What do you think? Are there any insights that surprised you? Which will you take forward in your organization? What jumped out at you as a change management specialist?

And, if you have the complete report, are there additional insights we did not cover on the webinar that you think are worth discussion?

Thanks!

TimC

Webinar - Defining CM - Nov 13 2007

2007-11-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

This is an important foundation for any change management specialist in an organization. In order to show the value that change management delivers, people must undertand what we mean when we say "change management". On the webinar we use three buckets to provide context for change management - 1) "the change" - what will actually be different once we implement this initiative, 2) project management - the process and tools for managing the technical component of the initiative, and 3) change management - the process and tools for managing the people side of the initiative.

I think our first step is to get people thinking in terms of current state, transition state and future state. Once we begin seeing change in terms of these states, it begins to make sense that there are tools for making the shift happen. I like starting with examples of current and future states that fall outside of the workplace - an old rotary phone compared to a cell phone, a horse and buggy compared to a new car, a bank teller compared to an ATM. Then, once we get them thinking in terms of current and future states, we make the subtle shift to the current states and future states happening around them in the workplace.

Finally, the confusion about change management is the last place to investigate and understand. What do the people in your organization think of when you say the words "change management"? From a catch-all umbrella that encompasses any type of improvement approach to "that is just communication" - there is confusion that you will have to address. The power of context - whether it is the current, transition, future states approach or using the Prosci PCT Tool - is that change management begins to fit into a framework, and its role becomes clearer when I see how change management relates to the other realities I experience.

What do you think? What confusion have you faced? How have you created context for change management? Let the community know!

Thanks.

TimC

Webinar - Elevator speeches

2007-10-22T09:52:00.000-06:00

* If you are looking for the Defining change management, project management and "the change" blog, click here: http://prosci-change-management.blogspot.com/2007/11/webinar-defining-cm-nov-13-2007.html

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The Elevator speeches on change management was a new addition to the fall series. In the webinar, we focus on the 30 second conversations you will have about what change management is and why it is important. While one of the keys to effective elevator speeches is practice, the webinar looks to lay the foundation for the story you will tell.

Aileen Pincus provides a number of keys for crafting an effective elevator speech. A couple to keep in mind for the webinar include:

Know what you're trying to achieve
Know your target
It's not about you
Keep it real
Be specific
Solve a problem

You can see her whole list and read the article at:
http://www.businessweek.com/careers/content/jun2007/ca20070618_134959.htm

The audience is key. As with any communication, you must take into consideration the "receiver's perspective". Before you end up on the elevator, be sure to understand what your cares about and how you can connect change management to their concerns. Be able to answer WIIFM (what's in it for me)! What keeps them up at night? What do they think of when you say the words "change management"? Are there misconceptions you must address? How do you create a desire to engage in change management?

Do you have an elevator speech about change management to share with the community? Use the "Post Comment" link to add your own speech or reflect on the webinar.

Enjoy!

TimC

Webinar - Applying ADKAR

2007-10-15T10:14:00.000-06:00

ADKAR is Prosci's individual change model, developed by our president and founder Jeff Hiatt over 10 years ago. Jeff's engineering background caused him to ask the question "why are we doing that" whenever he was exposed to change management activities. The results is a model that explains how an individual goes through successful change, whether at the job or in a personal setting. ADKAR stands for:

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

There are several things that make ADKAR so powerful. First, it is focused on the individual. Successful organizational change is actually the culmination of all impacted individuals making their own successful personal transition. Are you implementing a new sales approach? It is only as successful as each sales person is at making the change to how they do their day-to-day work. Rolling out an ERP application? It will only succeed if each individual who provides data or extracts data makes a successful change to how they work.

Second, ADKAR is results-oriented. It focuses on what we are trying to achieve, and not just on the steps we take to get there. This gives a powerful new dimension to change management practitioners. It provides context and 'targets' for activities like communication, sponsorship and training. It helps narrow down discussions and problem solving efforts.

When people go through our 3-day certification program, time and time again they cite ADKAR as having the most impact on how they do their jobs, and how they live their lives. I use the phrase "put on your ADKAR glasses" numerous times on virtually every webinar. By describing the output of successful change, ADKAR provides an extraordinary context for the many large and small changes happening everyday at organizations around the world.

Do you have reflections on ADKAR? Or, have you used ADKAR on a project and have a story to share? Post a comment for the webinar community below.

Webinar - PCT Application

2007-10-08T12:27:00.000-06:00

Well, I didn't do a post for the PCT webinar October 3rd that Jeff Hiatt taught, although I did call in and listen to some of it while en route to the Oregon coast. I thought Jeff did an admiral job filling in and made some great points about the PCT Tool and why Prosci, a firm dedicated to change management, would move up a level and address overall project performance.

Jeff's analogy of children playing baseball was fantastic! The PCT Tool helps provide the field and the ground rules upon which change management can be "played". His example here provided great clarity around how the assessments of Leadership/Sponsorship, Project Management and Change Management support project execution.

The session on October 10th is a new and advanced look at the PCT Tool. We will look at several advanced applications, including how we can use the tool:

1. With a group
2. Over time
3. Across the organization

These additional applications of the assessment really make it a powerful addition to any project leader's or change management specialist's toolbox. Of course, we will also put on ADKAR glasses and see how 'doing the PCT assessment' is a change that we can manage effectively, or ineffectively.

Any thoughts on how you would use the assessment with your teams? What other tactics might you use to get people engaged? Who would you use the assessment with on your project (give us roles, not actual names)?

And, if you have used it with a group, please tell us how it went!

Thanks.

TimC

Webinar - Defining CM

2007-09-24T07:11:00.000-06:00

The initial step for introducing change management into an organization is to ensure that people have the same notion of what change management is. Prosci defines change management as a structured approach to managing the people side of change - it is the process, tools and skills for ensuring project success by managing the changes that individual contributors have to make to their jobs.

There is confusion in organizations about what is meant by "change management". Some of the confusion that we mention on the webinar include: in the IT world change management relates to version control; in the project management world change management an sometimes mean the steps we take when we change scope or other project characteristics; sometimes the term change management is used as an umbrella for any and all approaches to creating change; some still see change management as just communication or just training; a fifth to add to the blog that was not in the webinar slides is that change management is seen as a purely reactive tool for addressing resistance once it happens.

The webinar provides a context for helping see where change management fits in, relative to "the change" and to project management. The three bucket framework helps to separate out the actual nuts and bolts of what is changing ("the change"), the technical side of implementing the project (project management), and the people side of the change (change management). Regardless of what "the change" actually is - Six Sigma, new performance review, ERP, 360 evaluations, Balanced Scorecard, etc - it needs a structured approach for both the technical and the people sides of the project.

How would you use this new framework - "the change", project management and change management? Who do you expect to use the framework with?

Enjoy!

Tim Creasey
Prosci
Director of Research and Development

Webinar - ROI of CM

2007-09-14T11:01:00.001-06:00

The ROI of change management is one of the most often asked questions we hear. The model presented in the webinar looks at three realities of any project that define or constrain the value the project will return:

- Speed of adoption
- Ultimate utilization
- Proficiency

To even get to the discussion, people must make the connection between the project they are implementing, the specific changes to how work is done and the people whose day-to-day activities will be different (this happens to be the focus of a recent tutorial available at http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-connecting-cm-business-results.htm).

The connecting of ADKAR to the three factors is very important. This goes back to the idea that the measure the effectiveness of change management, we must first understand the goal of any change management activity. For me, the goal of any change management activity is to help an individual through their own personal transition (also read through ADKAR). This is how we link the specific behavior change required by the project to ADKAR to the three ROI factors and ultimately to the value the project delivers.

One of the biggest requests about the ROI model is for examples. Do you have a project where you can describe speed of adoption, ultimate utilization and proficiency? What did they mean for the project and how did you measure them? This blog might be a good way to share your examples of the ROI model applied to a real-life project you are working on.

Enjoy! And share your thoughts and examples...

TimC

Webinar - Sponsorship

2007-09-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, here goes test #3 of the webinar blog. Enjoy!

Research and experience shows that the role of the sponsor is critical. It brings authority and credibility to the project and sends very strong signals to the rest of the organization. In all five of Prosci's best practices studies in change management (1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007), the number one contributor to success identified by participants was active and visible sponsorship.

On the webinar, we address three lists which I think provide a good summary of the need for and challenges around sponsorship:

3 most important roles of sponsors:
1. Participate actively and visibly throughout the project
2. Build a coalition of sponsorship and manage resistance
3. Communicate directly with employees

5 biggest sponsor mistakes
1. Failed to personally engage in the project
2. Avoided direct communications with employees
3. Abdicated or delegated his or her role
4. Wavered in his or her support
5. Failed to build a coalition of sponsorship with key leaders

5 reasons sponsors struggle with change management
1. They don't understand their role
2. They think they can tell people to just change
3. They live in the future state
4. They have limited sponsorship capacity
5. They haven't connected the people side to what they care about

We only briefly touch on what can be done about sponsorship (as we only have an hour and this could take us days to discuss). For building Awareness and Desire to "be a great sponsor", there really is no substitute for bringing in one of Prosci's instructors - experienced Fortune 500 executives - to facilitate a 4-6 hour executive session (email training@prosci.com for more information or a proposal). You play a key role in coaching your sponsor for Knowledge and Ability - once A&D are present.

What do you think? What are some reasons you have had trouble engaging your sponsors? What tactics have you used to get sponsors on board?

Thanks.

Webinar - Managers and supervisors

2007-09-05T06:49:00.001-06:00

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.

Webinar - Selling CM

2007-08-29T08:31:00.000-06:00

For the first time, I am going to blog about Prosci's change management webinars. Hopefully you will find this valuable and share your own thoughts. Enjoy!

Selling change management is about building support and buy-in for applying change management. Key point - when you ask someone to "do change management", you are asking them to make a change. When project teams begin applying a structured approach to managing the human side of change, they are changing how they work. When senior leaders are asked to effectively sponsor change, they are changing how they behave. When managers and supervisors coach their employees impacted by change, they are making a change.

Selling CM is fundamentally tied to Awareness and Desire in the ADKAR model. Those we are asking to apply change management need to first understand why change management is needed and the value of supporting and participating in change management.

Part of selling CM is about linking success with "people doing things differently". This link can happen on a project, organization or personal level.

On the webinar, we talked about 7 ways to make a compelling case:

Clearly illustrate the impact of poorly managed change in concrete terms
Show how not managing the people side of change creates risks to the organization
Demonstrate the connection between change management and achieving project objectives
Show the impact of change management on realizing return on investment
Appeal to what the person values and cares about, both as an individual and as part of the organization
Customize the message to the organization, its value systems, history and its culture
Use examples people can see and feel from the business world and from the organization’s memory

A targeted value proposition links change management to something specific your audience cares about.

Prosci is here to support your efforts in selling change management into the organization. Email changemanagement@prosci.com with any questions you might have.

What did you think about the webinar? Do you have some examples of cases you have made in your organization? What other approaches have you used to make the compelling case? Do you have value propositions for change management that have worked in the past?

Share your thoughts and visit this blog to see what others have to say!

Thanks.

Data on correlation

2007-06-07T17:31:00.000-06:00

Today, we released a tutorial sharing some data from the 2007 best practices in change management benchmarking study. This was the first glimpse of data from the new study which will be the most definitive to date.
http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-07correlation.htm

What can be taken away from the data?

If you manage the people side of change effectively, you are more likely to meet objectives.
If you manage the people side of change effectivley, you are more likely to stay on schedule.
If you manage the people side of change effectively, you are more likely to say on budget.

What do you do with the data?
This type of information is critical to gaining buy-in and support for change management in your organization. For project teams - whose responsibility it is to meet objectives, finish on time and on budget - this creates a compelling reason for addressing the human side of change. Senior leaders are also a target audience. Finally, this data is a critical way of making change management a critical business tool, not just a "nice to have" on projects.

What do you think?