Organizational Change Assessing Readiness and Building a Critical Mass

Session Overview
At the end of the session one should become acquainted with
 Key Messages from academia and research on change initiatives  How to assess ones Organizations readiness for change  How to assess ones own personal readiness for spearheading change  How to create a critical mass that will support and sustain the change

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While we are waiting

    

Please take 5 -10 minutes to visualize a situation that you are currently a part of and which involves change Ideally something that you are playing a lead role in The size and scale including the number of people likely to be impacted is immaterial Write down all the salient points about that situation that come to your mind , For eg: your Role , role of other managers /leaders ,pain points facilitators, inhibitors etc

Roles in Change initiatives

Executive Sponsor(s)
 Have power to initiate and legitimize the change for everyone

Change Agents
 Are responsibility to implement actions and form critical links between Change Leaders and Stakeholders. They also have authority.

Stakeholders
 Are directly affected by, must contribute to, will benefit from, and will be accountable for sustaining future state performance

Ambassadors
 Want to achieve change but do not have sufficient authority; use their influence with others to support the initiatives

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Success of Change initiatives

50 % of systemic change efforts fail/succeed * By failure one doesn t mean outright failure but the fact that
 A lot of objectives remain unmet  The inability to sustain change over time

There are innumerable studies , and theories on change. Lets look at 2. An academicians perspective and a Practitioners perspective Beer, M, & Nohria, N. (Eds.) (2000) Breaking the code of change Harvard Business School
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Kotters approach
 Establishing a sense of urgency  Creating a guiding coalition  Developing a vision and strategy  Communicating the change vision  Empowering employees for broad-based action  Generating short term wins  Consolidating gains and producing more change  Anchoring new approaches in the culture

Kotter, J. P. (1996) Leading change : Harvard Business School Press

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Formula for Lasting Change : An international Big 4 Consulting Approach

Readiness for Change*

Shared Vision

Leadership Capacity & Commitment

Employee Involvement & Capacity

Systems & Measures

LASTING CHANGE

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

4 4 4 4 4

4 4 4 4 4

4 4 4 4 4

No Action No direction No role models No ownership No results LASTING CHANGE

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Why do they not succeed

Insufficient buy in at the early stages
 
Understanding and acceptance of the need for change Belief that the change is both desirable and possible

Lack of understanding of the facilitators and inhibitors No clear plan ,definition of roles in the change effort, accountability and sufficient passionate commitment
 
Key change leaders not demonstrating their commitment to the success of the change in an unambiguous manner Inability of leaders to handle the pressure exerted by the gap between reality (current state) and aspiration (desired state)

Lack of critical mass that believes in the change Not rewarding the new behavior & withdrawal of rewards for the old behavior
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How does one assess Organizations readiness for change

Three broad areas
 Management Style and Leadership  Individual Employee Behaviors and characteristics  Communication levels

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Guidelines for self assessment

Note : Refer handout and take 5 minutes to fill it out
 If you are leading the change effort or are part of the leadership team, please be non evaluative /non self critical when filling the inventory  Use the words employees interchangeably when need be

and

your

team

members

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How does one assess Organizations readiness for change

Management Style and Leadership
 Level of Inclusion  Level of tolerance for Risk and mistakes  Common understanding of purpose, values and Behaviors  Role modeling

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How does one assess Organizations readiness for change

Employee Behavior and Characteristics
    

Ability to Multitask Tolerance for ambiguity Willingness to learn Willingness to face and resolve differences Adaptability

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How does one assess Organizations readiness for change

Communication levels
   

Communication Within Groups/Departments Communications across Groups/Departments Top-down Communication Bottom-Up Communication

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How does one assess ones own readiness for spearheading change
Critical Dimensions are ability to
    

Articulate the future Manage Complexity and stability Impact and Influence without Authority Create and manage alliances Self knowledge

Note : Refer handout and take 5 minutes to fill it out

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How does one create a critical mass

All organisations and systems develop a Status quo inertia . These are governed by belief, values , expectations , which have become individual and organization habits These become self fulfilling prophesies In order to help change them one needs to constantly provide Information that will help people adjust to the change Skills needed to adjust to the change Help develop attitudes that will support the change Reward people for adopting the change
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How does one create a critical mass

Readiness to accept

Readiness to reject

10-15 % Immediate acceptors

20-25 % Early adopters

20-25 % Late adopters

20-25 % Skeptics

10-15 % Hard Core resistors

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How does one create a critical mass

 Focus on the immediate adopters (strong) supporters irrespective of their role and bring them together  Their shared interest in bring about the change will spark interest and ideas that will help convert the early adopters  This becomes your core group. Frequent interactions among this group and giving them roles in the change effort will build further momentum  Ensure no confrontation happened with the hardcore resisters. This will make the skeptics at times tilt towards the perceived underdogs  There is no clear number that is indicative of a critical mass
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In summation
 Know what you are up against (even if one has been in the same organization for years)  Facilitate definition of roles  Build coalitions across the organization  and engage the employees  Manage expectations proactively  Create implementation road maps but be flexible and responsive  Identify and Prepare for Pilots, Generate short term wins  Sustain And Build Momentum
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Our Contribution to Human Capital Management

Aventus Knowledge Series : White Papers on
     

Attracting Critical Talent for evolving brands Enabling Leaders successfully transition to a new organization Structure Assessment /Development Centre Key implementation Learning's Understanding Workforce Diagnostics Attributes of Leadership Business and Human Capital Outlook 2011-12

Available at - http://tinyurl.com/avknse

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Thank you

M P Sriram
sriram@aventus.in

Aventus Partners
Kochi Bangalore New Delhi

www.aventus.in
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