Change Management - Jacques Fourie

What is Change Management?

Today’s business environment is driving change at an unprecedented level. The pace of technology change, in particular, is accelerating, requiring businesses to oversee transitions to new processes and procedures on a regular basis.

What is done to realize the change?

Change can only happen if there is both the ability and the motivation to change.

How is the change managed?

Step 1. Clarify measurable results.
Step 2. Find vital behaviors.
Step 3. Use six sources of influence.

Measurable results

An effective result is:
1. Specific and measurable. It is quantitative not qualitative.

2. What you really want. It’s the outcome that matters.

3. Time bound. It comes with a completion date.

Checks:

So what? Now what? Right level?
Are the results specific and measurable?
Is it what you really want?
Is it time bound?

Vital Behaviors

Vital behaviors exponentially improve your results. If crucial moments tell you when it’s time to act, vital behaviors tell you exactly what to do and how to do it. Vital behaviors tend to stop self-defeating and escalating behaviors. They often start a reaction that leads to good results. Here are the keys:

Behaviors are actions.
Behaviors are not results or qualities.
Not all behaviors are equal.
Only a few are genuinely vital.
Some is not a number.
Soon is not a time.

3 Strategies for finding high-leverage behaviors:

Strategy 1. Insist on vital behaviors. Tells you exactly what to do and how to do it.
Strategy 2. Identify crucial moments. Tell you when it’s time to act. It’s the point in time where the right behavior, if enacted, leads to the results you want.
Strategy 3. Study positive deviance. Find and study those who succeed where most others fail.

Finding vital behaviors ….

With larger projects: check with local experts, scan the best and most-cited articles and research, search the Internet for most-cited experts, perform a culture assessment.
With smaller projects: determine your crucial moments, find the behaviors in those moments that will affect your results, conduct a mini-experiment (test the vital behaviors.)

Six sources of influence

To exact meaningful influence and change all the sources of change influence (the motivation coupled with the ability for change) must be addressed at a personal, social and structural level.

Recognizing sources of influence …

Source 1 – Personal Motivation – Do they want to engage in the behavior?
Source 2 – Personal Ability – Do they have the knowledge, skills, and strengths to do the right then even when it’s hardest?
Source 3 – Social Motivation – Are other people encouraging the right behavior and discouraging the wrong behavior?
Source 4 – Social Ability – Do others provide the help, information, and resource required at particular times?
Source 5 – Structural Motivation – Are rewards, pay, promotions, performance reviews, perks, or costs encouraging the right behaviors or discouraging the wrong behaviors?
Source 6 – Structural Ability – Are there enough cues to stay on course? Does the environment (tools, facilities, information, reports, proximity to others, policies) enable the right behaviors or discourage the wrong behaviors?

The methodology is based on the book: "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything" By: Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler (McGraw-Hill).

What is the benefit to your business?

Used correctly and effectively, Change Management will improve morale, productivity and quality of work.

It will establish sustainable organisational change and improve cooperation, collaboration and communication.

A carefully planned approach will induce a natural transition to change and reduce stress and anxiety.

It will have and added benefit of encouraging people to stay loyal to the organization and boosting increased employee acceptance of the change.