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Change Management Strategies: Rules for Team Change
By harveyrobbins | December 16, 2002
The process of change can be better understood and made more effective by breaking it down according to some basic principles. There are twelve key rules for reducing team resistance and clearing the way for effective team change.
1. Plan for the change. We plan for change in order to have some measure of influence over it. We want to have a say in where we’re going and what we are going to become.
2. Involve others in the change process - get stakeholder agreement and commitment. People don’t usually resist positive change. It’s the negative change - having to fend off a band of marauding baboons, or having to learn Chinese in a plummeting elevator - that puts us off our feed. To reduce resistance, try moving the change out of the shadows of negativity and into the light of day. Encourage team members to participate as partners in the change, and reward them when they do. Resistance will drop and commitment should increase.
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Because human beings are such creatures of habit, taking them in a new direction or even improving their lot by providing them with “better” processes or enhanced information tends to make them a bit skittish. Surprises build anxiety. It’s often not the content of change that people resist, as much as the process of providing it to them. Use multiple channels of communication to answer and update individuals so they feel less a victim of, and more of an active participant in the change process.
4. Generate positive expectations. People have an interesting internal process that tries to match up what we actually see in our environment with what we expected to see. We pick out only those things that help us meet our expectations, and screen out the rest. If you can create a positive expectation for change, or help folks see what any change will look like after it has taken place, they will feel safer and more secure when the change actually happens.
5. Create influence/support networks. You cannot create a successful change in a vacuum. Whether formal or informal, networks create both checkpoints and anxiety relievers for any change. Change usually causes one’s comfort zone to shrink. But you can minimize shrinkage by expanding the support network and encouraging frequent use of it.
6. Obtain adequate resources. Ask for help obtaining the amount of human and capital resources necessary to create and sustain any positive change. You may not get it, but you’ll have tried. The research is very compelling on this point - many more actual requisitions are granted than non requisitions. Another benefit of asking and being turned down is that you may learn why the request was not granted, which is good information to have for the next request.
7. Generate critical mass to create and maintain momentum. Be aware of the number of people necessary to successfully carry off your change process. Two out of ten won’t cut it. You need a broad base - unanimous within the team, and a healthy number of advocates, champions, and friends on the outside.
8. Follow through and follow up. The best-laid plans of mice and men can go down the tube in a hurry if you are not on top of any change process. The process of follow-through and follow-up should be viewed not as a policing function, but a coaching one.
9. Persist, but be ready to pay the price - mistakes. Change means risk. Risk means mistakes. Fear of punishment for mistakes encourages “CYA” and reduces the willingness to take the risks necessary to make change work.
10. Reinforce early and often. Being creatures of habit, it is impossible for us to completely abandon the “old ways” for the “new way” overnight. Change does move people and organizations toward desired outcomes - but slowly, in measurable steps. The grease that keeps the change process going in a consistent direction is positive reinforcement. A word of acknowledgement, a formal recognition, a pat on the back - all count as reinforcement.
11. Keep processes and techniques simple. The fashion is to say that complex problems require complex solutions. Maybe. But solutions that throw a team into an uproar, that take people too far out of their comfort zones or are too technical, will result in great resistance. Like eating an elephant, complex change must be accomplished one bit at a time.
12. Lead the way. Finally, the importance of leadership to successful change work cannot be overemphasized. Effective leadership is a must for effective organizational change. Leaders provide the vision and the pathway toward positive outcomes.
For information about consulting and training that makes change work for your organization, contact Dr. Harvey Robbins.
Topics: Change Management Plan |