Planning a change? It deserves careful attention!

By Linda Lea Larson

Centuries ago, Machiavelli observed that there is nothing more likely to fail, or more fraught with danger, than to change the order of things. It isn’t surprising that so many projects fail, even when it seems as if the business requirements were met and management is delighted. The cause can usually be traced to a failure to prepare the user community to receive the change. This is especially true when implementing changes in an already stressed customer care organization.

Much has been learned about how people respond to change, what organizations can do to ease the process, and why attention to the change process is vital to success. This article introduces basic concepts that we will explore in more detail in coming months.

Plan for Change
Specific, defined change management activities are required whenever a change will cause major upheaval in behavior patterns. Special care is needed whenever any variation of the following is heard:

• “We’ll think about it.” or “We’ll give it a try.”
• “We already have too much to do.”
• “The tools we have now are just fine.”
• “How would this be any better than the way we do it now?”
These declarations — and a wealth of similar utterances — can indicate:
• Vague support team objectives or organizational goals misaligned with needs
• A short-term, just-keep-the-queues-under-control focus
• The “NIH” (not invented here) syndrome
• Protective or isolationist strategy
• Fear of losing prestige, power, or super-hero status
Or, possibly….
• An approach that truly does not meet their needs and should be abandoned immediately.

While an organization may be adept at articulating change principles, very few organizations successfully translate theory into actionable tasks in the project plan and then execute according to the plan. Change management tasks are not traditional activities in project methodologies, but integrating vision setting, communication events, user training, and the coaching program directly into the project plan will make them visible.

Who’s responsible for success?
Everyone affected by the project has a hand in its success, but there are four specific roles requiring specific attention. Sponsors set the stage and manage consequences; change agents facilitate the change; targets make behavior changes, and advocates provide the spirit and enthusiasm. An individual often plays multiple roles.

Active Sponsors
Every project requires an Executive Sponsor, a single high-ranking individual who can act as the ultimate decision-maker for the project and who can effectively communicate priorities throughout the organization. Executive sponsors typically can’t dedicate themselves to a single project so they delegate tactical duties to Proxy Sponsors to ensure that everyone is directing their actions toward a shared vision. The Executive Sponsor must remain engaged throughout the project, however, to reinforce the vision, align objectives, and manage consequences for Proxy Sponsors. Proxy Sponsors create the working environment necessary for full deployment in a timely and cost-effective manner and they establish the rewards and recognition for their teams. Proxy sponsors are the backbone of the change.

Resourceful Change Agents
Committing resources focused on managing the change is crucial for success. Anyone with responsibility for changing support agent behavior could be called a change agent, but authentic change agents receive their charter directly from project sponsors and they have actual change management tasks delegated to them. Change agents often function as coaches or mentors during the change, and they must be skilled in motivating individuals to accept the change. Good change agents are the instruments through whom sponsors achieve their goals.

Overwhelmed Targets
A target population is any group whose behavior will change due to the project. To increase the likelihood of success, all targets must be aware of the business objectives for the change, they must understand what they’re expected to do, and they must know what the consequences are for not behaving as expected. Unfortunately, most targets are habitually swamped by change.

Targets are therefore resistant, and that resistance can be an insurmountable obstacle. Each individual must have a clear understanding of “what’s in it for me” and how they’re expected to behave. The transition can be eased for targets if sponsors and change agents:

• Engage targets in the project as early as possible
• Follow a well-defined deployment process
• Provide effective training and coaching
• Positively reinforce desired behavior
• Respect the emotional roller coaster that change triggers

There must be an unbroken sponsorship chain for every target audience. The sponsorship chain starts at the Executive Sponsor, cascades through Proxy Sponsors, and ends directly at a target population.
We will address target resistance, the risk it poses, and tactics to overcome resistance in a future article.

Advocates
An advocate is any individual who truly believes in the change but lacks the power to make it happen. Great ideas can die an early death if those who generate them cannot secure executive sponsorship. Don’t be seduced by advocates — they aren’t sponsors. But it is a very good thing when sponsors and change agents are also advocates. Advocates remain the cheerleaders long after project completion, and can be a resource for communication activities.

Change Triggers an Emotional Response
Sponsors and agents can expect every target population — including themselves — to experience a jumble of emotional responses:

• When the change is announced, everyone is excited and eager to begin the project.
• Uncertainty and doubt creep when targets realize that they will personally have to abandon the familiar and adopt new behavior that may or may not play to their desires or strengths.
• Uncertainty and doubt trigger fear, which usually results in anger.
• Uncertainty, doubt, fear, and anger pile up until the targets, overwhelmed, descend into dysfunctional behavior. Dysfunction may be a benign gripe session in the break room — or it might be as extreme as violence in the workplace. But it is an immutable principle of change that every target will go through some period of dysfunction.
• If managers are understanding and supportive — and if the consequences for not changing are visible and enforced — survivors will adapt and begin experimenting with the desired behavior.
• If the organization remains supportive and does not abandon consequence management, targets will accept the change.

A target may chose to opt out at any point in the project. That is, they no longer care and, while they may still be doing their job passably, their enthusiasm is gone and it may never return. Innovation and improvement are thwarted.

Sponsors and change agents must watch for both open rebellion and covert sabotage. Opting out is apparent when an organization experiences unexpected attrition shortly after a change — but that is too late. Opting out can also destroy morale and productivity for support staff who are doing their best to make the leap. Whether or not targets will verbalize their concerns and fears depends on how much trust they have in their sponsors and change agents, the level and nature of communication, and the agility of the organization.

Keys to Successful Change
The following processes, when handled well, facilitate change. When ignored or slighted, they create barriers that will subvert the change and create an environment that encourages dysfunction and opting out. While some level of dysfunction cannot be avoided, you can control its magnitude and its duration, while minimizing target opt-out.

• The organization must have clear goals and objectives for the change. When the vision is clearly communicated and consistent, targets understand why the change is important and they can align their personal goals and behavior to organizational goals. Organizational confusion results if the vision is confusing.
• Targets must be offered ample training and coaching. Change challenges a target’s self-confidence. They are no longer certain about what is expected of them, how they will be measured, or their status in the new structure. Training and coaching help alleviate this distress. If staff re-skilling is overlooked, expect anxiety and anger.
• Incentives must be designed so that they attract targets toward the desired behavior — they cannot be pushed or pulled. Without focused incentive programs, the change will be gradual at best.
• Adequate time, money, people, and technology are compulsory. Resource-starved projects can expect frustration and rebellion.
• Careful planning followed by execution of those plans secures progress. Without execution and diligent tracking, expect mistakes and obstruction.
• Good communication creates a collaborative spirit. Without regular and consistent messages, expect misunderstanding and misdirection.

Resistance may be inevitable but ultimate success can be architected. Remember that the goal is not to sustain the initial level of excitement — you want the change to become plain old standard operating procedure.

About the Author
Linda Lea Larson is a Principal Consultant with Primus Knowledge Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of Art Technology Group, where she manages strategic accounts and facilitates customer deployment of Primus KnowledgeCenter. Her responsibilities include delivery of workshops for coaching, train-the-trainer, and change management. She counsels customer management on organizational change and how to align the support organization to corporate objectives.