5 minute read.
Every organization who intends to thrive inevitably has to proactively deal with change. If you are growing, maturing, improving, then you would be changing.
Unfortunately, not all well-intentioned change efforts are successful. Time and time again, we are confronted with that dismal 70% failure rate of strategic change initiatives. So, what are the warning signs that you need to pay attention to, to avoid being in that statistic? What can you do to increase your chances of success?
Below are some of the red flags and some tips on what you can do in order to get your change efforts back on track.
First, there is no visible sponsor or owner accountable for the change and leadership is not engaged.
None of your leaders is willing to take a step and be the voice for the change. Nobody wants to take ownership and be your advocate for the change. There’s no one accountable to champion the change, ensure you have the resources you need and help you eliminate barriers at the highest and appropriate levels of the organization.
Lack of sponsorship is the number one reason most change initiatives fail. So if your change effort does not yet have a clear sponsor, time to do something about it, otherwise you would be a salmon swimming upstream.
What you can do:
Assess the current leadership and lines of influence in relation to the change effort.
Develop a political heatmap based on the assessment.
Identify and engage a primary change sponsor/s.
Establish a network of change sponsors.
Develop a sponsor engagement plan with a sponsor roadmap cascade.
Second, those affected by the change cannot articulate what the change is about.
This one is easy to detect. From watercooler conversations to meetings and even more formally, surveys, you could test where people are at. Are people confused about the change? When you ask about it, are people saying different things about the change? Is there significant inconsistency in the awareness and level of understanding about what’s going on?
When there is no common or shared understanding of the change and the intent behind the change, then you are about to get derailed. Until you have a clear and unified message, expect friction at every level.
What you can do:
Conduct “Voice of Stakeholder” surveys and/or interviews to understand the current level of awareness, understanding and support for the change.
Ensure that you have a diverse and inclusive representation as practically as possible when gathering input — you want to hear all sides, from supporters to resistors.
Strategically select participants — or key stakeholders — for the data gathering who could be your potential ambassadors, advocates or early adopters for change.
Develop the change story with input from key stakeholders.
Define the outcomes for change with input from key stakeholders. This helps to create ownership from the get-go.
Third, there is an obvious lack of response to calls for action in supporting or enabling the change.
You’re getting crickets. Nobody — or barely anybody — is turning up to briefings, meetings or training relevant to the change effort. There is low or minimal utilization of new tools, products, services or way of doing things. There is poor compliance with new processes and policies. People are resorting to workarounds. These are just some of the behavioural red flags that your change effort is not getting buy-in, support and adoption.
What you can do:
Conduct a current state assessment such as stakeholder assessment, communication channels inventory and learning management system review.
Establish the current baseline for awareness, desire, knowledge, advocacy, support and adoption of change.
Develop a stakeholder engagement and communication plan.
Fourth, measures or evidence for change are lacking.
What you measure is what you get. How do you know, at the end of the so-called change journey, that you’ve achieved the change that was intended?
While this may seem obvious, there’s no shortage of change efforts already failing from the get-go by forgetting this very simple practice: establish what the desired change looks like in measurable or tangible terms.
Measure the right things right.
You’re setting your change effort up to fail if you did not begin with a clear baseline. (If you already started without one, better get on it!). What are you going to compare your results against as you progress?
Where there is no ownership or governance set for monitoring the change efforts, it is highly unlikely you have accountability as well for ensuring the benefits for the change initiative are being realized.
Measure. Calibrate. Evaluate. Then do it again.
What you can do:
Develop a benefit-realization plan based on the change outcomes that were established.
Establish a methodology for collecting data or evidence to monitor the change outcomes and intended benefits.
Establish a monitoring mechanism, including reporting, review cadence, and change governance integrated with a broader governance framework for implementing integrated change initiatives, e.g. Advisory Councils, PMO, Steering Committees, Task Forces, PMO/Program/Portfolio Management, and so on.
Investigate negative results and determine preventive or corrective action.
Socialize positive results to reinforce the case for change.
Fifth, change is becoming overcomplicated instead of being more efficient and effective.
You started with a great vision that you thought could easily be implemented. No dramas. You hired new talent, perhaps even contractors or consultants to help execute the change. Then you start getting more requests for budget, for staff, for resources. Before long, the whole change effort had become a monstrosity. Scope, resources and costs are increasingly inflated — without abatement in sight — to levels that make you lose sleep at night!
Sounds familiar? How did this happen?
Incompatibility of approach. The approach for change does not fit with the way the organization works best.
It could also be that the methodology across practitioners within the same organization are conflicting instead of complementary. The methodology adopted for managing the project and managing the change may also not be compatible. For instance, the change management (CM) fits a waterfall project management (PM) but then the prevailing PM practice is agile.
You may also begin seeing scope creep in the change management itself. This is evident with inappropriate change structure and governance. Without the foundations of stakeholder assessment, sponsor roadmap and engagement plan, you could end up involving those who shouldn’t be involved and missing out on those who should be. Things can get pretty messy easily!
Siloed application of change instead of seamless mobilization is another indicator of getting overly complicated. This is typically due to lack of change alignment and integration with strategic, operational and program objectives and approach.
It is important to recognize from the get-go what level of change are you dealing with, e.g. is it enterprise-wide, multi-functional, single-function or domain, etc? Is it a portfolio of change efforts that need to be integrated, a program or a project? Is the change more cultural or behavioural in nature, more technical and process-oriented or a combination? You’re setting yourself up to fail if you are about to embark on an enterprise-wide change and portfolio while you only have the capability for single-function and project-level change. On the other hand, you’re overcomplicating what would have been a simple change if you’re applying enterprise-wide and highly structured or formalized approach to what could be single-function quick wins. You may also be overcomplicating it with heavily designed tactics when simple nudges applying behavioural economics would do.
Different types of change require different skills, sophistication, frameworks and mental models. Are you prepared with an adaptive and flexible change capability?
What you can do:
Define and agree on guiding principles to ensure you have an effective and efficient approach to change.
Right-size the change effort by understanding the type of change and applying a fit-for-purpose approach versus cookie-cutter and off the shelf templates.
Simplify the approach without overcomplicating the change by using organizational change levers.
Engage the right change experts who have the maturity to navigate complexity for you and the sophistication to streamline your change effort.
Reposted blog; originally published in HowToCreateChange.com
If you need further coaching or consulting support to mitigate the risks of failure in your change initiatives and increase your chances of success, contact us for an discovery session.
