Change management (2 of 3)

Can there be change if you do not communicate clearly what the overarching vision is? I believe it is not going to work! Change is almost always difficult and most people are going to resist it. That means we have to make an extra effort to communicate what we are trying to achieve and how we are ging to get there. So, take the time and make sure to develop a coherent vision to base your Change Management Program on and most importantly communicate, communicate, communicate!

Develop? Mission/Vision/Culture

• It needs to be based on our aspirations and best practices identified earlier
• Needs to be something that is not too complicated so that it can easily be communicated
• It has to be inspirational and also big and bold enough to make people a bit uncomfortable -
• On a qualitative level ? what kind of a culture/DNA/Vibe do we want to have at the heart of our corporate culture?
• Important driver for developing/finding and keeping the right people that drive the initial change management process
• ensure that the company stays on track after we have reached our target ? the behavior needs to become part of the corporate DNA/culture
• HR should be a very important partner in setting up recruiting, training, coaching, remuneration etc. This means that HR has to evolve to become an important business partner that drives change
• Culture is one of the most important and most difficult and time consuming things to create and keep
• This is not a project it rather has to be a continuous process of communication, coaching and pushing back against deviations from the right path
• This needs a passionate sponsor from top management, most likely the CEO

Gap analysis

• between the new mission/vision/culture and our current situation
• Analyze where improvements to the current processes are enough
• Identify where we are way off our target and need real step change to achieve our aspirations
• If one wants/needs to change the culture it has to become a major focus area ? this is real step change and requires significant effort and commitment

Develop strategies to close the gap?

• to get us from the current situation to the desired future state
• Use the gap as basis to develop concrete strategies on how to bridge it
• Set-up projects/teams that work on addressing the shortfalls ? bridging the gap. Make sure to use the same process as before
• Establishing sense of urgency
• Creating a strong project team that is not afraid to shake things up

Communicate the mission/vision/culture

• and how we are going to achieve it
• Over communicate!!! Use every possible means of communicating
• Managers need to incorporate messages in their daily activities ? how does this or that fit with the goal that we have set
• Discuss in performance appraisals how the employees adhere to the expected behavior
• Management needs to give immediate and direct feedback when they see someone adhering to or going against what we are trying to achieve
• Talk about it during every routine meeting
• Non-verbal communication is extremely important, i.e. the behavior of the project team and the top management. Everyone has to walk the talk!
• Devise creative new ways of communicating what the new behaviors should look like
• Create awards that focus on the key attributes of what the new behavior should be like
• Make it different, fun, outrageous
• Make it part of performance reviews
• Make it part of 360 degree feedback
• Create structured training programs that teach employees explicitly and implicitly the new behavior
• Led by top management early on and with continued personal involvement later on
• Create visual takeaways in physical and electronic form that can be used to communicate to a wider audience on a daily basis
• Management uses award ceremonies, pictures from awards, takeaways from training programs, question and answer sessions and most importantly their own behavior to communicate every day what they stand for

You probably think that I went into minute detail BUT I really believe that the points above are making the difference between success and failure. After that you are set up for success and

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