MANAGING CHANGE: A Prescription for Success

Change is all around us. It impacts on our lives yearly, monthly, weekly and hourly. And although we have learned to expect and even to accept change, we continue to resist the pressures, demands and uncertainties that change places on us. As Niccolo Machiavelli reminded us; “there is nothing more difficult to arrange, more doubtful of success and more dangerous to carry through than initiating change. The innovator makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old order, and only lukewarm support is forthcoming from those who would prosper under the new.”
Because change is on-going and ever-present, we cannot choose to eliminate it. We can decide to either ignore change and to do nothing, or to take charge of the situation and help to create the future.
When we do nothing, we allow our destinies to be controlled by the forces of change; a formula for success and survival. For the past seven year, the ICI-Pharmaceuticals Group has conducted training programs on “Leading and Managing Change.” The concepts, models and practical tools presented in this article are a result of the collective knowledge, ideas and experiences of hundreds of ICI program participants who have had to analyze, plan, manage and lead change on a daily basis. I thank them for their contributions, compliment them on their achievements, and hope that these same concepts, models and tools enhance your ability to lead ad manage change.

THE CHANGE EQUATION
There needs to be sufficient energy for change to occur. The “Change Equation” is a useful indicator for measuring whether the energy for change of present. It applies to individuals, groups and whole organizations, and helps to answer the questions: “Should I be attempting to change things?” and “What more do I need to do to increase the probability of change occurring?” the equation is:

Figure1

The equation indicates that change (C) is not likely to take place unless there is: (A) Shared dissatisfaction with the status quo; (B) A shared vision, shared aims, and; (D) Knowledge about the “first practical steps/” Further more, it suggests that the energizing effect of these three factors (A+B+D) has to be greater then (Z): the cost of changing in both economic and psychological terms. Let’s examine each of these factors separately:

(A): Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo. Change will not take place unless people are dissatisfied with the present situation. Even when a group has tolerated a poor situation for a long time, they often accept it and there is no active dissatisfaction. When there is insufficient dissatisfaction with the present situation, it is often helpful to create some before pushing for change. An effective method of raising the level of dissatisfaction is to get people to address the question: “what is likely to happen if we do nothing?”

(B): A Shared Vision. Even though people may not like their present situation, they will not move as a group until they agree on where they want to go. Individual visions are not enough; they must be shared. Dissatisfaction without a common vision leads to despondency.

(D): Knowledge about the “First Practical Steps.” The energy of many groups is immobilized by frustration because of not knowing where to start. Dissatisfaction and shared vision is not enough if you can’t think of some initial ways forward. In order to give people the confidence to move, it is often necessary to break the change down into small, manageable steps.

And the energizing effect of these three factors has to be higher than (Z): The Cost of Change. The costs of change are numerous. They include time, personal energy and effort, money, risk of demotivation, uncertainty, turbulence, etc. A key psychological costs is that of the owner of “the way we do it now” having to admit that there might be a more effective way.

By contrasting the elements involved in your own specific change issue against the “Change Equation,“ you can gain insight and ideas about things you could do differently to better manage your change.
A “MAP” OF A PROCESS FOR CHANGE

The second concept is a five-step “road-map” for successfully managing change. As shown in Figure 2, the five steps are; (1) Describing the Present; (2) Defining the Future; (3) Analyzing the Gap; (4) Managing the Transition, and (5) Consolidating the Change.
The successful completion of each step is dependent on the previous steps, so it is important to follow this “map” in order from beginning to end. By carefully analyzing and managing each step, you gain control of all the factors influencing the change, and can therefore “lead” the change to a successful and productive outcome.

FIGURE 2

We have developed several modules and practical tools to be used to complete the work required at each step. While not all the models and tools will apply to every specific change issue, it is important to complete each step before moving on to the next.

(1) DESCRIBING THE PRESENT
Before instituting a change and leading your organization towards its future, it is crucial to develop a clear understanding of the present. By carefully describing and analyzing all the factors which contribute to the present state of affairs, you can gain greater insight regarding those factors which must be modified to accomplish your change goals.

Perhaps the best way of describing the present state of affairs is to conduct an “organizational diagnosis” of your organization, department, or group. Figure 3 shows the Organizational Model we use when conducting an organizational diagnosis to describe the present situation.

As shown in Figure 3, every organization is made up of three distinct components: the Environment, the Purpose, and the Internal Organization. For any organization to operate successfully, each of these three components must “fit” with, the complements of the two.

Environment. The first component is the Environment, the overall situation within which the organization operates. Most organizations operate in very complex environments, and the initial task in any diagnosis is to understand this environment, to identify the key elements within it, and to develop strategies to manage them.

FIGURE 3

Figure 3 lists some of the typical elements which make up the environment of an organization: Markets, Customers, Legislation, Communities, Government, etc. To analyze the environment in which your organization operates, draw a wagon wheel on a blank sheet of paper, with your organization in the center, as shown in Figure 4. Then, on each spoke of the wheel list the different sectors and factors with which your organization interacts. In-general, change should be environment-led, and organizations which do not respond to their environment are unlikely to succeed.

Purpose. The second component of the Organization Model concerns the purpose, aims, and objectives of the organization. Underpinning the aims and objectives is the notion of “mission,” which is a definition of the organization’s reason for existence and its uniqueness. What is the purpose and mission of your organization? Is it clearly communicated to all employees?

FIGURE 4

Internal Organization. The third component of the Organization Model concerns the internal organization; that is, the way in which the organization sets itself up to survive within its Environment and to achieve its defined Purpose. There are four elements to the internal organization: Formal Arrangement, Informal Arrangements (or Culture), People and Tasks and Technology. Figure 3 lists examples of the issues which make up each of these for elements.

An important consideration is that each of these three main components, i.e., environment, purpose, and internal organization, affects the other two and in most organizations there is a high degree of interdependence in addition, within the internal organization, there is also an interdependence between each of the four elements. When change takes place in any one, you must consider changes required in the others in order to maintain an appropriate fit between the four.

In summary, before instituting a change, it is important to describe the present state of affairs of your organization; understanding the environment, knowing the purpose and knowing what the issues are within the internal organization (Formal arrangements, informal arrangements/culture, people, and tasks and technology).

DEFINING THE FUTURE

Successfully describing the present leads to the second step in the “Map” of Process for Change: Defining the people are to give their energy and commitment to a particular change, there must be a picture or vision of the future situation. Although no one can describe the future with absolute certainty, people are unlikely to follow someone who has no idea where they are going.

As explained in the Change Equation, people are also unlikely to change unless they are dissatisfied with the present. By presenting a clear and compelling vision of the future, you can help to increase the dissatisfaction with the present, and to move people in the direction of the desired change.

When thinking about the future, it is important to isolate yourself from the present, at least for a short time, before examining the relationship between the two. This helps to develop a creative vision of the future which is not constrained by the realities of the present.

A further problem is that, even when given a clear vision, people can sometimes be immobilized by not being able to see how such a change can be achieved. Because of this, it is important to break major changes into more manageable steps, and to identify early milestones along the road. The Change Equation calls this “knowledge about the first practical steps.”

To create a vision of the future for your organization, you should use the Organization Model explained above to describe the situation you picture three to five years into the future. Describe how your organization will look in terms of:

The Environment. What is your predictions of the various factors that will be in play at the time? Select the factors that are most important in the achievement of the objectives of your change issue.
The Mission and Key Objectives. Will the Mission have changed? If so, how? What might be some new objectives on the horizon?

Formal Organization Arrangements. Do you foresee any structural or systems changes? If so, what will they be?

Informal Organization /Culture. What key culture changes do you perceive that might affect your situation?

People. What changes in people are likely in terms of numbers, skills and attitudes?

Tasks and Technology. What new tasks and technologies might be relevant to your situation?

Finally, for each of the changes you have identified, try to specify the first milestone along the way. These milestones should be based on a one year time span- although in certain circumstances a shorter or longer period might be appropriate. The end product will be a vision of the future that contains some unknowns, but that has sufficient steps along the way to enable people to commit themselves to the change.

ANALYZING THE GAP

The third step in our “Map” of a Process for Change is Analyzing the Gap or Developing an Agenda for Change. Here you analyze the difference between the “Present” and the “Future” and make decisions about what needs to be done to move towards and achieve the desired future. (SEE FIGURE 2)

Two of the models previously introduced, the Change Equation, and the Organization Model, are helpful to use again at this step to analyze the gap between the present and future. In addition, three other tools that are helpful in “analyzing the gap” are:

1. Force Field Analysis. This model developed by Kurt Lewin (See Figure 5) postulates that there are two types of forces that can be used to achieve change: Driving and Restraining. Driving forces are those things that help move the change forward. Restraining forces are things that percent the change from moving forward.

FIGURE 5

When driving forces and restraining forces are equal, status quo is maintained. And No change is achieved. Therefore, there are two ways to produce change: increase the driving forces, or decrease the restraining forces.

Research has shown that increasing the driving forces is the least helpful of these two methods. This is because whenever a new driving force is added to move the change forward, it is immediately matched with an equal and opposing restraining force, with a net result of no gain.

Decreasing the restraining forces, however, will result in the change moving forward. Therefore, the best method for accomplishing change by using Force Field Analysis is to increase the driving forces WHILE AT THE SAME TIME decreasing the restraining forces.

To make practical use of this tool, on a blank sheet of paper create the same grid as shown in FIGURE 5. On the left side of the grid, list all the driving forces that are helping you accomplish your change goal. On the right side, list all the restraining forces that are preventing you from accomplishing your foal. Finally, examining the two lists, develop a plan for adding new driving forces while at the same time decreasing or eliminating the most significant of your restraining forces.

2. Readiness and Capability to Change. When planning organization change, it is important to identify the people, forces and systems likely to be influential in helping or hindering the desired change. Influential forces might be, for example: the marketing competitor, the people on the forth floor, the supervisor, the local Council.

Having identified the key people or “system,” consider: How ready are they to change in your desired direction? (High, Medium, Low), and; how capable are they of making or helping change? (High, Medium, Low) “Readiness” has to do with willingness, motives, and aims. “Capability” has to do with power, influence, skills, and authority to allocate resources.

Draw up a chart as show in Figure 6, and rate each of your key people and the “systems” according to their readiness and capability to change. Comparing readiness and capability of the various people/systems will help you focus on what needs to be done to create the critical energy for change.

FIGURE 6

3. Commitment and Planning. Experience in organizational change has shown that, in addition to change has shown that, in addition to developing the plan for carrying our the change, you must also determine who the organization must be committed to the change and to carry it our if it is actually to take place.

The steps in developing a Commitment Plan are (1) Identify the individuals whose commitment is needed; (2) Define the “critical mass” needed to ensure the effectiveness of the change, i.e. the minimum number of people who must be committed; (3) Assess the present state of commitment of each individual in the critical mass to the change; (4) Develop a plan for getting the necessary commitment from the critical mass, and; (5) Develop a monitoring system to assess the progress.

Step 3 can be accomplished by rating each individual on a scale of commitment, such as: opposed to the change; willing to let the change happen; willing to change happen; willing to support/help the change; willing to make the change happen (See Figure 7). Next, rating should be made on the same scale to assess where each individual needs to be for successful implementation of your change. (Also shown in Figure 7).

Step 4, there are various techniques that can be used to gain commitment, such as: using power, problem-finding activities, educational activities, changing the reward system, functioning as a good example, and forced-collaboration mechanisms.

A good principle to keep in mind is that if you can find an activity that loosens up the organization or unfreezes frozen attitudes, you may be belong to create those conditions necessary for incurring a change of attitude, an increase in energy, and a greater commitment. The result is that less energy is required than if you were to force the change on those who are resistant to it.

MANAGING THE TRANSITION

The fourth step in our “Map” of the Process for Change is Managing the Transition, or planning and implementing the ideas that resulted from Analyzing the Gap (See Figure 2). Special needs arise in managing the transition state:

Planning. Various plans are needed to manage the period of change itself. The parts of the system that are unaffected by the change still need to be managed, there has to be integration with other changes which may be going on in parallel and their needs to be a plan to keep the current business running as normal.

FIGURE 7

The different elements of an organization are interconnected, and your plan needs to consider all the elements and their connections rather than just focusing on one. Changes targeted at individuals and social relations tend to have few lasting effects when done in isolation. Tasks and structural changes alone, although often enduring, can have unintended and dysfunctional consequences. In effect, multiple “leverage” points need to be used in an integrated and consistent approach.

Communications and Information Systems. Communications are essential to the success of a comprehensive change strategy. An effective communications plan can help to ease people’s anxiety, surface important issues, and provide greater involvement and excitement through two-way feedback channels. By successfully planning and implementing a good communications plan, you can reinforce and model a new leadership style, set new norms and expectations for the “future state” organization, and build valuable rapport with employees involved in the change.

Transition Management Structures. The special demands resulting from the implementation for a change often need special arrangements, especially when the change is complex. You may need to appoint a transition manager, or to allocate special resources such as special task forces, ‘think tanks,’ experimental units and data collection groups. You may also want to increase the involvement of everyone involved in the change. Although participation takes time, involving people in how to achieve a change tends to reduce resistance, build ownership of and commitment to change, and motivates the people to make the change work.

FIGURE 8

Personal Transitions. All people involved in a change pass through a personal transition. There are four psychological phases to a personal transition. The time people stay in a particular phase, and the intensity of each phase, and the intensity of each phase for them will vary:

1. Shock (Stress Phase) The individual senses a threat to their world of work and ways of doing things. They may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of the changes and may experience some panic, anxiety or helplessness. They will show signs of being disoriented and be able to plan or reason or understand the situation.
2. Defensive Retreat (Low Anxiety Phase) At this stage the individuals defend themselves against the threat of change by avoiding the new reality. They cling to the old reality and deny or repress the existence of the new situation. They seem to be indifferent or even euphoric (it won’t really happen), but will show anger if pushed to see the new situation as it really is. They unconsciously gear their thinking and behavior to resist change.
3. Acknowledgement (Renewed Stress Phase) During this phase the new reality starts to dawn as the facts of the situation “impose” themselves on the individuals. Defenses are broken down and they have to give up their old perspective of reality. They may go through a phase of “morning” for the way things were in the old days, and they are likely to experience some depression, displaying apathy or agitation.
4. Adaptation and Change (lowering of Anxiety Phase) Individuals now start to develop new patters for managing the new situation whish involve testing what it means for them to practice. They will also start to mobilize their ability and personal resources around the new situation. As they become more successful at dealing with the change, they show more satisfaction with the new state of affairs, and their anxiety gradually lessens.

These four phases of Personal Transitions are diagrammed in Figure 8. If certain people are not adjusting to the change, it is useful to assess where they are in this cycle. You need to decide whether anything can be done to help these people though a phase more quickly, or alternatively, whether more time is needed so that you can adjust your plan accordingly.

Ideas for helping individuals in transition include: giving them information, giving them time, creating awareness, spending time counseling, creating greater involvement, and involving key power people.

CONSOLIDATING THE CHANGE

The fifth and last step in our “Map” of a Process for Change is Consolidating the Change. Consolidating means strengthening the new situation so that it does not slip back into the old. The need is easier to recognize with physical transitions (e.g. commissioning a new production plant) than with organizational and behavioral transitions, but many of the elements are still the same. Here are a few:

1. Have we met our objectives? Because of the pressure of work during a change, people can lose sight of the goal. Asking the question can help to remind them of where you are going.
2. Ongoing Monitoring and Feedback. Is the situation still improving or is it slipping back? Monitoring and giving feedback allows people to judge for themselves whether their performance in the new situation is effective, and also demonstrates that someone is till interested in the change!
3. Review and Learning Organizations are often very bad at carrying out structured project reviews: What went well? How could we have done it better? What must we remember for next time?
4. Recognition and Reward. Organizations are not always very good at recognizing achievement. Acknowledge success, recognize hard work, perhaps use some symbol of achievement appropriate to the local culture.
5. Preparing for the ‘Energy Slump.’ When people have worked very hard to achieve and objective, success is often followed by a fall-off in energy. Performance can drift downwards, and you may need to find ways of re-energizing the team.
6. Reinforcing the Desired New Behavior. Until the new behavior is automatic, keep reinforcing it and emphasizing its importance.
7. Ensuring Continuity of Leadership. If possible, try to avoid moving the leader of change too soon; projects often fail after implementation because the leader or project champion is taken away before consolidation is complete.
8. Introducing New People. A major change may be accompanied by comprehensive training. After implementation, it is important to arrange processes for introducing and training new people, so that the new behavior is reinforced, rather than diluted.

SUMMARY

In this article, I have attempted to provide you with a prescription for leading and managing change: A formula for success and survival. The two major concepts discussed: the Change Equation and “Map” of a Process for Change have helped hundreds of managers and non-managers to successfully implant and manage change. The models and tools presented with in the framework of these two concepts have also been used successfully in hundreds of change situations.

Now the choice is yours. You can do nothing as a result of reading this article, and can continue to handle change in the manner you have grown accustomed to, or you can consciously implement the concepts, models and tools described here to help you take charge of change and turn your future into a present reality. I wish you success.