CHAPTER 55
Developing a Change-Ready Organization
Change is inevitable. Technology continues to evolve and change at a more rapid pace than most organizations can adapt. In addition, the events of 2020 challenged how we connect, innovate, and perform. Organizations that do not have the capacity to change will become irrelevant. And that means that organizations must ensure their employees have the capacity to change as they develop others for the future.
IN THIS CHAPTER:
Determine organizational and workforce readiness for future changes
Set strategic direction and communicate change to employees
Build a learning and competency framework that reflects the needs of your workforce
The organizations that thrived in 2020 were already primed for change because it was a well-known expectation managed by the organization through transition and growth. However, despite the importance of managing change, more than 75 percent of organizational change efforts fail (Ewenstein, Smith, and Sologar 2015). Misaligned expectations and underestimation of the complexity of change are two of the top reasons for that failure.
To prepare for change and develop the workforce for the future, organizations need to be clear about their strategic goals. When an organization’s leaders set a clear strategy and communicate it properly, the rest of the organization can develop plans that align with that future. An evolving learning and development model that allows for point-of-need skill building can help provide the necessary skills for times of change. Organizations should review lessons learned from 2020 and note when (and why) they fell short on attaining organizational goals and objectives as well as maintaining culture, values, and engagement.
Is Your Organization Change Ready?
One of the factors that hurt organizations—some to the point of extinction—during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic was a lack of readiness for change. Before it can truly change and evolve for the future, an organization must be ready and resilient. However, many change initiatives are launched without regard for the readiness factor. Before launching a change effort, consider these key readiness questions:
• How do you determine if now is a good time for change?
• Are you changing just to change?
• Do you have a history of successful or failed change efforts?
• Are you forced into change due to circumstances out of your control (hello, pandemic)?
It is important to measure change readiness on a regular basis (at least annually) through a pulse survey or an annual engagement survey. In addition to planting direct questions around change, it is important to review past change efforts as a predictor of future success as well as seeing what employees think about the organization’s ability to handle change. Yes, reviewing the organization’s history can reveal quite a bit, but perhaps not as much as simply asking key individuals their thoughts on the organization’s ability to achieve a successful change initiative. Now that we have all experienced a global crisis and are forming a new normal, take a minute to step back and ask employees how the organization performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find a change readiness predictor on the handbook website at ATDHandbook3.org.
You also need to understand what is going on in your organization. Many innovative ideas fall short because timing or other factors are not considered. This can be avoided by taking stock of the current level of support for the initiative from both clients and employees before embarking on a change effort. The first step should be producing a preliminary plan to ensure you have adequate resources (including budget, people, and tools), otherwise you may discover too late that there isn’t anyone to execute the initiative.
There are two primary ways to form a talent pool that can execute in the future: Grow skills organically or acquire new talent that has the required skills. Conduct a make-versus-buy analysis to determine whether you have the in-house talent to drive the change or if external talent will be required.
Additionally, take time to get to know the organization, its culture, and the personalities the culture fosters. For example, are there competing stressors? Do some organizational personalities deal better with change than others? If you were to evaluate your employees, would you define them as strategic and logical, relationship and team oriented, organized and process driven, or risk takers with action-oriented focus?
Understanding the organization’s dynamics can lead to great readiness insight. Groups that are more action oriented and willing to take risks are typically more comfortable with change, and are not only ready for change but need it to feel engaged at work. Conversely, groups that are very process driven and appreciate their daily routine are typically the least comfortable with change. While this doesn’t mean that a process-driven organization comfortable with the status quo can’t have a successful change effort, it does mean that you have to focus change-related communications to appeal to this population and help them find a new normal in the change. In other words, translate everything you know about your organization into what you think employees need to be ready for change. How can you help them be more successful? What skills do they need? How does the culture support what is needed? How can talent development ensure that everyone is change ready?
Why the “Why” Is Important
Does your organization know where it wants to go in the future or how it wants to evolve? Change is rapid, and technology and consumer behaviors have already disrupted several industries. Understanding systems thinking and the relationship between a change effort and other organizational initiatives requires a definitive why. Many efforts fail because the why behind them is too weak. So, how strong is your why?
Creating a strategic imperative is one of the first steps in change management. Organizations have to continually conduct environmental scans, which monitor internal and external factors to detect opportunities or threats to their current or future plans. Successful leaders keep a watchful eye on their internal and external environments to determine the timing and the fashion of change.
For example, one organization created a think tank of cross-functional employees to conduct environmental scans and drive innovative and necessary change. The group met monthly to discuss potential change initiatives and determine which ideas to share with the board for consideration. In preparing to present its ideas, the group wrote business cases in which noticeably clear why statements were defended. This first message for change generated excitement because it was a well-known process created by organizational peers who were focused on the future and aligned behind strategic objectives. Ideas developed through this approach also had more sticking power—they weren’t weighed down by the typical top-down directive because they came from an invested employee base.
A study by Towers Watson research found that 68 percent of senior managers believed their organization successfully communicated why major organizational decisions were being made. Below the senior management level, the message dwindles. Only 53 percent of middle managers and 40 percent of first-line supervisors said their management did a good job of explaining the reasons behind the major decisions. Leaders can’t wait for the message to be heard—they need to ask the right questions and be proactive in clarifying the why. A communications strategy and plan should accompany every change event.
Employees want to know that their leaders are truly on board with what is going on. However, leaders often provide conflicting responses when asked why a change is occurring. It is difficult to have confidence in a change effort if you can’t be confident that every senior leader is in agreement. So, how can you help leaders be better prepared for the workplace of the future? One way is to ensure consistent messaging starting at the top of the organization by interviewing senior leaders. They need to be ready to share with the rest of the organization how the proposed change links to a strategic goal or desired outcome. Interviewing organizational leaders can help you determine whether conflicting views exist. If they do, you can facilitate a meeting of the minds to get them on the same page. If this action is overlooked, the change effort will be doomed from the start.
Employees want to know their leaders are truly on board with what is going on. If you are the change leader, it is your responsibility to ensure you clearly understand the why behind the change and that you can endorse it. You also need to understand the expectations of the change for the organization, the leaders, and the employees. Encourage senior leaders and the change management team to communicate those expectations as often as necessary.
How we relay the change to each person is critical to their level of acceptance. This is also the largest challenge area for misaligned expectations. Managers play a key role in translating the why from executives to their staff. To increase the chances that an employee will participate in a change experience, managers need to make sure their direct reports can see themselves in the change—not only how they benefit but also their role in the initiative. However, this is not possible if the managers don’t understand the message themselves. Make sure that managers—and thus their reports—know what key responsibilities they’re fulfilling to ensure the future workplace is achieved. What skills will they need to bolster to thrive in their future role?
Communicate Your Message Effectively
Once frontline managers receive the message, we need to make sure they can deliver it in a way that ensures everyone hears it. However, thanks to the complexities of the human brain, this isn’t as easy as it may seem. The frontal lobe—which is responsible for planning, reasoning, problem solving, morality, personality, and social skills—employs four perspectives that influence our thoughts and behaviors:
• Logical thinks first in terms of big picture, strategy, and facts to support decisions.
• Relationship thinks first in terms of people, teams, and relationships.
• Organized thinks first in terms of process, policies, and routines.
• Action thinks first in terms of challenges, risks, and getting to the goal.
Employees who understand these four perspectives make better connections with those around them. Different personalities deal with and accept change differently. Up to 50 percent of employees will naturally be concerned and even stressed over change. Getting in front of the change and communicating strategies in a way that appeals to everyone will help build trust. Statistically, if there are more than 12 people in a group, all four ways of thinking will be represented. Thus, to ensure the changes and communications are meaningful to all, you need to address the change in terms that each perspective can appreciate.
We typically default to our primary thought perspective when communicating. I once supported a client whose primary way of thinking was relationship. She was wonderful at explaining how changes were going to affect the people and teams and feelings around the office. However, her changes were receiving poor feedback and even criticism. After looking closer at the situation, we found that the problem wasn’t the change itself, but the connection her staff was making to it. The majority of her staff was very logical and organized—concerned about the data and the processes, not people’s feelings about change. Once my client changed her messaging to ensure it catered to each perspective, buy-in increased exponentially. People understood the change in her language, and her message became meaningful to the entire organization, not just the 25 percent who responded to the relationship perspective.
Determine Understanding With Powerful Questions
As this chapter has established, change can be accomplished only when participants understand the reasons and are connected to the change. One way to determine a person’s understanding of future strategies and emotional reaction to change is by asking powerful questions. Here are a few examples of powerful questions (they are also available as a handout on the handbook website at ATDHandbook3.org):
• What is the purpose of the current change effort?
• Describe your level of confidence that leadership can successfully implement this change.
• Where do you see your role after the change is complete?
• Do you trust that this change is for the better of the organization? How?
• How has this change affected you personally?
• How has this change affected you professionally?
• What do you think leadership needs to know about this change?
Powerful questions elicit substantive responses, which helps avoid survey fatigue. Work with the communications leader to determine what timing, frequency, mode, and feedback pool will provide maximum effectiveness. You could ask these questions on a monthly basis to a separate set of roles in each department. For example, ask all people managers in the first month of the change initiative, then ask all engineers in month two. Be sure to share your intent and plan for the information you gather with the respondents.
Build a Competency Framework
Be sure that competencies and skills are present for staff in the right capacity at the right time. A competency framework and learning and development model will help you build the core foundation to manage change. The framework needs to demonstrate resiliency and model cultural values while providing skill-building opportunities. This is the key to ensure that employees can execute the strategies.
Planning ahead for future competencies is no easy feat. It requires understanding the organization’s future strategic objectives, as well as the anticipated changes and disruptive technologies in your market space.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are examples of technological disruptions that have shaped the future workplace. Using AI, computers and computer programs are becoming smart enough to imitate human behaviors. Machine learning, which is a subset of AI, uses the science of designing and applying algorithms to learn things from past cases. If there is data on past behaviors around organizational change, then you may be able to predict if it will happen again. AI and machine learning will have powerful places in the workplace of the future, not only the technological implications but also how they measure behaviors around change. Francesco Rulli is an AI and machine learning authority and CEO of Querlo with whom we discussed the role of AI in HR during the pandemic. You can find it listed in the additional resources at the end of this chapter. Consider what future disrupters or enhancements will occur in your industry. Knowing which areas are consistent and core to your business and what will change or sunset is important when considering the workplace of the future.
LEADERSHIP CONSIDERATIONS TO PREPARE A GENERATIONALLY DIVERSE TEAM
By Jill Mellott, COO, Emergent Performance Solutions
Five generations currently coexist in the workforce. Generational differences and age diversity can add immense value to workplace dynamics and overall productivity when planning for the workplace of the future. Successfully manage this diversity by viewing the differences as a blend of backgrounds and experiences, not a shift from one demographic to another. The COVID-19 pandemic caused many teams to become virtual teams for an extended period, and the trend is likely to continue even after the pandemic has ended. In going virtual, relationships either flourished or suffered, depending on the willingness and abilities of team members to leverage available collaborative technology, communicate together, and adapt to working in a remote environment. Let’s look closer at three areas where understanding individual preferences is critical to build a productive workplace for the future.
• Technology. It’s easy to assume that an employee who is newer to the workforce is younger and more technologically savvy than a co-worker who has spent more time in the workforce. This may or may not be true. Make sure you remove any predetermined assumptions and ask team members directly about their technological abilities. If people have different skill levels, encourage your team to work together to ensure everyone is competent in the required technology. Set a baseline technology knowledge level everyone must meet, and then make sure the team is open to teaching or being taught regardless of their tenure or experience. This presents a great opportunity for anyone above the baseline to share their knowledge with others and for anyone who needs improvement to be willing to learn from other team members.
• Communication. We also have preconceived notions about how someone may communicate. For example, according to the Harvard Business Review, “Most of the evidence for generational differences in preferences and values suggests that differences between these groups are quite small. In fact, there is a considerable variety of preferences and values within any of these groups.” Learn about your team and communicate in the way they prefer to communicate, not how you think they prefer.
• Virtual versus in person. Some employees value connecting and engaging remotely, while others may be more comfortable engaging with teams in person. Strong teams adapt in-person practices into the virtual world. For example, to strengthen your virtual team you could schedule virtual, collaborative coffee breaks or lunch & learns. Encourage the use of virtual breakout rooms to enhance cross-functional communication. Schedule and hold team meetings and one-on-ones with employees. This helps ensure you have a pulse on your team engagement and morale.
Most important, ask each member of your team what they prefer—don’t make assumptions. Then adapt to meet as many needs as possible.
When developing a competency model, consider these factors:
• Overall competencies. These are required for everyone in the organization to maintain the desired culture, values, and behaviors. Overall competencies may be enhanced over time but should remain relatively stable in a thriving culture.
• Functional core competencies. These are required to run the organization (such as core skills in human resources, finance, and IT). Core knowledge, skills, and abilities will have a core foundation that is sustained during times of change.
• Focused specialty competencies. These are the competencies that support the points of need. What emerging technologies will be developed to support your customer base? What enterprise tools will be adopted to improve internal efficiencies? What new markets will be added to the corporate portfolio? Merger and acquisition strategies and plans may require additional specialty focus.
Once you’ve developed competency frameworks and models and they have been accepted, it is important to review them every few years to ensure they remain relevant for the future your organization is moving toward. If you evaluate and change competencies too frequently, your organization may find itself in a constant state of change (that is, chaos), but if you wait too long or never review the competencies, the organization will be at risk of becoming irrelevant.
After the competencies and understanding of tasks are cemented, determine what training programs the organization will need to gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) to achieve the competencies. Point-of-need training should be available when employees take on new roles, technologies, processes, or customers. When training is linked to routine times (compliance) or rolled out to all employees it creates learning events that may not have a lasting impact, especially if employees don’t have the opportunity to execute the KSAs on the job. We cannot train people on competencies that won’t be required until five years from now.
Training should happen before the change occurs, especially for emotional intelligence and communication. There are times, however, that training around core competencies and values needs to happen more frequently. If your organization goes through a lot of change or is in a cycle of increased new hires or acquisitions, quarterly training will be beneficial, even if it’s just a shorter, more pointed training program.
Final Thoughts
The COVID-19 pandemic caused many leaders to re-evaluate the future of their organizations. As you think of the desired future state and the workplace and workforce that will form and execute it, take the time to ensure clarity around what, why, how, and who. Ask: Is our organization and workforce ready for change? Why do we need to change for the future? What competencies are needed to reach that future state? Who is communicating changes? How can we build the required skills to prepare our employees for the future?
About the Author
Jennifer Stanford is the CEO of Emergent Performance Solutions and author of the TD at Work “Breaking the Cycle of Failed Change Management.” She is a sought-after trust coach and organizational change expert with 25 years of experience in high-level consulting. She is also a Vistage Worldwide speaker. She leads facilitators, coaches, and consultants whose purpose is to create high-performance environments and relationships that thrive where people live, work, play, and pray. Her company supports a wide range of clients across the Department of Defense, federal agencies, midtier industry, and nonprofits. She lives with her husband and dogs in Hamilton, Virginia. Learn more about her company at emergentps.com.
References
Ewenstein, B., W. Smith, and A. Sologar. 2015. “Changing Change Management.” McKinsey and Company, July 1. mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/changing-change-management#.
King, E., L. Finkelstein, C. Thomas, and A. Corrington. 2019. “Generational Differences at Work Are Small. Thinking They’re Big Affects Our Behavior.” Harvard Business Review, August 1. hbr.org/2019/08/generational-differences-at-work-are-small-thinking-theyre-big-affects-our-behavior.
Personality Resources. Performance Management Applications. personalityresources.com.
Recommended Resources
Brower, T. 2021. “The Future of Work and the New Workplace: How to Make Work Better.” Forbes, February 7. forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2021/02/07/the-future-of-work-and-the-new-workplace-how-to-make-work-better/?sh=cde539e450ab.
Maruti Techlabs. “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Made Simple.” marutitech.com/artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning.
Snook, A. 2019. “How to Effectively Manage Different Generations in the Workplace.” I-sight, July 2. i-sight.com/resources/how-to-effectively-manage-different-generations-in-the-workplace.
Sondey, S. 2020. “Re-Engaging and Re-Energizing Employees Through Effective Communication in the Post-COVID Era: A Conversation With Jennifer Stanford.” Querlo, June 12. blog.querlo.com/artificial-intelligence-interviews/re-engaging-and-re-energizing-employees-through-effective-communication-in-the-post-covid-era-a-conversation-with-jennifer-stanford.