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The longer a consultant is external and the more client environments they experience the less each seems different. Or let’s be fair and say the more they are the same. From the change management viewfinder that is a function of “Human Nature” (in quotes so you can decide if it exists). Here are a few examples- Expecting multiple years in a “lower” position before a promotion. Things like this put smiles on the faces of the successful 25 year old entrepreneurs. Have you every done the kid safety drill? You know, the one where you get down on the ground and crawl around looking for potential danger? Of course, kid that I am at heart, I rolled, slid and somersaulted too… The world is entirely different down there. That, for awhile anyway, is the world of a toddler.
Middle of the organization change tends to draw clients and consultants into an exercise in creating "engagement". If somebody likes to run they run. Good luck "engaging" someone who does not. The core problem is that most organizations do not truly have OCM (Organizational Change Management) built into their corporate strategy. So "change engagement" tends to spend time addressing symptoms rather than root causes. "Un-engagement", lack of sponsorship and hit and miss buy-in are the cough, the sneeze and the runny nose.
Put together (to continue the last two posts) the change management process and communications lay out a path to turn idea into work then into result/change/solution. With an understanding of what happens to people, process and connection during that journey the leaders and practitioners can help to connect task to big picture and big picture to competency. Each layer of growth in a firm typically adds a layer of titles; each new title has the potential to create a new silo. Eventually it becomes difficult to move the organization fast enough to grow again. If from the first stage of growth someone is responsible for horizontal connections (collaboration, communication, training across functions, diagonal mentoring etc) your culture will build around working together on the companies business objectives. Trends I am seeing that will influence change management’s future-
In a previous “life” I was a rafting guide. I used to marvel at the patterns that took place in the flow of the river. There was always a path where the water moved the swiftest and the smoothest. When it encountered the resistance of rock or sand bar it would move over the top if powerful enough or deflect into the path of less resistance. Guides usually choose to follow that least resistant path. Most of the time I was no different. Occasionally though, on contemplative or mischievous days, I would seek the eddies, the slower running channels and choose a bounce or two here and there off the obstacles. You do have one?
Placing an external change management resource high in an organization is incredibly powerful. Leveraging that power in a way that is honest and effective is an approach few C-level executives choose to use. I will make the assumption that this is a tool at the bottom of the box that you did not know you had. This is what has happened when I have lived this role for a client- The employees are shocked and surprised like a kid who gets two pieces of candy at the store instead of one. The ideal way to lay out a change management process is to come to a description of the end state and work back toward the present. This gives a view of what will have changed to get there. Knowing what will change can help determine the resources, the new behaviors and any new structure to the organization. That will then guide the division of phases leading to the project streams within those phases and finally the task associated with those streams.
But that is typically not what happens.
I am not thrilled, as you know if you have read previous posts, with using the word resistance. In this case let’s say that is what those forcing change see. What they need to see is a harmless frog probably waiting to don the crown. For change management no one is lucky enough to be kissed by the princess (or prince as the case may be). They may be lucky enough with an empathetic and smart change agent to be acknowledged. That is when the frog wears the crown. |
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