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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.
There is a theory in quantum mechanics that it is possible the future influences the present (and possibly the past). I dug into it in a recent Discover Magazine article. And did my best to understand the true meaning for quantum mechanics, but big picture mentality that I have… I got to wondering how that might look for the change process. It could mean there are multiple versions of result and effect. Basically versions of success and failure. Successful establishment of process and an adaptation of culture to speed change if the future has anything to do with it should be the hand that pulls in the present.
Or at least allowed to overstay their welcome. Elephants are big, intimidating and comforting all at once. Elephants you want on your side to protect you. Here is why they are allowed to stay in organizations-
I find that the elephant is often called out by stakeholders. Those elephants in the room are usually obvious to all. What is interesting, and an important consideration in approaching change, is that they are often valued and protected. Because when they are, an avenue for avoiding change is reinforced. The elephant will make the change impossible… and we are not going to touch the elephant (a nice circular, insular and protective argument).
Change Management communication has four phases. Idea communication Awareness Project Communications Gauging success idea communication- This is the time that the original idea goes through the process of matching to corporate strategy and connecting to the experience, perspective and knowledge of stakeholders. Obviously not everything can be communicated. A sensible level of transparency during this stage will be rewarded in later phases with increased participation and productivity. awareness- 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.
Trying to standardize the practice of Change Management. There are plenty of things that are consistent enough from practitioner to practitioner to agree on a set of approaches. But…
Feeling the need to standardize- for the consultants to sell their services and for the client to have clarity on value- is a symptom of a greater problem. Change Management needs to connect directly to strategic direction and to individual work effort. You could say the needed change is away from a project management focus and toward an ongoing corporate structure that can leverage people and then roll out projects.
Change is so loaded with energy you can almost smell the flame. What will you, along with your change practitioner need to do to start, contain, fuel and manage that fire? Start- Change can begin spontaneously from hidden sparks of energy, It can be the result of an external environmental influence, like a lightning bolt in nature. Or it can be a perfectly built campfire ready for a match to begin the controlled burn. Be aware of how change can, will and could start in your organization and take the steps to have resources and process to deal with the different catalysts for energy. It amazes me how difficult it is for clients (and most of the consultants I have observed) to put themselves at the end of an initiative or project and look back toward the present. Doing so is an entirely different perspective-which feeds an entirely different approach. It surprises those clients and consultants to see that this simple change of viewpoint can reveal many of the human obstacles, illustrate gaps in the fabric of the organization and pave the way to a much straighter path to success.
It is much more difficult to place yourself in the blur of the horizon and imagine how things are different. That takes time; time that is not often budgeted into a business day. It also takes skill and competency in that you have to put yourself in your own shoes with a changed perspective and environment. What entity, element or approach do you have in your organization that links the separate parts together? And no you the CEO or senior leader does not count (although you do get credit if you assumed that was your responsibility). HR would like to have that ownership and there is a history in the literature trying to prove and justify their role. But because of the nature of many of the HR functions, governance, performance, compensation etc, it works best as a transactional function. |
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