Choosing Change Initiatives Wisely

Choosing Change Initiatives Wisely

What it Means

Change, for the sake of change, taxes an organization’s resources for little gain. Bringing into focus the opportunities or issues that will yield the most benefit can be the difference between survival and success.

Why it Matters

·         A history of failed changes disenfranchises your organization’s willingness to engage the future.

·         Time and resources are wasted when working on low-value initiatives.

·         The greatest opportunity cost of low-value efforts lies in not addressing what would have made substantial impact.

·         Clearly articulating and agree upon what is the opportunity or issue is, keeps the team working toward the same goal.

“Nobody likes a change agent who the flavor of the month.” Jack Welch

We can work through selecting the right people to help develop and deliver on a change project or initiative. Once the team is in place, we’ll turn to the essentials for every project—the problem to be solved and the size of the project. The activities that follow will focus on helping you to:

·         Identify the best people to work with as team members and Champions

·         Develop a problem statement that both leaders and associates can rally around

·         Frame the level of effort and the size of the project and initiative.

Your Starting Point

Reflect on your organization’s challenges and opportunities. There are typically lots of different issues interwoven together in any change initiative, so take time to think about what you’re really trying to address. Your answers may change as more information become available, but that’s expected This is a starting point to assess where you are right now. To begin, review the following questions and write down your answers that follow.

1.       What is the problem or opportunity that I’m trying to address with the change? What is driving the initiation of the change?

2.       What concrete evidence exists that a change is needed and how it is measured?

3.       What, if anything, has already been written or reported about the problem or opportunity to be addressed, where can you find it?

4.       What should definitely be “out of scope” (not be a part of) for this change project?

5.       What functions (i.e., Operations, and Sales) are needed most to design and implement the change? Are there people within these groups who already stand out as advocates for this change?

6.       If you could choose the members of your team, who would they be?

Quick Wins for Managing Change

The following four simple actions can help you prepare for your kick-off meeting with the change team. Consider this the pre-work for getting your project launched.

1.       List all the reasons why you are involved in the change and why you believe that this change will make a difference.

2.       Use your network and ask your colleagues who they feel are the most respected managers and associates within each functional area. Look for repeated opinions.

3.       Set short individual meetings with the leaders of the functional areas critical for the team:

·         Explain your change initiative’s problem statement, as you know it today.

·         Ask for a respected and influential resource who has the functional and organizational expertise, will act as a liaison, and assist with the decisions of the team.

·         If the person offered is not the one that you or your colleagues identified, ask for a follow-up meeting to discuss alternatives.

4.       As you begin to reach out and develop your schedule, identify the dates to avoid for optimal attendance of the kick-off of the project, such as off-site meetings, holidays, and board meetings. Consider special dates for the functional areas you identified in the Starting Point, such as the quarter close for Finance.

Building the Right Team

Getting the right team in place creates a collective intelligence and a capability greater than any one person can bring. Each team member should have at least one of the following four characteristics to create an effective change team:

·         Technical skills to get the job done

·         Will eventually own (or live with) the results of the changes

·         Has influence and is well respected

·         Can see beyond the day-to-day noise

If the perfect candidate for the team isn’t available or isn’t willing to participate, find out why. If the barrier can be eliminated or managed, your team will be much stronger. A little extra work up front to get this person engaged can pay huge dividends along the way.

Size of the Team

It’s preferable to keep the core team to a manageable size of twelve or less, but in evaluating this decision you must recognize that there are pros and cons. The benefit of a larger team is simply having more resources at your disposal. The ris is that the size can become so unwieldy that it can be challenging to get a decision made when consensus is needed. To keep you team size form growing too large while still giving you access to the expertise you need, consider trying some of the following:

·         Create a steering committee for strategic discussions

·         Form sub-committees that specialize and address a particular topic, such as communications

·         Invite subject matter experts in on an as-needed basis, when you only need participation

Who Are Your Champions?

Champions are leaders at the right levels that can make decisions to provide resources such as team members and funding, but they also have another role to play throughout the entire change process—they break down barriers. To find your champions, start by identifying the leaders closest to the initiative.

Leaders tied to a change initiative can be grouped into three categories depending hon how much effort you will need form them.

1.       Drivers are engaged and involved; they can be your most passionate Champions.

2.       Enablers are well informed about the project, but they aren’t at the heart of things. They can often be good spokesperson within the organization.

3.       Supporters are passive participants; ensure these leaders aren’t going to stand in the way.

Reality Check

For most of us, time is at a premium and there is usually very little “extra” time to spend on the details of a team’s efforts (especially for Supporters and Enablers). Preparing an elevator speech is a smart way to articulate what your change initiative is and why it’s worth their attention. The length should be about 30 seconds and the content should include:

·         What the challenge is

·         What the team proposes to do

·         What will be accomplished with the change

·         Bonus: What you need from the leader you’re speaking with

Work on this speech and get it locked down. You want to be able to grab people’s attention and get them excited right away.

Crafting a Concise Problem/Opportunity Statement

Because of the many perspectives found in a cross-functional group, your team members will see different problems and have different ideas on ways to address them. All of these perspectives should be noted and taken into consideration before finalizing the opportunity to be addressed or problem to be solved. But before any communication goes beyond the team, every member needs to be able to live with the Problem/Opportunity Statement that defines the change initiative.

Getting at the root cause of an issue can take some time, but you can learn much by asking “Why” about a problem five times. You can also accelerate your efforts by prioritizing the ideas that went into the opportunity or problem statement. Target quick wins and high value activities.

Like the elevator speech, the keys to a good Problem or Opportunity Statement include:

·         A clear and succinct presentation of the problem or opportunity to be addressed (ideally with metrics to validate the statement)

·         An action statement of what the team proposes to do including clear parameters of the scope of the project

·         An outcome statement of what will be accomplished through the change that clearly articulates what success will look like

Problem/Opportunity Statement

The Challenge

The Proposed Action and Scope of the Change Team

The Intended Outcome

Five Why’s

Problem Statement

Why

Why

Why

Why

Why

Sample Elevator Speech

What the Challenge is:

On average, 23% of the new applications that come into our organization require rework and revisits to the customer for missing or illegible information. If we don’t make some changes, we’ll continue to lose customers who get frustrated with the process—about one in four abandon the sale and walk away when rework is required.

What the team proposes to do:

We’re collaborating with Sales and Operations to identify root causes for the errors. For a quick win, we’re getting to the bottom of why electronic forms aren’t used more frequently.

What Will be accomplished with the change:

            Our target is to reduce the rework by at least 50%. As a result:

·         Our sales force will have significantly more time to focus on new leads

·         Our applications team can be reorganized and will have about 10% more capacity

·         We’ll keep more customers that Sales has brought in

·         And, that represents an annual revenue increase of at least $7,000,000.

Be prepared with what you want from a specific leader:

“It would be a big help if you’ll provide a resource from your Legal team to review the form and identify what’s mandatory information needed from our customers and what we can live without and still process the application.”

Work on this speech and get it locked down. You want to be able to grab people’s attention and get them excited right away.