Managing change

Pauline Hall

Seminar

• Strategies for dealing with change

• Stakeholder management

• Handling resistance

• Effective communications

Useful Tools

• Force-field analysis

• Change Equation

• Zigarnick Effect

• Stakeholder Analysis

• VICRA

Change

• What words come to mind when you think of change ?

Building blocks for successful change - ADKAR

• Awareness– of why the change is needed

• Desire– to support and participate in the change

• Knowledge– of how to change

• Ability– to implement new skills and behaviours

• Reinforcement– to sustain the change

Why organisations fail to transform using projects

• Too much complacency

• Not creating a powerful enough coalition

• Underestimating the power of vision

• Not communicating the vision adequately

• Permitting obstacles to block the vision

• Failure to create short term wins

• Declaring victory too soon

• Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in culture

Consequences

• New strategies not implemented well

• Change takes too long and costs too much

• Costs are not controlled

• Quality programmes don’t deliver results

Success in change management

• Take account of rational, political and emotional dimensions to change

Management vs leadership

– Lead by example– Are visionary– Are technically competent– Are decisive– Are good communicators– Are good motivators– Stand up to upper

management when necessary

– Have supportive team members

– Encourage new ideas

– Credible– Creative problem solvers– Tolerant of ambiguity– Flexible in management

style– Well organized– Effective team builders– Effective at coping– Enthusiastic about the

project– Effective change

managers– Oriented to the customer

Kotter’s view

• Establish a sense of urgency

• Create a guiding coalition

• Develop a vision and strategy

• Communicate the change vision

• Empower employees for broad-based action

• Generate short term wins

• Consolidate gains, produce more change

• Anchor new approaches in culture

Steps (another view)

• Define goals

• Establish trust

• Jointly develop a vision

• Experiment, facilitate and review

• Communicate the change to all people affected and explain the reasons why the changes are occurring

• Provide support to employees as they deal with the change

• Consistently monitor and review for effectiveness

Stakeholder management

Stakeholder management

• Stakeholder Analysis – Discover who your stakeholders are

– Map them: work out their power, influence, interest and impact

– Understand: develop a good understanding of the most important stakeholders

• Plan based on what you learned

Who are your stakeholders?

• Think of all the people who are affected by your work, who have influence or power over it, or have an interest in its successful or unsuccessful conclusion.

• Some of the people who might be stakeholders in your job or in your projects:

Your boss Suppliers Government

Senior executives Alliance partners Trades associations

Your co-workers Suppliers The press

Your team Lenders Interest groups

Customers Analysts The public

Prospective customers

Future recruits The community

Your family

Stakeholder influence wheel

Discover: Identify your own stakeholders

Map: Support Impact Grid

SUPPORT

IMPACT

Understand: Position on the grid

• High support, High impact people– these are the people you must fully engage and make the greatest

efforts to satisfy.

• High support, low impact people– put enough work in with these people to keep them satisfied, but not

so much that they become bored with your message.

• Low support, high impact people– keep these people adequately informed, and talk to them to ensure

that no major issues are arising. These people can often be very helpful with the detail of your project.

• Low support, low impact people– again, monitor these people, but do not bore them with excessive

communication.

What’s in it for them?• What financial or emotional interest do they have in the

outcome of your work? Is it positive or negative?• What motivates them most of all?• What information do they want from you? How do they want to

receive information from you? What is the best way of communicating your message to them?

• What is their current opinion of your work? Is it based on good information?

• Who influences their opinions generally, and who influences their opinion of you? Do some of these influencers therefore become important stakeholders in their own right?

• If they are not likely to be positive, what will win them around to support your project?

• If you don't think you will be able to win them around, how will you manage their opposition?

• Who else might be influenced by their opinions? Do these people become stakeholders in their own right?

Planning table

• Power • Interest • Stakeholder Name • Key Interests and Issues • Current Status - Advocate, supporter, neutral, critic,

blocker • Desired Support - High, medium or low • Desired Project Role (if any) • Actions Desired (if any) • Messages Needed • Actions and Communications

Plan

• Update the planning sheet with support/impact grid information 

• Plan your approach to stakeholder management  

• Think through what you want from each stakeholder 

• Identify the messages you need to convey 

• Identify actions and communications

Benefits

• Use stakeholders to shape project at early stages

• Win more resources

• Understand benefits

• Anticipate – build in actions to win support

Stakeholder Management

Handling resistance

Sources of conflict

•Commodities

• Principles

• Territory • Relationships

Components

• Disagreement

• Parties involved

• Perceived threat

• Needs, interests or concerns

Levels of conflict

Where Where are are the the issues?issues?

IcebergIceberg

Negotiating

• Two or more parties

• Conflict of interests

• Use of influence to get a better deal

• Search for agreement is preferable

• Give and take

• Tangibles and intangibles

• Negotiation finishes when the parties accept the new 'balance'

What makes a negotiation What makes a negotiation successfulsuccessful??

optionsoptions

mutualmutualbenefitbenefit

co-co-operationoperation

Successful negotiators AVOID…

Irritators

Counter proposals

Defence/attack spirals Argument dilution

Successful negotiators USE…

Behaviour labelling

Testing understanding/ summarising

Seeking information

Making feelings explicit

The Problem with Soft / Hard approaches

• Insist on agreement

• Try to avoid contest of will

• Yield to pressure

• Insist on your position

• Try to win contest of will

• Apply pressure

SoftSoft HardHard

Principled Negotiation

• all-purpose strategy that avoids the pitfalls of the hard and soft styles

• approaches negotiating – as a means of problem solving – based on eliciting information from both

parties – to facilitate a WIN/WIN solution

Four Points: Defining WIN/WIN

• People• Separate the people from the problem

• Interests• Focus on the interests, not positions

• Options• Generate variety of possibilities before

deciding what to do

• Criteria• Insist that the result be based on some

objective standard

First: Separate the people from the problem

• This responds to the fact that human beings are not computers or machines

• Emotions typically become entangled in the objective merits of the problem

• People’s egos become identified with their positions

Second: Focus on interests, not positions.

• Try to overcome the drawback of focusing on people’s stated positions where the objective of a negotiation is to satisfy their underlying interests

• Compromising between positions is not likely to produce an agreement which will effectively take care of the human need

Third: Help Generation of Options

• Consider a range of possible options

• Avoid jumping to too early judgement / conclusions

• Build-upon or ‘re-frame’ possible options

• Probe benefit / down-side of individual options

• Help identify priorities for action for mutual gain

Fourth: Link to Objective Standard

• Ensure clarity of negotiated position – the facts

• Provide link to some objective standard

• Closure mechanism: ‘sign-off’ by parties

Antagonism, Resonance, Invention, Action

1.1. Create a “safe” environmentCreate a “safe” environment

2.2. Vent frustrationsVent frustrations

3.3. Listen to all sidesListen to all sides

4.4. Find out what disputants want and why they careFind out what disputants want and why they care

5.5. Find out what is most important to each sideFind out what is most important to each side

6.6. Determine where responsibility for the conflict is sharedDetermine where responsibility for the conflict is shared

7.7. Determine which needs and values are threatenedDetermine which needs and values are threatened

8.8. Brainstorm for cooperative solutionsBrainstorm for cooperative solutions

9.9. Encourage participation from all disputantsEncourage participation from all disputants

10.10. Plan for actionPlan for actionARIA: Jay Rothman, 1997

Communication

The Change Cycle

Time

Results

Management Expectations

Sources of power and influence

• VisionVision• LegitimacyLegitimacy• RewardReward• CoercionCoercion• InformationInformation

• IntegrityIntegrity• ExpertiseExpertise• PersuasivenessPersuasiveness• IdentificationIdentification• CharismaCharisma

Strategies

credibilitycredibility

reciprocityreciprocity

persuasionpersuasion

Building rapport

• Harmonious, understanding relationship

• Feeling at ease with each other• Being on the same wavelength• Seeing eye to eye with people• Showing empathy

How do we build rapport?

• Show Understanding and Interest• Build Trust and Credibility• Match Actions and Behaviour• “We like people who like us and are like

us”

Barriers to Building Rapport

• Lack of trust/ honesty/ openness

• Positional power

• Not honouring the confidentiality of the relationship

Communication means

• communicating the need for the change

• the danger of not being successful

• the benefits the change promises

• how the change fits into the overall vision

• proving to people that change is possible

• providing resources, information, training, support

• including people in decision-making

• having a vehicle for ongoing dialogue

Credibility

• Vision – forward looking

• Expertise - competent

• Legitimacy - authority

• Integrity - honesty

• Persuasiveness - influence

• Charisma - inspiring

Facilitating Empathetic Understanding

To persuade me you must be relevant. To be relevant you have to understand me.

To persuade me, you have to use my words, feel my feelings and think my thoughts.

- Cicero

Facilitating Beneficial Outcomes: reciprocity

• Give and take:RewardReward CoercionCoercion InformationInformation

• Some examples:– Provide support– Create contacts– Help with deadlines– Support initiatives– Provide resources or co-operation– Be flexible

Reciprocity

Personal Effectiveness

• Be fully prepared and committed• Understand and develop rapport• Build credibility in negotiator and

process• Facilitate mutual understanding• Consolidate the agreement through

beneficial outcomes

Audience types

• SupportersSupporters

• OpponentsOpponents

NeutralsNeutralsThe undecidedThe undecidedThe uninformedThe uninformed

Audiences

++

--

EnthusiastsEnthusiasts

SupportersSupporters

UninformedUninformed

UndecidedUndecided

PassivesPassivesOpponentOpponentss

MoanersMoaners

MutineersMutineers

Another view of the world…

Communication

• Telling: This is what I want. You follow me or better leave • Selling: This is the change we want, and we want you to

come on board. This stage involves techniques that are mainly related to classical public relations tools.

• Testing: This is what we propose. Please check whether it works. Consulting: We know the direction but we need your advice. At this stage, different forms of consultation are employed, such as stakeholder workshops.

• Co-Creating: We need to change. We don't know the way. Let's create the future together.

What does this mean for you?

• Recognise that you’re also reacting to change• How are your team responding?• Help them understand that it is OK to react to

change• Then help them to move to a more positive place

(relative certainty)• Ensure that you are communicating and

listening effectively

Lessons learned

• Importance of focus on people, “buy-in”

• Teamwork and team building

• Change management• Continuous planning• Resistance to change

• Seeing the Big Picture• Project management• Joint problem solving• Conflict resolution• Communication

(including a plan)

The iceberg again…