How to Sustain Change with No Extra Resources

Most benefits are realized many months after a change is made, and yet few, if any, resources are invested during this time to realize them. Often, organizations believe the projected benefits will materialize over time after a short period of post-change monitoring. If no major issues arise, success is declared, future benefits are assumed, and the implementation team is disbanded.

The reality is that people need more time to master difficult, uncomfortable, and untested new ways of working that create productivity gains. As people try out new practices they compare them to the old ones they know well. A tension between the two creates a barrier to change because, as James Belasco and Ralph Stayer have observed, “People overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.” 

Without ongoing support mechanisms, many people choose personal preferences over leadership mandates. They revert to old routines and behaviours, forfeiting benefits tied to the new ones. Old and new practices clash as people try to do their work. This leads to confusion, frustration, sub-optimal decisions and results. Without ongoing reinforcement and measurement, it can take many months before leaders discover the change wasn't adopted and benefits were lost. 

Ideally, implementation resources would be retained to support embedding the change into day-to-day operations and track its benefits. For most organizations, this is a luxury they can't afford. Resources are limited and other change initiatives need to be implemented.

So how do you sustain a change and realize its benefits without ongoing change support? The implementation team must achieve two objectives: establish mechanisms to support the change and transfer accountability for them to people who operate the business. Here is a list of activities to do so: 

Ownership

• Ensure a leadership team member (ideally the one most affected by the change) is accountable for updating their peers on barriers to adoption, progress made, and benefits gained
• Identify a business owner for every process impacted by the change
• Appoint someone to measure benefits realized across the business

Measurement

• Document early wins (including verbatim testimonials from employees)
• Confirm that the leadership team has scheduled time on their regular meeting agendas for updates over the next nine to twelve months
• Identify where remedial training is needed and who will deliver it

Process

• Remove access to old ways of working so they can’t be used, e.g. databases, templates, and systems 
• Establish a benefit tracking process including metrics and data sources
• Ensure new behaviours and actions are incorporated into HR systems – performance management, talent assessment, leadership development, and new employee orientation

Engagement 

• Involve people in lessons learned exercises to keep practices top-of-mind 
• Establish forums, chaired by process owners, where people can share challenges and recommended improvements
• Coordinate early adopters to help peers overcome difficulties with new operating procedures

Rewards

• Profile leaders who are following the new ways of working
• Publicly acknowledge people who are gaining benefits from the new practices
• Include new role requirements and demonstration of new behaviours in annual goals

Communication

• Develop a communication plan to update leaders and employees (e.g. town hall meeting, news blasts, newsletter columns, etc.)
• Share stories of how people are incorporating new actions and behaviours into their day-to-day tasks (include pictures of them in their work environments)
• Communicate results (good and bad) with the leadership team followed by all employees

The degree of change adoption directly influences the benefits gained from it. Most organizations can’t afford to dedicate resources to ongoing change implementation support. The next best approach is to create mechanisms that encourage adoption of new practices and assign accountability to business operators for maintaining them. This will increase the likelihood that new ways of working will stick and benefits will be realized. Doing so will also build change management capability through the organization, which is a benefit in itself.

Phil

Where to Invest Your Change Resources: Building Awareness, Capability or Sustainability?

One of the key decisions in planning a big change initiative is where to place resources (people, time and money). Given limited resources, you need to decide where they are best placed. Knowing how people take on new ways of working that enable successful change will help you make the best choice.

People adopt changes through a three phased process: Awareness, Capability and Sustainability.

Awareness: Understanding what the change is and why it is needed, what will be different for them and how it will impact their roles 

Capability: Practicing new routines (either before or after the change), establishing new relationships and making adjustments to optimize their new ways of working

Sustainability: Having new ways of working integrated into regular operations through formal role changes, new goals, monitoring effectiveness and receiving feedback, and achieving rewards for taking on new mindsets, actions and behaviours.

Most organizations focus the majority of their resources on the first phase, building awareness of the change before it is made. This 'big bang' approach gets attention and builds excitement and support for the change.

This approach to change is easy to do because a mandate for the change has freshly been set, leaders are engaged and resources are available. Demonstrating importance and commitment makes sense and a quorum of leaders are on board.  

The problem with this front-loaded approach is that it doesn't build enough capability or integrate new ways of working into day-to-day practices. Like a fire built mostly of paper, it burns brightly for a few minutes and dies out quickly. 

Often, this approach becomes a progressively negative element of an organization's culture as every change is managed this way. It doesn't take long for people to become skeptical of change when it doesn't stick. They take on a "wait and see" approach to adopting new ways of working. Without a critical mass of support, the change doesn't take hold and it fails. A self-fulfilling prophecy is created as the skeptics say "I told you so." 

It only gets worse with time. Leaders begin to face credibility issues because people notice that early commitments and promises are not delivered. The employees who initially believed what leaders say in townhall meetings and email often  become the most cautious when the next change is announced. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" becomes their armour against future disappointments. 

A better approach is to divide resources more evenly across the three phases of adoption. There still is an initial drive to communicate the change, yet it is followed and supported by an equal drive to build skills and integrate new ways of working into regular operations.

Investing in capability building and assimilation will increase people's confidence in the change and encourage them to take on new activities, relationships and behaviours--when you do things well you tend to own and support them more. 

This approach also establish a winning foundation for future changes. It increases leaders' credibility and reputations for "walking the talk" and being change agents .Future changes are viewed with more optimism and confidence. Also, an expertise in change develops that becomes a positive part of an organization's culture--"We rock change." 

Most benefits are realized after change is made by well-skilled people who take on new ways of working that are supported by their organization. Investing resources across awareness, capability and sustainability activities greatly increases your probability of success. It makes sense and it feels good too.

Phil