Change management: Planning toolkit
Section six of the Personnel Today Management Resources one stop guide on change management, covering: preparing plans for organisational change; building the business case; and how to involve others via the use of exercises and workshops. Other sections.
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Prepare plans for an organisational change
Build a business case for change
Involve others, using exercises and workshops
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This 'toolkit' is designed to help you prepare plans for a significant organisational change. It comprises guidance and exercises to help you go through a logical process of change planning.
The exercises will enable you to build a case for change as far as the organisational aspects are concerned. The full business case will require other operational and financial analysis as well. You can work through these exercises in the context of one or more workshops involving others in the planning process.
We first proceed through four stages of initial change planning. Here, we assume that an overall vision for the future exists that may call for a very different organisation. The changes you are planning seek to create an organisation which is 'fit for purpose' given that vision.
Describing the future
To develop a more detailed picture of the future, you will need to look at the environment, strategy, business activities, people, and formal organisation - such as structure/systems and culture.
In what way will the key elements of the organisation be different in the future?
The environment: What will be the pressures from the environment?
The strategy and core purpose: What will be your strategy and core purpose for the organisation?
Tasks and technologies: What will be the key business activities, and what technologies will you use to deliver it?
Culture: Will the culture be the same or different? In what way?
People: Will the numbers/skills and experiences of the people be the same or different?
Formal organisation arrangements: Will the formal structure, systems or procedures be any different?
Defining the present
The second part of managing a change is successfully to identify where you are at the moment, and where the key 'influencers', key players stand in relation to your change.
One way of analysing the key influence relationship is to do a stakeholder analysis.
Stakeholder analysis
Prioritise into six to eight key stakeholders.
Plot where these stakeholders are currently on the stakeholder graph - level of influence on one axis and attitude to the change on the other.
Decide what you need to do to have people in the position that is most helpful for the change.
Analysing the gap between the future and the present
A technique you can use to analyse the gap between the desired future of your change project and where you are now is called 'force-field' analysis. Once you have analysed the change, you can decide again what work you need to do to move the change forward.
Steps in a force-field analysis
Decide what 'forces' in the change are driving for change and which are restraining it. Plot them on the chart below.
Weight the forces by drawing arrows along them, the length determining the strength of the force.
Decide which of the restraining forces you can 'unlock' - this is the easiest way to make change happen.
Decide if there are any driving forces you can increase without setting up a counter reaction.
Develop a plan of the work you need to do to make sure the change happens.
Putting change recipes into context
What are the key issues facing you?
Prerequisites for successful change
Research, experience and studies of change in organisations have shown that four key elements always need to be present for a change to be successful.
Needed elements
A clear shared vision
Capacity for change
Actionable first steps.
Effect if missing
Fast start that fades out
Low priority
Anxiety, frustration, mistakes
Haphazard efforts, false starts.
Think about the change you are trying to implement:
Are the above elements present?
Have you given them any consideration?
If any are missing, what strategies could you put in place to ensure their inclusion?
Drawing up an implementation plan
This is the time to pull together all the thoughts, ideas and analysis that you have gathered up to now.
You should focus on the key steps required to bring your change about.
Go back to your description of the future state of your change and compare it to the work you did on the present.
Review your stakeholder and force-field analysis findings and consider the gap that needs to be bridged, taking into account the pre-requisites for successful change
Use the checklist provided earlier as an aide-mémoire.
An effective change implementation plan needs to pull the following elements together:
What are you going to do (action plan)
How are you going to do it (process plan)
How are you going to gain commitment (commitment plan)
How are you going to communicate your change (communication plan)
How do you plan to continue your personal competence development to enable you to manage your change successfully.
Resistance to change - the people dimension
Even in organisations where the culture and organisational climate appears to facilitate change, resistance from individuals and groups may occur, and in organisations where the organisational climate is not conducive to change, resistance may be inevitable. Partly it will arise from the dynamics of the change process.
Think about a change in your organisation. What reactions did those people affected by the change have? What actions would you recommend to overcome these reactions?
The reactions to change that you may have identified include:
Fear of the consequences of change, for example:
A feeling that skills may be inadequate
Fear that they may lose their job
Fear that they may be presented with difficult situations that may require them to adopt new situations, job, routines of work with a new set of people
Fear that flatter structures may reduce career opportunities
Fear that increased responsibility of extra work requirements will lead to failures and stress.
Lack of commitment and motivation to change, for example:
People perceive the need to change differently from managers
People perceive the needs of change or the change plans differently from managers
People perceive that changes are likely to undermine personal power or reputation
People perceive the costs to them personally being great than the benefits.
These reactions are likely to make people feel insecure and unsure of their futures.
Stability zones
We suggest that routines and established ways of working create stability zones which help people cope with stress. Change upsets stability zones when, for example old routines are replaced, new behaviours are expected, reporting structures are refined or goals and objectives are altered. As stability zones are affected, stress and discomfort increase.
Essentially change creates uncertainty and ambiguity in people who may then become confused about what is expected from them in terms of behaviour and actions. Old frameworks become redundant and new ones need internalising. This can be difficult and painful for people, especially if they have had poor experiences of change efforts in the past. Even top managers cling to established working practices.
Tactics for overcoming inhibitors to change
Force-field analysis and 'unfreeze, change, refreeze tactics' are useful when overcoming individual resistance. However other actions are also important.
Communication is an essential part of the change process. Change agents need to communicate their vision of the future and how the transition between the present and the future will be managed.
Use several different communication methods. For example reinforce formal methods by informal methods or use the formal hierarchy and friendship groups to communicate the same message
Encourage two way communication. This means encouraging people to give feedback, ask questions and discuss feelings and perceptions. Two way communication can help you check people's understanding of the situation and make sure complex messages are understood
Keep links within the communication process short. This helps reduce the likelihood of confusion or distortion.
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Section two: Implementing strategic change Section three: Culture and change Section four: Coping with change Section five: How to lay foundations for change Section six: Planning toolkit
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