Tools For Change: Leadership Involvement and Alignment

I’m reviewing two tools for change this week. The first tool is the Leadership Alignment Assessment and the second is the Leadership Involvement Plan. Both of these tools aim to solve a critical issue in most change initiatives, appropriate support by leadership. The leadership involvement plan is similar to the traditional ARCI, or RACI charts that describe responsibility, accountability, contributor and informed. The Leadership Involvement Plan simplifies this by listing only actions and deadlines. The idea is to define roles and responsibilities for the initiative, such as “Conduct regular conference calls with staff regarding project” This example might be applicable for a director where a manager may have an action of “Provide regular status reports to executives”

While this tools is rather straight forward and easy to use, it may be difficult to complete one of these plans for various superiors that my be involved with the project. Understanding roles and responsibilities is very useful for everyone in a project. If you can work through some of the hierarchical challenges this is a valuable tool to use.

The second tool, the Leadership Alignment Assessment, is designed to understand where each of the leaders stands on the facets of the change initiative. The objective is to first identify then work to bring the leaders into alignment on the initiative. In one-on-one interviews with each of the leaders, a series of questions are asked, such as “Who do you think is accountable for the change results” and “How do you define success for the project.

The Leadership Alignment Assessment is a simple technique to use and provides wealth of information. When I used this technique in my own experiences I’ve found many of the leaders agreed on the general principle of change but key elements such as success criteria were different. Through highlighting these differences with the leadership we were able to come to agreement on the initiative. This agreement helps mitigate conflicting priorities and limits personal agendas.

Both of these tools are useful and can be implemented by contributors at any level of the organization. The Leadership Alignment Assessment provides value even when working with a single leader, helping to clarify expectations. You’ll find me using these tools in various ways in the future.

For more information on these tools check out.

http://www.army.mil/ArmyBTKC/enablers/cm/toolkit_04.htm

http://lumanconsultants.com/alignment.pdf

http://www.change-management-toolbook.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1481

http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2006/08/14/smallb2.html

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1S1-1202200005238801.html

http://www.changeguidesllc.com/products/tools.asp

Tools for Change: Systems and Structures Action Plan

The change process doesn’t end when the last piece has been implemented. Successful change initiatives require maintenance to sustain the positive results. As John Kotter states in his article Our Iceberg is melting: Make it stick. Create a new culture. Hold onto the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become strong enough to replace old traditions (Kotter & Rathgeber, 2006). Making change stick over the long run can be daunting however there are a few tools available to help sustain the initiative.

The Systems and Structures Action Plan (Nelson & Aaron, 2005), is a template designed to help evaluate and plan for gaps in HR and other organizational systems and structures. This template contains rows for various systems and structures such as Staffing, Measurement, Rewards, Communication, etc. Each of these System/Structures is discussed in subsequent columns to help manage the gaps and sustainability. Some of these discussion points include: What we do now, what should be modified, followed by how and who is responsible. This straightforward template serves as the catalyst and definition for the critical discussions needed to sustain change. This is a very simple tool to use and can be modified to meet the differing needs within organizations.

Applying to my own organization key gaps became apparent surrounding measurement and rewards. Most of the focus behind the change initiatives were focused on Organizational Structures, and Staffing. Once the change was in place the resulting teams were left with little to gauge themselves by and few opportunities for recognition. These tools enabled an action plan to be placed around these gaps to rectify the situation.

Unlike some of the other available tools for change, the Systems and Structures Action Plan can and should be applied regularly within regular operations. Scheduling quarterly review of these topics can support not only previous change initiatives but day-to-day operations as well. This valuable tool should be a part of every manager’s toolbox.

Works Cited

Kotter, J. P., & Rathgeber, H. (2006). Our Iceberg Is Melting. Leadership Excellence , 23 (2), p11.

Nelson, K., & Aaron, S. (2005). The Change Management Pocket Guide. Cincinnati, OH: Change Guides LLC.

Organizational Change: Readiness Assessment

When addressing the topic of change within an organization, leaders need to start the process on the right foot. Many change initiatives fail due to poor initial planning.  Taking an initial assessment of will help identify where the organization is now and what potential obstacles might impact the transformation.

Change initiatives find a higher level of success when all aspects of organizational transformation are addressed. Frequently their are many unseen elements within an organization that can derail a change initiative.  Understanding the organization’s readiness enables you to address challenges before fully engaging in the full change initiative.

What’s in a Readiness Assessment

The first section, the Vision or Communication section, identifies the degree to which the change initiative is understood by both the leadership and stakeholders. The goal is to ensure that all key players have clear view of what the change is and what the success criteria are. Frequently different members of leadership may have different agendas for the same initiative. Simply asking the question “what does success of this initiative mean to you” demonstrates the successfulness of the original communication efforts as well as possibly revealing personal agendas. When significant differences are seen in the Vision/Communication section additional time should be spent building and communicating a clear message. Alternate agendas found during this stage may signify challenges in the future. Individuals may derail or block initiatives if their objectives aren’t being met. Understanding this early enables the team to plan and possibly mitigate the situation.

The second section is typically a series of questions relating to the engagement of leadership and employees. How committed to the change is the organization. Do they feel a sense of urgency for it and are they willing to work toward the change. Unmotivated employees won’t achieve the desired results. Willing employees with no sense of urgency will find other more important things that will slow, halt or even hurt the change initiative.

The assessments conclude by examining various factors impacting the initiatives ability to succeed and be maintained over time. Are resources and people available to implement the change. Does the organization have the funding to train staff in new processes. Are there regular process reviews scheduled. Has the organization planed for conducting retrospectives on the initiative and committed to acting on the results.

Performing a readiness assessment is critical to any change initiative. These assessments callout the real challenges facing the initiative. The best change initiative is doomed to fail if the organization is not ready.

Resources

Here are a couple free online resources that help provide some context on the topic.

• http://www.performanceprograms.com/Surveys/Changeready.shtm
• http://www.abarisconsulting.com/websiteProfit/articles/P_ABARIS_ChangeReadinessAssessment.pdf

Personal experience

Utilizing a template from the Change management Pocket Guide published by Change Guides LLC., I performed an assessment of my own organizations readiness for change. Using the Change Readiness Audit was rather straight forward. While we scored well on questions like "Do people understand how the change will benefit customers and stakeholders" (Nelson & Aaron, 2005) It became evident that our change initiative still needed work in areas such as leadership accountability and resource availability (Nelson & Aaron, 2005). These are just a few of the questions asked in this tool. The Change Readiness Audit is a single page template that asks straight forward questions about your initiative. While other assessments utilize a mathematical grading system, this tool offers Yes, Somewhat and No as options for each question. The result is an easy to use tool that clearly identifies the state of your initiative in key areas that can lead to failure if not addressed.

I was very satisfied with this tool in its ability to identify areas needing attention in our organization before moving forward with our change initiative. I plan on using this tool in future engagements and would. Take some time to perform an assessment on your organization. You’ll be glad you did.

Works Cited

Nelson, K., & Aaron, S. (2005). The Change Management Pocket Guide. Cincinnati, OH: Change Guides LLC.