Change management is often considered “someone else’s job.” However, this is a complicated proposition that could put your critical projects and programs at risk.
Change management is a little like eating vegetables. Everyone knows it's a good idea and has countless benefits and almost no disadvantages. Yet even the best technology leaders and program managers assume that change management is a discrete activity that some specialized resources can do “later.” Worse, they may think it will magically occur if mentioned in enough slideshows.
Redefining change
Part of the problem is that most of us have an outdated or ineffective understanding of human behavior toward change. The mistaken notion that “ people fear change ” still permeates the way many leaders drive organizational change, assuming that an endless stream of detailed information or the corporate equivalent of evangelical sermons will convince people that change is in their best interest.
Generally, people dislike uncertainty rather than change itself. Reduce the uncertainty behind a change by providing clarity on how a change positively impacts an individual, and you will reduce uncertainty and therefore resistance to change.
As a simple thought experiment, consider your circle of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. How many would refuse to try something new, from a simple meal at a new restaurant to traveling somewhere or trying a new hobby? All of this represents varying degrees of change, and most people would welcome the opportunity to try something new and different, as long as it doesn't create uncomfortable uncertainty.
Ask the general population if they would accept a winning lottery ticket for a significant amount of money. With rare exceptions, you will find willing volunteers despite the significant change brought about by receiving a large sum of money.
With the idea that people generally fear change based on fear of uncertainty, how do we explain the reluctance to adopt new tools and ways of working in a workplace? Simply put, humans are generally not interested in a new tool or technique unless they can demonstrate an extraordinary return on the “learning investment” required to use the new tool or technique productively.
This “investment case” is highly individualistic, which explains why the usual change management techniques of extolling the money the company will save or the benefits for the “greater good” often fall on deaf ears.
This is not because people are selfish or irrational. Instead, consider that most of your colleagues have hundreds of requests and prompts ranging from customer demands to constantly changing policies and procedures. Your project may be the most important thing in the world to you and your team, but it's just one voice in a chorus of dozens of demands for your user community's attention.
Suppose you can demonstrate clearly and with as little information as possible why your initiative is attractive and exciting to a single individual. In this case, you will gain their buy-in.
This requires a deeper understanding of the people you will impact with your project and their specific concerns and needs. Just as you would when designing a new customer-facing product or technology, identify 2-6 personas or archetypes for your different users and take the time to understand their unique concerns and how your system can make their lives easier.
Look for the characteristics that identify these different archetypes, then deliver one of your personalized messages based on one of them. For example, an archetype may be attractive in your system because it makes a difficult task easier and faster. If you focus all of your messaging on this task, this archetype will be more willing to embrace your system, even if this task is just a small part of the overall package.
Other archetypes may be interested in helping customers with a routine problem that their system makes it easy to solve. In this case, you should explain how your system makes the customer service process more robust.
As you can see, a generic message wouldn't be enough to move any of these user groups, just as touting customer service capabilities is unlikely to move a group primarily interested in efficiency.
While this is a bit nuanced and challenging, it's worth it in the long run. Users who are interested and motivated to adopt your system are more likely to acquire the necessary training, support testing and launch, and provide input for continuous improvements.
Less is usually more
The other serious mistake made in many Change Management efforts is trying to provide each user with the maximum amount of information available about the new system. I remember one effort where the two-week training program included two days covering the history of the software company that created the package being implemented, including a mandatory quiz that was completely irrelevant to anyone's ability to perform. your job.
A similarly misguided change management program produced a nine-page list of hypothetical “frequently asked questions” that was so intimidating that target users assumed the software was so complex that it should be devoutly ignored and even resisted.
Avoid the temptation to tell your user group anything and everything about your program. No one cares how carefully you evaluated the tool or whether you selected the best software available using a multi-month comparison effort. People care about how software will make their individual lives better and little else.
Just as you would be frustrated by a car salesman who insists on explaining the history of the internal combustion engine when all you want to know is whether it will hold up to your kids and dog, don't make the same mistake with your users.
While it may seem counterintuitive, also avoid sharing all the wonderful benefits with the broader organization . You've already made this proposal and it's been accepted by the entire organization, and frankly, your user community doesn't care how much money the tool will save or which VP made the brilliant decision to implement it – they care about how it will help with your work.
By discarding some of the old assumptions about change and how to convince your users to adopt new tools and ways of working, your change management efforts will create a community of people who are excited and willing to embrace what you are offering. This community is much easier (and ultimately less expensive) to train, support, and win over.
