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Five Bs of Executive Buy-in
By special guest contributor Kirk Sievert,
AdPro (Prosci Primary Affiliate
for Canada)
As a senior executive and sponsors of change, and with more than five years as an International Executive Instructor for
Prosci teaching change management practitioners, one of the most frequently asked questions I
have received is,
“how
can I get my executives on-board with change management and fulfilling
their roles as sponsors?”
I’d like to say I have an easy answer to that one, but the truth is
this may take time – remember, change is a process. One of the great
tools to help is of course Prosci’s ADKAR® Model - you’ve got to build
their Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. Prosci’s
ADKAR® Model says that in order for a change to be made successfully, an
individual must have strong
- Awareness of the need for change
- Desire to participate and support the change
- Knowledge on how to change
- Ability to implement required skills and behaviors
- Reinforcement to sustain the change
Now, applying the same model to the change, “applying change
management”, we get:
- Awareness of the need for change management
- Desire to participate and support change management
- Knowledge on how to apply change management
- Ability to implement change management
- Reinforcement to sustain change management
Ask yourself: How can I build Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability
and Reinforcement for change management - especially with
senior leaders?
Here are a few tips, you can remember this as the “Five Bs of
Executive Buy-in”…
- Best Practices
- Business Case
- Be Specific
- Be Assertive
- Bring in an Expert
Best Practices
Read, re-read and read Prosci's benchmarking report again for a third time – being
familiar with best practices will enable you to answer questions about
change management with confidence and credibility. Executives thrive on
effective performance and how better than by following the learnings of
more than 2000 organizations? Prosci’s 2009 edition of the
Best Practices in
Change Management benchmarking report also includes some important
findings you can use to position change management in your organization
including the costs and consequences of applying change management late
on a project and the correlation between effective change management and
meeting objectives, staying on schedule and staying on budget. Best
Practices teaches us effective methods, efficient ways and powerful
tools for managing and leading change – become the subject matter expert
in change management.
Business Case
Based on the business case for the project, develop a solid business
case for change management – remember change management is all about
benefit realization. Our goal is to have the people ready, willing and
able, the day we go live with the project, so we can maximize project
benefits as soon as possible. Weave as many of the four benefits of
change management – benefit realization, risk mitigation, return on
investment and certainty of return – into your change management
business case as possible. The stronger you can make the connection
between effective change management and realizing project benefits, the
stronger your business case will be. Then be ready to defend your
business case and educate others about the true bottom line benefit of
change management.
Be Specific
In planning Sponsor Roadmap activities, be specific with your
requests and support your executives fully. Sponsors are often time
starved and removed from the potential day-to-day impacts of a change –
they need a trusted advisor or coach to help keep them active and
visible. Remember, the success of the project is their success, so if
you can help them to achieve better results, you’ll win their respect,
admiration and support. But be specific with those requests. Executives
have limited time and multiple demands – they will value you if you can
design and support them in ways that minimize the time requirement and
maximize the impact of their actions.
Be Assertive
If you approach your executives with timidity, they think you lack
confidence and you’ll fail to make your point. Nobody likes to hear
about more problems, especially executives who already feel under the
gun – give them solutions. Remember you are backed by Best Practice
research and methodologies that can help your organization achieve
higher levels of success. They need to hear and know this. You may be a
pioneer in your organization, with knowledge others don’t have – your
task is to boldly move forward with ideas, answers and solutions to the
problems that may be plaguing your past and current projects. Don’t wait
for someone to ask you for help – assert yourself!
Bring in an Expert
Sometimes you need the support of an outside expert to break-through
a wall. An outsider has the independence to challenge traditional
thinking, breakdown paradigms and “teach the old dogs new tricks”. Use
those experts to send a clear message and help bring executives to their
own ah-ha moments regarding change management. Then, make sure you are
poised to be assertive, armed with Best Practices, have a solid business
case and be specific with your requests.
Good luck and remember to share your experiences.
About the author
Kirk Sievert is a master change management instructor and
accomplished speaker. He is the founder and CEO of
AdPro Change Systems Inc
- a Canadian-based advisory and learning development company
specializing in the growth of organizational change management
competencies. Prior to starting AdPro, Kirk was one of Prosci's first
master instructors, leading hundreds of practitioners through
interactive and experiential learning about leading the people side of
change. Over his 20 year career, Kirk built a wealth of knowledge and
experience in leadership roles in the chemical, banking, real estate,
financial services and consulting industries. As Vice President of
Marketing and Strategy for a national insurance company, Kirk led the
executive group of his business unit in the creation of strategic plans,
transformation of the service delivery model and expansion into new
markets.
AdPro provides open enrollment Prosci Change Management
certification programs in Canada and also offers a variety of on-site
trainings for Corporations, Government Agencies and the Health Care
industry, including Executive & Sponsorship training, Managerial &
Supervisory training as well as practitioner certification, in change
management. Upcoming
open
enrollment sessions offered by AdPro in Canada:
- July 6 - 8, 2010 - Whistler, BC - SOLD OUT
- July 13 - 15, 2010 - Toronto, ON
- July 20 - 22, 2010 - Nova Scotia
- August 10 - 12, 2010 - Montebello, QC
- August 24 - 26, 2010 - Banff, AB
- October 26 - 28, 2010 - Toronto, ON
- November 2 - 4, 2010 - Banff, AB
- November 16 - 18, 2010 - Nova Scotia
- November 23 - 25, 2010 - Dundurn, SK
- December 7 - 9, 2010 - Montebello, QC
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