Positioning to Succeed in 2006 Checklist

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Ways to use the CM Checklist

To see how well prepared you are for upcoming initiatives

• Use the checklist as a way to analyze how prepared you are to manage change on upcoming initiatives. You will be able to identify which areas need the most attention and where you need to do more work in preparation for upcoming changes.

To analyze how well you are doing on current initiatives

• The checklist can also be used to gauge your progress on a current change initiative, even if it is already underway. It will highlight gaps and may provide insights on why a change is not going as you had expected.

As a point of discussion with others involved in managing change

• Use the checklist to start discussions with sponsors, project team members and others involved in implementing change to highlight what effective change management looks like and what can be done to better manage change.

• Use of a proven methodology, process and tools was cited as the number two contributor to success in the 2005 best practices benchmarking study
• Further analysis of the data shows a direct correlation between the use of a structured methodology and change management effectiveness
• More people are using a structured approach – up from 34% in the 2003 study to 55% in the 2005 study

Keys to implementation

• Use a structured and planned approach
• Ensure that you have the necessary resources
• Begin your change management activities at the beginning of the project, not as an afterthought or add-on

• Assessments let you know where you are today
• Assessments signal what you need to do next
• The ‘right’ amount of change management depends on both the change you are implementing and the groups that are experiencing change

Keys to implementation

• Don’t assess for the sake of assessing – be sure that the outputs of any assessment you do are going to give you  important insights and impact your future actions
• Customize your change management strategy and plans to fit with the specific change you are managing

• Sponsorship was cited as the number one success factor in each of the last four benchmarking studies, over seven years of research with more than 900 participants from 59 countries around the world
• In the latest study, nearly half of all participants rated their sponsors' understanding and execution as moderate to poor

Keys to implementation

• Don’t assume your sponsors know what it means to be an effective sponsor of change – there are often gaps in sponsor knowledge
• Sponsorship is more than signing a name at the bottom of a project charter; it involves active and visible participation with the project team, employees and other senior leaders

• Communication (while not the only element of effective change management) will be critical for building awareness and desire to change throughout the organization
• Effective communication was cited as the number three critical success factor in the 2005 study

Keys to implementation

• The most effective communication is face-to-face, as identified in the last two benchmarking studies – don’t rely exclusively on ‘broadcast’ forms of written and electronic communication
• There are two key senders of change messages – senior business leaders (messages about the impact of the change on the organization) and immediate supervisors (messages about the impact of the change on the individual - What's In It For Me or WIIFM)

• The role of immediate supervisors during change is critical – they are the preferred sender of messages about how the change impacts an individual and they play a central role in identifying and managing resistance
• Middle managers were cited as one of the main resistors to change in the last benchmarking study – engaging them as coaches helps to address some of the main causes of manager resistance

Keys to implementation

• As with sponsors, don’t assume that managers know what it means to be an effective coach – even some of the best managers are not effective change managers (without the knowledge and support you provide)
• Give coaches the information they need to be the senders of key messages about how the change will impact individuals

• Resistance to change by employees and managers has been cited as the top obstacle to project success in the last two benchmarking studies
• The most common reasons for resistance are not tied to the solution you are implementing – they are often related to the current state and the (mis)information in the organization

Keys to implementation

• Be proactive about managing resistance, identify what it might look like and where it might come from
• You can often prevent or mitigate the most common causes of resistance by simply thinking through your change management activities earlier in the change lifecycle

• If people revert back to the old way of doing things after implementation, you have not only wasted time and resources but your solution does not generate the benefit (or ROI) that you expected
• Reinforcement is often overlooked on many change efforts

Keys to implementation

• Reinforcement keeps changes in place – it is the bridge between the period of change (the transition state) and how things will be done after implementation (the future state)
• Be proactive, systematic and explicit when developing the mechanisms to reinforce the change
• Engage sponsors and coaches – they will be keys to creating the expectation that change will be maintained