How to achieve business
results through individual change
The five levers of change management
You may have heard them called change management activities,
tasks, tools or processes, but essentially these five “levers”
of change management - communications, sponsorship, coaching,
training and resistance management - refer to those things that we do as change
managers to leverage our change management efforts to maximize
the benefits and to realize the outcomes or results of our
projects.
Consider for a moment how a lever is constructed; it includes
an effort arm, a resistance arm and a fulcrum. Let’s consider
the load at the end of the arm to be the desired business
results, which are often times hindered by - yes, you guessed
it - resistance. But often what appears to be resistance, or lack
of desire to participate and support the change, may in fact be
a lack of awareness, knowledge, or ability to realize the change
at an individual level.
Prosci has developed the five “levers” of change management
to help strengthen or make more efficient our efforts to help
individuals attain the awareness of the need for change; the
desire to participate, support and engage in the change; the knowledge on how to change; the
ability to implement the
required skills and behaviors; and the reinforcement
to sustain
the change. These elements comprise the Prosci® ADKAR® Model. Each
of the primary change management activities, or levers, impact
each element of ADKAR® as shown in the figure below.
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A |
D |
K |
A |
R |
| Communications |
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| Sponsorship |
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| Coaching |
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| Training |
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| Resistance management |
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*Note: While all five levers can influence all five ADKAR® elements,
the discussions below outline the elements of individual change
that each lever is uniquely designed to address. For example,
while communications can impact any of the ADKAR® elements, it
has the greatest impact on Awareness and Reinforcement.
Communications lever
The communications lever is targeted specifically at raising
awareness of the need for change, and
reinforcing the change
once it has taken hold. According to Prosci's 2012 Best Practices in
Change Management report, “frequent and open communication about
the change” was the second greatest contributor to change
management success.
And who should be doing the communicating?
You? How about the change manager or project manager? On the
contrary, the 2012 report indicated that the CEO or president of
your organization is the preferred sender for messages
pertaining to the business reasons for the change, and the
employee’s direct supervisor is the preferred sender for how the
change will impact the employee personally.
Sponsorship lever
Effective sponsors perform three primary roles to build
awareness of the business need for change,
desire to engage and
participate in the change, and to ultimately
reinforce the
change:
1.) Participate actively and visibly,
2.) Communicate directly with employees
3.) Build coalitions of sponsorship in support of the change
Just as change management is more than a thorough
communications plan, sponsorship includes more than just
communications from our leaders. Employees and managers will
take their cue from the primary sponsor on a project. If
sponsors are not seen actively participating and adopting the
change, their employees and managers will not participate or
adopt the change, either. Effective sponsorship also helps to
reinforce the change. As seen in the graph below, the primary
sponsor was cited in the 2012 report as the best provider of
reinforcement and recognition on the group level.
Coaching lever
As the person closest to employees, direct supervisors or
managers are instrumental in helping their employees attain
every element of ADKAR® by acting as:
- Communicators—Managers and supervisors are the preferred
senders of personal messages pertaining to the change. These
messages should include information such as: “Why is the change
happening?” “What’s in it for me?” How does this impact my job?”
As seen in results of the graph above, managers and supervisors
are also the best providers of reinforcement and recognition.
(Awareness,
Reinforcement)
- Advocates—When managers demonstrate support for the change
themselves, they act as role models for their employees and help
encourage employees to engage in the change as well. (Desire)
- Coaches—An employee’s manager is the person who is most
immediately involved in training employees and building the
necessary skills and competencies to successfully adopt the
change. As coaches, managers and supervisors must ensure their
employees have the necessary resources to be able to adopt the
change. Finally, managers must support their employees
throughout the change. As discussed with the communications
lever, managers are the best providers of reinforcement and
recognition. (Knowledge,
Ability,
Reinforcement)
- Resistance managers—As the person closest to employees,
managers are often the most effective resistance managers when
it comes to identifying and managing individual resistance and
removing barriers. (Desire)
Training lever
Training includes not only training on the new skills or
processes required for the change, but also training on change
management. The knowledge of how to do the change is just as
important as the knowledge of how to manage the change, both
individually and with employees. Likewise, having the
ability to
do the change and the ability to manage the change must both be
in place to reach to ultimate outcome—the desired business
results.
Resistance management lever
There are three aspects of resistance management that
specifically target building desire
to engage and participate in
a change.
- Resistance prevention is applying tools and processes to
manage the people side of change upfront which can limit resistance. In other words, using effective change
management can help prevent resistance.
- Proactive resistance management is the identification
and anticipation of resistance early in the change process.
This early planning for resistance allows for the design of
pre-emptive measures against that resistance.
- Reactive resistance management includes a set
of steps that can be followed when resistance is persistent
and enduring, specifically on an individual level.
Developing the five levers
These five change management activities or levers are
tailored to individual projects by conducting assessments that
measure the magnitude of the change, readiness of the
organization and the change management competency of involved
sponsors. The first phase of the Prosci® 3-Phase
Change Management Process includes these assessments as part of
the strategy formulation that will ultimately direct the
development of the five levers. As such, the resulting plans or
levers will be customized, scaled and targeted to the project
and to the organization. These levers can then be integrated
into the overall project plan to help collectively move
individuals through change, and ultimately, to achieve the
desired outcomes of the project.
Applying the five levers
You can access the tools the Prosci Methodology for
creating these five levers in one of three ways:
* Read the first tutorial describing
the five levers of change management at:
www.change-management.com/tutorial-five-levers-mod1.htm
* Read the second tutorial with data on the use of the
five levers of change management at:
www.change-management.com/tutorial-five-levers-mod2.htm
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