Neutralizing change threats in the new year: The Manager's Challenge
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Prosci and the Change Management
Learning Center's final tutorial series of 2008 is titled
Neutralizing
change threats in the new year. Each tutorial
in the series will
address one of the biggest obstacles currently facing change
management professionals and project leaders as this year
comes to a close and the new year begins. Visit the
first tutorial in the series to see all six threats and
a snapshot of the tactics used to neutralize each threat.
This week's threat:
The Manager's Challenge
Obstacle #3 identified by participants
in the 2007
Best
Practices in Change Management benchmarking study was
poor support and alignment with
middle management (behind only ineffective
sponsorship and resistance from employees). Managers
resisted the change and did not effectively support their
employees through change. One of the main culprits for this
obstacle is the manager dilemma.
The "manager dilemma"
The manager dilemma is a result of two
forces at work on managers and supervisors during times of
organizational change. First, managers and supervisors are
themselves being impacted by the change – they must embrace,
internalize and adopt the change to their own work. Second,
they must support their employees during the change as well,
helping them to embrace and adopt the new solution. During
changes in the organization, the managers are often wearing
both the “agent of change” hat and the “recipient of change”
hat. Add to these challenges the fact that middle and
front-line managers are critical to sustaining the
day-to-day operations of the business and often feel
overloaded with that task alone.
This duel role is the
manager dilemma. Project teams, support
functions (like communication, HR, training and OD groups)
and senior leaders often only wear the “agent of change”
hat, while front-line employees and those who ultimately
adopt the change wear only the “recipient of change” hat.
Managers and supervisors wear both hats – the result being
that they have the most difficult role in times of change.
Unfortunately, their duel role is often overlooked and
neglected to the detriment of project and employee
well-being.
Why are managers so important in times of
change?
Managers are critical in times of change because of their
proximity to employees. Projects ultimately impact how
jobs are done in the organization; and employees are the
ones who experience change in their processes,
systems, tools, job roles and/or organization structures.
The project is only successful if employees can successfully
navigate these transitions. And who in the organization is closest to these
effected employees? The managers and supervisors throughout
your organization. |
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Change Management resources
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It is this proximity that led Quy Nguyen Huy to write in his
September 2001 Harvard Business Review article titled, In praise of Middle Managers,
“Indeed, middle managers may be corner-office executive’s most effective
allies when it’s time to make a major change” . Huy goes on
to define four roles for middle managers in times of change: The
Entrepreneur, The Therapist, the Communicator and The Tightrope Artist.
Managers are able to fulfill these roles – and the similar roles
outlined in Prosci’s benchmarking study – because they are close to
employees that bring changes to life in the organization.
To take this line of reasoning one step further, consider the
numerous roles that were cited for managers in Prosci’s 2007 change management study.
- An employee’s manager or supervisor was cited as one of two
preferred senders of change messages (along with someone at the top
of the organization)
- The direct supervisor was cited as the most effective provider
of reinforcement during change.
- Involving a supervisor was one of the top tactics for managing
resistance.
- Engaging a supervisor or manager was one of the top suggestions
for improving communications.
And while you may have many great managers in your organization, they
may have difficulty in time of change. Managing employees through change is in many ways a new competency or skill set that managers and
supervisors must build. Don’t assume that being a great manager is the
same as being a great change manager. It is your (and your
organization’s) responsibility to help build this key competency with
your managers and supervisors.
Tactics for neutralizing the Manager's Challenge
Tackling the manager dilemma; managing change with the most resistant group
In the 2007 study, managers and supervisors were identified as
the most resistant group when changes were introduced. One of the
major causes is that many projects and change teams do not treat
managers as employees first – people who are being tasked with
changing how they do their work as a result of a new project or
initiative. To be successful, managers must be supportive of a
change before they can take the next step of supporting their people
through that very same change.
There are two main tactics for engaging managers and supervisors
and building their support for change.
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Develop targeted change management plans for
manager and supervisors – treat “managers and supervisors” as
its own group of impacted employees when you are introducing a
change into the organization. Develop specific communications
and strategies for this group. Engage this group’s managers and
supervisors – the managers of the managers – in communicating
and coaching activities.
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Address the sources of manager
resistance – treat manager resistance head on. Begin by looking
to the tactics presented in the
managing
resistance module of the "Neutralizing change threats"
tutorial series
– the lessons here are equally applicable
to managers and supervisors. Also take into account unique
sources of resistance for managers and address them. Anticipate
resistance from managers and take proactive steps to get them on
board.
Finally, keep managers and supervisors a step ahead. If you are
asking a group of managers and supervisors to communicate messages
to their employees, don’t send out the talking points in the morning
and expect them to act that afternoon. Give managers and supervisors
time to adjust to new information, to work through their own
resistance and to embrace the change before you ask them to go to
their employees.
Engaging the busiest managers; sharing the role you expect them to play
Managers and supervisors are busy. One of the top reasons that
study participants cited for manager resistance was overload with
current work responsibilities. They were so
consumed with keeping the business running that they didn’t have the
time to play their role in making changes successful. While this is
a valid concern, you can help by making it perfectly clear what role
you expect managers and supervisors to play in times of change.
Prosci’s 2007 benchmarking study identified five roles that
managers and supervisors play in times of change. These five roles,
in rank order, are:
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Role #1: Communicator
- Communicate with direct reports about the change
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Role #2: Advocate -
Demonstrate support for the change
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Role #3: Coach -
Coach employees through the change process
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Role #4: Liaison -
Engage with and provide support to the project team
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Role #5: Resistance manager
- Identify and manage resistance
The value here is making the role concrete. It is no longer a
fuzzy, mysterious role – managers and supervisors are asked to be
communicators, advocates, coaches, liaisons and resistance managers.
Five roles that will directly drive successful change.
While tactic two is about sharing the role you expect, you cannot
assume that these activities come naturally to anyone with a title
of manager. In fact, in many cases these roles involve new skills
and competencies. The final tactic is around helping managers and
supervisors build these competencies.
Building skills; the path to "leading change" competency
The final tactic is to help managers and supervisors build the
skills needed to be great leaders of change. Remember that leading
people through change is a new
competency for many – even for the best managers in
your organization it can be a challenge. “Leading change” must be
viewed as and treated as a competency that can be built.
You and your organization are responsible for building this
competency in your managers and supervisors. Consider “leading
change” as a new competency and offer the training programs your
managers need. Provide them with tools for change management
designed specifically for managers and supervisors. This means not
just sharing a high-level overview of a change management process
that will be used by project teams – but getting in the specifics
around communicating and coaching employees through change.
The competency to lead people through change will require more
than just a training session. Although this is a good start, your
managers will need continuous support as they apply the tools and
approaches they have learned. It takes time to build the competency,
but in the end your managers, their employees and the projects will
benefit.
Finally, it is important to share why managers are important and
“What’s In It For Me?" (or WIIFM) to get managers on board – training is not
enough. Senior leaders and your managers’ managers will play a key
role in getting managers engaged with this new role, especially
given their already busy schedules.
Summary
For your changes to be successful, you need the active support and
participation of managers and supervisors. Their proximity, credibility
and authority with front-line employees cannot be overlooked or
ignored. The challenge you face is overcoming the manager dilemma - that
managers and supervisors are both recipients of and agents of change.
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The graph on the right is an interesting way to view the manager
dilemma. Each manager working on a particular change can be plotted
along the two axis. The horizontal axis is their support (or lack of
support) for the change. The vertical axis is their competency at
leading people through change.
- The top right
quadrant is where you need your managers to be for
changes to be successful - supportive of the change and able
to lead their people through change.
- If managers are in the top
left quadrant, then your efforts need to be
focused on getting them on board with the change (since the
competency exists).
- If managers are in the
bottom right, then your efforts should be
focused on building the competency (since they are already
supportive).
- Managers in the bottom left
require the most effort since both the
support and competency dimensions need work.
Ask yourself: for the project you are currently
supporting, where are your managers? And how will you help them move to the top right quadrant?
Consider what a scatter plot of all of your managers might tell
you about your required next steps for managing change with this
group.
Prosci's Change
Management Guide for Managers is a step-by-step process to
help managers move to the right and up the graph on the right.
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Resources for neutralizing the Manager's Challenge
| If you need to: |
The right resource is: |
Tackle the manager dilemma by
managing
change with the most resistant group |
Prosci's methodology tools include templates,
assessments and guidelines for creating a complete set of
change management plans, including plans targeted for
managers and supervisors. The
Change Management Toolkit is a 3-ring binder with
USB drive. The Change
Management Pilot 2008 is an online tool with 4-click
access to the entire methodology and additional eLearning
modules. |
Engage the busiest managers by sharing
the
role you expect them to play |
The 2007
Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report
includes a comprehensive section focused on managers and
supervisors. The section details the role of managers in
times of change, the most common mistakes made by managers
and the top skills and tools to provide to managers and
supervisors. Additional findings in the report help build
the complete role. The
Change
Management Guide for Managers is a second tool built
around the most important roles as identified in the
research. |
Build skills with managers
and supervisors |
Prosci offers two options for building change management
competency with managers and supervisors. The self-paced
option is the
Change Management Guide for Managers - a toolkit that
covers the full change management process for managers with
numerous worksheets and templates. Prosci also offers a
1-day training program geared for managers and
supervisors. This highly interactive program covers the
foundation of change, managing change and the specific role
of managers and supervisors. Participants work on real data
they collect from their employees to build action plans on
specific change efforts. Taught by former Fortune 500
executives, the program positions managers to be great
leaders of change. |
Coming up
In the next tutorial in this series, the fourth threat is neutralized:
- Engaging a missing sponsor
- Managing resistance to change
- Building middle management support and alignment
- Planning for change management
- Evaluating overall project health
- Avoiding change saturation
Offerings for applying Prosci's change management methodologies:
Training:
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Change
management certification ($2100) - 3-day program where you bring
a project you are working on and apply all of the assessments and
tools as you learn them - taught by former fortune 500 executives at
locations across the US - includes over $1000 in products, including
the Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report, the
Change Management Toolkit and the Change Management Pilot 2010
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Train-the-trainer ($3500) - learn how to teach Prosci change management training programs in your
organization
- Onsite training
- bring Prosci to your location for 3-day certification programs,
4-6 hour executive briefings, 1-day manager programs or 1-day
employee programs - call +1-970-203-9332 for more information
Methodology tools:
-
Change Management Toolkit ($389) - hardcopy 3-ring binder presenting Prosci's change management methodology, includes templates, checklists
and assessments for managing the people side of change (includes USB drive)
- Change
Management Pilot Pro 2010 ($449) - online tool including Prosci's change
management methodology, eLearning modules and downloadable templates,
assessments, presentations and checklists
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Change
Management Guide for Managers and Supervisors ($189) -
tools to help supervisors engage and coach their direct reports
through change (includes 4 copies of the Employee's Survival Guide)
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PCT Analyzer ($149/$349) -
web-based tool for collecting PCT Assessment data, analyzing
results, identifying risks and developing action steps
References and books:
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Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report
($289 / quantity discounts available) - journal-style report with lessons learned and best practices
from 650 participants, presented in an easy-to-use format - reads as
a checklist of what to do and what not to do
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Change Management: the people side of change ($18.95 /
quantity discounts available) - a primer for anyone
involved in organizational change that addresses why manage change,
individual change management and organizational change management
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ADKAR: a model for
change ($18.95 / quantity discounts available) - the definitive work
on Prosci's ADKAR® Model
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Employee's Survival Guide to Change ($14.95 / quantity discounts
available) - a handbook to help
employees survive and thrive during change, answers frequently asked
questions and empowers employees to take charge of change
*** Prosci also offers
leadership packages - groupings of products at discounts that
offer you some of the most helpful and common combinations of Prosci
change management resources
Email this page to a friend
Email a Prosci analyst or
call 970-203-9332 with questions about the methodology, its application, or finding the
right resources to support your change management activities.
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