Chris Ross, a performance, risk management, and change management expert spoke to our class this week on the topic of change models. Chris is involved in several HPT organizations in the US and Canada including ADT. He owns a business called The Engagement Effect, and is a prolific writer on the topic of performance.
It was enlightening to hear Chris break down the complex world of change models in his presentation, ‘Challenge of change: understanding and managing critical elements of change’.
Culture and Climate
Before examining Gilbert’s model of six behavioral factors, Chris urged us to consider both the culture and climate of any organization. While culture is a long-lasting element encompassing organizational beliefs, rituals, norms, jargon, and core values, climate can change quickly and is created by the needs of the moment. Climate changes come from a variety of sources; leaders and supervisors can also influence the climate among frontline workers. Often climate change is uncontrollable though. For instance, the climate in any organization at the time of this post is likely to be heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Essentials of Change
Resistance to change is to be expected and a natural part of the learning process. When explaining how to implement change, Chris was sure to let us know what types of barriers we should be prepared for.
Typical barriers can include:
- Resistance
- Disengagement
- CAVE people – citizens against virtually everything
- Change weariness (meaning failed change attempts)
- What’s in it for me?
- We’ve always done it this way
- Reverting to old ways
Higher level organizational barriers include:
- Lack of vision
- Lack of leadership support – at all levels
- Lack of systems alignment
- A History of poor change efforts
- Lack of time/resources
- Poor communication
- Low or no follow-through (people need repetition and reinforcement)
Chris briefly explained several change models such as Kotter’s model, s7, ADKAR and, the ADT change model. I had read about several of these in our assigned reading. It was easy to get confused when examining so many models and names that are new to me; Chris really helped me understand change models by explaining ways that different change models are the same.
Chris listed nine steps that all the models include:
- Understand the change
- Assess the impact
- Assemble a team of avengers
- Build a vision
- Put a strategy in place
- Win support
- Communication
- Overcome challenges
- Measure success
- Review lessons learned
My Thoughts
Many of the topics Chris touched on are so relatable to me at this time. When Chris started talking about climate, I was driven to think about how the current pandemic has changed my perspective on my current job. I have been in survival mode at work for so long now. His discussion of change weariness also hit home. My job has changed more times in the past 18 months than the last 12 years of working at the company I work for, yet my job title hasn’t changed. It was nice to hear someone validate that emotion and exhaustion.
Chris’s comments on resistance also rang true to me. I have definitely witnessed failed initiatives due to lack of alignment of systems and lack of buy-in from leadership, or just a simple lack of communication. From the outside, communication sounds so simple, but it can be so difficult to do effectively within an organization.
Chris also explained that a vision for change should be a passionate elevator pitch that introduces your ideas and creates buy-in from stakeholders. I was unsure as to what this term really meant until Chris explained it clearly. I feel very fortunate to have participated in this session; it truly gave me a more cohesive idea of how change management works.
References
heckyeahreactiongifs. (9 November 2014). Fire Working GIF. Tumblr. https://heckyeahreactiongifs.tumblr.com/post/102178038475.
