Implementing change in an organisation

Editor's Notes

• #2: Hello and Good afternoon (Gutten tag). Hope you had a nice and productive day. I know that it’s probably been a long day for you and you are probably tired so I’m going to try to make this presentation as engaging as possible. Stay with me for the next half an hour and I’ll give you an insight on Why we need change in our organisations and how to implement it so that it stays. It’s funny how change works, as humans we tend to resist change, our brains tend to be more comfortable with what’s already proven to work, but at the same time we like to evolve and progress. Imagine if I told you that there is a new machine that could teletransport you to your home, would you be the first in line to try it? You’d probably think mmm let someone else try it first, what if I’m ‘rebuilt in the wrong way on the other end? What if it’s painful? What if it’s radioactive and causes strange illnesses? Our brain has and innate predisposition to consider risks before we take any steps, this is part of our evolution is ok, changes in our lives have to come in small increments, and in that note… But first of all let me show you an example of what happens when we try to impose change in the wrong way, in a way that it’s
• #4: So who am I and why am I here talking to you? My name is Jose Truchado, and I have been working in the travel industry for more than 20 years, and I was there when the first steps were taken in the Online travel sector, in fact in 1998 I became an entrepreneur and created with 3 other friends one of the first and top online travel agencies in Spain called Destinia.com, then worked for one of the biggest online corporations in the world – Expedia- and then moved on to create my own Marketing and Mentoring agency Loud Voice media, under which one of my latest projects is a Youtube channel where we post videos that help people like you progress in their digital and professional careers.
• #5: Why are we here, I was talking to the organisers this morning about how people are going to conferences less and less, and one of the reasons why it might be that people expect to find the same thing every year so they think why bother, This is an extremely traditional industry that has a track record of having trouble implementing change, Few organizations have escaped the need for major change in the past decade as new technologies and global crises have reshaped entire industries. If anything, the pace of organizational change has accelerated and its magnitude has amplified and this include our sector So my objective by the end of this session is that at least you have the question in your mind, do we need change? And if so? How can we implement it, and hopefully this presentation will give you some hints that will partially answer that question.
• #6: So change is not an option, nowadays it’s a necessity if you want to stay relevant and in the market. Restructuring, cost cutting, post-merger integration, geographic expansion, new product rollouts, IT transformation — all require people to fundamentally change the way they work. However, the fact that change has become more frequent does not mean that it is easier. To deliver the business objectives of a major change program, people need to adopt and sustain new ways of working — and this is as challenging as ever. Change allows us to evolve and move forward but humans are creatures of habit that tend to fold back to what’s known, to what works.
• #7: Remember when I talked about my experience, I was one of the founders of Destinia.com, one of the first online travel agencies in Spain. We started operating in 1998 and for those of you that were in this industry at that time you can probably remember that fax machines were still being heavily used at that time, in fact I still remember how I would confirm bookings by sending faxes to the hotels reservation desk, things have changed since then, now we have emails, and dashboard allocations that automate some of these processes, but how long has this taken us? We are 20 years later and not much further compared to other industries (phone, automotive, etc) Especially when we are talking about MICE remember when I said I created one of the first online travel agencies in Spain? Destinia.com, we started in 1998, one of the biggest problems we had when we started was to get hotels and hotel chains to believe in our technology, I still remember having to make phone calls to book hotels for our clients and to have to send the confirmation and credit card details by fax!!!!
• #8: Overcoming resistance to change in the workplace doesn’t have to be a constant battle. Even though change is ever present, both in the market and within organizations transition does not need to be a struggle, especially regarding those that will help the team in the long run. With a forward looking and proactive strategy, resistance to change is first reduced and then eliminated. According to a study done by PW&C in 2013 , What successful approaches to change have in common is that they balance formal and informal levers in a change program, addressing both the “boxes and lines” of the organizational structure and the “unwritten rules” of how decisions are made and what creates pride in the organization. Ok all that sounds very complicated so let’s untangle it and put it in a simple structure.
• #9: Change is, at its core, a people process. The most brilliantly designed business transformation efforts can, and often do, fail because they do not capture the hearts and minds of the people who need to operate differently to deliver the change, people in charge of implementing the change need to understand the what are we doing and how are we doing it? (increase shareholder value is not a why) Why is is important to implement change, you need to implement change through purpose, it needs to relate back to personal motivators
• #10: People are creatures of habit; they resist adopting new mind-sets, practices, and behaviors. Even in cases where a transformation program is pushed through and initially hailed as a success, many employees revert back to the old way of doing things within a matter of months. To achieve and sustain transformational change, companies must embed the change at every level, and that is very hard to do — but it has never been more important. A prerequisite to any viable change program is a clear-eyed assessment of the impact it will have on various populations in the organization.
• #11: Change starts with people and belongs to people, if people in the organization don’t embrace change then it’s destined to fail, so it’s important to build an emotional case as well as a rational case so people can relate to change and it’s consequences. Let’s look at the steps we need to take in order to implement a culture of change.
• #12: The blunt truth is that most change initiatives are done “to” employees, not “with” them or “by” them. A change strategy is mapped out at the top of the organization and then rolled out through a central program office. However, while executives are pushing behavior change from the top and expecting it to cascade through the formal structure, an informal culture left to instinct and chance will likely dig in its heels. The naysayers will continue to promote old assumptions and generate negative rumours. Nostalgia will exert a powerful pull of inertia. Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory, developed by E.M. Rogers in 1962, is one of the oldest social science theories. It originated in communication to explain how, over time, an idea or product gains momentum and diffuses (or spreads) through a specific population or social system. The end result of this diffusion is that people, as part of a social system, adopt a new idea, behavior, or product.     Adoption of a new idea, behavior, or product (i.e., "innovation") does not happen simultaneously in a social system; rather it is a process whereby some people are more apt to adopt the innovation than others.   Researchers have found that people who adopt an innovation early have different characteristics than people who adopt an innovation later. When promoting an innovation to a target population, it is important to understand the characteristics of the target population that will help or hinder adoption of the innovation. There are five established adopter categories, Innovators - These are people who want to be the first to try the innovation. They are venturesome and interested in new ideas. These people are very willing to take risks, and are often the first to develop new ideas. Very little, if anything, needs to be done to appeal to this population, Early Adopters - These are people who represent opinion leaders. They enjoy leadership roles, and embrace change opportunities. They are already aware of the need to change and so are very comfortable adopting new ideas. Strategies to appeal to this population include how-to manuals and information sheets on implementation. They do not need information to convince them to change. in fact they can help promote change. Early Majority - These people are rarely leaders, but they do adopt new ideas before the average person. That said, they typically need to see evidence that the innovation works before they are willing to adopt it. Strategies to appeal to this population include success stories and evidence of the innovation's effectiveness. Late Majority - These people are skeptical of change, and will only adopt an innovation after it has been tried by the majority. Strategies to appeal to this population include information on how many other people have tried the innovation and have adopted it successfully. Laggards - These people are bound by tradition and very conservative. They are very skeptical of change and are the hardest group to bring on board. Strategies to appeal to this population include statistics, fear appeals, and pressure from people in the other adopter groups. Source: http://blog.leanmonitor.com/early-adopters-allies-launching-product/
• #13: People find change unsettling, even though change is a constant in personal lives as well as professional environments. They will need the support of a positive leader who inspires free thought, honest communication, and creativity as personal and team development is encouraged.  Every organizational change, whether large or small, requires one or more change agents. A change agent is anyone who has the skill and power to stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate the change effort. Change agents may be either external or internal. The success of any change effort depends heavily on the quality and workability of the relationship between the change agent and the key decision makers within the organization. Remain positive and supportive https://naaee.org/sites/default/files/lunenburg_fred_c._managing_change_the_role_of_change_agent_ijmba_v13_n1_2010.pdf
• #14: Investigate Implementing change is rarely as straightforward as executing obvious activities. Dealing with people’s behaviors and attitudes usually requires digging below the surface to understand the dynamics of the organization. Change agents look for clues that give away what is really preventing change from happening, so they can determine the steps most likely to remove obstacles and bring about success. Change agents are observant and analytical. Advocate Every organizational change needs someone who speaks up in favour of it and keeps attention on it. Change agents gain support for the initiative and engage people to participate. They also keep beating the drum of change when everyone else is busy with other activities. Change agents are vocal and persistent. Encourage Change happens when individuals alter their own activities, behaviors and attitudes. People experience varied emotions as their sense of stability is removed. In most cases, they are required to take risks and step outside their comfort zones. As a change agent, understand the personal implications of people involved, so you can help people feel better about making the changes. Change agents listen and encourage. Facilitate One of the key activities of a change agent is finding ways to help people change. Change agents clarify the change and make it easier to perform. As a facilitator, you design systems, tools, forms, and processes to enable people to succeed as they go through change. Change agents are helpful and creative. Mediate Different groups and individuals undergoing change in an organization frequently have opposing priorities. Change agents manage conflict by helping different parties see the situation from the other’s point of view, and by finding common goals. They work to improve understanding and reduce friction between multiple parties so they can collaborate to implement change. Change agents are peacemakers. Advise Change agents rely on their expertise to build their authority within the organization. By sharing knowledge, they demonstrate that they can be relied upon to point people in the right direction. Sometimes knowledge transfer occurs directly through training, but it also happens every day in meetings and conversations. Change agents are confident and knowledgeable. Manage A change agent ensures that there are goals, targets, and due dates for the project. Then they keep people on track to achieve them. Change agents find ways to hold people accountable, and make sure that appropriate rewards – or punishments – are handed out as necessary. Change agents are determined and conscientious. As you implement change in your organization, pay attention to the roles you play most often, and which you feel most comfortable filling. Select which hat will make you most effective in different situations. As you increase your versatility, you will improve your effectiveness as a change agent.
• #16: leaders who inspire a cultural shift in their staff have the greatest success in managing change. In a 2013 PwC survey, nearly two thirds of staff surveyed felt that a top leader is in charge of change management and almost half felt that top leaders should be in charge of cultural change. The good news here is that the same number of people who felt that cultural change is also their responsibility.  Leading the change means that senior executives must be not only “on top” of the change program, but also “in front,” modeling the new behaviors they are asking of their people and holding one another accountable for their successful adoption. So, for instance, when executives talk about creating a performance culture, they must demonstrate through their Strategy what that means
• #17: We have seen many examples of ineffective goals that only serve to confuse people and hamper the change program. Here are some basic tips for making sure that your program goals are working for you and not against you. Are your goals linked to the mission, vision and strategic direction of your organization or organizational unit? Or are they peripheral to the organization, ready to be jettisoned when resources get tight or a new fad comes along? Are they SMART goals? That is, are they stated so that they are: Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time framed
• #18: Remember the example I showed you before about the XEROX computer, that was an example where change didn’t happen because of many reasons, being some of them how drastic the change was, a successful change plane should be created around cycles of smaller changes. People need to be trained and they need to understand why the change is happening and how it’s going to impact them.
• #19: Agile methodology is commonly used in the tech industry to ensure that products are developed in a way that they can adapt to ever changing needs of current markets, this same methodology can be used in other areas and implementing change in your organization can be one of them,. Creating minicycles where the change is broken down in smaller milestones that are later tested and evaluated to adapt the overall plan accordingly can take the Change Plan to a higher level of efficiency
• #20: Habits: How are they formed, and how can we change them? Habits are behavioural patterns that have turned into an automatic routine through repetition. When our behaviour has a positive outcome, the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is a hormone associated with the feeling of happiness, is released, resulting in an increase in the likelihood of a repetition of the behaviour. At a neuropsychological level, habits activate neurons which fire together in certain patterns. When the habit is formed, this pattern becomes clearer, and the neurons fire together in the brain in an increasingly synchronous way. Gradually, our behaviour becomes more automated and requires less energy. This is pretty clever, because it means that we can focus our mental energy on something else! However, it requires an enormous amount of energy to break the established habit pattern. Here, you as a change leader compete with the neurological system of the body. Realising employees’ potential of strength provides an initial advantage, as it creates the energy necessary to break old habits and move towards the formation of new patterns at the individual level.
• #21: In order for you to further optimise the change process, we will go through how you might proceed, inspired by a neuroleadership model (Ellington & McFadden, 2013). We have placed the process with which you change habits at the core of the change cycle. This way, you can help the employees shift out of old habits into new ways of thinking and being. The neuro-based learning process is shown here: If new patterns are to be embedded, you need to evoke attention to the desired change that has a psychologically engaging impact. Strength use is a good way to do this. Furthermore, attention needs to be held long enough to consolidate new patterns that correlate with changes in assumptions, emotional responses, attitudes and behaviour. The more you train a behaviour, the better it is consolidated in the brain. How to use the entire change circle 1. Engage You need to steer towards the desired behaviour. The organising principle of the brain is to minimise danger and maximise reward (Gordon, 2000). Focusing on employees’ strength-based behaviour will seem rewarding, as you reflect on barriers and new behaviour. If you, in contrast, focus on what the employee does wrong, it can induce a threat state that creates unnecessary noise in the brain. A sense of not being good enough affects the brain, resulting in disengaged behaviour – which may have been what you thought was resistance to change? 2. Move to insight The idea of own strength use will make changes visible in a constructive manner. The employee has a feeling of possessing strengths that may be reinforced or used in new ways or new areas related to the organisational requirements. Therefore, help them bring out their aha moments and most successful performance, which are an expression of optimal strength use, and make sure to explore these strengths. Insights create positive emotions and permanent neural changes in the brain. The behaviour will especially be remembered because the authentic self is in play. 3. Break unwanted patterns Every time you see small steps in the right direction as a sign of new strength-based behaviour, enquire into it. Acknowledge it and let the employee continue this behaviour. This way, the employee breaks old patterns because, through reward, it leads to the creation of new neural pathways in the brain that consolidate new emotional responses, thinking and behaviour related to the work tasks. 4. Evaluate and adapt Here it’s important to ensure ongoing follow-up on the learning that comes from a balanced and renewed strength use. The employee must be given relevant and concrete feedback on his/ her strengths in the situation that is related to the desire for change. This activates more reflection and additional insights into a learning cycle that leads to a deeper and more lasting level of engagement. Through new neural pathways in the brain, new habits are formed that support the agreed achievement of goals and are related to the strategic change requirements. 5. Develop new behaviour If new thinking and behaviour are to be maintained as sustainable change, they need to be reinforced. The physical changes that have occurred in the plastic brain and that correlate with the new strength use depend on the mental state of attention they are given. Thus, by means of strength-based leadership, you need to repeatedly and on an ongoing basis give attention to the strength use and new habits by supporting, articulating and reinforcing habit-forming activities in those moments, when you see that real change is getting closer.
• #22: It’s virtually impossible to implement change in an organization in a way that sticks without involving some kind of incentive which can take the form of a financial or non-financial incentive. In fact the mix of the two of them is the perfect solution. When we talk about incentives, we tend to think that they have to bee money related, but research has shown many times that financial rewords only work to a certain point, don’t underestimate the potential of personal growth, career progression, and other non financial incentives that can be mutually beneficial for both the employee and the organization.