Category Archives: Change Competence

Embedding Change – Making It Stick And Creating A Culture

Posted on 26 October 2012 by Wendy Mason | Leave a comment

Embedding Change – Making It Stick And Creating A Culture

Here are some ways to make sure the change in your organization is successful

Give them the evidence Show people over and over that the change is real. Provide them with a steady stream of evidence to prove that the change has happened and is successful. Set out to deliver real results at regular intervals in your change process and then tell people about them – don’t just wait for the big bang at the end. Get people involved and then get them to talk about their involvement. Make sure everyone hears the news.
Financial reward When loyalty and the joy of the job are not enough to keep people, they may need some financial or other rewards. The promise of future reward may be enough to keep them engaged but make sure it isn’t too far out to be enticing — usually reasonable reward needs to be within a twelve-month timeframe. This risk is that when the reward is gained, you may lose them. If you want them to stay, you may need to keep a rolling “golden handcuff “ system
Build change into formal systems and structures After a while, institutionalized things become so entrenched, people forget to resist and just do what is required, even if they do not agree with them. So you can make changes stick by building them into the formal fabric of the organization, for example, in standards and personal objectives.
Give them a new challenge A challenge is a great motivator that can focus people on new and different things. Get people to keep up interest in a change by giving them new challenges related to the change. Make sure the challenges really stimulate them and keep them looking to the future.
Reward people for doing the right things. A surprisingly common trap in change is to ask (or even demand) that people change, yet the reward system that is driving their behavior is not changed. Asking for teamwork then rewarding people as individuals is a very common example. So when you make a change, make sure that you align the reward system with the changes that you want to happen.
Rites of passage Rituals are symbolic acts to which we attribute significant meaning. A celebration to mark a change is used in many cultures, ranging from rites of passage to manhood for aboriginal tribes to the wedding ceremonies of Christian and other religions. Such ritual passages are often remembered with great nostalgia, and even the remembrance of them becomes ritualized. When a change is completed, celebrate with a party or some other ritualized recognition of the passing of a key milestone. You can also start a change with a wake (which is a party that is held to celebrate the life of someone who has died) to symbolize letting go of the past. Create new rituals to help shift the culture to a new form. Use these, if possible, to replace the rituals that already exist.
Socializing Build your change into the social fabric. A change that is socialized becomes normal and the ‘way things are’. When something becomes a social norm, people will be far more unlikely to oppose it as to do so is to oppose the group and its leaders. Seal changes by building them into the social structures. Give social leaders prominent positions in the change. When they feel ownership for it, they will talk about it and sell it to others.

If you have other ideas for embedding change and making it successful, please share them here.
Wendy Mason is a career coach. She helps people reach their goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life. Before working as a coach, Wendy had a long career in both the public and private sectors in general management and consultancy as well as spells in HR. She now divides her time between coaching and writing. You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com and find out more at http://wisewolfcoaching.com

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Posted in change, Change Competence, Change Management

Tagged advice, business, business change programmes, change cycle, Change Models, Evidence stream, Golden handcuffs, Institutionalization, Job Skills, leadership, Lewin, Management, New challenge, organisational change, Re-Freezing, resource, Reward alignment, Rites of passage, Socializing, support, tips

Leading Change – People Matter

Posted on 14 October 2012 by Wendy Mason | Leave a comment

Leading Change – People Matter

This is not a new post but I thought it was worth re-posting because the message holds good for all time

I’ve just seen an advert for a “change management lead” for a multi-national facilities management company – they provide everything from reception services to construction. It asks for Prince2 (project management skills) and Six Sigma (improving the quality of process outputs) certification. It mentions the enterprise management system used by the organisation and says the post-holder would be required to set up and document SLAs and define KPIs. Sadly, beyond asking for the candidate to have strong interpersonal skills, the one thing it doesn’t mention is PEOPLE and leading people – this from a company in the heart of the services sector!

Makes you wonder doesn’t it? If a services organisation doesn’t know enough about change to know that people, and the leadership of people, are at the heart of any change then we really do have a long way to go to spread the message! But something else strikes me as well! If the applicant is required to lead change then this company doesn’t really know much about leadership either and that has much wider implications!

Wendy Mason is a career coach. She helps people reach their goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life. Before working as a coach, Wendy had a long career in both the public and private sectors in general management and consultancy as well as spells in HR. She now divides her time between coaching and writing. You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com and find out more at http://wisewolfcoaching.com

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Posted in change, Change Competence, Competencies, Facilities Management, Job Skills, leadership

Tagged business change programmes, Change Management, Competencies, Debate, facilities management, leadership, Management, Organizational Change, Project Management

Managing Change – The Process Of Transition

Posted on 5 October 2012 by Wendy Mason | 1 Comment

Managing Change – The Process Of Transition

I found the wonderful diagram below on an NHS website at this link. Different types of change need different approaches, but basically managers need to make sure that they support their team through any kind of change.

Individuals need to be given space to prepare themselves for change, but also they need to take responsibility themselves for that preparation. The diagram illustrates the process of transition that people often go through during the course of change. Of course,the journey can vary a lot between people but this is a wonderful way to picture what is happening.

It often helps to share an illustration like this, and talk about it, with people going through change. It helps them to begin to understand what is happening to them and how they are responding.

The process of transition

Bewildered by the change you have to make – here is help!(wisewolftalking.com)

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Posted in change, Change Competence, Change Management, Change Models

Tagged change, change cycle, change diagram, Change Management, Change Models, grief cycle, Leading Change, Management, Managing Change, Transition

THE SIMPLEST MODEL OF CHANGE – LEWIN’S FREEZE PHASES

Posted on 7 September 2012 by Wendy Mason | 3 Comments

THE SIMPLEST MODEL OF CHANGE – LEWIN’S FREEZE PHASES

In the early 20th century, psychologist Kurt Lewin identified three stages of change that are still the basis of many approaches today.

Unfreeze

People like to feel safe, and in control,and their sense of identity is tied into their present environment; particularly if it has been relatively stable for a while! This creates a feeling of comfort and any challenges to it, even those which may offer significant benefit, can cause discomfort. See why change hurts!

Talking about the future is rarely enough to move them from this ‘frozen’ state and significant work is usually required to ‘unfreeze’ them and get them moving. In frustration some managers start using a Push method to get them moving – coercing them into a change. This can create a lot of unhappiness and frustration.

The Pull method of leadership, persuasion and modeling behavior takes longer but has a better long-term effect . The term ‘change ready’ is often used to describe people who are “unfrozen” and ready to take the next step. Some people become ready for change fairly easily, whilst others take a long time to let go of their comfortable current realities.

Transition

For Lewin change is a journey. This journey may not be that simple and the person may need to go through several stages of misunderstanding before they get to the other side.

A classic trap in change is for the leaders to spend months on their own personal journeys and then expect everyone else to cross the chasm in a single bound.

Transition takes time and needs leadership and support! But sometimes transition can also be a pleasant trap – it may feel better to travel hopefully than to arrive – particularly for the team leading the change.

Refreeze

At the other end of the journey, the final goal is to ‘refreeze’, putting down roots again and establishing the new place of stability – embedding new processes and developing a new culture.

In practice, refreezing may be a slow process as transitions seldom stop cleanly, but go more in fits and starts with a long tail of bits and pieces. There are good and bad things about this.

In modern organizations, this stage is often rather tentative as the next change may well be around the next corner. What is often encouraged, then, is more of a state of ‘slushiness’ where freezing is never really achieved (theoretically making the next unfreezing easier). The danger with this that many organizations have found is that people fall into a state of change shock, where they work at a low level of efficiency and effectiveness as they await the next change.

If you are serious about being a better leader and doing your best in your career while having a good life at home, I think you will find our new programme interesting! http://gettingtherewithwisewolf.com/

Wendy Mason is a career coach working mainly with managers and professionals who want to make that jump to senior level while maintaining a good work/life balance. Before working as a coach, Wendy had a long career in both the public and private sectors in general management and consultancy as well as spells in HR. She now divides her time between face to face coaching, and coaching and blogging on-line. You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com and find out more at http://wisewolfcoaching.com

Getting There – Wendy’s Career and Personal Development Programme

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Posted in change, Change Competence, Change Gurus, Change Models, Job Skills, leadership, Management, Programme Management, Project Management, Work

Tagged advice, business, business change programmes, change, Change Management, Freeze Phases, Job Skills, Kurt Lewin, leadership, Leading Change, Management, Managing Change, organisational change, Organizational Change, ready for change, resource, support, tips, Transtheoretical model

Be Successful – Making A Personal Change – Part 5 Select Your Goals For Change

Posted on 29 June 2012 by Wendy Mason | 1 Comment

Be Successful – Making A Personal Change – Part 5 Select Your Goals For Change

You can find the earlier posts in this series at the links below. In the last two posts I asked you to start thinking about emotions. I explained how identifying your troublesome emotion helps you gain control and make sure things turn out more positively for you in the future. On top of that, I asked you to think about what is most difficult for you. I said that success depends on being very honest with yourself.

Now we know what the problems are, we are going to set some goals. Goals are the outcomes that you want from your change. Selecting them sounds very simple but there are things that you would be wise to avoid.

Don’t choose a goal that you can’t achieve or that depends on someone else changing first. For example, you can decide that you will try to be less jealous in a relationship. But you can’t control your partner’s behavior so that he does less of whatever it is that triggers your jealousy. Though, you might decide that in future, instead of getting upset, you will explain to him quietly what has just happened to make you feel unhappy
Don’t select quick-fix, short-term goals that don’t really deal with the underlying problem. You’ll simply feel more frustrated next time
Do not set out your goals in negative terms, for example, “I don’t want to keep eating foods that do me harm”. Instead, focus on the positive – “I want to eat a healthy diet and feel fitter”.
Don’t set yourself unrealistic goals which are either too challenging – “I will run three miles a day” for example – when you first start running. You will probably fail, feel miserable and give up. But nor should you set the bar too low – “I will run round the block”. That might be so easy it gives you no feeling of satisfaction, so again you give up.
Don’t be too stoical. Don’t be so brave that you don’t make a real change that might relieve your pain and make you happy
Don’t be too vague – for example, “I want to lose weight” is far less effective than “I want to lose 20 pounds by Christmas, so starting now, I will lose 2 pounds each week.”
Don’t set goals that conflict with your values. For example, ”I resolve not to upset my husband by telling him how unhappy his behavior makes me, because I know it upsets him”. His behavior may not be acceptable to you in terms of your values and keeping quiet may damage your self-esteem, as well as feeling miserable and resentful.

Goals you set for yourself are not set in concrete. It will make sense to review them as you make your change. This is to make sure they are still relevant and that they stay challenging, but achievable.

The next post in this series on making a personal change will be about challenging and changing the core beliefs we all carry. They can get in the way of making a personal change to improve our lives.

The earlier posts in this series are below.

Wendy Mason is a Life and Career Coach. She helps people have the confidence they need to be successful at work and to change career while maintaining a good work/life balance. You can email her at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com