09: Change Management

Agile HR Ahead

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It may be time for HR to change its approach to change management. Change management is probably one of the most critical core competencies required of HR professionals. The profession of HR, however, seems to be lagging behind the very thing that it needs to be leading.

The cause for this lag is explored in recent articles that come from the technology sector. They explore how responsiveness and agility are embedded in business approaches using pro-active systems thinking. Due to the lack of agility on the part of HR, our profession as a function appears to be struggling to keep up with the businesses we are supposed to serve.

Click here to read why HR needs to be agile.

Click here to read more about agility in HR.

As noted in these articles, an agile HR approach includes increased responsiveness, catching up with business language in an authentic way and reducing reliance on out-dated systems just because they used to be ‘best practice’. In Jeff Gothen’s article, he describes the challenges involved in having employees at ING re-interview for their jobs in order to implement systems change. This resulted in a ‘staggering’ 40% of ING employees either changing jobs or leaving the organization.  Not because they did not have the skills, but because they needed to have a different organizational mindset. It was HR’s role to understand and implement what that cultural mind set looked like and felt like in order to make this type of organizational change happen. In order to implement this change for others, it seems critical for the mindset in HR to be changed first.

Agile HR means allowing more time to reflect on organizational practices. It means taking a critical look at what is working or not working to meet the needs of the business and responding proactively when those needs are not being met. HR can not be perceived as the organizational anchor due to its reliance on ‘old-ways’ systems thinking that approaches change as an event to be managed.

Agile HR means hoisting the sails and navigating through the seas of constant change, leading to new ways of thinking.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Identify one HR practice that is perceived as unresponsive to the changing needs in the current workplace.
  2. If you had to re-interview for your current job, would you hire yourself? Explain your rationale.
  3. What does agile HR mean to you as an HR professional?

Time for Disruption

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To paraphrase Heraclitus, change is the only constant – nothing stands still. This, it would seem, is true of the theories that shape change-management itself. With the evolution of technological innovations, we have left behind ‘traditional’ change paradigms and have moved into the realm of data-based disruptors impacting organizational change.

Disruption embraces a tumultuous approach to existing business practices. It turns traditional practices on their heads, through the rapid implementation of technology-based systems. Disruption leads to the destruction of the old ways in order for new ways to take root and grow.

As disruptors impact all levels of organizational strategy, Human Resources must react and respond constructively in order to overcome any of the destructive elements. Simultaneously we must push for new, creative approaches in HR’s technology-based new world.

Canadian-focused HR disruptors are explored in a round table discussion posted by Human Resources Director Canada.

Key messages arising from this panel discussion include the impact of the ‘want it now’ customer, which translates into the ‘want it now’ employee. Human Resources must be adaptive, nimble and mobile in order to meet the challenges of all consumers including those within our own workforces.

Disruptors are here and they are carving the path for Human Resources planning and strategy. According to the experts, as Human Resources practitioners, we cannot be tethered to the past because that is an anchor leading to organizational death and destruction.

Today’s disruptors must be perceived as agents of freedom compelling us forward into the constant of ongoing change.

Best to embrace it. Here it comes!

Discussion Questions:

  1. What does the term ‘disruptors’ mean to you as an HR professional?
  2. How does the perception that employees are customers shape your own approach to working as a Human Resources professional?
  3. What does the Human Resources department need to do in order to meet the demands of the ‘want it and want it now’ approach from customers and/or employees?

Perfection Can Wait

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A red button with the word Action on it, representing the need to act to affect change, achieve a goal or take a stand for what you believe in
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“Nothing kills progress like brilliant strategy.”

This quote is from the book, Bet on Me, by Canadian business leader Annette Verschure, which explores the effective implementation of leadership strategies.

Canadian Business recently published an excerpt which provides an interesting insight into the link between the need for a plan and the need for action. Verschure argues that the effective organizational leader must commit to action instead of waiting around for the perfection of a fully realized strategic plan.

Click here to read the excerpt.

While Vershcure focuses on the need for decisive action, this does not mean that there is no need for a big picture vision. In fact, it is precisely the big goal, the big idea, which provides the target for setting the leadership and organizational sights for the future. According to Verschure, the risk of waiting for the absolute perfection of every detail of a strategic plan to be in place before taking action can stop the process from launching in the first place.

How many of us get stuck by the need for perfection before we decide to move forward? It is easy to get caught in a cycle of paralysis because the fear of moving forward is greater than the risk of standing still. We need a big push to stop that cycle and just get started.

For organizations, the same principle applies. At some point, the leader must determine that waiting for the perfect plan will stifle the benefits of moving forward. With the big-picture goal in sight, the action plan can start the organization moving in the right direction and prepare for adjustments along the way.

Perfection is not necessary. Good enough should suffice.

If it is good enough, it means that it is time to go.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does having a plan force you to act, or prevent you from acting?
  2. What steps are necessary to ensure that the organization is not stuck in constant planning?
  3. What role does timing play for effective implementation of an action plan?
  4. From your reading of the excerpt, why is the development of effective relationships so critical in ensuring effective implementation of an action plan?

The Changing Role of Change Management

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It seems trite to say that change is difficult. There is nothing simple about change or the numerous variables that go along with it.  Even the concept of defining change, as a process of interlocking steps, is complex and challenging.

When we think about our own personal reactions to change, how many of us have decided to do something differently just because someone else suggested we should? The answer to that is probably, never.

Most of us need multiple, compelling reasons to make changes in our lives, both positive and negative.  We need constant reinforcement along the path to making a successful change.  We need someone to push us forward when the backwards pull of inertia is too strong.  We need someone to shake us out of our familiar habits when they become far too tempting and we want to go back to the comfort of where we began.  We need someone to show us why we should make the change.  We need someone to give us concrete rewards once we have achieved success along the way. We need others to be engaged with us all the way along.

Having said that, there is nothing linear about the change management process.  It does not follow a straight path from the decision to make a change to a successful conclusion where the change is complete and nothing else happens.   For some of us, we go through significant changes without even realizing that they have happened until we have had time to reflect and observe that which is different in our lives between ‘now’ and ‘then’.  Again, we may need someone else to point out that we are in a different place, if we are not able to see it for ourselves when we get there.

In the complexity of the change process, we must rely on numerous sources to help us through the most challenging of times.  It is no different for organizations when they go through similar change processes.

Successful organizations must rely on the commitment from multiple sources to keep the change process moving forward.  Catherine Smithson outlines the need for a variety of roles within organizations managing change.

Click Here to Read the Article.

While Smithson is clear in identifying the need for a Change Management leader, she also identifies the continuing need to have multiple roles committed to the process in different parts of the organization. Organizational change does not happen through the allocation of a change management project to one person in particular. It happens by having different roles embedded and committed to making change happen. These roles must push, pull, challenge, reward, and reflect upon the complexities of the journey along the way.

Change might be good, but surely, it is not easy to do it alone.

Discussion Questions:

  1. When thinking about your own experience, when you wanted to make a change who did you rely upon to make that change happen?
  2. What types of pressures would force an organization to make changes?
  3. What types of rewards do employees need to stay on the path of continued change?
  4. How can organizations identify the completion of a change process?
  5. Which roles or functions in an organization must be involved in making change happen?

The Drive Force for Change – May the Forces Be With You!

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Knowing your forces is the only way to really manage change.

Many geeks, and non-geeks alike, are excited about the upcoming release of the New Star Wars reboot Episode VII – The Force Awakens.  The title is an excellent segway into a discussion of the concept of Kurt Lewin’s force-field analysis as a model to assist change. As an HR Professional, you must deeply understand what will move change forward or what will hold it back.

Forces, whether driving or resisting, are made up of people, habits, customs, and attitudes.  No wonder organizational change is so difficult to implement; there are so many variables pulling individuals and organizations in various directions.

The big question to ask, as well as answer, is – Do the driving forces outweigh the restraining forces?

The following 6 minute video, from Alanis Business Academy, gives you an overview of how to conduct a force-field analysis.

Source: Alanis Business Academy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRAKmzsYLG8. The above content constitutes a link to the source website.  Click on the play icon to stream the video

Many organization who want change to occur only focus on the driving forces and completely forget about the resisting forces until it is too late.  Don’t fall into this trap! Be prepared and make sure you analyse the driving and resisting forces, as described by Kurt Lewin.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How can HR professionals convince senior management that a force-field analysis would be beneficial before undergoing change?
  2. Think about a personal change you want to accomplish.  Identify all the driving and restraining forces that may be acting on you when you attempt to make this change.