Organizational Change Management

FAQ Query: When discussing transformation, you refer to Organizational Change Management (OCM). What is that all about?

If you are in IT, chances are that the only “Change Management” that you are familiar with is the ITIL process. OCM isn’t that.

Organizational Change Management is all about leading your organization though change and coming out the other end with a realized vision and energized workforce. Probably more business books have probably been written on Change than any other topic that I’m aware of  (I’m a big fan of Katzenbach, Kotter, and Senge) – but don’t expect this answer to be a scholarly treatise.

For me, OCM begins well before any change is on the table. It’s establishing relationships and credibility across the organization. It’s knowing and understanding a wide variety of stakeholder groups, their needs and concerns. It’s an investment of time. Without this investment, you will not be able to answer the first of three key questions asked of a change leader by people before they will support Change – Can I trust you?

In developing the Change, the first (and generally most neglected) step is development of a compelling vision of the “to be” state. It can be tricky to do this without trashing the current state – and, by extension, the people who got you there. It is far preferable to honor the current situation as what has made you successful to-date and position the vision as what is required to take you and the business to the next level of success, most likely due to market forces or other environmental change. This vision is the compelling goal that gets everyone though the gooey, sticky mess of transformation.

Components of the vision must be consistent with cultural values and be described in enough detail to make the vision real and meaningful to all your stakeholder groups. These components can include services, processes, organization structure, technology – whatever is important to paint a comprehensive picture. Being able to articulate the vision and what it means to “me” furthers trust that change leaders have been diligent and are being both forthright and trustworthy.

The next set of to-do’s in our Change has to do with answering the second key question asked of the change leader – Are you committed? In my experience, most of the objections raised by people impacted by change are of the “we tried that already and it didn’t work” variety. To me, this speaks to a lack of commitment by leadership in commitment of time, people or budget – not the capability of the organization.

At this point, we are getting into what most people would agree is an OCM framework: Development of communications, communications planning, stakeholder engagement, leadership alignment, assessment of barriers and enablers, monitoring and feedback loops, readiness assessment, changes to management systems, etc. The development and communication of the OCM program itself early on speaks volumes to the commitment of change leaders to the Change. Ongoing consistency by the change leaders in thought, word and deed re-enforces this answer.

All of these components of OCM are important and necessary for success, but they do not answer the third and most important question asked of the change leader – Do you care about me?

There are a few different models for the stages of change that people go though. Most seem pretty similar to: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Integration. Morale and performance are largely dependent upon what stage a person is in at the time. People need time to move though these stages and will do so at different rates. The OCM program supports this process and must adapt to different stakeholder needs – it is not sufficient, though, to answer the third question.

Your people will judge your answer by how much time you spend working through this with them and how forthright you are in sharing information. No matter how well you have developed your OCM program and communications, you will not have all the answers. Some tips: Lay out the transformation process. Commit to target dates. Celebrate short-term wins. Be open and honest about what you know and when you will have answers to what you don’t. Don’t be afraid to adapt targets and modify decisions based on new information. Demonstrate a good moral compass and empathy. Treat your folks the way that you would like to be treated. Then they will know that you really do care about them and will fully invest themselves in the Change.

The bottom line: As stated in the beginning, OCM is the foundation for any successful transformation and time spent on it is well invested.  Don’t skimp on it.