in the DetailsAbstract:The journey to achieve acceptance and benefit from change initiatives is often perceived to be difficult and "mysterious" not practical, tangible, or navigable. The path and map through the State of Change is not something large and intrusive, or even highly visible. It is subtle, continuous. The little things make the difference. The devil is truly in the details. This paper removes the mystery, and the devil, from the journey by providing practical, executable techniques for managing and leading change, and navigating around the potholes of change resistance during the journey. Successful techniques employed by the CIBER Change Management program are addressed and illustrated.

The Devil is

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The method of leading the way through the State of Change

is not something large and intrusive, or even highly visible.

It is subtle, continuous.

2The Devil is in the Details

The map, and the method of leading the way through the State of Change, is not something large and intrusive, or even highly visible. It is subtle, continuous. The little things make the difference. The devil is in the details.

Leading Change: Start with the End in Sight The driving concept of change leadership is this: changes in a company rarely fail because they were not needed or were poorly planned and executed. They fail because of the natural resis-tance that accompanies all changes in an organization—regardless of the magnitude of the changes.

No matter how necessary a change, it still must be implemented in an environment that includes people—people who are often familiar and comfort-able with the “way things are.” Guiding those people effectively along the path of change requires proactive leadership, training, and a variety of skills and support to overcome resis-tance and to ensure the ultimate success of the project.

The ultimate success of any change initiative is the willingness and ability of the people involved and affected to accept and to benefit from the changes that a project brings to an organization.

To accept, embrace and fully realize the benefits of current and anticipated changes, people must acquire the Four “Cs” of Change:

• Comfort• Competence• Confidence• Control

Leading Change: The Devil is in the Details

Much of the time, for most people (including this author), our “environmental” address is the State of Change. We arrived here quietly and quickly; the move was not heralded with address change forms at the Post Office, new schools for the kids, and Mayflower moving vans. We appeared at our jobs one morning, and recognized that our world, as we knew and understood it, was not going to be exactly the same again. The familiar objectives, duties, processes, information, structures, ways of doing business were not going to be what and how they always were. Even more startling was the realization that we needed to help others make this move: the people who work for us, and the people whom we work for and with.

To weather the dynamic, and sometimes intimidat-ing, climate of this State of Change, our mandate is to manage and lead others, along with their baggage of “the way we were,” into and through the State of Change, to the “promised land”—the land of faster, more efficient, more profitable, greater growth and success. So, where is the map to lead this adventure? Where are the mileposts, the gas stations, the closest Starbucks?

Providing the sense and reality of control to others means helping employees to:

• understand what has to happen• recognize where their input is desired and valuable• identify what they can control themselves, without additional or supervisory permission

Understanding the end of the journey—successfully leading people through the changes—allows us to embark on the move to the State of Change.

Leading Change: The Details of the Journey Now let’s discuss practical application of these techniques using an example of an actual company in a major change initiative.

• Determine the reality of the change atmosphere in the company and the changes A wise person once said, “You cannot fight the devil, until you stand up and look him in the eye.”

Understanding the presence or absence of change resistance, and why there is resistance is too important to overlook. If we do not know if, why, where, and how strongly people resist change, then any plans to address these challenges will not be well-informed decisions, and will likely not hit the mileposts of success. Too often evaluation of the change climate is made by people who filter the analysis through their own prejudices and attitudes, and most often do not reflect the sentiment of the rest of the company.

The CIBER Change Management Program begins with the use of a Change Hardiness Assessment (CHA). The responses to this quick, easy-to- answer survey of people’s current attitudes toward the anticipated changes are tabulated and clearly indicate the change hardiness of a company in relation to 10 different change strategies, 8 of which are resistance strategies and 2 of which are acceptance strategies. Once

The end-in-sight for a change initiative is attain-ment of the objectives. The end of the journey, to lead people to the attainment of the objectives, is to have established the opportunities, the environ-ment, and the “climate” to allow people to acquire the Four Cs.

Seeking comfort means that people desire what is familiar. This means that even if the dog is bad, he’s MY dog: I know his name, he comes when he’s called, and I know just where to scratch his head. Providing comfort means allowing people to get used to the sight, sound, and implications of the anticipated changes. It includes communica-tion and visible symbols of the changes.

Desiring competence implies avoidance of the natural fear that drives the questions of, “Can I learn this? Can I be successful after the changes? What will happen to me, and my job, if I cannot do it/learn it/adapt?” Mitigating these fears means avoiding the pothole of short-cutting education and training for the sake of expediency. It includes providing the opportunity to allow people to become competent.

Achieving and maintaining confidence has multiple implications. In times of change, people may question confidence in their own abilities, confidence in the goals, plans and leadership of the initiative, and even confidence in the leader-ship of their company. After all, just who thought up this change initiative that is creating an upheaval? Building trust in times of change is a significant element of change leadership, and a requirement that cannot be overstated. Proactive, highly visible executive support, prolific and focused communication, and honesty are all requirements for creating, building, and re-building that trust and confidence.

Becoming empowered—having control—is an enormously strong desire, and one that may be perceived as difficult to provide to all people in an organization in times of change. Certainly, asking everyone in the company what they want is not good business. Micro-managing every aspect of the desired end-result (the objectives), or the journey through change, isn’t advisable either.

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4The Devil is in the Details

achieve the changes. The people charged with ensuring that the objectives are achieved are the change champion and the change agents. A change champion must be a person who is respected and listened to within the organization, a positive individual who is not personally change resistant, and a person who is empathetic about the needs of others. This person may be at any level within an organization, but is most often found in a middle or lower management position.

Change agents are most effective when they are solicited as volunteers to the change effort, when they understand the requirements of the initiative, when they understand what is needed to effect change, and when they demonstrate the willingness to put forth personal effort to ensure success. These are the people who will serve as the “faces” of the project and will bring the message and support of change to their departments, divisions or work teams.

• Employ visible symbols of change Once the project has found its memorable name, use it often and everywhere possible: the project room, signs on the cubicles or offices, buttons, table tents on cafeteria tables, on every piece of communication about the initiative.

Other signs of change include posting the project plan, showing milestones achieved on the project room walls, and frequent, visible celebrations that are mentioned in the next details category.

• Celebrate often and publicly—and mourn privately This detail is closely aligned with the visible signs of change and the enjoyment requirement. The celebrations do not have to be lavish or expensive, but should be visible, enjoyable, and loud with the sounds of commendation and applause for the people who have achieved whatever milestone is being celebrated. The motivating effect of applause should not be underrated. There are few sounds as sweet as your own name, followed immediately by applause! Many people will put forth

the reasons for change resistance or acceptance are understood and identified, the reality of the journey is known, and effective plans can be made and executed to address these reasons.

Recognizing the realities of the changes is the second part of “looking the devil in the eye.” The rumor mill and grapevines of most organizations are often faster and more robust (and more interesting!) than communication of the truth. Many people are resistant because of the fear of the unknown. To counter such resistance, organizations must prepare a comprehensive impact analysis or at least a list of what will actually change and the impact these changes will have on the people and organization. Then the organization must communicate this information to employees.

• Name the project This is so important, it needs a category of its own. This is a significant component of comfort. It establishes the reality that this project will happen. It establishes familiarity as a visible sign of change. And it allows people to begin “owning” the project. The importance of naming a project is illustrated by remembering why we do not want a child to name a stray puppy that appears on our doorstep. Once that dog is named, we own it!

A very important note about naming is to avoid the pothole of a boring name! A boring name seriously violates the last detail of “enjoying the journey to the greatest extent possible.” The IT Project or Acme Factory’s ERP Project are never good names! They are not memorable, have no implication of enjoyment or benefit, and will likely not be repeated. The best names will make people smile when they hear them, or at least nod their heads positively.

• Determine the Change Champion and Change Agents The leadership of an organization—the executive sponsors—are the change architects; they define the necessary changes and design the organization and the overall processes to

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what “singing the right song” means-— determining what is in it for them and communicating that publicly and often. Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer promised his friends that they could see the frog in his pocket and his sore toe if they would help him paint. And of course, they did! What is better than a frog and sore toe to a group of river boys! And then, of course, they all celebrated with a raft ride. Tom Sawyer knew how to communicate and motivate!

• Educate and Train Entirely too often, the first cut that may be required to a project’s budget or timeline is education (how something works and why), and training (exactly how we will use this.) Skimping on education and training is the single biggest pothole in the road to the State of Change! Not only does it substantially increase the immediate resistance, the ability to use and benefit from the changes, but it also has long-term implications. Shortcutting training too often means “re-implementation” at a later time; doing again, and paying again for what was already done because the knowledge of how to use it was never there, or was too thin to be transferred to others. As a change leadership technique, education and training have greater impact both short- and long-term than even communication — the category that many believe is the end-all, be-all for change management. Not providing sufficient education and training means “pay now, or pay later”, and “later” is always more costly and more difficult!

• Enjoy the journey to the greatest extent possible This means have some fun! This means find fun, make it up, even if it means pretending to others that you are enjoying at least some parts of the project work! (You may want to re-read Huckleberry Finn for refinement of the pretend technique.) People will always put forth more energy and invest more of themselves when there is enjoyment involved. Projects are always more work—they are burdensome, they are seen as drudgery. But if there’s an element of fun, laughter, and camaraderie, people will be eager to participate, to work hard and to accept some potholes in the road.

Those are the details in which the devil resides. Stand up, look him in the eye, and watch him run!

extraordinary effort just to hear that sweet sound!

Mourning privately also translates to “don’t wash your dirty laundry in public.” Certainly all projects carry the reality of problems, disappointments or missteps. However, the entire company does not need to hear the sordid details of all of these—unless the missteps were committed in public. If that is the case, then acknowledge the problem/disappointment /misstep, and announce the resolution publicly. It then becomes a celebration of truth and faith in the leadership of the project.

Author’s Note: I have often reminded project teams that they will likely be the people standing in front of the rest of the company teaching the company how to use the system or the new business processes. I explain that I would not want to be the one standing there if I have been the person “defaming” the value of the project and changes throughout the journey. Recognition of this reality has significantly lowered any resistance by the team itself in almost 100% of the projects!

• Communicate Change management is often synonymous with communication. While communication is a major component, it is not the magic bullet. Communication is the large, visible manifestation of change leadership; absolutely necessary with significant impact, sometimes positive if done well, and negative when it is not well-executed. However, without tending to the other details, and removing the devils that reside there, the communication becomes a hollow sound. It is absolutely necessary to communicate often and much—from the strategic vision guiding the project, through the objectives, to the accomplishments and the nature of the changes and resultant system or processes. It’s also important to repeat this positive message frequently, as it often takes a long time for a message to “sink in.” However, it is also very important to be “singing the right song” to the right audience.

While there is always a number (hopefully large number) of employees who will understand the need for change, most people are more interested in “what’s in it for me?” That is

6The Devil is in the Details

As an enticement to participate, HEALED offered a $5 Target gift card to employees who returned their completed surveys.

Author’s Note: A Starbucks gift card may be a better choice, since a project team can always use additional caffeine. Even without an incentive, it is usual to get a high percentage of returned surveys. People do like to be asked for their opinions. The CHA is also much like a Nielsen rating. It does not require a large number of responses to derive the correct analysis. A substantial number of surveys not completed (more than 50%) often indicates a real problem in change resistance, and shows that many people are in denial about the project or the need for change.

According to the HEALED employees who completed the CHA, the areas of greatest resistance occurred in the following three strategies:

• They believe their needs are being met already. • They believe the change process was handled improperly. • They believe those responsible for the change cannot be trusted.

By understanding the challenges, HEALED’s executive sponsors created a change management plan that included the following action items:

• Establish Comfort - Explain why the change is necessary - Indicate how the change will allow employees to meet their needs better - Ask for and listen to employees’ concerns - Ensure consistency in communication by all those responsible for leading the change

Leading Change: One Company’s Journey to the State of Change To illustrate how to remove the devil from the details of change leadership, the real-life example included here is a large group of hospitals and related healthcare facilities located in the Midwest-ern area of the United States—but they also live in the State of Change. This organization was formed from the merger of existing, previously indepen-dent entities, and currently employs more than 10,000 people. To accommodate confidentiality issues, the company is being referred to as “HEALED.”

During the mergers, acquisitions, and prior major information systems initiatives, HEALED has not lived well in the State of Change, but has experi-enced substantial resistance to change, and even a strong desire of most employees to move out of the State of Change. Prior initiatives had been excessively challenged, were over-budget, late, cancelled, and/or outright failures. The event that is addressed here is a major ERP implementation affecting all financial departments, procurement, human resources and payroll. At the start of this project, the executive sponsors recognized that HEALED needed some of its own medicine—it needed to heal itself, and have a heightened quality of life in the State of Change. They actively sought to manage and lead change with results much different from their previous attempts.

Author’s Note: The size of this company is not relative to the use, and subsequent success, of employing the change leadership techniques. This author has personally and successfully guided the same approach for one-site companies with less than 200 employees to a company with more than 14,000 employees in 56 countries.

This is what HEALED did to remove its pain.

• Determine the reality of the changes and change atmosphere in the company The Change Hardiness Assessment (CHA) was distributed to 181 employees, and 121 completed and returned the survey, indicating a 67% response rate.

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• Re-establish Control - As change begins to work, take time to recognize and recall the achievements of the people who made it happen: • Acknowledge the struggle and sacrifices people have made • Look ahead - Communicate what has been decided about the change and is not up for discussion, what is open for discussion and recommendations, and what is within employee control about the change: • Help employees stay focused on factors within their control • Be honest about suggestions you can and cannot accept, and indicate why - Ask: • How can you help employees implement the change? • How can you make the change work better? • What alternatives might make the change more effective? • How can teams support the change?

See Figure 1 which shows the scoring for HEALED by department. All scores above the red horizontal line indicate action that should be taken.

• Build Competence - Identify and focus efforts on individuals who are known to be innovators and early adopters during prior changes - Put a respected person in charge of the process

• Raise Confidence - Determine if teams are setting their sights too low - Discover if teams are holding back due to fear of losing something - Follow through on agreements reached to improve the situation - Communicate openly about mistakes made in the past during the change, what was learned, and what is being put in place to prevent repeating those mistakes - Make certain that problems and issues are fully understood before making decisions that may inadvertently exacerbate the problem - Apologize for mistakes, or the issue will never go away • Provide additional information (not excuses) as needed • Ask for suggestions to avoid similar situations in the future

Figure 1 - HEALED Combined Change Hardiness

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8The Devil is in the Details

communicate the news of the project and to seek change agents. Two days after the third Navigating Change Workshop, employees began to volunteer as change agents. At the end of this “hunt,” 103 employees had volunteered to be change agents to help spread the word and effect change acceptance throughout the organization. In keeping with the racing theme, these change agents were called “spotters.” Spotters in the racing world are the persons who make sure the drivers (in this case, project team members) know what is happening on the track. They can provide assistance and issue warnings if there is potential danger. The change agents/spotters also saw their role as liaisons between the project team and the end users, passing information from one group to another. Excellent roles for change agents!

Biweekly meetings were held with the spotters to relay project information, project progress, and concerns, to respond to frequently asked questions received by the team or the spotters, and to generate and maintain interest. This ensured that the change agents were all delivering the same, correct information. Experiential exercises were also provided to the spotters, and they were instructed to use these monthly exercises with the people in their departments—their pit crews. Experiential exercises focused on understanding and experiencing change resistance (The Change Game), communication (Lego Exercise), influencing and motivating (Eating Spinach), and givens, negotiables, and controllables. At every change meeting, change agents who had excelled the previous month were publicly recognized as the “Spotter Spotlight Agent.”

• Celebrate often and publicly—and mourn privately Celebrations were held at the end of every milestone, ranging from “Donuts in the Pit,” to formal dinners for the project team. With the exception of formal dinners, the celebrations were most often held in the team room and were well-attended by spotters, executive steering committee members, project team members and HEALED employees.

• Name the project• Employ visible symbols of change The project at HEALED was named RPM, which stands for Revolutionizing Performance by Mastering. A racing and revolution theme was used extensively throughout the project. A team room, named The Pit, was established, and decorated with motivational posters and flip chart pages with lists of revolutionaries and several ground-breaking medical pioneers such as George Washington and Louis Pasteur. Buttons were purchased for the team members and the change agents. Each buttton had one of the following sayings: • Ask me about the Revolution • Join the Revolution • I’ve joined the Revolution The RPM logo was also displayed on all of the buttons. Coffee mugs, banners, screen savers and logo-imprinted note pads rounded out the symbols of change.

Another healthcare client chose MAX (Maximizing Accounts Payable Excellence) as its project name. The client cited the name as the second most significant factor in its success, because of the acceptance the project received companywide. Naming that project happened to coincide with that year’s CIBER mascot: a beanie baby bobcat named MAX. Hundreds of the MAX beanie babies were distributed throughout the organization. The start of the project was announced with a picture of MAX in the birthing center surrounded by doctors and nurses. There were MAX “sightings” publicized throughout the organization, as MAX was photographed on his many road show trips to different sites. The devil was driven from that detail, and MAX led the company to the State of Change and to success!

• Determine the Change Champion and Change Agents The RPM change champion for HEALED was selected early in the project, and led the “hunt” for change agents throughout the company. A series of workshops, entitled “Navigating Change,” was offered to

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• Educate and train Education and training carried a high priority throughout the project duration, as lack of comprehensive training was known to be a factor in HEALED’s previous project failures. Integrated knowledge of the system (following sound principles of adult education) was delivered, with custom prepared end-user training manuals that could be re-used for new hires and other personnel changes. A two-day Train the Trainer Workshop was delivered for the RPM Training Corps, composed entirely of HEALED employees, to increase their comfort level in teaching and to ensure their ability to do the job well.

• Enjoy! The executive steering committee was initially skeptical about the “have fun” mandate in change leadership, as it appeared that they did not previously have much experience in enjoying themselves! In a very short period of time, they saw the immediate benefits, and fully supported and participated in experiential exercises, the celebrations, and the laughter that was often heard from the team room. The consensus from the project team, the spotters, and the steering committee was that the “enjoyment” element will have long-lasting results at HEALED, because it healed some long-standing “sores,” removed historic prejudices against change, and built a sense of camaraderie and teaming that was previously lacking at HEALED.

This is the journey that one company took on its path to success in its project, and how the company removed the devil from the details in leading change. The change effort was successful because the company helped employees find comfort, competence, confidence, and control, which led to employee acceptance of the need for change. The change effort was also successful because the company included and sustained all of the elements of success: • determining the company’s change atmosphere• naming the project• identifying the change champion and change agents• employing visible symbols of change

• Communicate Information about the project’s goals and progress was communicated to employees via e-mail messages, newsletters, and table-top tents in the lunch room. In addition, a series of road shows was held.

These road shows were conducted at all of the hospitals, the outlying medical offices, and the administrative offices. The initial road show sessions focused on “marketing the project” and the parts of the project that would affect all of the employees. When a network connection was possible, employees were encouraged to log onto the system and see for them what new capabilities and benefits the system was bringing to them and to HEALED. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with the only negatives being, “Why do we have to wait?!” The road shows were marketed through the change agents, articles in newsletters, on the HEALED Intranet home page, and on table-tents at all of the hospital cafeterias.

Every person attending the road show left with handouts of the system and wore “I Witnessed the Revolution” stickers. This also helped advertise to the other employees that the road show was being held at their site.

The second round of road shows promoted other benefits of the project and were designed to promote training. This round of road shows was marketed through the Payroll Department, which listed the dates and locations of upcoming shows on the payroll stubs sent to each employee. The pay stub notices were so successful in reaching the entire company that progress messages were posted on each stub until after the go-live date; each message focused on a different aspect and progress of the project.

Through the road shows, and the open house sessions held every Wednesday for one hour in the team room, the message of the project has reached nearly 1,000 employees. This number does not include spotters, project team members and the employees with whom the spotters were working.

in the DetailsCIBER, Inc. (NYSE: CBR) is a pure-play international system integration consultancy with superior value-priced services and reliable delivery for both private and government sector clients. CIBER’s services are offered globally on a project- or strategic-staffing basis, in both custom and enterprise resource planning (ERP) package environments, and across all technology platforms, operating systems and infrastructures.

Founded in 1974 and headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colo., CIBER now serves client businesses from over 60 U.S. offices, 25 European offices and seven offices in Asia/Pacific. Operating in 18 countries, with more than 8,500 employees and annual revenue of approximately $1.2 billion, CIBER and its IT specialists continuously build and upgrade clients’ systems to “competitive advantage status.” CIBER is included in the Russell 2000 Index and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index.

© 2009 CIBER, Inc. All rights reserved. CIBER and the CIBER logo are registered trademarks of CIBER, Inc. CIBER stock is publicly traded under the symbol “CBR” on the NYSE.

CIBER, Inc. • 6363 South Fiddler’s Green Circle • Suite 1400 • Greenwood Village, CO 80111 • 800.242.3799

Abstract: The journey to achieve acceptance and benefit from change initiatives is often perceived to be difficult and "mysterious" not practical, tangible, or navigable. The path and map through the State of Change is not something large and intrusive, or even highly visible. It is subtle, continuous. The little things make the difference. The devil is truly in the details. This paper removes the mystery, and the devil, from the journey by providing practical, executable techniques for managing and leading change, and navigating around the potholes of change resistance during the journey. Successful techniques employed by the CIBER Change Management program are addressed and illustrated.

www.ciber.com

The Devil is