Succeeding in a Change Saturated Environment

Presented by: Catherine Smithson March 2017

Change Community of Practice Webinars

Introducing Being Human

•  Founded in 1993 • Our mission: develop

change-capable people and organisations so they achieve the benefits of change

• Prosci Primary Affiliate Australia and New Zealand since 2006

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Agenda

• What is change saturation? • Common symptoms • Snapshot of Best Practices

Research •  Top 5 Tips to succeed • Q & A

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The floating tap fountain is a clever illusion. Located at Aqualand, Puerto de Santa María, Spain.

What is change saturation?

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“Change saturation is… how much change is going on in the organisation (change disruption) compared to how much change

the organisation can handle (change capacity). An organisation is at or past the point of change saturation when

there are so many changes going on that it can no longer effectively handle additional changes.”

Tim Creasey, Chief Innovation Officer, Prosci blog.prosci.com/blog/managing-change-saturation

Change disruption

Change capacity >

Change fatigue

When people are emotionally and psychologically exhausted by adapting to

change … when they have no more capacity to absorb change

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Best Practices Snapshot

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Amount of change expected in the next 2 years:

Increase significantly: 36% Increase slightly: 36% Remain unchanged: 20% Decrease slightly: 7% Decrease significantly: 2%

Australia and New Zealand are ranked as the most change

saturated regions – 83% Study average: 78%

Percentage of organisations

reporting they are PAST or NEAR the

saturation point:

2016: 79% 2011: 73% 2007: 59%

2016 Best Practices in Change Management Report. 1120 participants in 56 countries. Prosci copyright 2015.

Why saturation matters - from an IT Executive

“Because the ‘full’ sign doesn’t automatically switch on when the organisation reaches change capacity, we keep launching more changes…and we tell ourselves our people will make it happen… “It’s like air traffic control authorising multiple takeoffs – but not thinking about if all the planes in the air will land.” “Success is not directing planes to take off, it’s landing them. We need organise ourselves better so we land ALL of changes and achieve the benefits.”

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Consequences of a change saturated organisation

Individual Level

•  Absenteeism/staff turnover •  BAU performance suffers •  Change fatigue, frustration,

cynicism •  Reduced employee

engagement •  Poor engagement and

involvement in change •  Resistance to change •  Management time spent

dealing with fatigue and saturation – fire fighting

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Organisational level

•  Success rates of projects reduced

•  “Winners and Losers” – rather than consistent success

•  Benefits of changes not realised

•  Customers impacted by poorly implemented change

Project Level

•  Reduced availability of SMEs from the business

•  Insufficient Project Management resources/capability

•  Effective Sponsorship - # success factor – not available

•  Project collisions - at all phases

•  Competing priorities for project teams, stakeholders

•  Project governance, infrastructure and resourcing can’t accommodate volume and complexity of projects

Two approaches to managing saturation

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Manage the volume of change

Increase the capacity of the organisation

Managing the change portfolio – coming soon!

• Next wave of Change Management •  “Single view” of change will be a standard decision making tool for Executives and Steering Committees •  Identify the composition of the change portfolio – how many

changes are underway? •  Prioritise and sequence projects •  Manage the portfolio •  Allocate PM and CM resources •  Identify and avoid potential collisions •  Track effectiveness of Change Management

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Current tools are not up to the job for multi million/billion change portfolios

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Increase people’s capacity to absorb change

•  Improve Change Management on change projects •  Across more changes •  Start earlier at business case stage •  Objective allocation of CM resources •  Equip Sponsors to perform their role •  Involve people leaders in Change Management

planning • Build capabilities of people leaders at all levels to lead change with their teams •  Change Management training •  Resilience training

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Tip 1: Do a stock stake of current changes and check priorities and sequence with the Sponsor/s

•  Deal in facts – get the data on the change portfolio •  Focus on a department or business unit if you can’t do the

whole organisation •  This gives Sponsors a clearer picture of where to concentrate •  Ask the question of the sponsor: “Why is this change needed

NOW?” (Purpose column of Prosci 4Ps) •  If it is a priority, are there any other initiatives that could be

delayed or put on hold? •  People will put up with a lot if they understand why the change

is needed and why now. If it is just seen like the next shiny thing, then people will find it hard to buy-in

•  Executives sometimes need to reprioritise – but they need to know the tipping point has been reached.

Tip 2: Build the change capability in the organisation: • Make sure executives and managers/supervisors

understand their roles in leading and managing change. •  Once they have the knowledge and skills to do this, then

the organisation will be able to handle more change. • Connect people leaders to support each other

•  Change Exchange forums to share ideas and solutions to common challenges

•  Sponsor training to uplift capability

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Tip 3: Build a heat map of changes • Create a heat map of who is being impacted and when •  Include teams being impacted during the change and after

the change. • Use other CMs Prosci Impact Index to help identify

impacted groups • Often the teams impacted DURING the change e.g. web

team etc who are red-hot as every change initiative needs them to do something for them.

• Early engagement will give them a heads-up of what you need and when.

• An early call out may result in additional resources being made available in that area.

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•  If you are doing Agile development, make sure everyone knows their role.

• Agile requires on-going business engagement, so it can seem like a much harder way of doing change unless managers and teams know why Agile is the best way for this project, how it works and their role in it.

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Tip 4: Educate teams about Agile

Tip 5: Don’t take it personally.. And check what the real issue is • Understand that any resistance you meet isn’t necessarily

aimed at you or your change. You are just the tipping point for some people. Put yourself in their shoes and understand why they are feeling like this.

•  Then go back to Tip 1! • Check what the real issue is…

•  Is it change saturation or…. •  Lack of Awareness, Desire or another stage in Prosci’s ADKAR

model? •  Ineffective Sponsorship?

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More info

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