The Very Best Change Management Model

Nope, I am not going to tell you which one it is …

I believe that what matters most is not which change management model you pick, but the one that resonates most with your company culture, so that the model you choose fully gets adopted and utilized.

And while I have some solid opinions on many of the change models out there, I am attempting to write this without model bias and based on real-life experience leading the change management selection process for multiple companies throughout my career.

Consider this list a short playbook with seven critical steps. It’s written for those of you who believe strongly that you could achieve much better outcomes on the projects critical to your business if you had a shared understanding of what it takes to realize the people side of the changes you’re implementing. You know you need a common language and model for better managing changes, but you just might not know where to start.

UNDERSTAND YOUR CURRENT STATE.

Are existing change management models already in use within your organization? Who are the users, and what do they absolutely love about these solutions? What don’t they like?

 Depending on how your functions are organized, probable functional owners of localized change management models include customer service, implementation teams, information technology, organization development, talent development, Lean, Agile, project management, and internal communications.

For some reason, I have observed people getting super attached to their models, which is why I suggest starting by finding out what people “love!” It may be Kotter, Bridges, Prosci, IMA, or that proprietary consultation model they learned at their last company but can’t use again. The bottom line is that they’re attached because something is working for them. Your job is to find out what that is and why. Inquire about the results they’re getting with their models. If they’re not getting results, find out why they think that is.

 So how do you do this? First, look for artifacts on changes that were implemented. See what you find. Second, introduce yourself to folks, set up meetings, ask people who else you should be talking to about this topic. Declare your intent and get into conversation about what you see as the potential for aligning on one common model (or adopting a model to begin with). Get curious and listen to what they have to say. These are potential stakeholders to engage early and often in this work.

CAPTURE THE BUSINESS CASE.

Even if you think it is obvious as to why a common change management model is needed, do not overlook this is a step. Aligning on the what, why, who, and how will help you bring the right people through this exploration and adoption process. Your business case should be specific to what matters most in your organization. Is this a burning platform, or an opportunity to help capture advantage? For example, do you have major transformation initiatives coming up? Have you been failing to get people to adopt critical technology solutions? Do you need to increase overall speed and adoption of changes? Is there increasing change fatigue? Why are you doing this, why now? And what is the risk of not doing it within your company right now? What are the very specific outcomes you are hoping to achieve? What will it look like when it’s working as intended?

To start, consider writing down what you see as the business case. Walk it around to the stakeholders you met with earlier when trying to understand the current state. Get their input, listen to what resonates. Co-create the business case with the people who will ultimately use or sponsor the solution. Better yet, let them write it themselves (or include so much of their feedback that they think they did!).

 ENROLL A PRIMARY SPONSOR, OR TWO.

And speaking of sponsorship … The reason this is not the first step, although it could be, is that you want to identify, connect with and enroll the best sponsor for this work.

How can the right executive sponsor help in the adoption of a change management model? While it may depend on how different your future state is from your current, sponsorship can be helpful in aligning the organization by modeling the desired approach from the top. It could be as simple as adopting the new language or as complicated as gathering the financial resources and wide-spread executive support for a new change management ecosystem.

Depending on your assessment of the current state, you may be surprised to find authentic sponsorship for a shared approach to change management already existing within your organization. Or, you may find the opposite and need to work harder to identify where this sponsorship will be most valuable.

BRING THE WHOLE SYSTEM INTO THE ROOM.

If the future state is a change management model that your entire organization will work from, a highly participative and shared process of evaluating potential models will speed adoption. As mentioned before in co-creating the business case with the people that will ultimately be using the model, this is again an opportunity for creating the change together.

Define the stakeholders (remember those you interviewed?) and be as inclusive as possible. Consider different functions, thinking styles, global locations, use cases, and decision-makers.

If you are evaluating multiple models, consider where and how to bring “the whole system” of users into a shared conversation. This can be in physical rooms or in virtual rooms, so long as it is a place for synchronous dialogue, listening, exploration, and decision-making.

Consider models of facilitation and how you will have conversations on topics like the following next steps.

DEFINE AND WEIGHT YOUR REQUIREMENTS.

Given the complexities of your context and culture, some aspects of the change management solution may matter way more than others. For example, do you simply need a mental model to work from, or do you need a robust online platform that can scale globally? Does your organization prefer linear models with clear steps or are they drawn to complex and circular models? Do they need slick visuals or spreadsheets? What level of analytics make sense? Here are some to consider:

What is the core model for change? From what research does the model originate? How up to date is it, and how often is it refreshed?

What tools are available to help practitioners bring the change model to life on projects? What platforms are these tools on? Are they practical, relevant and easy to use? Are they flexible and customizable? Do the tools help you measure readiness and change effectiveness at multiple points across the project lifecycle?

How globally relevant is the model? How well does it translate to other cultures and languages?

How will this model fit with your internal organizational culture and values? Will it resonate easily interact with your existing change system tools such as project management, Agile, or Lean methods in use? Will it resonate, and can you see your team “talking the talk” because it’s easy to use and sounds like how you talk anyway? And what about your leadership? Will this model resonate with them, and will they be comfortable talking about what change management can deliver to the organization using this model?

 What type of support or training will you need to provide to help adoption? Is this offered and available? What is the cost? Are self-paced or train-the-trainer resources available? Who will need to be trained, and what types of roles are these people in?

Is there a need for coaching or consulting capabilities? Where is the preference for these to come from, internally to your organization or externally from consultants? Both would need to have the ability to manage and partner with practitioners and project teams to deliver results. External coaching or consulting capabilities could be even more relevant if your organization has lower internal maturity or if the future-state change model is significantly different from the current state.

BUILD OR BUY?

If you found existing models that people already love and are realizing results within your organization, you may be tempted to stick with them. Using the requirements defined, ensure they meet your objectives before planning next steps for broader adoption. If people love them but are not realizing results, do a deep dive into application to find out where the model may be breaking down. For example, are the breakdowns on the “science” side (the model is missing a critical step) or on the “art” side (the practitioner is misusing or not understanding the work, or overarching leadership or system conditions are present that folks didn’t see or ignored)?

If you choose to build your own approach or use one that you built prior and is already within your organization, you should also consider the cost of doing so. Take note of copyright concerns, what tools and systems you need, how you will share them, how you will keep them up to date (and the resources you need available to do so), the ability to scale the solution, and how you will create adoption and utilization across cultures, if needed.

If you are buying a new change management solution, consider the initial cash investment, ongoing costs and the potential for longer term value creation. How will you measure overall ROI? What is the difference between a consultant who may do more for you versus a strategic partner in this space to walk alongside you building capability internally? The clearer you are on what you already have and what you want to learn from others, the better.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT for CHANGE MANAGEMENT.

When you’re changing how you’re asking people to change, you need to practice what you preach and model the way. One hundred percent of the success of this work depends on stakeholders within your organizing adopting new mental models, language, tools, and ways of working through the people side of change. Whether you have chosen to buy, build, change your model, or proliferate an existing model, adoption and utilization is only way to achieve better business outcomes.

That means you will want to establish a change management plan using the new model you have adopted, integrating it with a robust project plan. Use similar metrics that you want practitioners to use in measuring adoption of their changes. Not only will this help you understand the road ahead, but it will better equip you to get out ahead of any points of resistance or coaching that may be needed as your team gets on board with changing the way you manage change.

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For those of you who have selected a model for your organization, what else made a difference for you?

I appreciate comments below on how these seven tips can support your work. Where are you stuck, and where are you making progress?