Getting Executives on Board with Change Management

Getting Executives on Board with Change Management Presented by: Catherine Smithson Managing Director October 2016

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

2

Where to find today’s slides and recording

3

Being Human Company Linkedin Profile Follow us!

Being Human Pty Ltd page Like us!

Slideshare.net Search for Being Human Australia Slides and recording available. Follow us! Search for Being Human Pty Ltd. Recorded version. Follow us!

Agenda

• Quotable quotes •  The role of Senior

Executives in successful change

• Best Practices highlights •  Top 5 tips • Your experiences?

4

Quotable quotes

5

“My Sponsor thinks now we have hired a Change Manager they can go

back to BAU and I will deliver the project benefits”.

“Our Executive Sponsor believes having a PMO and

effective PMs is enough – they manage change!

“Even though the business has Change Managers, the Sponsor

thinks they are more a “feel good factor”.

“Our Sponsor thinks Change Management is

still training and communications.”

“Our Sponsor relies on the Project Manager and Change Manager to get other Executives on board – there’s a

limit to what we can do.”

“Even after we have successfully built change

capability, I need to continually socialise and

“sell” the benefits of Change Management to Executives… go figure!

The role of senior executives in successful change

© Prosci Inc. All rights reserved www.change-management.com

Greatest contributors to success - 2016 data

1. Active and visible executive sponsorship

Best Practices Snapshot

8

Only 40% of Sponsors fully

understand their role as change leaders (p198)

Access to the Sponsor drives

effective Change Management - weekly is ideal

(p200-201)

Top 3 roles of the Sponsor

Actively and visibly participate throughout the project Build a coalition of sponsorship with peers and managers Communicate directly with employees

Projects with effective Sponsorship are 3 times more likely to achieve objectives

than those without

2016 Best Practices in Change Management Report. 1122 participants in 56 countries. Prosci copyright 2015.

Other credible sources to use •  Executive sponsor engagement:

top driver of project and program success. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession In Depth Report, with Boston Consulting Group, October 2014

•  Making change work...while the work keeps changing. By Hans-Henrik Jorgensen, Oliver Bruehl and Neele Frank, IBM Global Business Services Executive Report. August 2014

•  Redefining business success in a changing world: PwC’s 19th Annual Global CEO Survey, 2016

9

PMI’s Pulse of the Profession In Depth Report, with Boston Consulting Group,

October 2014, p4

11

12

Tip 1: Put away the soap box! •  Park your passion •  Executives are allergic to

lectures •  Talking about Change

Management is putting Knowledge and Ability BEFORE Awareness and Desire!

•  Talk about what you deliver not what you do

•  Are you the Sponsors preferred sender? Who is?

•  Who do they listen to, trust, rely on – can you influence them?

“Stop being a self appointed apostle of the cult of change management!”

Greg Bellingham, Consultant, Being Human

Tip 2: Executives need a WIIFM too! •  What’s their WIIFM for the change itself? Don’t assume they are on board!

•  What’s their WIIFM to sponsor the change and lead change differently? •  What do you know about Executives’

drivers, aspirations, pain points for above?

•  Is is risk mitigation? Innovation? Customer experience?

•  What scar tissue do they have – “we won’t make that error again”

•  What does the Future State or success look like to them?

•  Are they a reluctant Sponsor or is it their passion project?

14

Tip 3: Speak their language •  Change the conversation from

Change Management blah blah •  Focus on the outcomes and results

Executives want during Transition and in Future State (what success looks like)

•  Tease these out - get to specifics that mean something to Executives e.g.

•  Link to vision, strategy and goals they have committed to

•  Customer experience •  More collaboration, less silos •  Increased productivity •  Process excellence

15

Current state

Transition state

Future state

What will success look like? How we will we know we are on track with people transitioning?

What will success look like? What results and outcomes do we need to achieve?


Results and outcomes depend on employee adoption and usage

Solution must be: • Designed • Developed • Delivered

and • Embraced • Adopted • Used

16

Effectiveness = Quality x Acceptance General Electric – 1980s


Organisations change when the people in them change the way they work

What percentage of the results or expected benefits of the change depend on adoption and usage?

Select a current change - what percentage of expected benefits are dependent on “people doing their jobs differently”, i.e. adoption and usage.

•  0 – 25% •  26 - 50% •  51 – 75% •  76 -100%

Follow up conversation topics •  Are all groups equally important in delivering expected benefits, by

adopting & using the change?

•  If not, which individuals or groups are most critical ?

•  What are our assumptions or targets for on-time adoption and usage for these groups?

•  What are the risks for project delivery (budget, time, solution quality) and expected benefits after go live, if they do not adopt on time, or achieve expected (100?) utilisation and sustainment?

•  What level of investment in Change Management is required to ensure these groups adopt and use the change so benefits are delivered

Others?

19

20

Tip 4: Set them up to succeed •  Most executives need help to understand and fill the roles required of

Sponsors. •  Don’t expose their weaknesses to employees. •  Ensure they know you can support them to be the best sponsor they

can be through: •  drafting communications messages •  briefing on events •  only making them do activities that will make them authentic and credible.

•  Coach them and become their trusted advisor – this takes time, •  E.g. One sponsor I worked with was terribly introverted. There was no

way she could host a ‘town hall’ event. Over time, we built up the size of the groups she could brief face-to-face. It meant I had to adapt the way I wanted to do the communications, but I didn’t let her lose confidence in herself or credibility with others by making her do something she couldn’t do authentically. Employees can easily see through an act.

•  Max Knobel Senior Consultant, Being Human

21

Tip 5: Ask and you may receive part 1 • All three of the client

projects I'm working on have executive and/or project sponsors who have done the Prosci Certification Program. Bliss!

•  They understand what change management will deliver, their role as sponsors, and the role of the change manager. A very happy partnership!

•  Julie Stalley, Consultant, Being Human

22

Tip 5: Ask and you may receive part 2

• A highly effective strategy is for the Executive Sponsor to be clear that this change will be successful (and is on their bucket list) and to put successful implementation and reinforcement into the senior leadership team's performance targets Julie Stalley, Consultant, Being Human

25

Where to find today’s slides and recording

27

Being Human Company Linked in Profile – Follow us!

Being Human Pty Ltd page - Like us!

Slideshare.net Search for Being Human Australia Slides and recording available. Follow us! Search for Being Human Pty Ltd. Recorded version. Follow us!

More info

28

beinghuman.com.au •  Free Prosci Webinars •  Free Change Community of

Practice Webinars

Prosci •  prosci.com •  portal.prosci.com