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Getting Others to Engage inChange: The Five-Step Process

When it comes to implementing large-scale internal

changes, most organisations are reasonably

good at kick-o but alter when trying to sustain

employee commitment over the lie o the project.

In order to succeed, its critical to apply a strategy

that acilitates communication and keeps peopleengaged during each stage o the change process.

The importance o applying a strategy was

conrmed or me recently: A project team was

implementing an end-to-end integrated logistics

process that would aect several jobs across

multiple departments. Having all their process

charts ready, the equipment ordered and the

plan up on the wall, the team was looking

orward to the start date just three weeks in

the uture. My responsibility was to review the

teams plan as part o their due diligence.

Unortunately, what I ound was a classic case

o a team ocusing so narrowly on the details

o the plan that they were overlooking what

was really important or any successul change:

motivating the aected parties to take a

personal interest in the success o the project.

To be air, the aected departments hadnt been

completely ignored by the project team. About

eight weeks earlier, they had been given a generic

roll-out brieng. However, there hadnt been any

contact since then. Worse yet, there was no plan

established to keep them inormed onor engagedinthe projects progress once it was set in motion.

In my role as advisor, I decided to propose a simple

ve-step process that would enable all parties

to embrace the change and execute a successul

transition.

Bob BlackOrganisational development consultant Bob Black offers a simple process

for change management in this edition of our Management Insights series.

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Management InsightsExpert Advice from Todays Top Professionals

Getting Others to Engage in Change: The Five-Step Process

Once I provided my observations to the project

team and their senior management, they quickly

adjusted to achieve a more balanced ocus. I then

recommended the team adopt the ollowing ve-step

process that would engage the people aected by

the change:

Step 1: Create a People- and

Process-Change Plan

When creating a project plan, ensure that it is a

balanced plan that gives due attention to both people

and process. To ensure that balance, begin with the

people rst and do the process second. When looking

at the people side, drill down to the individual level in

order to establish a strong connection between the

planned change and its implications or individuals in

the organisation. In other words, answer the how will

this change aect me question.

Step 2: Perorm a Time-Sensitive

Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder analyses tend to start by identiying the

key players. Unortunately, this narrow ocus doesnt

take into consideration that the roles o individual

stakeholders change over time. There are those whoare immediately critical, those who will be important

in the short to middle term and those who will be key

in the latter stages. In practical terms, the level o

inormation required by each stakeholder will dier

based on the immediacy o their involvement. A time-

based analysis allows you to develop an engagement

plan that recognises short-, medium- and long-term

communication requirements or each o the

stakeholders.

Step 3: Get Involvement Early

The more people are involved, the more opportunity

there is or getting their emotional buy-in, which in

turn aects their motivation and support or implemen-tation. A good opportunity or early involvement is

during the creation o the Change Vision (or Mission

or Project Brie). Unortunately, the vision is oten

created by a select ew and then distributed through-

out the organisation without the involvement o the

many who are aected, assuming all will agree with

(and adopt) the vision. This assumption in no way

ensures engagement so bring everyone into the

development o the vision right rom the start.

Step 4: Plan to Manage Confict

Confict is inevitable. How its dealt with determines

whether you reach a positive or negative outcome.

The team must agree up ront how they will deal with

confictboth internal and externalthroughout the

entire process. Dont allow optimism bias (the belie

that things will be better this time) to cloud the ample

evidence that conficts always arise in projects.

Step 5: Engage through Communication

Finally, you must ask or eedback rom the aected

parties at every stage o the project. When you receive

it, always acknowledge and respond, even i its only

to say were thinking about it or, more importantly,

were not going to do it and this is why.

Following this clear set o steps, the team set up a

preliminary series o ace-to-ace meetings with one

key goal: convey the message o why the change

was needed and the benets o the change in both

personal and individual terms. Then, by continuing

to ollow the steps, engaging the stakeholders and

adjusting the message as the changes progressed,

the team was able to maintain buy-in through the

lie o the project, thus including everyone in its

successul completion.

0911CA Mgmt Insights Nov

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About the AuthorBob Black is a principal partner in the frm People Skills

Organisational Development Consultancy, specialising in

organisational change management and leveraging project management

techniques as a change agent. He is also the author of Learning Tree

Course 288, Change Management: People and Process, and Course 341,

Negotiation Skills: Achieving Successful Outcomes.