What it Takes to Stand Up to Change

Over the past eight years I’ve had an ongoing conversation with my son about his frustrations with patients as he’s worked his way through medical school and residency. Our conversations focus on the sometimes funny, but more often tragic, repeat offenders and their unwillingness to make vital changes to their health habits even in the face of debilitating or terminal consequences. Many studies prove the point. For example, when heart disease patients who had undergone bypass surgery were told if they did not adjust their lifestyle they would die, or at best face the traumatic procedure again, only 9% modified their behavior.[i] Too many of us are seduced by the simplicity of declaring change and then hoping it will become so. It is certainly less messy, but far from effective. While communication is an important and necessary tactic in the process of leading transitions, by itself it is woefully insufficient.

With the seeming irrationality of human behavior in mind, we can extrapolate to better appreciate the challenge confronting anyone who wants to implement broader organizational or societal changes—sharing understanding, shaping individual attitudes to influence individual behaviors that must ultimately be multiplied many times over to achieve an envisioned future state. The reality of effectively leading change hinges on this important truth: Sustainable change of any kind, even when rationally, economically, technologically, or socially justified, ultimately succeeds only if the people impacted actually behave differently.

Over the years we’ve helped our clients define and successfully implement a variety of incremental and discontinuous changes.  None are identical, but in every situation, we start with two key principles: 1) Means and ends must be aligned. If, for example, the end state you seek is a more collaborative organization, then you must use and reinforce collaborative methods in your approach to defining the change and leading the transition, and 2) The Change & Transition plan you use must match the complexity and risks associated with making the proposed change(s). Said differently, the quantity and types of resources you deploy, the variety and intensity of actions you take, and the length of time you sustain focus must be equivalent to the complexity inherent in the new behaviors expected.

Through experience we’ve identified and have come to rely upon the following set of essential levers. These practices, when used appropriately to address the degree and complexity of the transition underway, will in time produce the imagined future.

Change Structure	Create a temporary infrastructure to support the transition. Define the plan outlining the nature of the transition challenges. Outline the full mix of specific actions necessary to support full implementation of the change. Identify and deploy the resources required to facilitate the change process. Clarify the decision rights. Establish the metrics, milestones and means you’ll use to track and report progress.
Create Shared Vision	Clearly articulate the compelling business case for change and the envisioned end state to be achieved. Communicate these with the intent to build a strong initial coalition among opinion leaders. Follow up to ensure the vision and purpose for change are uniformly interpreted and shared across the enterprise.
Readiness & Stakeholder Commitment	Assess the degree to which key stakeholders and influencers have internalized and are committed to the change. Co-opt their support to accelerate momentum. Evaluate the current state of the organization and the equation of change readiness relative to the real and perceived risks.
Governance	Charter any new or re-charter existing governing bodies (membership, purpose, decision rights, deliverables, linkages, communication flow, and timing) needed to create linkage, facilitate decision making or ensure the flow of information in support of changes underway.
Organization Design (Strategic/Operational)	Clearly detail all organizational changes to be implemented. Consider the macro grouping and location of work, the design of work processes, allocation of decision rights, the flow of information and decision support, and the structural systems of the business required to optimally deliver the business strategy. Allocate talent.  Align the people systems—recruiting, training, measurement and reward systems—to reinforce new behaviors in support of the intended change.
Assess & Deploy Talent	Complete success profiles identifying the essential competencies required for success in the new roles. Assess, inform and deploy best-fit internal talent against the new role requirements. Identify gaps. Target, select, inform, and onboard best-fit, external talent.
Build Leadership & Management Capacity	Assess the degree to which leaders’ and managers’ values, behaviors and technical skills are aligned with the targeted end state. Identify, prioritize, and deploy resources to support their development of new competencies–both technical and behavioral—required for future success. Enlist their support and equip them to communicate, establish changes within their areas of responsibility and support the development of their employees.
Individual and Team Capacity	Assess competencies, alignment of behaviors, and current level of engagement.  Support and develop individuals and teams’ ability to enact the business vision and operate effectively in the new environment—both technical and behavioral competencies.
Operating Environment	Assess the alignment of the current culture to desired outcomes. Articulate the cultural values and behaviors that support the new approach to business and identify where they conflict with current assumptions. Develop a plan to mitigate the impact of current assumptions through the transition.
Communication Strategy	Develop a plan to build awareness of change goals, communicate progress toward goals, manage expectations and encourage collective ownership of the change process and outcomes. Share timely, consistent messages and updates using a variety of forums and media. Establish a two-way flow of information to ensure messages are interpreted as intended, and that everyone has the confidential means to share concerns and issues encountered throughout the transition process. Identify and respond to patterns in the data.

Admittedly, defining change and leading others through the wilderness of transition is challenging. But it’s not impossible. Even in the face of peoples’ reluctance to change, claims of seventy percent failure rates often quoted in literature are hard to substantiate and don’t ring true in our experience with clients. What does resonate, however, is that motivating and supporting others to behave differently to achieve different results requires a focused, multi-pronged, sustained investment. Building understanding, shaping attitudes, and developing new skills to enable success in an intended new reality are outcomes that require design and execution. All of the orchestration and hard work must ultimately reinforce the crescendo that Malcolm Gladwell named “The tipping point … that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”[ii] And until that moment, the work of standing up to change goes on.