How Employees Judge Your Change Process

Research tells us that if employees don’t buy into the process of change they won’t buy into the desired outcome of the change. (1) Is it any surprise therefore, that a survey of 5,100 global business leaders by the American Management Association found that most change initiatives fail because the leaders fail to gain buy-in to the process of change? (2)

Previous blogs have focused on rectifying this failure. These blogs recommended monitoring your team closely, teaching them how to embrace the paradox of change, engaging them in the process, and inspiring them during the early stages of the change in order to gain buy-in.

But how do you know if your attempts to gain buy-in are working? How do you know if your team is committed or merely complying to the change? Invite them to take (anonymously) the “Change Process Survey” below:

The Change Process Survey

Regarding the recent change initiative, I believe…

Strongly Disagree = 1; Neither Agree or disagree = 3; Strongly Agree = 5

1. The process of change is transparent.

2. Decisions are being made fairly.

3. Employees are being treated fairly.

4. I think the change will be good for our unit.

5. Employees are kept informed.

6. Employee views are considered.

7. Explanations are honest.

8. The organization is concerned about employee well-being.

9. Objective information is used to make decisions.

10. Employee rights are being respected.

11. My needs are being considered.

12. The organization is trying to do what is best for me.

13. Employees are being treated with dignity.

14. Our unit will be well positioned for the future.

15. In general, the salary and benefits changes are fair.

The scoring is as follows: High = 60-75; Medium = 45-59; Low 30-44. I adapted this survey so that it also serves as a summary of many techniques that increase initial buy-in to any change. So, if the team scores (you) low in any area, ask them how to improve.

Let me know how it works for you. Also, I’d love to hear how you gain buy-in to your change initiatives.

AND remember, a change well begun is half done!

Keep eXpanding,
Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Geert Devos, Marc Buelens, and Dave Bouckenooghe; Contribution of Content, Context, and Process to Understanding Openness to Organizational Change: Two Experimental Simulation Studies, The Journal of Social Psychology, December 1, 2007.

2. Dan Cohen, Building Strategic Agility, American Management Association - MWORLD, 2006, page 12 – 15.

Inspire Any Change by Changing Your Focus

Don't think of a red apple. Don't think of a red apple. What just popped into mind? You probably thought of a red apple, right? Why? Because the brain cannot work on the reverse of an idea. Neuroscientists tell us that we move in the direction of the dominant images that we place (or let others place) in our minds. Therefore, it is important when communicating with your team about change that you focus on what you want more than what you don't want. This does not mean you totally ignore problems, obstacles, or mistakes. According to a 127 women bowlers in Wisconsin, it does mean that you should emphasize the desired behaviors, skills and outcomes that support the change you want...

Professor Kirschenbaum and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin assessed the impact of positive versus negative self-monitoring in 127 female bowlers. (1)

These women were instructed on the seven key components of effective bowling (called “Brain Power Bowling” in this study). They were then divided into two groups for the next five weeks, given rating sheets and the following instructions:

Group 1- Positive Self-Monitoring. After bowling each frame, review the seven components of Brain Power Bowling. For those components that you did well, put a number from 1 to 3 in the box corresponding to that component. 1 = good; 2 = very good; 3 = excellent. If you did not do a good job on a particular component, leave the box blank. Before making your approach, it is very important to remind yourself of the correct way to complete the final 3 components...

Group 2 - Negative Self-Monitoring. After bowling each frame, review the possible errors you could have made by not following the seven component principles of Brain Power Bowling. If you made any of these possible errors, put a number from 1 to 3 in the box corresponding to that error, denoting how poorly you did. 1 = terrible; 2 = very poor; 3 = poor. If you did not make an error on a particular component, leave the box blank. Before making your approach, it is very important to remind yourself of the errors you could possibly make on the final 3 components...

Thus, group 1 (positive self-monitors) focused on effective execution, and group 2 (negative self-monitors) focused on avoiding errors. Five weeks later, group 1 improved their scores 100% (an average of 11 pins) more than group 2.

How much would you and your team improve if you focused on the positive (i.e., desired outcomes) more often?

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Daniel Kirschenbaum, Arnold Ordman, Andrew J. Tomarken, and Robert Holtzbauer; Effects of Differential Self-Monitoring and Level of Mastery on Sports Performance: Brain Power Bowling, Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1982, pp. 335-342.

Eight Tools Leaders Use to Inspire Change

There are many changes affecting employees these days. Your job as a leader is to help your team commit to the changes needed to make it through these tough times. An important step to gaining buy-in to change is to inspire your team members. Here are eight tactics you can take that increase the chances that your inspiration has the intended effect:

1. Communicate a sense of urgency… emotionally. Good leaders show employees the data that proves the need for change. Expansive leaders also inspire them emotionally. You need an ocean of emotion to generate the motion. For example, Dan Cohen tells the story of the procurement manager whose project team discovered that the company purchased 424 different types of gloves when only three types were actually needed. To communicate rationally and emotionally, the manager collected all 424 gloves, put a price on each, and stacked them in the boardroom so that senior leadership could see and feel the cost of this inefficiency. (1) People will feel a sense of urgency when you communicate data emotionally.
2. Experiment with small change before rolling out major initiatives. One of the decision-making traps leaders fall into when implementing a change is assuming that the change needs to be rolled out as a major change initiative. Yet, nature and science teach us that experimentation is king of this classroom called life. So, whenever possible conduct your own small experiments before rolling out any initiative. Experimentation provides the opportunity to learn from each successive iteration. As each experiment gets you closer to the desired outcome, your team members will feel more inspired to adapt their behaviors to support the change.
3. Celebrate team members who remove obstacles to change. That which gets rewarded gets repeated. As employees try new approaches, develop new ideas, and take small steps implementing the change, reinforce these actions. The most powerful communication is rewarding action. The more employees see the new behaviors consistent with the change being rewarded the more they will be inspired to the change. Employees will also feel inspired when they see evidence that small progress is being made and rewarded. Celebrating small wins inspires team members because it also sends the signal that management is paying attention. Place your attention on your intention by rewarding those who embrace change.
4. Be the change you wish to see. This quotation from Gandhi reminds us that employees need to see words in action. They comply with what they hear, but they are inspired by what they see.
5. Set realistic objectives and milestones. When I was at UCLA, I was a member of the Dean's “goals committee.” The Dean wanted us to set forth the strategies and tactics necessary to accomplish his vision -- for the UCLA School of Medicine to become the preeminent medical school in the world by the end of the decade. At the time, UCLA was ranked number eight or nine depending upon which survey you reviewed. The Dean's goal was so lofty that most of the committee members did not believe it was achievable. They therefore did not put forth a serious effort. They went through the motions by giving the Dean’s initiative lip service and very little hip (i.e., action) service.
6. Estimate resources accurately. Employees have a specific capacity to handle change. Too much change overwhelms them. Yet, under stress, many organizations push one change after another without assessing the ability of the people to digest the change. One high-tech firm that I worked with had three major change initiatives affecting most of its employees at one time. The resources required to implement these changes were severely underestimated, while the capacity for people to absorb them were overestimated. I never could get senior management to understand this fact.
7. Maintain motivation. Too many change initiatives begin with a grand kickoff meeting and fade because of decreasing communication and leadership visibility. If you want people to stay committed to change, keep communicating and making small victories visible.
8. Be a meaning-making machine. The number one predictor of commitment is value. People only commit to that which they highly value. And what people value most are their values. Therefore, if you want to inspire people to buy into change, connect what they value to the change.

For example, when I was working in a Connecticut factory during my college days, my uncle Burt, who was the shop foreman, asked me to join him on the loading dock. As we marched past the lunchroom, I grabbed my long army coat knowing how cold it was going to be on the loading dock. As we stared at the big bins that lined the walls of the loading dock uncle Burt explained, "Dave, we have a delivery of new Kirsch rods arriving tomorrow. Tony will be installing them in the new school being built down the street. So, I need you to make room for the new rods by moving all of these old blinds from the front bins to the back.”

Do you see what uncle Burt did here? By telling me why I needed to change from working in a warm factory to the cold loading dock, my commitment level (at least subconsciously) went up. I wasn't just moving old blinds around; I was building a school! (Okay, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away here. But you get the idea.) This is why John Hammergren, CEO of McKesson (a US-based healthcare company), pointed out during their change initiative that every employee was, or would someday be, a patient in the healthcare system. This larger purpose made a big difference. When you connect values to the direction, you create power behind the purpose.

These are eight ways to inspire your team to change. Let me know which ones work for you.

Keep eXpanding,
Dave
http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com

1. Dan Cohen, Building Strategic Agility, American Management Association - MWORLD, 2006, page 13.

How Leaders Use Stories to Motivate

The audience of 500 senior executives and middle managers listened as the CEO outlined the major change initiative. His grasp of the facts and details was amazing. But after 15 minutes of data, the audience drifted. The CEO lost them because he didn't realize that to reach the mind one must go through the heart. He didn't use the power of story to inspire, motivate, and encourage his leaders to commit to his message. (1, 2)

Do you? Do you employ the key elements of effective storytelling to ‘MOTORvate’ your team? Here are five techniques to help you inspire your team using stories:

1. Be authentic. Sharing who you are involves letting the audience experience your emotion. They will feel the emotion in your story when you do. This requires a degree of vulnerability that many leaders have a hard time exposing. If this is difficult for you, I encourage you to take small steps.

2. Keep them guessing. Professor Peter Gruber tells us “a great story is never fully predictable through foresight, but it is projectable through hindsight." It is how you reveal the nature of your characters, their difficulties, and how they overcome their obstacles that tantalize your audience.

3. Keep them engaged. Involve the audience by asking questions, adding humor, painting vivid pictures, and using the power of you. One of my favorites is to put the audience in my stories. It's as easy as saying "imagine you're walking down the street..." This technique turns an ‘I’ story into a “we’ story. The whole audience experiences the story with you.

4. Tap into your audiences’ prior experience. As one speech coach says, “There are 10 laws for effective speaking, the first seven are know thy audience.” The ability of the audience to connect emotionally to the story is directly related their prior knowledge and life experience. Use what you know about what they know to help them identify with the characters in your story.

5. Practice the paradox of presents. I strongly urge you to wing it when you present, but only after practicing obsessively. That's practicing the paradox of presents. You practice, drill, and rehearse until you know your story inside and out. Then as you start telling the story, you become present with the audience. Only with practice are you able to come across unrehearsed.

These are a few of the keys to telling effective stories. What other tips, tools, or techniques do you find effective in your storytelling?

Keep on stretching,

Dave

1. Jeremy Hsu; The Secrets of Storytelling, Scientific American Mind, August/September 2008, 46 - 51.

2. Peter Guber; The Four Truths of the Storyteller, Harvard Business Review, December 2007, 53 - 59.

20 Tips Leaders Use To Create a Development Culture

Leaders are judged by their team’s performance. This is one of the reasons why coaching for improved performance is critical. Yet, coaching individuals is not enough. The most effective leaders also make development an important aspect of their unit’s culture. They understand that developing all their direct reports is critical to their overall success. Listed below are 20 practical tips to help you create a culture of development on your team.

1. Dedicate a small portion of each meeting to education.

2. Invite key stakeholders from other units to educate your team as part of “brown bag lunches.”

3. Encourage job shadowing.

4. Have a book-of-the-month club.

5. Require those who travel to association meetings to educate those who did not go to the meeting.

6. Reward those who earn educational achievements.

7. Applaud those who join their professional associations publicly.

8. Conduct after-action-reviews after delegating tasks to team members.

9. Create project teams dedicated to continuous improvement.

10. Create project teams dedicated to innovative growth.

11. Rotate team members through key positions in your unit to help them grow key skills.

12. Meet with all your employees individually at least once a week to discuss how you can help them be more efficient and effective on the job.

13. Disseminate articles that highlight relevant issues, trends, and development opportunities.

14. Help team members develop skills by having each individual share the progress they are making on one development need every week.

15. Maintain a development file for each of your employees.

16. Ask team members to brainstorm ways to encourage the development of skills for the team and each other.

17. Confront poor performance privately, immediately, and directly.

18. Groom at least one high-potential employee to replace you.

19. Make time to coach by delegating small portions of your job to others.

20. Communicate monthly regarding how the team's ongoing development relates to the organization's strategy.

The most effective leaders coach individuals and create a culture of development. Which of these 20 tips have you used to create your culture? What others have you found useful?

Keep eXpanding,

Dave

http://www.DaveJensenOnLeadership.com