Why you can’t outsource change (to consultants like me)
I started my consulting career when SAP was making its way across large, global companies requiring huge cross-functional teams and armies of hand selected change agents to implement and taking years to complete. These projects also required large consulting teams – typically multiple consulting firms on each engagement - to tackle the size and scope of the work. SAP was not intuitive, and it was a total change in how work got done and how leaders measured their organizations. It was on projects like this where change management truly became a professional discipline.
But that was more than a few years ago and the terms change management and change agent are no longer new. In fact, we went through a stage where our clients were sick of those terms so new ones were born: change champions, employee engagement, communications, knowledge transfer, leadership development, readiness, etc. But they all meant the same thing: getting organizations to work differently to produce different results. Today, the change management function, and change skills, should be much more integrated into the daily activities of leaders, managers, and supervisors. There should be accountability for change at every level of the organization.
Good consultants work themselves out of their client projects. They need to transfer skills, abilities, and knowledge to their clients as they go. This is especially important for change – employees are more likely to change for their supervisors (assuming trust exists) than for consultants. I always emphasize the transfer of the change responsibilities to the people – especially to mid-management. Executives must own the change, champion the change, walk the talk in order for the change to occur and many times this has to be taught. But mid-managers are the ones really dealing with the individual employee change, keeping the company running during the change, and making the change stick. And that requires a specific set of skills and abilities.
A practical change methodology for every occasion
I’m a fan of the Prosci change methodology (I’m certified in it) which respects that organizations change when individuals change first. Prosci champions the following steps through which no two individuals proceed at the same pace:
Prosci ADKAR change framework
A – awareness
D – desire
K – knowledge
A – ability
R – reinforcement
If you want to learn more about Prosci, and I highly recommend you do, visit their site: https://www.prosci.com and take advantage of their free resources.
The role of the change consultant
I believe good leaders and managers should have change leadership skills as a requirement of their position. Organizations should be looking for change-able leaders when they hire by asking questions like: “tell me about a time when you led your people through change – what were the obstacles, how did you overcome them, what did you learn, what would you do differently next time?”
We all know the one constant is change. And organizations standing still become obsolete. There are many studies and papers on what change-able (also called agile) organizations look like. I can’t cover that here but will do so in another post on embedding a change culture.
So, if the leadership/management team is equipped to move their employees successfully through major change, what, if any, is the role of a consultant on change initiatives?
Readiness Assessments: Are we ready to make this change?
No organization should undertake any major initiative without conducting a thorough readiness assessment. This is best done by consultants who can be objective and see dependencies, integrations, and risk where employees might not. There are a specific set of deliverables that cover people, process, technology, budget, and customer impacts that should be completed at this stage to help inform the leadership on whether to approve the project with complete understanding of assumptions and risk.
I’m sure by now you have embarked on a Digital Transformation journey...was the organization ready for it?
Planning: Do we know (and have) what it will take to successfully change?
Once the initiative has the approval to proceed, it is critical to complete a project charter outlining roles and responsibilities, budget, scope (in/out), non-negotiables (see the PMO Non-Negotiables post), communications plan, change impact, decision / escalation process and the definition of success. This is a good role for a consultant who has experience with planning across a variety of industries and for a variety of projects and again, offers the objective perspective.
Coaching: Do our leaders have the skills to navigate the change?
Executives serving in the role of change sponsor would do well to have a change coach to advise on potential change barriers and how to overcome them. Being a C-suite leader does not necessarily equip you for leading the organization through complex change. Ask for help.
To mitigate risk, steering committees or leadership teams should consider holding regular check-ins with the consultant to assess progress against the plan and to address any unplanned complexities that occur during the project. The consultant can act as an auditor. Consider inviting the consultant to the project steering committee meetings.
Post-mortems: We recognize this is not the last change so let’s learn from it.
Learn from each change initiative by holding a post-mortem (or multiple sessions across the different teams, depending on the project) to allow candid discussions on what went well and what could have gone better. An outside facilitator can provide a safe environment to ensure this is a valuable exercise and not just a check in the box.
Engaging consultants in these four activities will set the team up for a successful project and mitigate risk and provide the opportunity for feedback that can be used to assess the organization’s readiness for the next change initiative – because it is likely coming up fast!
NOTE: In organizations with limited resources or too many ongoing projects, it would be wise to use consultants in executing the change while holding them accountable to help the organization increase their own capacity for change through knowledge transfer and prioritization and embedding best change practices.
