After Change Management – What is Next?

By

Dr. Al Coke

Articles on the topic of change management describe how to create organizational change. This article doesn’t deal with the front end of that process. It deals with the opposite end. Once you put the change process in motion the situation shifts. How do you make the new business a natural part of your daily management practices? Without careful monitoring the average change effort slips back into the old comfort zone. Below is a proven way to make the change stick. Think of these activities as a four act learning play.

1. Act One: Raise the Standards – Learn to Expect More
2. Act Two: Assign Responsibility – Learn to Let Go
3. Act Three: Demand Accountability – Learn to Get Tough
4. Act Four: Provide Authority – Learn to Delegate

Raise the Standards

The first step in signaling for permanent change is raising the bar from the current mediocre to an almost impossible level of results. I call these PIGS which is a cute acronym for Probably Impossible Goals. This creates a nice slight of hand at the subconscious level. It signals that you are not going to accept business as usual. The inherent problem with setting high goals is that employees have heard this before. You are not believed at this stage. Remember this is only the first of four signals.

Assign Responsibility

Give everyone a huge load of responsibility. This is often difficult to do. One of management’s greatest weaknesses as a corporate body is the reluctance to turn over responsibility to the next level. Someone wisely said, “Managers usually work two levels below their assigned positions.”  This has to do with our inherent need for control. Take a risk – assign a task you normally reserve for yourself to a promising rising star. People protect what they build and own. Why wouldn’t job performance fall into that category? The answer should be obvious.

Demand Accountability

Corporate North America’s single greatest management shortfall is the lack of accountability for poor performance. Business communities are full of people just getting along and never being challenged. Instead of measurable performance results what seems to get acknowledged is activity. Try hard and you will not have to answer for missing your targets. Even the most sophisticated bonus and incentive plans tire easily when faced with measuring sustained performance. When you ask for results, demand performance, and measure success or failure there is a clear signal that you mean business. When those measurable results are tied to strategic goals and annual operating objectives the message that business as usual is not acceptable becomes very clear.

Provide Authority

Without the power to make decisions no management change process can survive. The reason is that managers must be able to take definitive actions when faced with new daily situations. If not it is business back to normal. Having the authority to act creates ownership in the new processes, instills pride, and communicates faith in the suggested changes. Providing the authority to act is one of the most powerful tools in your management arsenal. Don’t be afraid to use it.

Summary

Instituting change is easy. Making it permanent is also easy if you follow through with all four steps. A play is not complete without all acts, neither is a change management process.