Could perception be the key to successful change management?
Resistance to change is often its Achilles’ heel
When changing the organisation, it is widely recognised that resistance to change is often its Achilles’ heel. As human beings, we are conditioned to prefer stability and safety over change and disruption. These reactions to stress hark back to our primal instincts of "fight or flight" as a default survival mechanism. As such, it’s important to recognise that organisational change does not happen in a vacuum. It has a ripple effect, and where it encounters friction it will slow and eventually stop.
Transformation is necessary
So consider transformational or business change as a system in balance. In an uncertain environment, one thing is certain; organisations and its people will have to do things differently than they did before. To survive and remain relevant transformation is necessary particularly in a digital environment. That is, organisational change depends on how leaders envision, establish and continually communicates a compelling case for change for a digital future. It’s about creating “moments of truth” and using any opportunity to communicate the benefits of change in your stakeholder’s mind. There is a wonderful thing about technology, particularly in a digital environment. It changes everything!
Organisational change should therefore forge a new path to reinvent the organisation and discover a new or revised business model based on a digital vision for the future that improves ways of working. In business, the term burning platform is used to describe the process of helping people see the dire consequences of not changing (e.g. think Blockbuster). By sparking just enough concern about what happens if the status quo remains the same, people begin to embrace change particularly if regularly communicated in a positive light. It’s about being transparent about change and keeping people informed.
Cognitive Bias
The burning platform can be best explained by the framing effect. The framing effect is a cognitive bias where people decide on change based on whether the change is presented with a positive or negative connotation. That is, either as a loss or as a gain. For example, frozen yogurt appears healthier when marketed as 80% fat-free rather than containing 20% fat. As such, people will tend to overlook risk when a positive frame (e.g. 80% fat-free frozen yogurt) is presented but seek risks when a negative frame is presented (e.g. 20% fat frozen yogurt). That is, decisions based on the framing effect are made by focusing on the way the information or change is presented instead of the information or change itself.
Leading change requires active engagement and communication
Overall, effective change management begins when people know why something new is needed, how the change is to occur and that they are part of and can influence the change process. That is, leading change means actively engaging and communicating with people. It is tempting to make a case for change by simply giving people information but to truly engage with stakeholders, people must:
1. Feel that the change is critical (Where are we now?)
2. Understand the vision (Where do we want to be?)
3. Know and be part of the change process (How do we get there?)
So when proposing to make a change to an organisation, consider that the proposed vision for the future is unlikely to be the same as your stakeholders.
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About the author
Milvio DiBartolomeo is an ICT project portfolio management professional who has had a varied career. Starting in the private sector (working for some well-known multinational companies in business development) and later in the public sector in Queensland, Australia. For the past 13 years, he has worked on a number of transformational change initiatives across the entire programme and project lifecycle and worked as a business and process analyst, software tester and project manager. He later moved into a P3 best practice advisory role, working in both a hub and spoke PMO model more recently as a Portfolio Manager and as a Capability Support Manager specialising in OGC Gateway Assurance and procurement. Milvio holds certifications in Better Business Cases, Managing Benefits, MoP, P3O, MSP, PRINCE2, PRINCE2 Agile, AgileSHIFT, ICAgile, ISTQB software testing and ITIL. He now shares his PPM knowledge as a freelance writer including on the Praxis Framework.
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