Exchange

Ken-Blanchard In business, as in life, one thing is a given: nothing ever remains the same forever. Whether you are staying ahead of the curve to provide innovation and solutions to meet your clients’ and customers’ needs – or if the world is simply changing around you, your business, just like any other, has to deal with change.

So, Express recently caught up with leadership guru Ken Blanchard, author of several bestselling books, including Self-Leadership and the One Minute Manager, and founder of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an organization that consults with companies on various leadership topics. We asked him to tell us more about his latest book, Who Killed Change? and to discuss how leaders should approach the change management process within their companies.

A Novel Approach to Business Writing

Q: Where did you get the idea for writing a murder-mystery style book about change management?

A: “I’m always looking for different ways to communicate with people. On The One Minute Manager, I worked with, Spencer Johnson, a children’s author. We decided to write a children’s book for big people! On this topic – managing change – it was co-author John Britt’s idea to write the book this way, because managing change is a topic with so much heaviness in it. We wanted to have some fun with it, write some compelling characters. It helps people get in touch with these big ideas.

Q: The attributes of change are like characters in a story. Why did you choose to write this book in this way?

A: “We’ve written up the elements of change as the thirteen suspects for Who Killed Change? because we want people to realize if you’re going to manage the journey of change, you have to really know all the aspects involved. They are all just characters who play their role.”

Q: What are you able to convey by turning these textbook concepts, like culture, commitment, and communication, into characters of a story?

A: “Well, what I love about this book is that since we’ve written it this way, people start to laugh. Around here, we love people to take what they do seriously but take themselves lightly. So, I think that leaders will read this and they might even find themselves in one of the characters. So, the minute they start to laugh and identify, the more apt they are to learn. If you’re uptight, you can’t learn, but if you’re laughing, you can.”

Q: What’s unique about your approach to change management?

A: “What’s really important to me is that we put a tremendous bookmark on increasing involvement of people into change. So, we tell people about the different pieces of change. And the book is helpful because it then offers a process with the questions and steps to take on the journey.”

Leadership and Change Management

Q: How can you tell whether an organization is succeeding or failing at managing change?

A: “A change is needed when there’s a difference between what’s actually happening and what you’d like to be happening. The reason people have unsuccessful change is when they don’t know where they want to go. When they just know they want to change. So, first, you have to ask, ‘Where are we coming from, and where are we going to?’

Because the gap between these is the area for change. If where you are and where you’re headed aren’t defined, then you can’t even tell if you’re successful or not. If you specifically define these, with benchmarks and a timeline, then you can see if change is working at each point along the way. Eight months out, 10 months out, are you making the progress you’d planned on?”

Q: What is the biggest obstacle leaders face in the change management process?

A: “It’s a combination of two traits all leaders need: patience and persistence. Patience is realizing that it can’t always happen on your timetable. Persistence is to keep moving.”

Q: If a leader has failed at managing change in the past, what can they do to learn from that experience to help them do better the next time? What questions should they ask themselves?

A: “They should gather people around and just ask, why do you think this thing failed? Together figure it out. What you’re doing here is debriefing. Debriefing is a wonderful thing. You simply look at what went wrong, and what should we have done differently. I also think if they read Who Killed Change? they would probably find out.”

Q: What’s the most important skill a leader can have to effectively manage change?

A: “Jim Collins nailed it in Good to Great. First, you must have resolve, the determination to accomplish the goal. You’ve got to be achievement oriented. But you also have to have humility. Realize you don’t have all the answers. The humble leader involves people and also gives credit.”

Q: How can a leader start the effective change management process in their organization?

A: “First, go around looking for gaps between what’s happening and what you’d like to see. Use internal surveys and consultants to get an objective picture. You have to first identify what needs to be changed. Then, you prioritize those things. You can’t try to change everything at once. And then, put a sign up to remind yourself, ‘involve, involve, involve.’”

Change Management Tips

Expert Patricia Zigarmi Shares Leadership Insight

PatZigarmi In organizations today, change management is a critical concern because a shocking 70% of change initiatives fail, says organizational change expert Patricia Zigarmi, Ed.D., of the Ken Blanchard Companies. “That’s a tremendous waste of resources,” Zigarmi says. “It’s also problematic because when change efforts fail, people begin to think they cannot survive any change effort. They think they don’t ever have to get on board or collaborate.” This mentality can doom change before it really even begins. Which is why it’s important to take time to discover how well your organization scores when it comes to managing change.

Taking the Pulse of Change
Organizations can look to a variety of sources to determine whether or not they’re managing change well. Zigarmi suggests that leaders begin by asking questions to see how people really feel about change. “If your people can’t get their minds around this change, then they don’t really own it, and you aren’t effectively making change happen,” she says.

Next, it’s important to measure the resistance to change within your organization. Zigarmi explains, “When you look at an organization, people can comply with a change short-term, but if they haven’t committed and the focus changes, they go back to the old way of doing things. I think you can ask people to make the business case for change. Hopefully, the people leading the change can make the business case very persuasively, but then, the question is how broad-based is that understanding?

Questions to Ask
As part of leading organizations through change, Zigarmi uses a variety of tools to diagnose the answers to all these questions so that leaders have an objective understanding of their organization. “We have a change readiness survey we do as part of our Leading People through Change program. It asks people within all levels of an organization to rate a variety of statements. For example, we ask people, ‘To what extent do you understand the business case for change? The vision for the future?’”

Zigarmi says it’s important to get the pulse on how your employees feel about variety of topics and ask questions like:

To what extent are your people knowledgeable about your business and its current condition?
To what extent can they articulate the gap between what is and what could be?
Do you have advocacy or resistance at all levels? Do you have commitment versus compliance?
Can someone deep within the organization articulate the compelling business case for change?
Do people believe those leading the change have explored all options?
Do people feel they’ve had an opportunity to express concerns with the proposed changes?
Do people see top managers in the organizations as strong sponsors of change?
Do people hear one thing from one leader and something else from another?
Do people understand why this change is important in relation to other initiatives?
Do people feel they will be provided with the resources they need to contribute to the change?

When leaders fail to ask and address these types of questions, change has very little chance at success, Zigarmi says. “Leaders must address all the different concerns that people have, starting with their personal concerns. But what happens so many times, people have legitimate concerns but managers don’t address them.”

“For change to work, you need the involvement of others at all levels. Unanswered concerns and questions will doom the change. If people’s questions aren’t answered, you get apathy and compliance, not true commitment.”

Involvement at Every Level
Since effective change depends on the involvement of others, Zigarmi recommends using a high-involvement change strategy. “Don’t wait for the process to start to involve others. Get other people involved in exploring options, building the business case, creating an inspiring vision of the future, and finding best practices.”

It’s also important to have a culture that helps emerging leaders share their good ideas up the food chain, Zigarmi notes. “They need to tell senior management what’s working. They need to be curious. Change comes from learning and being constantly curious about things getting better. So, it’s important for emerging leaders to share the next generation’s sense of what’s possible and also their sense of what’s wrong.”

Leaders can set the tone for this by becoming more in tune with the people they are leading. “At the Blanchard group, we have always said, ‘pay more attention to the people you lead.’ But at the same time, in Situational Self Leadership, we teach people how to ask for what they need,” Zigarmi says. So, emerging leaders can involve themselves in the change process by asking change leaders probing questions. “Good questions to start with are ‘Help me understand what you see and what I don’t see. What data do you have that I don’t have? What’s your picture of success for this change?’ Then, it’s all about learning to ask these questions in a way that doesn’t create defensiveness but that will actually help leaders spend resources and time effectively so they can get things done. ”

What You Can do Today
In this environment, walking boldly into change can be difficult. But change, like any other process, comes one step at a time. Zigarmi offers her tips for three things leaders can do today to get the ball rolling.

Involve people in planning change from the very beginning. It seems like it will slow down the process, but it will actually speed it up.
Listen to your people. Take time to understand their questions to the proposed change.
Realize change is a process that requires thought, planning, infrastructure, and support. Give yourself time to refine the process, examine what’s worked and what hasn’t, and roll it out with as much care as possible.

Talk About It
Are you dealing with managing change in your organization? Have you seen change fail and learned from the experience? What examples of good change management have you seen in action? Come join our discussion on LinkedIn to talk about the change management process at work.

Resources
Find out how you can take part this July or August in a virtual keynote on change management featuring Patricia Zigarmi, co-author of the new book Who Killed Change?

HR Tips

3 Hot Summer HR Issues

summer-worker As the summer heats up, HR may be the furthest thing from your mind. But the summer sun can bring with it three workplace issues you should be aware of. So, use this handy guide to avoid sticky situations this summer and get the most out of your workforce.

1) Heat Safety – Whether or not your entire workforce spends time outdoors, it’s important for workers who work in the sun to know basic heat safety guidelines to make sure they stay safe. Heat illness is a serious condition that you can help prevent by sharing the right guidelines with your team. So, check out our guide on how to reduce the risk of heat illness to learn heat safety tips and some simple steps you and your workforce can take to avoid heat-related injuries.

2) Summer Dress Codes – Depending on your work environment, the summer may require a different dress code than the rest of the year. Whether your workforce is indoors or outdoors, experts recommend creating a summer dress code policy to address the needs of your workforce and offering guidelines so staff members can dress to look their best and still beat the heat. Learn how to deal with three top summer dress code violations, and check out this article on how office workers can dress professionally during the summer.

3) Outdoor Activities – Summer is a great time to provide team-building activities for your team. Whether you’re considering a company-wide picnic or going on a fun excursion, it’s important to consider the safety of your team, from heat illness to physical injury risks. Review your HR policies and company handbook for items like company travel or sports involvement policies. Also, seek expert advice on issues like whether to update your handbook or to create a provisional policy for employees to sign prior to an excursion. Don’t forget to be mindful of heat safety and dress code when you plan an outdoor activity for your team.

Make the most of the fun opportunities summer brings by first knowing how to handle these three hot summer HR issues before they become a problem.

Exchange is a publication of Express Services, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Copyright 2009.

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