Is Your Change Project
Stuck in Neutral?
Or Maybe Even Reverse?

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Are you managing a change effort that has run into passive resistance or active sabotage? Or are you afraid that might happen? Maybe you're beginning to wonder whether your career is on the line…

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Skip to the Details: How To Orderiring a consultant might give you someone to blame, but blaming someone else might not be protection enough. The best protection is success. Here's a new look at approaches that the best change leaders use to inspire and lead the people of their organizations to new ways of working.

Change managers everywhere face similar challenges, no matter what the size of their organizations. And there's plenty of help available, though much of it is either too abstract or very cook-booky. 101 Tips for Managing Change gives you a way to learn from the experience of others without having to read a 200-page book full of theory and evidence.

In my own experience and training, and in working with clients, I've learned a lot about what works and what doesn't when we try to change. Some of what I've learned is just good practice and has appeared in the literature over the years. But much is new, developed in response to the rapid structural and technological change that has swept through today's office.

This tip book is different from many other guides for dealing with Change. Unlike others, it provides

• Suggestions for changing the way you experience Change yourself, to help you keep your focus on the Change effort.
• Ideas you can use not only to resolve difficulties that can arise, but also to avoid problems in the first place.
• Insights that help you understand the systemic sources of difficulties in Change efforts.

What's on this page:

• Some sample tips
• Details and how to order
• Table of contents

Some sample tips

Be honest about whether or not the change effort is elective

People who ordered this item also ordered 101 Tips for Managing Conflict.Management's need to project an image of stability and control can sometimes manifest itself as a desire to position all Change efforts as elective, even when they're forced upon the organization by competitive or threatening factors external to the organization. Because positioning Change efforts as elective when they are not fools no one, you can avoid stimulating resistance and cynicism by being honest about whether the change effort is elective or not.

Labeling people makes trouble

Labeling people as "resisters" or "supporters" or "passives" or any of the other terms associated with the change tends to dehumanize people. Labeling is a divisive tactic that reduces your effectiveness as a change manager.

Speak plainly

New buzzwords, acronyms, abbreviations, jargon and other "in-talk" introduce barriers between the change manager and the larger population. Find plain-language names for new concepts.

Make a change in how you manage change — order this tip book now!

Details

This item requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later or Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or later. You can load it onto your computer or PDA. Or print it on any standard black-and-white or color printer. Price: per copy. Call for volume or site license pricing at the phone number below.

Table of contents

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Make plans

• Tips are good, but they aren't enough
• Know what you're about
• Verify the diagnosis
• Canned solutions don't work
• Take small bites
• Expect change to take longer than you expect
• Choose a good time for elective changes
• Practice
• Maintain a "Change Reserve"
• Training helps
• Educate everyone about Change
• The cheapest way to run a change effort is with enough resources
• Budget plenty of management time
• Replan often
• Everyone will have to work
• Define success criteria in advance
• Success is the only option

Expect Chaos

• Recognize the kinds of change
• You can't get around Chaos
• Let Chaos happen
• Chaos isn't free
• You might visit Chaos more than once
• Chaos is valuable
• Beware scope creep
• Monitor Chaos with metrics
• Suspend decision-making during Chaos
• Space your changes to avoid collisions

Know your own limitations

• Go no faster than senior management
• Involve everyone
• Learn from trailblazers
• Expect backtracking
• Know who your Change Leaders are
• Go around obstacles
• Recall when necessary
• Depressed productivity isn't "resistance"
• Not everyone "gets it" on your schedule
• Attachment to what is might not be what it seems
• Doing nothing can be your best option
• Hold a retrospective

Manage yourself

• Accept that change is normal
• Be prepared
• Change how you change
• Change is part of your job
• Be honest about whether or not the change effort is elective
• Beware the dangers of denial
• Choose a Change Model
• Beware new Foreign Elements
• Adopt a collaborative attitude
• Command and control won't work
• Grieve losses
• Delay criticism until the after-action analysis
• Know how to motivate yourself
• Map the Change to yourself
• Look ahead
• Keep your eyes on the prize

Change involves people and their emotions

• People change if they see a chance for something better
• Go for the gold
• Identify opinion leaders
• Change must start with somebody
• Brains are not enough
• Letting go is hard
• Backtracking is normal
• Cut yourself some slack
• Labeling people makes trouble
• Create ownership
• Deliver training just in time
• Plan for frequent successes
• You don't control anyone else's mind
• Changing organizations means changing relationships
• Practice takes time
• Anyone can be right — or wrong

Communicate effectively

• True communication is bi-directional
• Have a Transforming Idea
• Avoid loaded terminology
• Consult experts
• Be judicious
• Influence by example and demonstration
• Have good answers for the more frequent objections
• Beware taboos
• Not everyone "gets it" in the same way
• Speak plainly
• Anticipate rumors
• WIIFM isn't enough
• Think "us" not just "me"
• WIIFM is hard to undo
• Declare victory only once
• Mandates and commands build cynicism

Understand the effects of organizational structures

• Use systems thinking
• Empower Change from high enough in the organization
• Get the budget from the bottom line
• Know how to play Pick-Up Sticks
• Evaluate evaluation
• Understand total costs and total benefits
• Question established policy
• Test, test, test
• Exemptions are expensive
• Look closely at the accounting system
• Plan for change
• Use history appropriately
• Involve all stakeholders
• Never "lock in" again