Task sheet – What are we talking about and why?

Today we are about change management, but what kinds of change are we experiencing? In your group identify the types of changes you are dealing with and write each different one on a separate post-it. Then discuss the following;

1. What kinds of change have you gone through in the last 3 years – are there

themes?

2. How many of the changes felt positive at the time?

3. Why?

4. Who do you know is innovative?

5. What do they do?

You have 15 minutes to discuss the questions. Be ready to bring your responses back to

plenary for a large group discussion.

Task sheet - PESTLE Part one - Living Case Study

In your group, select one person to be a “living case study” and ask them to tell you about a change they are trying to deal with. Actively listen for 10 minutes to the story they tell. At the end of ten minutes reflect back what you have heard, not just the words, but also the feelings and the intentions, try and listen not just to what is said, but also what remains unsaid.

Part Two - PESTLE When you have heard and understood the case study, use the PESTLE template to interview and identify emerging issues that might affect the change process. of the future.

Part Three – Force Field Analysis When you have completed the PESTLE section, move to the force field analysis tool and identify the key driving forces and brakes that will support or hinder the change.

You have at total of 10 minutes for part one. For part two you have a total of 20 minutes and for part three you have a total 20 minutes for part three. Be ready to bring the results of your work back to the plenary discussion.

PESTLE analysis

The Pestle analysis tool is widely used in planning futures. It is a method of categorising data that we collect about some of the key things that might impact on the organisation. It is used to “scan the horizon” that is look outside of our immediate area and take a broader look at what is emerging and what we might have to face or deal with later.

POLITICAL – The first aspect of Pestle examines the political landscape and what that might mean... In our context we are talking about both National and Local politics, but also the politics of the organisation – which Department or team has the most power/influence, who is in favour, who makes the decisions?

ENVIRONMENTAL – In looking at Environmental, as with all 6 elements, it is both the opportunities and the threats that we think about – what is happening in terms of Environmental issues, legislation etc. But also what is happening across the organisation

SOCIAL – As it suggests covers any aspect of people – this might include looking at the team demographics. Do we have the necessary skills to deliver a high quality? What is morale like and why? It is also worth asking is this team doing the right things? And are they doing things right? It will also relate to communities, partnerships and new delivery modes.

TECHNICAL- This relates to the technical aspects of the work, updates and changes in technology and the impact they may have in terms of investments, work flow or skilling people up. Again, it could relate to opportunities, maybe to do things more efficiently or effectively?

LEGAL – What are the things you are tasked to do that are legal requirements, is there new legislation on the horizon? What kind of impact will that have?

ECONOMIC – What is the economic impact on your work, both the national and local climate, as well as budgets, freezes, opportunities to develop new products or services or to invest. Of course there is overlap in many of these areas. The headings will help you think about the things you already know, but also may help you recognise what information you don’t have.

PESTLE

Element Reflections

Political

Environmental

Social

Technical

Legal

Economic

Force Field Analysis

The force field analysis tool was

originally developed by Kurt Lewin. It

is used extensively today to examine

the potential drivers and brakes to

change.

Part one

To carry out a Force Field Analysis, use a blank sheet of paper or whiteboard. Describe your plan or proposal for

change in a box in the middle of the paper. List the forces for change in a column on the left-hand side, and the forces against change in a column on the right-hand side. As you do this, consider the following questions: 1. What benefits will the change deliver?

2. Who supports the change? Who is against it? Why?

3. How easy will it be to make the change?

4. Do you have enough time and resources to make it work?

5. What costs are involved?

6. What other business processes will be affected by the change?

7. What are the risks?

Part Two

Assign a score to each force, from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong), and then add up the scores for each column (for and against). For a visual representation of the influence that each force has, draw arrows around them. Use bigger arrows for the forces that will have a greater influence on the change, and smaller arrows for forces that will have less of an influence

Transition Curve (Hopson & Adams)

Transition Curve

1. Shock - Immobilisation, unable to make plans, unable to reason – frozen up. Degree of freezing, a function of unfamiliarity with the transition state and perceived negative expectations.

2. Denial of changes - False competence,

trivialise the new situation. Reversion to previously successful behaviour. Denial can be positive if temporary and it is often necessary to make sense of the new situation. As temporary retreat it can be useful while internal forces regroup and regain strength to comprehend the new demands and constraints. It becomes dysfunctional when it goes on too long and inappropriate behaviour becomes dominant.

3. Incompetence - Depression, flatness in performance, floating, reactive, becomes

incompetent because realisation of change. Frustration – becomes difficult to know how to cope with new situation or relationship.

4. Accepting Reality - Letting go, unhooking from the past, and acceptance if the

situation as it is. Relief and pleasure at letting go. Preparedness and willingness to experiment with change. Optimism for the future and abilities.

5. Testing- Trying new approaches and behaviours. New ways of coping with the

transition. Tendency to stereotype what they and others should be doing, and quick changes of stereotype if appropriate. A lot of energy and a lot of anger and frustration as testing progresses. Lots of activity.

6. Search for Meaning - Internalisation, cognitive ‘head level’ phase. Seeking

meanings of how things are different. An attempt to understand all the activity, anger and frustration. A quiet reflection period. A withdrawal from activity. A time for sharing insights and meanings to others.

7. Understanding the reality of the new situation and adjusting so that it becomes

the norm.

8. Integration - Incorporating meanings into new behaviours. Not all people follow this general curve, and progression or regression can be unique to an individual’s circumstances.

Task sheet Planning Change In your group think about the phases people face when in transition and identify what are the possible obstacles you might face at each stage and what could you do to diminish or remove the obstacles? Use the table below to list the potential obstacles to change

Phase of change

Possible obstacles

Actions to diminish or remove

obstacles Shock

Denial

Awareness

Incompetence

Acceptance

Searching for meaning

Understand & adjust

Integration

You have a total of 20 minutes to complete this task and be ready to present back to plenary your ideas

Building Commitment Part One

In your pair, discuss ‘commitment’ what does it look like? When have you experienced it? What does it take for you, personally, to commit to something? What about your team members? Who is committed at work? How do they show it? Write down your responses on a flipchart paper.

Part two Link up with another pair and share the summaries on your flipcharts. Then as a group, create a list of what a leader can do to build commitment. Be ready to share this back in plenary.

You have 10 minutes for part one of this exercise and a further 15 minutes for part two.

Commitment “There is a world of a difference between compliance and commitment. The committed person brings energy, passion and excitement that cannot be generated if you are only compliant, even genuinely compliant. The committed person doesn’t play by the rules of the game (She) He is responsible for the game.” In the fifth discipline Senge talks about the possible attitudes toward a vision and describes the range from: Commitment – Wants it. Will make it happen. Creates

whatever “laws” (structures) are needed. Enrolment – Wants it. Will do whatever can be done within the “spirit of the law” Genuine Compliance – Sees the benefits of the vision. Does everything expected and more. Follows the letter of the law. “Good Soldiers” Formal Compliance – On the whole sees the benefit of the vision. Does what is expected and no more. “Pretty good soldier.” Grudging compliance – Does not see the benefits of the vision. But, also, does not want to lose job. Does enough of what’s expected because he has to, but also lets it be known that he is not really on board. Non-compliance – Does not see the benefit of the vision and will not do what is expected. “I won’t do it; you can’t make me” Apathy – Neither for nor against the vision. No interest. No energy. “Is it five o’clock yet?” Without genuine commitment to change, the role of the manager becomes that of the police officer trying to enforce change. The result is wasted time and effort that may be sabotaged as soon as their presence is not felt. If, as a manager you can engage other people and gain commitment to the change, there is more chance that the change will not only be implemented, but that it will continue to be embedded even without your intervention. So maybe the question is not how do you bring about change? But how do you bring about commitment to change?

Nine rules for Stifling Innovation Rosabeth Moss-Kanter Many leaders in numerous organizations in every sector who actively stifle innovation. They say they want more innovation. But at the same time, they seem to operate by a set of hidden principles designed to prevent innovations from surfacing or succeeding.

1. Be suspicious of any new idea from below — because it's new, and because it's from below. After all, if the idea were any good, we at the top would have thought of it already.

2. Invoke history. If a new idea comes up for discussion, find a precedent in an earlier idea that didn't work, remind everyone of that bad past experience. Those who have been around a long time know that we tried it before, so it won't work this time either.

3. Keep people really busy. If people seem to have free time, load them with more work.

4. In the name of excellence, encourage cut-throat competition. Get groups to critique and challenge each other's proposals, preferably in public forums, and then declare winners and losers.

5. Stress predictability above all. Count everything that can be counted, and do it as often as possible. Sweep any surplus into master accounts, and eliminate any slack. Favor exact plans and guarantees of success. Don't credit people with exceeding their targets because that would just undermine planning. Insist that all procedures be followed.

6. Confine discussion of strategies and plans to a small circle of trusted advisors. Then announce big decisions in full-blown form. This ensures that no one will start anything new because they never know what new orders will be coming down from the top.

7. Act as though punishing failure motivates success. Practice public humiliation, making object lessons out of those who fail to meet expectations. Everyone will know that risk-taking is bad.

8. Blame problems on the incompetent people below — their weak skills and poor work ethic. Complain frequently about the low quality of the talent pool today. If that doesn't undermine self-confidence, it will undermine faith in anyone else's ideas.

9. Above all, never forget that we got to the top because we already know everything there is to know about this business.

Nurturing Innovation Leaders who want to nurture innovation can reverse the anti-innovation rules and eliminate the practices that stifle innovation, in order to create a pro-innovation culture. For each of these innovation-stiflers, innovation-promoters can move to the opposite behaviors. In a culture of innovation, these actions allow innovation to flourish:

1. Encourage new ideas, especially from below and from unexpected sources.

2. Look ahead, not behind. The past is prologue but not necessarily precedent.

3. Leave some slack for experimentation, whether spare time or seed money.

4. Look for improvements, not critiques. Encourage collaboration toward common

goals.

5. Be flexible. Stress substance over form, action over calendar. Allow for

unplanned opportunities.

6. Open strategic discussions to new voices.

7. Accept that stretch goals mean some things won't work. Avoid public

humiliation; promote public recognition for innovative accomplishments.

8. Foster respect for people and their talents.

9. And know learning is an imperative. Everyone, even the most experienced, must

be open to learning.

Leaders seeking innovation should adhere to these pro-innovation principles. But it might also be a good idea to keep the innovation-stiflers posted as a reminder of what not to do.

Task Sheet - Nine rules for Stifling Innovation

In your group create a scenario and a plan for stifling innovation. To demonstrate your plan you can;

1. Create a small role play of a conversation between a leader and a more junior person with a good idea

2. Represent a meeting of most senior managers discussing how to ensure innovation does not take place

3. Create a role play of a presentation at an induction training programme for new employees reminding them about the rules and making sure they understand their responsibility to reinforce them.

You have a total of 30 minutes to prepare your demonstration, which should last no longer than 5 minutes

Eight Steps to Real Change

John Kotter and Dan Cohen's The Heart of Change is based upon the eight-step model that companies follow to achieve successful change, a model introduced by Kotter in Leading Change. 1 Increase Urgency. Raise a feeling of urgency and reduce the complacency, fear, and anger that stop change from starting.

2 Build the Guiding Team. Pull together the right group of people, with the right characteristics and sufficient power, to drive the change effort. Help them to behave with trust and emotional

commitment to one another.

3 Get the Vision Right. Move beyond traditional analytical/financial plans and budgets. Create the right compelling vision to direct the effort.

4 Communicate for Buy-in. Send clear, credible, and heartfelt messages about the direction of change to establish genuine gut-level buy-in that shows up in how people act.

5 Empower Action. Remove barriers that block those who have genuinely embraced the vision and strategies.

6 Create Short-term Wins. Generate visible, valued, unambiguous wins, fast enough, to diffuse cynicism, pessimism, and skepticism, and to build momentum.

7 Don't Let Up. Help people make wave after wave of change until the vision is a reality. Do not allow urgency to sag.

8 Make It Stick. Ensure that people continue to act in new ways, despite the pull of tradition, by rooting behavior in reshaped organisational culture.