The Times They Are A-Changin’

Change is no longer just about providing people with new technical skills. It's also about supporting individuals and organisations to move toward their North Star, their desired culture and their ever-evolving end state. Societal change is escalating. Organisations are trying to work out what new ways of working look like. This must go beyond the number of days in the office; it needs to understand how we can support our employees to be resilient, innovative, collaborative and engaged.

It’s ironic that some change management practitioners are so acutely aware of the ever-increasing levels of change in organisations and in society in general but are still using traditional change management tools without adapting or analysing their approach.

Just like society has changed, so must we as change practitioners. 

Change is no longer just about providing people with new technical skills. It’s also about supporting individuals and organisations to move toward their North Star, their desired culture and their ever-evolving end state.   

We know that people are exhausted following the COVID years, which felt like they lasted decades, but societal change is escalating, whether people are tired of it or not. Organisations are trying to work out what new ways of working look like. This must go beyond the number of days in the office; it needs to understand how we can support our employees to be resilient, innovative, collaborative and engaged.   

While I still believe very strongly in some traditional elements of individual change management, including ensuring that people understand the change and can implement those changes, I also believe that we must look more holistically at what change looks like, both for individuals and organisations as a whole. 

This may include looking at the provision of core skills, like human-centred design, process improvement, communication, and collaboration. It may also look at how an organisation supports employee well-being to ensure that employees are resilient enough to cope with the high levels of change. While employee well-being is not traditionally within the realm of the change practitioner, it’s still essential that change practitioners understand what this looks like and how they can leverage these programs to support transformation. 

We also know that many employees are driven by purpose and want to make an impact. This is, perhaps, the greatest tool a change practitioner has. How can you engage your employees around your purpose and your North Star? What can you give employees to hang on to when the transformation is at its hardest? Is everyone from the Executive team down to the frontline clear on why they want to work for your organisation in six months, six years, or beyond? Are you articulating this in a way that everyone can understand? If not, what can you do to influence this?   

By ensuring that you understand your North Star, organisations can also take advantage of new change methodologies. For example, the viral change methodology looks at small non-negotiable behaviours rather than taking a view of technical skills and utilises the power of the employees to support these changes​ (Viral Change, n.d.)​. This change method relies on peer-to-peer sharing rather than traditional top-down or change-led activities and may be particularly impactful for purpose-driven or younger organisations. 

This type of model may also work well with a tool such as a force field analysis, which looks at both driving and restraining forces on change​ (Gitmind, 2022)​. This is often a tool which is useful to workshop with a group, particularly frontline staff in order to understand what levers you can pull to support transformation activities.

There are also simplified change models, such as Lewin’s, which looks at change as a series of steps, where you freeze, change, unfreeze, and then commence the cycle again​ (Mindtools Content Team, n.d.)​. While this model has been around for decades and is principally focused on process change, I think that the ability to provide employees with a specified rest from change activities may be of benefit. While not all changes can be broken down into a series of steps, some can, and it is worth considering whether a model which allows employees to breathe and embed can be of use in your organisation.

I also believe that change practitioners may have to create their own change methodologies to suit the organisation in which they are working. Just like project management methodologies need to be adapted for organisational maturity, governance requirements and project types, change methodologies must also be respectful of the change maturity, appetite and levels of fatigue. When crafting change artefacts, change practitioners should consider what is important to that organisation and what will provide the most value without being overwhelming.   

The times they are a’changin’, and so must we as change practitioners.

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