The challenge in preparing any culture for change is that staff tend to cling to the present state (where they are now). One of the biggest obstacles in getting folks to move with the change into the future state (where you want them to be) is that the present state is usually fairly comfortable. Unfortunately, getting them to move is not as simple as just asking. In order to get folks to move from the present state to the future state project managers need to understand the stages that incorporate the “Why, Where, and How” of change.
In general, the most fruitful success strategy is to begin with leadership tools, including a vision or story of the future, cement the change in place with management tools, such as role definitions, measurement and control systems.
If staff don’t understand why they need to change, they won’t change. This is why, ironically, it’s often easier to lead a change management effort in a failing business than in a successful one. If the business is heading towards downturn, it’s a lot easier to explain why we need to change. But in successful organisation, staff will often say, "Why do we need to change if we’ve been so successful thus far?"
Often the first thing project managers need to do to prepare the organisational culture for change is to set the imperative. In other words, explain why the present state is significantly less comfortable and the need to change. Maybe it’s as simple as pointing out that there are coming threats to our current success. Maybe it’s pointing out that we’re not really as perfect as we think we are.
If the present state were less favourable, staff would be a lot more likely to jump from the present state to the future state. As the present state gets more unfavourable, staff will begin to move away from that state. But in addition to that it is also necessary to prepare the staff and culture for change by making the future state look a lot better than the present state. Are we going somewhere good? Is the future state more attractive than the present state?
Staff don’t need every tiny detail about the future state, but they do need a rough idea of where we’re going. They need to be able to visualise that there is a better place waiting for them out there and they need to be able to imagine themselves in that place.
This is where a change journey picture is useful, in summarising the beginning, middle and the end state. In other words by telling the corporate story. Storytelling translates dry and abstract numbers into compelling pictures of the corporate goals. Although good project business cases are reinforced through the use of numbers, they are typically approved on the basis of a story—that is, a narrative that links a set of events in some kind of causal sequence. An example of this is the attached slide used to communicate the current project I’m leading, which is part of the creative initiative to generate a new future, as opposed to conventional management approaches that search for virtual certainties anchored in the illusive security of yesterday. The change will affect over 3000 employees and change implemented across 17 sites across the country; all within six months time. A significant challenge indeed.
