Over the years, we (twoday) have seen a large increase in the number of companies having faced major transformation as a consequence of digital projects. And there is no doubt that increased digitalization and the opportunities the AI revolution brings will continue this trend.
However, it is not an easy win for organizations to successfully navigate through major changes. It requires strong focus on change objectives and on the impacted people. And here, change management is an indispensable tool that companies have increasingly become aware of.
However, as a change management consultant, I have often been asked how companies can ensure solid and lasting management of changes. My answer normally is that you have to involve management and some of the impacted employees. At the same time, you must ensure a common change management language. I prefer to use the ADKAR model, which has been developed by the consultancy Prosci. The model is based on the stages we as human beings go through when we need to change.
The stages are:
- Awareness (what and why)
- Desire (I would like to)
- Knowledge (I understand)
- Ability (I can)
- Reinforcement (I maintain)
Prosci refers to the stages as building blocks, and I must stress that the order must be taken literally. For example, you can't move on to Desire before Awareness is in place. In other words, only when the affected employees have understood "why and what" they will be able make the personal choice of participating in the change.
A large obstacle
However, I see one overriding challenge in connection with major organizational transformations: Companies often fail to set specific targets and to translate these targets into concrete activities. And since you cannot move from one phase to another until you have reached a satisfactory level, it is necessary for companies to set specific targets for the different phases. Otherwise, it is practically impossible to have a clear status in progress.
It may seem like a big obstacle, but with a little cunning, we can overcome.
With use of the ADKAR model, companies can set specific targets for the individual building blocks. Targets that become sub-targets in the overall Change Management plan.
In the target setting process, it is important to know that there is no grading scale or unique formula that can calculate a score. It is about deciding which visible and measurable targets the company must have met before you have achieved set goals with a given change.
Human change must be reduced to numbers before management understands it
Once the targets are in place, these are broken down into activities that are included in the change management plan. Activities can be within communication, training, testing, management and employee involvement in the project and much more. Most people might think that this is simple project management – and I agree. The point is that change management must be handled as a discipline same as project management. The difference is that in change management, you only focus on preparing the organization for a given change, where the project management aims to develop software, design and build a building, or define a new organization.
With the change management plan ready, the company can start carrying out the activities that will support the change management. And here the question quickly arises: Will we reach our targets? In other words; Is the organization preparing for the impending change in the right way - and at the right pace?
The company can find out by measuring the effect of the activities and thus creating a fact-based basis for the answer to this question. I would recommend doing surveys within all relevant organizational levels with statements such as "I understand the purpose of change X" or "I can see how system X will affect my everyday life" and asking employees to give a score from 1-5. With the right questions and a representative number of responses, it is my experience that the company gets a solid picture of how far they are with change management – and not least, where to add focus and additional activities.
By measuring the five ADKAR phases, you will get concrete data - facts - that make change management tangible. This is also where you can get management to see the light and increase their commitment, because you can speak their language in numbers, graphs and conclusions.
I usually say a little cheekily that with numbers you can get the interest of top management, which is very much needed if we are to effectively create change in any organization.