The role of the Change Practitioner has always been entwined with that of our sponsors and leaders responsible for leading change. So it is also important that we are well positioned to provide the thought leadership, coaching and support that may be required in developing the four domains discussed in Part 1. In addition to this, we ourselves have been challenged over the last 20 months of lockdown and remote working, with needing to significantly shift and change the way that we operate.

Practitioners who are part of my network and individuals who have attended our Change Management Programme have all expressed varying levels of frustration in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to the work from home and hybrid models. This new and transient world of work has turned the way we that engage and drive change on its head and many Change Practitioners have struggled to navigate this new uncertain terrain.

But what happens when our industry is unable to change or innovate or pivot and deliver change differently? In Part 1, we explored ways for our leadership community to become more change literate and future-fit. But what are we doing as a community to upskill ourselves in becoming future-fit?

Let’s explore some of the key skills that are required for successfully navigating change moving forward.

Digitally enabled and driven:

McKinsey published an article called Changing change management back in 2015 which lamented the fact that “… change methodologies had become stuck in a predigital era.” They argued that “…applying new digital tools could make change more meaningful—and durable—both for the individuals who were experiencing the change and for those implementing it” (McKinsey 2015, pg1). I was struck by how little seemed to have changed when writing this, as I have met and observed a number of change practitioners who have as yet not fully embraced the predominantly digital environments within which we now operate. The pandemic has actually given the change management fraternity the perfect opportunity to change… to change away from the old and often cumbersome ways of delivering change to new and innovative ways of working. I cannot help thinking this may have been an opportunity that many of us may have missed.

I know that many individuals cannot wait for things to return to the way they were, and while there appears to be a lot of planning underway for a return back to the traditional workplace… there are also talks of the next wave… and the next.  So we cannot deny that technology will remain an essential tool in our practitioner toolkit for some time to come. So what can we do as practitioners to sharpen our proverbial digital pencils?

While virtual platforms may lack some of the traditional benefits of face-to-face engagement, I do believe they enable far greater collaboration and engagement across stakeholder groups who traditionally would have never engaged or been included together in sessions due to regional and travel restrictions. In the past we were often limited to engaging specific groups in isolation from one another based on location. That has now changed. It is also far quicker and easier to co-ordinate virtual sessions, as there are none of the old traditional limitations relating to travel time, venues, catering and other costs. The only caveat to this being levels of technology proficiency for both facilitators and attendees.

That said, we have been receiving so much positive feedback from delegates and learners regarding the power and impact of functionalities such as virtual break-out rooms, simply because they are getting to engage colleagues from different departments and regions or even companies – something that may not have been realised using old school face to face forums.

In addition to collaboration tools such as MS Teams and Google Hangouts, there are also a host of interactive and fun apps like Polleverywhere, Microsoft’s Yammer, Facebook for Business and Mentimeter to name a very few.

What is also helpful to note is how the McKinsey study did not limit digital to technology apps only and made reference to the power of the humble SMS in ‘providing just-in-time, personalised information to help improve performance and sales.’ Which is another added benefit of digital…it allows for personalisation of messaging and content, which in turn helps drive employee buy-in and adoption (McKinsey 2015, pg. 2).

There are also new change management apps such as the ChangeFolio App that are revolutionising the way we deliver change, moving from disconnected Excel spreadsheets and other tools to a central, cloud based automated solution. Having all your change data at your fingertips and integrated tools that talk to one another is certainly something that would be appealing to most practitioners. If we could remove even 25% of our intensive admin slog imagine how much time this would free up! So future-fit change practitioners, technology is your friend! Use it and thrive.

Continuously learning & enhancing change skills:

Some of the common complaints I hear from practitioners is that their old, trusted methodologies no longer seem to fit with the new ways that projects are being implemented. And that the rate and pace of change along with super aggressive timelines simply does not align with the models that worked so well in the past.

So there is a real need for practitioners to invest in upskilling themselves on other frameworks such as SAFE Agile or other hybrid approaches. The more in-depth our knowledge of a broad range of methodologies, the greater our toolkit we can leverage from when managing change.

Another great way to ensure continuous learning and personal development is by belonging to associations and communities such as PROSCI or ACMP, where we can leverage off diverse communities of experts and not only develop our own skills but also help co-create innovative ways of driving change as a collective.

The last area that I believe we should focus on, which leads on from my previous point, speaks to becoming trusted change management partners.

Strategic, expert partner in change:

By leveraging off our communities of practice and constantly seeking out new and innovative ways of doing things, we become better placed to provide expert guidance and support to our communities we serve and/or clients. This requires not only having the requisite knowledge and skills to deliver change but also the courage to propose new and different ways of doing things. This can be done in a controlled manner, starting off by testing a new method or technology on smaller, low risk change initiatives. This will allow for a test and refine approach aimed at showing value and from there, rolling out to larger change initiatives if successful.

What is key here though is that we have to be open to trying new ways of doing things and taking risks. Otherwise change will run the risk of never changing and therefore not being able to successfully deliver value in an ever-changing business landscape.

We have to start changing our own mindsets around how we deliver change. And we need to adapt if we are going to remain relevant.

Sources:

OliverWyman: Farha et al. (2021) Managing Change Risk: Overcoming the silent risk that hinders growth. [Online]. Available from: https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2021/may/managing-change-risk.html [Accessed 18 October 2021].

McKinsey: Ewenstein et al. (2015) Changing change management [Online]. Available from: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/changing-change-management [Accessed 22 October 2021].

Gartner: Chiu, M and Salerno H. (2019) Changing change management: Effectively preserve order during major changes, from M&As to culture changes [Online]. Available from: https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/trends/changing-change-management [Accessed 22 October 2021)