If you think you are going to TEACH someone to change, THINK AGAIN: Teaching (or training) is only one part of enabling change.
I was going to title this post: ‘Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks’, but understanding culture change is important for teaching the both the new and experienced AND both the young and mature students. (So, I’d really have to title my post ‘Teaching A Dog New Tricks’.)
THE STUBBORN MAY SABOTAGE
Just like a stubborn puppy, regardless of age you may run into resistance: serious resistance.
Time pressures usually get blamed for sabotaging new skills or behaviours back on-the-job; however, many times the real reason is lack of desire: some people just don’t embrace change. These people may use every excuse not to change: they don’t understand it, it was NIH (not invented here), they say that it is doomed to failure… Yes, and the list goes on. Why does this happen? Well, they are comfortable with the way their job is today and may feel the change is a threat: to their job, their seniority… But what is important to understand is that some of these folks MAY go out of their way to undermine the awareness campaign, instruction program or the implementation. Why? Because they don’t have any desire to change.
Think about it… You may be AWARE that dieting to drop a few pounds is a good thing; however, you may not have the DESIRE to change until you are told by your seamstress that you must lose a few pounds to fit into your grandmother’s wedding dress for your wedding OR you told by a doctor that you need to lose a few pounds so they can operate on you to save your life. If you are going to change, you need the DESIRE to change.
Even a general understanding of culture change will better equip you to design your sessions and (ask and) ensure the right support is in place. Before, during and after the learning occurs, you want to ensure that the team has collectively done everything possible give the change being implemented a chance.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT AT 100,000 FEET
So what is change management: specifically, culture change management?
Culture change management deals with the people side of change. There are a few models, methods and frameworks that address culture change management. Prosci‘s ADKAR® Model seems to be one of the most popular.
Here’s the ‘skinny’ on Prosci‘s ADKAR® Model. The effective management of the people dimension of change requires managing to five key goals:
- Awareness of the need to change.
- Desire to participate and support the change (which is key to learning…).
- Knowledge of how to change (and what the change looks like).
- Ability to implement the change (skills & behaviours) on a daily basis. (This turns knowledge into action.)
- Reinforcement to sustain (and promote) the change. After achieving the change: Recognition, rewards, celebrations. (Yes, I know that sounds like good people management practices and yes it is.)
If you keep those goals in mind, you will have more insightful conversations on ‘change’ in general.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A TRAINER
I am simplifying the whole topic of ‘managing culture change’ and hopefully you’ll be curious enough to go out and seek more information. The training strategy will be part of the overall change management plan (which includes other areas such as: communications, coaching, sponsorship and resistance management). When you are developing and delivering training there are a few KEY things you should keep in mind with respect to culture change: (This list is not exhaustive!)
1. Collaborate with the other members of the ‘Change Team’. You are not alone, communicate and work with the other members of the team. Remember the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. (Here are some Team Teaching Tips that may be applicable beyond the Teaching Team.)
2. Design your session to help manage resistance from the workers:
- Build-in the answers to typical objections (especially if there is opposition to new processes or technologies that may appear to increase their workload, responsibility or accountability).
- Explain what-is-in-it-for-them and ensure them they aren’t being engineered out of a job.
3. Provide a forum to collect and address all other criticisms or new objections. Report any new type of resistance back to the change team for ideas on how to handle and prevent in the future.
4. Leverage the sponsor of the change:
- Have him/her open the session to set the stage to answer as many of the ‘why’ questions upfront.
- Have him/her send invitations to your session. Having a VP (or boss) issue an invitation is more powerful than HR or Training sending out the invitation. (Remember, you can’t train people if they don’t show up.)
5. Provide a forum for the attendees to experiment and become comfortable with the new process, behaviour or technology.
- Consider providing some Performance Support material to assist back on-the-job.
- Supplement with individualized coaching.
6. Design-in reinforcement showcasing and highlighting success. For example, if Harry was a successful early adopter, invite Harry to help reinforce the change wasn’t difficult and provide some practitioner’s hints and tips. (This will reinforce that changing isn’t black magic or mumbo jumbo.)
You may not have to deal with all these complications if you are in a small business environment. However, consider leveraging the pioneers, associations and communities to help you with taking people through the different stages of the change process.
MANAGING TO THE INEVITABLE
“The only constant is change.” Heraclitus of Ephesus a Greek philosopher (c.535 BC – 475 BC)
As a Trainer you are perfectly positioned to help (and accelerate) the change process:
- Help manage resistance, address objections and try to make your attendees feel comfortable with why the change is happening as well as back at the job expectations.
- Leverage the sponsor and the rest of the change team to help in designing and delivering you session.
- Provide a forum to reinforce the success (and lessons learned) of the early adopters.
So, embrace change. Think about how you develop and deliver instructional material. Now, knowing the goals or phases of culture change, how are you going to change how you develop and deliver material?
In the spirit of change, lets change things up. Please leave me a comment and tell me what you would like me to write about. What would help you change and become a more effective trainer?
Until next time…
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Flickr Creative Commons Image by Ernst Vikne
Anne I truly enjoyed your blog about change and resistance. You provided good advice and also I especially liked the section in where you talked about how a trainer can help support change and overcome resistance. A lot of times when I’m reading material it usually gives a lot of advice for the managers.
One thing that I learned in my last class was that a good leader should cherish the resistors (Gandz, 2008). Gandz discusses that a good leaders works hard to make resisters their strongest supporters. Gandz also talks about the importance of a good change leader asking themselves questions to identify who is most likely to resist and who would be most likely to support the change.
My advice also to leaders is listen to your staff, take their concerns seriously and make an effort to see their point of view. A lot of times money and time are lost because change leaders ignore the resisters and sometimes the resisters have a very good and valid concern.
Anne thanks again for such a great blog. I will keep looking out for new posts.
Gandz, J. (2008). On leadership: Cherish the resistors. Ivey Business Journal, 72(4), 1, 3
Hi Anne, Thanks for your inspirational writing on your blog. I am just starting my masters in instructional design and new to the educational arena although I have done training in the workplace. I love your humorous style to your blog and great topics. You wrote a great article on cultural change. I experienced a big cultural change within a bankruptcy and merger. I worked for a subsidiary company that was not in bankruptcy but affected by the parent company bankruptcy. Their product line had to change accordingly, and I was laid off when the product line changed. But the sad part was that management at the subsidiary felt there was no resistance to what they were doing. Because management felt it was a good change they felt that everyone was happy with what was happening. To redefine oneself is a difficult task; to sustain it is a challenge. I wish they had done more talking to their staff, encouraging and motivating that the new direction would be a new beginning and new start. They wanted the lower management staff to communicate with their staff and encourage teamwork, but the old culture was little communication, therefore without communication from the top and the motivation to encourage teamwork, it was an organization without the drive to succeed. Hopefully with redefining their identity they will realize the importance of cultural change and affect on their workers. Your last suggestion is an important one to build on the success. The president did not like one on one with the workers. I thought that even if they had a web or video presentation with success stories or new beginning stories from the top that it would inspire and not make people fear the future because of the past layoffs. Keep up the great stories and analogies!
Anne,
Your comments are wonderful, because they speak to many challenges faces in culture change. One of the very important variables of culture change, are the organizational documents. I worked for a company that failed to update the forms used in our many procedures. Each time I entered into the new process, I was greeted with the more familiar, abandoned format. As a committed individual, I was able to move beyond that shadow of the past. Others were not so flexible. Procedural change is a disruption. More often than not, there is a loss of productivity, and it is often met with a scowl from management.
I focused on one very specific aspect of cultural change. Still, it’s a large one, because it directly affects those who are carrying out the change. Leadership must be aware of the impact that change has on the front line. Remnants of the past must be removed, or those shadows will undermine efforts to let go of the past.