Prosci Community of Practice Webinars Change Fatigue: Causes and Cures

Presented by Catherine Smithson November 2015

Introducing Being Human • Founded in 1993 • Our mission: develop change-capable people and organisations so they achieve the benefits of change.

• Prosci Affiliate Australia and New Zealand.

2

Prosci by the numbers •  1994 – Founded in Colorado,

USA •  8 global Benchmarking

Reports •  16 years of longitudinal

research •  3,400+ research participants •  63 countries •  80% Fortune 500 companies •  30,000+ Certified practitioners

worldwide •  4,000+ Certified practitioners

Australia/New Zealand

3

Agenda

• Definitions •  The causes •  The cures • Your experiences?

4

Quotable quotes

5

“We’ve had wave after wave of change for years now... our people

are asking when things will get back to normal”.

“Our managers are saying there are too many number one priorities and they don’t

know what’s important”.

“Our project teams can’t get the right SMEs to contribute, people don’t want any more work on top

of their day job”.

“The volume of change around here is always

mentioned in exit interviews with staff who

have resigned”.

“On the one hand we invest heavily in building employee engagement but on the other hand we

undo the good work with creating change fatigue.”

Definitions •  Individual level: in a

change saturated environment, employees can become disengaged, frustrated, fatigued, resistant, confused and more cynical and skeptical of the current changes underway and future changes being introduced because they are already dealing with so much change.

6 Source: Prosci Tutorial “Change saturation and the importance of establishing

and managing the portfolio of change” http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-saturation-white-paper.htm

Definitions • Project level: in a change

saturated environment, change projects do not realize benefits, there is a lack of resources to devote to each project, changes are not sustained, and projects fail to gain momentum because priorities are ignored and resources are scarce.

7 Source: Prosci Tutorial “Change saturation and the importance of establishing

and managing the portfolio of change” http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-saturation-white-paper.htm

Why we need to address Change Fatigue 1.  Impact on results and

benefits •  Slow adoption – delays, people

going “under the radar” •  Problems with proficiency –

learning curve is slow, errors, workarounds,

•  Change not sustained – people slip back to old ways

2.  Negative impact on engagement in current changes

•  “Usual suspects” involved as SMEs

•  Lack of buy in and input can compromise solution design

•  Apathy to active resistance can emerge

8

Why we need to address Change Fatigue 3. Lasting impact on employee engagement

•  “Poorly managed change” is a major factor is low engagement

•  A contributor to reduced productivity, client service, staff turnover.

4. A barrier to creating a change ready, agile organisation

9

Research update Prosci 2014 Best Practices in Change Management Benchmarking Report

10

77% of participants said their organisation

was near or at the point of change

saturation

About 33% of participants said they actively manage the

portfolio of change, but about 50% do not

Industries above the global average include: •  Retail trade •  Banking & Finance •  State Government •  Education •  Telecommunications

Canada (86%) and Australia/New Zealand (83%) were above the

global average for being near or at the point of

change saturation

Only 20% of participants said there was a high

level of interest in managing the change

portfolio

Cause 1: Too much change •  The 101 Priorities Syndrome •  Lack of meaningful

prioritisation •  Changes not sequenced

effectively to balance the load •  Projects/activities not stopped •  Easy to say, hard to do:

•  At the centre of how Executives develop strategy and business planning

•  Only Executives can address it •  But they typically don’t

experience the effects

11

Cause 2: Poorly managed change •  Inadequate Change

Management, ie “comms and training and one size fits all approach

• High risk, high impact changes not identified or managed pro-actively •  Impacted groups not identified •  Not assessed for impact and

readiness •  People challenges of the

change not adequately understood or managed = increased risk

12

Cures: Top 5 tips 1.  Influence executives to

prioritize and sequence the change agenda

•  Work with the group/s with which you are most influential •  Executives – are you a trusted

advisor? •  PMO – Program Manager •  Project Manager/s and teams •  HR •  Managers

•  Choose carefully and be clear on your outcomes, messages and timing

13

Cures: Top 5 tips • Get the facts that will influence Executives:

•  Connect with strategy and their goals and concerns •  Number of changes underway/by time/type/level/function/location •  Impacted groups – VS End users. “Who needs to adopt and use the

change for the expected benefits to be achieved?” •  Risk Assessment for each group for each change •  Collect examples and stories •  Suggested tools:

•  Prosci CMROI Calculator •  Heat Maps •  Prosci People Risk Assessment

•  Use preferred senders – PMO, PMs, managers •  What is your recommendation? What’s the WIIFM for your audience?

14

Cures: Top 5 tips 2.  Move to managing the

change portfolio • Build support • Who will be the end user of

the outputs? •  Focus on the end goal and

the change in behaviour not the technology solution

15

Cures: Top 5 tips 3.  Improve the effectiveness of Change Management

•  Choose 1 or 2 key changes and let the results speak

4.  Support managers to re-energise themselves and their teams •  Clear priorities, constantly reiterated and demonstrated •  Recognition of good work, towards the change and in the past •  Feeling valued or treated respectfully •  Listen to and encourage team members •  Clarify when managers and teams can contribute to decisions •  Having pride in their organisation - even when the change is in response

to a difficult situation •  Clear, short communication, especially about progress

16

Cures: Top 5 tips 5.  Build resilience among

managers and teams •  Change is here to stay •  What can we do to become

more resilient and support each other?

•  Enlist HR/L&D/HR professionals

17

Resources

• Prosci CMROI Calculator

• Prosci PCT Analyzer • Prosci Change Portfolio Toolkit

• ADKAR® Dashboard (coming soon to the Prosci Portal)

• Free Prosci Tutorials www.change-management.com

18

More info

19

§  www.beinghuman.com.au

§  Join our free Webinars!

§  Prosci www.change-management.com

§  Visit the Tutorials page §  portal.prosci.com §  Open your free account