Chances are you’re using a combination of SharePoint, e-mail and meetings to plan for, manage and roll out your large corporate projects. How’s that going? Do you have a good system?
According to change management expert Dr. John Kotter from the Harvard Business School, more than 70 percent of your projects are destined to fail.
That’s right. Whether you’re rolling out a global ERP system or applying lean manufacturing concepts to your services business, it’s very likely that the all-important change management piece of the puzzle just isn’t falling into place. So why are so many projects failing?
“The problem is there’s not enough communication,” Kotter said. “No matter the form people use – whether it’s meetings, e-mail or newsletters – there is simply no dialog.”
No dialog? Wait just a minute here. Now more than ever folks are chatting, tweeting and updating about topics as mundane as dinner and inane as “American Idol”.
Why can’t all of us highly capable executives and project managers use social technologies like blogs, wikis and social networks for something truly useful like change management?
I know what you’re thinking: How can I control my project if everyone from top-line managers down to my team in the field is sharing feedback, information and expertise? Here’s the sad fact: If you’re not already operating on the principles of transparency and consistent communication, you don’t really have control of your project.
Social software solutions can make it easier to successfully manage large projects. Better still, they can save time and money in the process. Here are some thoughts and ideas for applying social concepts to Dr. Kotter’s renowned approach to managing change.
Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model on Social Software
Step One: Create a Sense of Urgency What better way to help everyone see the need for change than if your executive leaders are communicating frequently and directly with employees via a blog or microblogging?
For no longer than it takes to write a thoughtful e-mail, executives can build the case for change and create an ongoing dialog with employees in the process. Be sure to make it easy for everyone to subscribe to your updates by setting up an RSS feed.
Step Two: Pull Together the Guiding Team If you’ve ever asked or answered a question on LinkedIn, you know how quickly and easily it is to solicit feedback and expertise from your professional network. Social networks make it easier for large organizations to identify and recognize experts as well as the folks most frequently sharing best practices and ideas across the enterprise.
Think of these key thinkers and doers as the Ashton Kutchers and Demi Moores of your project. Everyone wants to follow them and keep tabs on what they’re up to in order to stay “in the know”.
Step Three: Develop the Change Vision, Strategy Kotter says it’s important to “clarify how the future will be different from the past and how you can make that future a reality”. Again, the leadership and guiding teams can help make that vision a reality by sharing their thoughts and ideas and by asking and answering questions related to the change via blogs and social networks.
Support your strategy with a single, updated version of the truth by posting key documents to your social network rather than sending it out via e-mail that everyone won’t read or posting it to a portal that no one ever visits.
Step Four: Communicate For Understanding, Buy-In “I’m in Detroit this week meeting with the underwriters’ group and getting their thoughts on lean management concepts. Great stuff!” If all your employees are subscribing to updates from project leaders, then questions that come up can get asked and answered more quickly.
This eliminates fear, uncertainty and doubt about the new changes that are coming. The key factor in asking for feedback is acting on it. If people feel they’re being heard and their ideas matter, you will generate more buy-in for the change.
Step Five: Empower Others to Act Yes, it’s scary, but empowering everyone to participate in your corporate social network and act as champions by sharing ideas and best practices will help initiate change within all levels of your organization.
Suddenly you’ve got an expert in Atlanta sharing best practices with everyone in your global organization and making the change more real and less frightening for everyone.
Step Six: Produce Short-Term Wins If you’ve created an ongoing dialog within your organization, it should be easy to identify opportunities for quick, short-term wins. Promoting those wins via blogs and updates – and recognizing and rewarding the people who made it happen – will build a sense of community and anticipation around the change.
Step Seven: Don’t Let Up Executives can capitalize on quick wins by continuing the dialog. Sure, we did a great job, but how could we do this even better, faster and easier next time? Share that information via a searchable project wiki for documents, project plans and even published articles related to the change.
Step Eight: Create a New Culture This last step is really the main thread running throughout all the prior steps. In maintaining an ongoing, lively and informative dialog, you can keep momentum going for the change and encourage new behavior until it’s core to the culture of your organization.
Also published in the Illinois Technology Association newsletter for May 19, 2009.
