Making change happen is all about getting people on board who cause the change and its benefits to be realized and sustained (or not). It does not matter what the context is — new approach to a daily routine, new business process, or adopting new technology. It is all about human behavior. Since we are creatures of habit, change is about creating new habits and stopping old habits that no longer apply.
People are people and all have individual mindsets and motivational triggers, regardless of the context. Effective change initiatives must take this into consideration and use approaches that will be effective in bringing disperate mindsets together and and inspiring buy-in.
At the highest level, all change initiatives and approaches involve 3 key components woven together with the right communication strategy:
- Planning
- Implementation
- Sustainability
AH Consulting’s change leadership approach is aligned with these 3 industry models, tailored and integrated appropriately for each client’s environment:
The Prosci model plans for 5 phases of change:
- Awareness => Business Need
- Desire => Concept and Design
- Knowledge => Implementation
- Ability => Implementation
- Reinforcement => Post Implementation
The Kotter approach calls out 8 phases of change which can be mapped to ADKAR:
- Create a sense of urgency
- Build a guiding coalition
- Form a strategic vision and initiatives
- Enlist a volunteer army
- Enable action by removing barriers
- Generate short-term wins
- Sustain acceleration
- Institute Change
When Geoffrey Moore first publshed the book, Crossing the Chasm, it was focused on marketing new technology.
As AH Consulting’s practice evolved, Anne connected the dots that technology adoption can be substituted for marketing any kind of change to those who must embrace and support the change. And it recognizes that some never will.
What the model highlights is the natural human behavior that must be anticipated and addressed as part of any Change initiative and implementation approach.