How many times have you said to yourself, "We could do so much better if we could only change XXX ?" At Plus Delta, we hear that constantly from our clients. The challenge, though, isn't identifying the need to change - people do that all the time! The real challenge with organizational change is being able to design and implement that change successfully within the confines of the organizations in which we work.

One approach is to use radically different tools and techniques with them to get them out of their proverbial "box." While it may be helpful for some organizations to be a catalyst for change by using this shock treatment (as we call it), we haven't found this common approach for transformational change to be very successful. Instead, this approach is often met with the greatest levels of resistance because the people who are actually affected by the changes are not invited to participate in the change process and therefore do not want to make the forced transition.

At Plus Delta, we often take a different tack with our clients to implement transformational change more successfully. Instead of trying to force them out of their existing box, we intentionally keep them in this comfort zone and simply share new tools and techniques with them to help them extend the box further than they have ever pushed it before.

Meet'Em Where They're At continued here:

By meeting them where they're at, this gentler and more supportive approach to change engages everyone directly in the change process and actively enlists their support in shaping their own future. The power of this approach became very clear recently when Plus Delta was engaged by a local county agency to support their ongoing change and system conversion efforts.

The county agency was in the midst of a system conversion that would impact business processes across the organization. The organization has been undergoing a strategic culture shift for the past few years, and they recently experienced a lot of pain and suffering when they completed the first phase of the implementation effort. To enhance their change efforts moving forward, the HR Director asked if we could assess their readiness for change and facilitate a targeted learning program on managing change. They didn't feel that they needed tactical change management support to be successful in the long run. Instead, they just needed access to new tools and to develop some new skills to be effective change agents. A highly-customized 1-day version of our Improving Performance through Positive Change^sm workshop proved to be the perfect solution for the agency's senior management team. In fact, the HR Director who called us initially shared the following update with us recently. "The Operations Team has taken the Positive Change^sm workshop to heart and have already formed a communications team, branded the software implementation with name and logo, and have conducted introductory events to build enthusiasm. So all is 'positive' at the moment, and the staff is looking forward to all the benefits of the new system."

Sometimes, it doesn't take much to get on the right path. According to Richard Hackman (1990), creating a string of quick wins initially is a critical component for effective teamwork and it will likely bring your organization further, faster, and easier than if you push too hard right from the start. This spiral of success as Hackman calls it can help an organization gain the momentum that is needed to achieve any longer-term goals. With this county agency, a 1-day workshop for the senior management team was the first of what may be many quick wins on their path for success. From there, they designed a more effective change strategy that engaged everyone, especially those who are going to be impacted by the upcoming changes, in the change process.

Note: This feature was originally published and distributed in Plus Delta Consulting's e-newsletter in June 2007.