Make Change Happen Better and Faster

IT Managers face more change than most other management positions.  Thus, I suggest that making an effort to learn how to make change happen better and faster can be a big asset to IT Managers.  The best way I know to accomplish this is by learning to reduce or eliminate any/all resistance to change.

On this post, I will provide you with an approach to help you obtain change buy-in.

As CEO of Remote DBA Experts, this approach has helped our team make many change efforts happen a lot smoother than with any other approaches we’ve tried before.

According to the Theory of Constraints (TOC) introduced by Dr. Eliyahu M. Godratt in his book The Goal in 1984, barriers to change result from one or several of the following five barriers (or “layers of resistance”):

• Lack of agreement on the problem
• Lack of agreement on the direction for a solution
• Lack of agreement that the solution will solve the problem (or its undesirable effects)
• Lack of a clear path around the obstacles blocking the solution
• Lack of follow-through even after agreement to proceed with a solution (due to one or more unverbalized fears or concerns)

Given the aforementioned barriers, the logical approach is to make sure that the key stakeholders in the change initiative first agree that there is a problem, and then agree on the nature of the problem.  In other words, reach agreement that “we” have a problem and that “this” is the problem.  Success on this step alone can make a big difference on the outcome of your change effort!

Once the problem is clearly defined and agreed-upon, you need to make sure that agreement on the best approach to solve the problem can be reached.  This is always a big challenge, but can be a lot easier when true/full agreement is reached regarding the nature of the problem.

HINT:  Spend a lot of time and effort making sure there is a real problem and on defining it from as many stakeholders’ perspectives as possible.  The more stakeholders understand the problem and how it affects them, the higher the buy-in to try to solve it.

Finding the best solution to a problem can be a challenge.  Here again, involving the stakeholders as much as possible on the solution architecture will go a long way in getting to agreement than if you try to come up with a solution alone or with a few.  Nevertheless, this is a challenging effort and can drag the process to a halt if not managed carefully.

HINT:  Keep the main goal or purpose highly visible during the process.  Make sure that there is a common goal/purpose that is above anyone’s self-interest.

At this stage the process gets complicated. Multiple disagreements can arise regarding solution direction, solution effectiveness, solution impact, and/or solution obstacles.  Once again, addressing each of these barriers carefully is critical.  It is important to make sure that all key stakeholders, especially those that can “sabotage” the changes that result from the solution, buy-in at each step!  Otherwise, you may be wasting most of your time and effort!

Once a solution set is obtained you should do one final check:  Make sure that there are no “unverbalized” fears or concerns regarding the change to be enacted.  For a number of reasons people do not always verbalize all their thoughts, and those can become big barriers once the change is being implemented.  It can throw a big monkey wrench on the process and force you to rewind and lose valuable time.

As I said at the start of the post, following this approach can make a BIG difference on your efficiency and effectiveness as a change manager.  Making sure you identify and involve the right stakeholder is the first step that can lead you to success.  Once you have the right players follow the TOC “thinking process” and I can almost guarantee you will make real change happen faster and better in the long run.

The BEST is Yet to Come!

Epi Torres, CEO