Change Management and The Anatomy of Change Model™

Change Management – The Anatomy of Change Model™: A Standard Approach to Making Your  Strategy Stick

Introduction

In this recording of “Insights from Experts” at the Componize 2022 Summit, Val Swisher from Content Rules talks to us about the The Anatomy of Change Model™ (Change Management, Structured Content and Content Strategy).

It’s easy to be cynical about change. The world is full of organizations that have failed at change initiatives, and in today’s turbulent business environment, it can feel like any change initiative is just one more thing to keep up with. But while the obstacles to transformation are real, they’re often not insurmountable. In fact, there are best practices for making your strategy stick—and if you follow them closely enough, you’ll have an easier time getting buy-in from employees and moving through the five stages of successful change management:

What are change management best practices?

• The Content Rules “Anatomy of Change Model” draws on Val Swisher’s experience working with Fortune 100 companies as they implement small and large changes in their content ecosystem. Val will describe the five parts to the model and how to use them to create a change management plan for your organization. It describes a standard approach to making your strategy stick.
• Change is hard. It’s really hard. And it’s especially hard when you’re trying to implement it on your own or with a small team, without the benefit of a dedicated change management team. The more people involved in implementing your strategy, the more likely you are to have success in getting buy-in and generating enthusiasm for change.
• People are your most important asset when implementing change. Whether they’re employees from different departments or external stakeholders who will be impacted by your new approach, having an engaged group at every level will help ensure that your strategy sticks—and make sure that everyone leaves with a clear understanding of how their role fits into the bigger picture.

“Technology is easy, People are hard” Val Swisher (Content Rules)

While technology is easy, people are hard. Why? Because they are people and not robots.

People are resistant to change because of their past experiences with what we call “habits”—patterns of behavior that have become ingrained over time.

New technology can be difficult to adopt without proper training and support. It’s important that you don’t fall into the trap of thinking humans behave like machines that automatically conform to our will. You’ll need a clear strategy in place before implementing any new technologies that could potentially disrupt your organization’s productivity.

Change management usually includes

• Technology: The technology component addresses foundational needs, such as the ability to communicate with others and get access to information. It also addresses more advanced needs, such as the ability to collaborate with remote parties or engage in research activities.
• Practical Planning: Takes into account current realities and future possibilities by setting short-term goals, long-term goals and action plans for each goal set (e.g., “one day”). This component also includes developing strategies for managing change itself—for example, how you’ll handle resistance from stakeholders who see no reason why they should change their ways.
• Emotional Support: People need help dealing with challenges related to change management; this component provides that support through training. Getting in front of emotional reactions to change
• Identify resources: This component helps you identify the resources that are available to support change management efforts. For example, these might include organizational development resources, external consultants and training programs.

The 5 stages of change management

According to the Anatomy of Change™ model lists 5 stages of change management:

1. Stage 1: Strategy and Planning – This involves getting in front of emotional reactions to change, identifying resources and planning for smoothest transition
2. Stage 2: Communication and Training – You need to communicate your strategy effectively so that everyone is on board (and understands why it’s important). Then you should train employees in new processes or behaviors required by the change.
3. Stage 3: Addressing Resistance – People need time to adjust to a new way of thinking or working; if they don’t have this time, they’ll resist change until they’re ready for it. It’s therefore important to anticipate resistance and address concerns proactively before they become an issue.​
4. Stage 4: Monitoring & Feedback – Once your organization has made some progress towards its goals, you can begin setting checkpoints at regular intervals throughout this process (for example quarterly) in order to monitor progress toward achieving those objectives over time—and make adjustments as needed based on what you observe along the way​ .

• Stage 5: Integration and Governance – Once you’ve reached your goals, it’s important to ensure that they are integrated into the organization’s culture and day-to-day operations. You’ll also want to make sure that there is a process in place for measuring and reporting on progress toward these objectives going forward.

Stage 1: Strategy and Planning

The first stage of the Anatomy of Change model is the first stage of the Anatomy of Change model is the Strategy and Planning phase. This stage focuses on goals and objectives, as well as identifying resources to implement your plans.

This is also where you get buy-in from stakeholders who will be affected by change, so it’s important that everyone is on board with your strategy before moving forward.

The key steps for this stage are:

• Define business objectives – If a team member isn’t sure why they’re doing something or what their role is in achieving a goal, they won’t be able to do their job effectively (or at all). By providing clear direction when developing a strategy, you can help ensure that every person understands what’s expected of them moving forward.
• Inventory people, tools and processes – Understanding how many people work within an organization helps leaders make decisions about staffing changes during times of change.
• Identify key stakeholders – Knowing exactly who needs to be involved in the process for success can help reduce anxiety about uncertainty when making major changes.
• Develop roadmap – At this point in time it’s important not only identify resources but also determine how those resources will be used throughout implementation efforts.

Stage 2: Communication and Training

The second stage of the Anatomy of Change model is the Communication and Training phase. Communication will help you to:

• Communicate goals and recruit change leaders
• Build skills to develop confidence in new ways of thinking and working

Training will help you:

• Develop confidence
• Build comfort with new tools
• Why training and communication is important: “As we build our capabilities, we’ll be able to develop more confidence, which will allow us to make changes more quickly—and ultimately improve our results.”
• During this phase, you should also share roadmap and vision, and anonymized survey results.
• Results of this phase will help develop capabilities, increase confidence, provide new ways to think. The team also then builds on their skillsets, and resistance decreases.

Stage 3: Addressing Resistance

At the third stage of the Anatomy of Change Model, you should be addressing resistance.

Resistance is a natural response to change and can come from any part of the organization — even from those who are most supportive of your efforts. Being aware of this resistance will help you anticipate it and prepare yourself for dealing with it effectively when it arises.

When resistance occurs, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to convince everyone at once; instead, focus on convincing one person at a time (and their peers). But first things first: You need to know what kind of resistance you’re up against…

Resistance is not a bad thing, however. It’s a natural response and it can be a sign that people are thinking, learning and engaged. Also, remember that resistance usually happens at the beginning of new initiatives or there’s been some sort of change in leadership.

Stage 4: Monitoring and Feedback

The fourth stage of the Anatomy of Change Model is the Monitoring and feedback stage, during which you’ll take stock of how your change efforts are going. This is a time to consider the progress you’ve made and what still needs to be done.

You will ensure that everyone involved in your organization understands:

• What they need to do next
• Why it’s important for them to get on board with the changes (if they aren’t already)
• What their role is in making the changes happen

This phase also includes ongoing monitoring of your strategy’s effectiveness, including measuring its impact on key performance indicators (KPIs). This can help you adjust course as necessary, ensuring that all goals were met or exceeded within an appropriate timeframe.

Monitoring and feedback can also help to build trust among your employees. It’s important that they feel like their efforts are being noticed and appreciated; when they know how well things are going, they’ll be more motivated to continue working hard.

Bolster trust by highlighting positive results. As you monitor change efforts and collect feedback from stakeholders, it’s important to focus on positive results. This will build trust with your employees and give them a sense of purpose.

Solve problems and course correct while they are still small

The results of monitoring and feedback

• Builds trust and motivates forward momentum
• When done right, motivates employees by giving them more ownership over their work

Stage 5: Integration and Governance

This is the fifth and final stage of the change management process. It is important to note that no matter how well you’ve executed your strategy, if it isn’t implemented properly and monitored, it won’t stick. This last phase requires clear leadership from senior management to ensure that all employees are on board with their assigned roles in implementing the new strategy.

It also means making sure that resources are allocated properly so that everyone has what they need to execute their part of the plan successfully—and this means more than just giving them enough money for supplies or equipment! In addition to funds, you’ll want to provide training sessions where staff members can learn how best to use their new tools or techniques within a broader context of organizational change management.

This stage also gives us some insight into why change management can be so difficult:

The benefits of having a well-designed governance process are many. It ensures that the change is implemented properly and monitored, it helps make sure the strategy sticks, and it provides a platform for employees to have their voices heard in the decision making process.

• Increase awareness that change has occurred.
• Gain consensus and acknowledge achievements.
• Codify changes into organizational culture.

Effective change management practices

Plan for change

The planning process is a key part of the change management process. Planning for change is about two things:

• Planning for the change itself, including how you’re going to approach this new initiative and what resources you’ll need in order to do so. Remember that your organization may be used to working a certain way, and changing its approach may require additional funding.
• Planning for the people who will be affected by the changes being made, whether they’re employees or customers or other stakeholders. If you don’t take this into account during your planning stages, then some people might feel left out or left behind when their jobs don’t align with what’s needed from them anymore—and that could cause major problems down the road!

Anticipate and prepare for emotional reactions to change

• Connect content strategy to business objectives.
  Create a content strategy that aligns with business objectives. Decide what you want your content to accomplish, and then create it in a way that will meet those goals. Think about how your content will help people accomplish their tasks, reach their goals or find information they need when they’re looking for it.
• Involve all actors and obtain buy-in.
  Create a plan for how to involve all actors and obtain buy-in. It’s important that everyone in your organization has input into the development of your content strategy. This will ensure that there are no surprises later on when you begin executing it!
• Make a plan, stick to it, collect feedback and then iterate at the end, if necessary.
  When you’re planning your content strategy, it’s important to start small and make a plan for how you’ll accomplish each piece of the puzzle. From there, stick to your plan and collect feedback about how well it’s working as you go along. At the end of each phase or iteration, evaluate whether or not there are any changes that need to be made before moving onto the next step.
• Find many champions, they will help at ground level.
  You can’t do your job alone – you need a team to help you execute and make sure all the moving pieces are working together. This means finding many champions who will help at ground level. They may be people in different departments within your organization, or they could be other teams within your company’s ecosystem (such as customers or partners).
• Resistance comes from fear and/or concern, learn to address it.
  If people resist your ideas, it’s often because they’re afraid or concerned about something. They might be worried about the time and effort needed to implement the idea, or feel like it will take away from other projects that are more important to them. You have to learn how to address these fears – by explaining why implementing this new idea is important for your company’s success, for example.
• Monitoring progress allows early intervention in case of obstacles/issues.
  Monitoring progress allows you to see how things are going and whether anyone is having trouble with your idea. If someone does have issues, you can intervene early on and help them overcome their difficulties. You might also find that some people don’t want to implement your idea at all – or that the implementation isn’t working out as well as you had hoped. In this case, it’s important to get feedback and make changes before moving forward.
• Highlight positives, build trust, acknowledge achievements.
  When you monitor progress, it’s important to focus on the positive. Keep track of what is going well and don’t get bogged down in details about what isn’t working. This will help build trust with your team members and encourage them to continue working with you.
• Document everything, including successes and failures.
  Successes are what you want to focus on, but it’s also important to acknowledge failures. Record all of your progress, both positive and negative. This way, when you’re reviewing the data later on, it will be easier to see what worked well and what didn’t – and how you can improve.

Mistakes to avoid

Avoid the following mistakes.

• Not sharing the road map, vision and reasons behind the change: If people are not familiar with what you are trying to do, there will be more resistance to it.
• Little or no training provided: Employees need to know how they can take advantage of the changes and what their roles will be in making these changes successful.
• Ignoring resistance: Resistance is normal in any change process but if it starts becoming a roadblock then you need to address this issue head on by encouraging people to share their concerns openly so that they can be discussed openly and resolved at an early stage.
• Stigmatizing resistance: The way an organization deals with resistance during its transformation efforts has a direct impact on how far it goes along this journey successfully. This can be done by creating opportunities for all stakeholders involved including employees from different departments as well as customers

Conclusion

The Anatomy of Change Model™ is a powerful tool for helping people manage change. It can be applied to any organization, at any time, with great results. The model starts with a strategy and ends with a fully integrated change plan that will stick. By following this approach, your organization will be better prepared to handle the inevitable ups and downs of an organizational transition or transformation project.

The Anatomy of Change Model™ will help you:

1. Understand the key drivers that shape change in your organization.
2. Identify the people, processes and systems that need to be in place to help your organization navigate change successfully.

About the presenter

Val Swisher

Val Swisher is the Founder and CEO of Content Rules, Inc. Val enjoys helping companies solve complex content problems. She is a well-known expert in content strategy, structured authoring, global content, content development, and terminology management. Val believes content should be easy to read, cost-effective to create and translate, and efficient to manage. Her fourth book, The Personalization Paradox: Why Companies Fail (and How to Succeed) at Creating Personalized Experiences at Scale.

contentrules.com

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