Apply ADKAR and Force Field Change management models before introducing change
Many organisations change fails because it is implemented in an environment that is not ready to accept it. This is because organisations are not patient to follow all critical steps of effective change management. When change is introduced in an unreceptive environment it is resisted harshly by both management and employees consciously and unconsciously.
This means, to avoid wasting organisation resources the organisation should conduct the psychosocial change readiness assessment and act on the results findings before introducing the actual change. The main aim of this article is to discuss how ADKAR and Force field change management models can be used to assess the readiness of the organisation to introduce change.
Every change manifest in the minds of employees and as a result ADKAR model is highly effective in determining an individual employee’s perception of the change and their desire to accept it. ADKAR models stand for change Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. Firstly, the level of employees’ awareness of any change that is being introduced determines its success. This is because it is logical for human beings to resist anything that they do not know.
This implies that change agents and management should promote the change to make employees interested. Tactics of increasing change awareness is to intensive communication of change vision from the beginning to the end and be transparent. This will create the desire for change. The desire variable of the model emphasises that understanding that there’s a need for change and wanting change to happen are two different things. When people honestly want to see positive change, they’ll go all out and make it happen. However, this desire is not guaranteed, the organisation needs to demonstrate to all its stakeholders how the change will benefit them and benefit the organisation in totality.
If employees cannot visualise how they will benefit from change they will resist it. Tactics that are used for this variable is to fully engage employees to participate in the change decision making so that they own them. Excluding them will make them disassociate themselves from the change. The knowledge variable of the model signifies the level at which employees know how change will be implemented and their role in it.
This means it is important to have a clear change management model that will be used to implement the change to avoid employee’s confusion and potential resistance to change. It also requires ongoing coaching, guidance and communication to keep the change momentum.
The ability variable in this model tests the level at which employees have the requisite skills to implement the proposed change. Employees anxiety tend to increase when change is introduced to them when they do not have basic skills to implement it.
It makes them more confused, more frustrated and they resist it. By understanding and taking care of their ability level before introducing the change, it will increase the chance of accepting and committing to the change.
Tactics that can be used to correct any deficiency of this variable is to anticipate challenges and offer support and information through supervisors and change committee. Change agents need to train frontline implementers on the change process and the tools that they have to use.
This will make the change go smoothly and once the change is successful the organisation needs to reward changing behaviour to lure more employees to adopt the same behaviour.
Reinforcement of change happens when the organisation makes new emerging behaviour some of the organisation standards. To do that, this behaviour can be incorporated into the organisation talent management strategy and recruitment strategy to ensure that even new hires possess the same standard.
ADKAR change model results will provide the organisation with a picture of the level of readiness of the employees and the organisation climate to accept the proposed change. The results will indicate the level of employees’ resistance to change and whatever the outcomes are the organisation should develop an action plan to create or sustain a conducive environment for change. To effectively implement the action plan, the organisation should use the Force field analysis change tool to link how the action plan will improve forces that support the change and reduce the forces that are against the change.
Change will be ready to be implemented when the forces that support the change dominate forces of resistance to change. These forces include leadership commitment to change vs lack of leadership to change, effective communication of change vision vs inadequate communication of change vision.
The Author is a member of African Excellence Forum, Holds Master of Science Degree in Strategic Management and is a Certified Manager of Quality and Organisational Excellence from America Society for Quality. Six Sigma Greenbelt, ISO 9001: 2015 Certified. Contact: 72211182, Website: www. iqm. co. bw Email: veronmosalakatane@ gmail. com LinkedIn: Veron Mosalakatane