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Lean Change Management
We have all been using Agile principles in software development and seen how it changes the focus from heavy processes to value-driven incremental development.
Same approach can be applied to change management.
Lean change is a problem-solving approach through small manageable changes, just like agile is for project management.
Why do we need a new strategy for change management - Still 70% of the changes fail as per Harvard Business Review’s article (HBR n.d.) .
Reasons why change fail -
Insufficient Involvement of the People Affected
Change is Disruptive
Change has no Start and End Points
Business change narratives do not bridge the motivation gap between leaders and employees
2 prominent reasons for this failure are listed from architects of Lean Change (Jason Little and Ken Rickard):
“Models are incomplete because they don’t know your context”
“Amateurs blame resistance, exceptional change agents know resistance is a surface response”
To overcome these challenges industry experts have come up with different approach to introduce organizational changes.
What is Lean Change?
"Lean change is about having the thinnest, most lightweight approach to change possible so that you can focus on meaningful change, not the process and artifacts."
Jason Little
Creator of lean change
Just like Minimum Viable Product (MVP), lean change engine focuses on Minimum Viable Change (MVC). It helps create an adaptable and light weight process that helps change instead of hindering it.
MVC process is focused on Planning more frequently, in shorter time horizons and in smaller chunks.
How is it different from traditional change management?
1. People-first, not process-first
2. Co-creation not consultation
3. Experiments not change activities
4. Feedback-driven not plan-driven
5. “Catch the wave” don’t “initiate and drive”
Implementation of lean change
Lean change management (LCM) is an evolutionary, continuous flow strategy to process improvement that can be applied at the individual, team, and organization levels.
Insights. Maintain a backlog/work item list of insights which are important things to understand about your organization, its people, and the type of changes desired.
Options. For each insight various options are identified which might address these impediments.
Experiments. You then treat each option to be implemented as a small “experiment”, a.k.a. a minimal viable change (MVC). An experiment tends to work through four potential states – Prepare, Introduce, Learn, and Done – which are typically visualized via a Kanban board.
Change experiments work through four states:
Prepare. The people who will be living with the day-to-day outcome of the change must be actively involved with the design of the change and must pull the appropriate changes into their team. Pushing change into teams greatly reduces the chance that the change will stick. Change recipients should understand that change that impacts them is just an experiment. If it doesn’t work there will be an opportunity to roll back the change.
Introduce. The next step is for the affected team to experiment with the change. Since lean approach is used for change, it is important for each team to keep the work in progress (WIP) to a minimum.
Learn. At this point teams will monitor the effects of the change to see if it achieves the expected positive result. This review or “learn state” may be short, just a few days, or may last many months.
Done (adopt/abandon). At this point it is no longer an experiment and teams may add further work items to their Kanban backlog to rollout the change to the rest of the enterprise, with the requisite communications, training if required, and updates to other organizational assets such as wikis or intranets.
6 big ideas of change management:
5 universals of lean change:
The 5 Universals of Change emphasize aligning with a shared purpose over creating urgency, engaging in meaningful dialogue over mere information broadcast, fostering co-creation instead of seeking buy-in, valuing experimentation over mere task execution, and responding adaptively to resistance rather than assigning blame.
2 Change Strategies: Optimization vs Evolving
The 2 Change Strategies of Effective Organizations differentiate between "optimization," which improves efficiency within existing frameworks, and "evolution," which shifts beliefs and behaviors to transcend current models. Optimization focuses on enhancing parts, while evolution redefines an organization's core, aiming for transformative, sustainable change.
5 Levers of Change
They outline five critical areas for organizational transformation: People, Processes, Technology, Strategies, and Structures. This model promotes a holistic approach, emphasizing the interconnected impact of each lever on organizational adaptability and the importance of aligning all aspects to facilitate effective change.
3 Agilities of Effective Organizations
The 3 Agilities of Effective Organizations focus on leadership agility, change agility, and delivery agility. These agilities encompass developing adaptable leadership, fostering an organizational culture that embraces change, and ensuring that operational processes can adjust dynamically to new challenges and opportunities.
5 Waves of Transformative Change
The 5 Waves of Transformational Change depict a journey from superficial changes, like adopting new processes, to deep organizational introspection. Each wave—superficial, improved superficial, systemic awareness, collective awareness, and personal reflection—illustrates stages where organizations increasingly challenge and refine their understanding and implementation of change.
4 Dimensions of Change
The 4 Dimensions of Change focus on Self, Stance, Big Ideas, and Tools and Practices. This model emphasizes the importance of personal beliefs and presence, strategic perspectives, and the effective use of conceptual frameworks and practical tools to navigate and implement organizational change effectively.
Tools :
Simple tools can be used for currents state assessment, readiness, change impact, strategy alignment and success measurements.
References
Additional resources