October CLT Monthly Meeting Summary - "How to Assess Organizational Readiness for Change"
We opened with a member read-back. Katie Blum shared her take-aways and subsequent initiatives following her burning issue session last April.
The key take-aways centered on the need to build trust with senior leadership, middle managers and employees, using tailored strategies for each cohort. A few initiatives Katie shared:
Go bottom-up: Her team focused on demonstrating success at the ground level. This "bubble-up" strategy proved effective as visible results at lower levels gradually influenced middle management and ultimately reached top leadership. This approach demonstrated tangible progress before asking leaders to embrace change.
Lean into shared accountability: Rather than defaulting to blame assignment, the team adopted shared responsibility for both successes and failures. This approach helped create an environment where "mini failures" became acceptable steps toward larger successes. By openly acknowledging their own mistakes and taking ownership of problems, they encouraged similar accountability throughout the organization.
Build trust through engagement. In their organization, silence traditionally signaled problems rather than satisfaction. The team actively monitored engagement levels and feedback patterns, recognizing that ongoing dialogue – even when critical – indicated healthy engagement with change initiatives. They implemented weekly progress reviews and lesson-sharing sessions, creating regular opportunities for open discussion about challenges and successes.
We then moved to Deb Reuben’s burning issue discussion.
Deb summarized her burning issue as an opportunity to build a new, pre-change assessment tool. In her experience, she routinely witnessed six and seven-figure project failures where companies attempted to "slam in software" and digitally transform, without addressing underlying organizational issues. Rather than continuing to focus on post-failure recovery, there's an opportunity to develop a methodology that helps end-clients or technology vendors evaluate organizational readiness across key areas including shared understanding, momentum strategy, adoption planning, role clarity, and continuous alignment.
A sampling of the robust advice and notes for Deb:
Acknowledge and Share Uncertainty
"When we talked to the EVP, the second most powerful person in the whole company... he visibly relaxed. ..because he realized he was holding in all his own uncertainty." Leaders should openly discuss their uncertainties about changes, this builds trust and helps others feel comfortable sharing their concerns.
Build a Shared Understanding of the 'Why'
"Change readiness is built on a foundation of understanding why change must happen." Organizations often fail by simply announcing changes without explaining the reasoning. Be honest about potential downsides rather than only focusing on positive outcomes.
Everyone Needs to See Their Place
"Everyone needs to understand what their place in this [new world] is, and building that readiness is understanding where your place will be and where you will go." Connect current state to future state for all levels of the organization. Ensure people can visualize their position in the new structure.
Continuously Revise Problem Statements
"Throughout the entirety of the project, we revised that project statement... We revisited it every week and said, 'Are we still agreeing this is our problem statement?'” Regularly review and adjust understanding of the core problems.
Ensure Everyone's Watching The “Same Movie" + Watch for Language Adoption
"They start using your words, they start using the words of the group... when you start to see that, you know that it's a virus." Listen for people "speaking the language of the future."
Use Mission Briefs for Alignment
"We force our people nowadays to write it down in a document... boil it down from very high level to really try to inspire people." Create clear, inspiring documentation of change initiatives. Test understanding by having new employees read mission briefs. Use mission briefs to attract volunteers and identify viable projects.
Past Performance Around Change IS a Good Predictor of Future
Don't Cut Change Management
"Everyone's always like, 'well, maybe this time will be different.' It won't be different." Resist pressure to cut change management components.
Be Realistic About Goals
Adjust scope rather than cutting essential implementation components. Be honest about what can be achieved with resources available.
