Change Management and Knowledge Management

Initiatives

Nina Platt

October 10, 2006

Thoughts on Change Management

Change management is • “…the process, tools and techniques to manage the people

side of business change to achieve the required business outcome and to realize that business change effectively within the social infrastructure of the workplace.”

• “…the engineer’s approach to improving business performance and a psychologist's approach to managing the human-side of change”

Jeff Hiatt and Tim Creasey

http://www.change-management.com/

Lest we Forget . . .

It is the people-side of change that we often ignore as we look to innovate.

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross Kurt Lewin William Bridges Dr. Jim Gordon

Innovation Curve

The Grief Cycle

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross & David Kessler, On Grief and Grieving:

Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss

The Positive Change Cycle

Kris Magnusson, The Positive Change Cycle (based on work with Dr Jim Gordonwww.iaevg.org/crc/files/Communication_Strategy_No.17_Magnusson828_2.pdf

Lewin's freeze phases

Kurt Lewin• Unfreezing

• Transitions

• Freezing

The Psychology of Transition

William Bridges, Managing Transitions• Saying goodbye

• Shifting into neutral

• Moving Forward

The Psychology of Transition

Time

Level o

f M

anag

emen

t

EndingLosingLetting Go

The Neutral Zone

The New Beginning

Moses in the Neutral Zone

How to Help People in Transition Learn to describe the change and why it must

happen, and do so succinctly Be sure that the details of the change are planned

carefully Understand what is ending (and what is not) and

for who Make sure that steps are taken to help people

respectfully let go of the pastWilliam Bridges and Susan Mitchell Bridges, “Leading Transition: A New Model for Change” Leader to Leader

Change doesn’t happen without Transitions

Help people through the neutral zone with communication (rather than simple information) that emphasizes connections with and concern for the followers

the "4 P's" of transition communications:• The purpose: Why we have to do this

• The picture: What it will look and feel like when we reach our goal

• The plan: Step-by-step, how we will get there

• The part: What you can (and need to) do to help us move forward

Bridges Continued

Change doesn’t happen without Transitions

Create temporary solutions to the temporary problems and the high levels of uncertainty found in the neutral zone

Help people launch the new beginning by articulating the new attitudes and behaviors needed to make the change work

Bridges Continued

Communication is Key The Purpose: Why we have to do this

The Picture: How the attainment of our goal will look and feel

The Plan: How we get there, step by step

The Part: What you can and must do to help us move forward

Communicate the Purpose – Expertise Locator Example

As a firm grows into a size where the attorneys and staff no longer know everyone and what they can do, a system for sharing knowledge is needed. By enabling lawyers to identify sources of expertise within the firm, the expertise system will:

Promote integration of practice groups and offices

Increase interaction among individuals

Enhance cross-marketing efforts

Reduce the incidence of outside referrals

Improve teamwork

Communicate the Picture – Expertise Locator Example

The system will:• be Web-based

• work by indexing profiles, documents and databases that show where expertise can be found.

Attorneys and staff will: • be able to search by expertise or the knowledge needed

• be provided with a list of experts with links to profiles, documents, and other materials.

Communicate the Plan – ExpertiseLocator Example

A team of attorneys and staff will be assembled to determine critical issues, such as the following:

• the architecture of the system

• the data sets to be included (e.g., human resources, time and billing, client relationship management, and document management)

• the information that will be used from the profiles

Once a design is in place the KM team will work closely with developers.

Team members will subsequently work to test the system and develop and implement a rollout plan.

Communicate the End-Users Part – Expertise Locator Example

“What do I have to do?” • Participate in planning, development, and rollout (if asked),

provide content on your expertise, and learn how to use the new system.

“What’s in it for me?” • When everyone shares what they know, you learn more

about your colleagues, keep client work within the firm, reduce the time you spend learning about a new topic, and give yourself more billable time.

Change Models Three Basic Types

• Top-Down Models: "It's all about leadership"

• Capacity-Building Models: Transformational learning

• Strategic Models: Follow the steps

Top-Down Model Example Bill Blundell, , the Chairman of the Standards

Advisory Board for Modern Comptrollership • Determine generally where you are going

• Measure the gap

• Develop the objective or strategies to close the gap

• Change the organizational structure

• Measure how you are doing

• Repeat Possible issue : Takes leadership willing to work

Capacity-Building Model Example Bruce Avolio, Full Leadership Development and

Transformational and Charismatic Leadership.  • Inspirational motivation – providing a compelling mission, optimism,

enthusiasm, and emotional appeal

• Individualized consideration –responding to individual needs

• Idealized influence – walking the talk

• Intellectual stimulation –challenging people • to find new solutions,

• to view problems from new perspectives, and

• enabling the expression of followers' negative emotions and concerns.  Possible issue – takes time

Strategic Model Example : John Kotter’s Eight Stage Process of Creating Major Change

Create urgency

Anchor new approaches in culture

Consolidate gains; produce more change

Generate short term wins

Empower broad based action

Form vision and strategy

Communicate the vision

Broad-based coalition

Source: Leading Change; John Kotter

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1

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Strategic Model Example : John Kotter’s Eight Stage Process of Creating Major Change

Possible issues • Takes leadership

• Takes time

• Takes willingness to communicate

With all these models … Which one works? It depends:

• on the initiative

• on the culture of your organization

Kotter’s may work best in legal organizations.

Eight Stages of Creating ChangeImplementation in a KM Initiative

Establish a sense of urgency

Create the guiding coalition

Develop a vision and strategy

Communicate the change vision

Empower broad-based action

Generate short-term wins

Consolidate gains and produce more change

Anchor new approaches in the culture

Communicate the business problem that the KM initiative will solve to the right audience

Establish a team with the knowledge to initiate change and the power to make KM happen

Develop the firm’s vision for KM and the strategies for implementation

Share the vision and how it will affect the participants.

Give the KM team the authority to initiate the changes.

Work with the practice groups that are most likely to accept KM and celebrate their achievements.

Use success to create more success

Make the KM initiatives a part of the daily work process of the firm.

Practice Areas Intranet Sites

Focus on overview, team members, marketing, best practices, opportunities, success stories, research, current awareness, etc.

Represent teams that are made up of members from one group and teams that have members that cross several groups

Issue: It is fairly easy to create the sites if you can get attorney time, but, what if the organization doesn’t work through practice areas? This is where change management becomes part of the KM process.

Potential Challenges Requiring Change

Becoming entrepreneurial• Innovate

• Embrace risk & engage uncertainty

• Think strategically

Taking turns leading Operating as a team

• Move away from the individual practice

• Focus on team success

• Make cross marketing a norm

The 8 Steps Create a Sense of Urgency

Create Broad-based Coalition

Form Vision & Strategy

Change in Legal Environment Client Expectations Creates better environment for

marketing and competitive intelligence

Top down or grassroots? Look for and enlist partners who

are interested in doing business by practice area

Work as a team to develop plan

The 8 Steps Communicate the Vision

Empower Broad-based Action

Use the “4 P’s” to communicate – the more ways you do it the more successful you will be.

Identify leaders Identify expertise and

experience Leave visioning and

implementation to each practice area

Provide support as needed Mentor

The 8 Steps Generate short-term wins

Consolidate gains; produce more change

Anchor new approaches in culture

Work with a small number of practice areas to successfully develop their business

Celebrate success Begin process again with

additional practice areas

Define best practices in the forming new practice areas

Changing Culture

Culture is:• Who we are

• What we believe

• How we act

Three Levels of Culture

Edgard Schein, Organization Culture & Leadership

The Chicken or the Egg “… changing the culture of an organization requires

a transformation of the organization itself—its purpose, its focus on customers and results … Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.”

• Frances Hesselbein, The Key to Cultural Transformation, Leader to Leader, No. 12 Spring 1999.

Again with the Chicken or the Egg “it is the performance that changes the culture, not

the reverse.”

Frances Hesselbein

Change Management & Social Networks

Change and the transitions it creates is individual

But, Networks influence how individuals change including:

• How fast

• How happily

• How productively

• How intelligently

Change Management & Social Networks

“… the most effective change agents are those individuals who have placed themselves at the center of intricate webs of relationships.”

“How to help employees build and maintain these unique relationships may be the most effective change-management "technique" a leader could learn. “

• Carol Kinsey Goman, “The Importance of Social Networking in Change Management”, The Sideroad.

Change Management & Social Networks

Relationships among individuals based on • mutual trust

• shared work experiences

• common physical and virtual spaces

“are in many senses the true structure of today's organizations.

• Carol Kinsey Goman continued

Change Management & Social Networks

Change agent = Champion Social networks based on knowledge, trust,

relationships and community Attributes needed by champion to make change

happen through social networks:• Trustworthy

• Credible

• Motive not self-serving but driven by the desire to find the most effective way of getting things done

Techniques for Managing Change in Social Networks

Create opportunities to develop relationships further within the group – especially if the network is newly formed• Practice area retreats

• Communities of Interest built around expertise

• Joint learning experiences around topics of similar interest

• Individual educational opportunities around how to build a network

Resources Kotter, Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press, 1996. Platt, "Change Strategies are the Key to KM," 2004, at

http://www.llrx.com/features/changestrategies.htm Nelson & Aaron, The Change Management Pocket Guide: Tools for

Managing Change. Change Guides LLC, 2005. Kelly, "Masterclass: Change Management, Parts 1 & 2," Inside Knowledge,

April & May 2006. Bridges & Bridges, "Leading Transition: A New Model for Change," Leader

to Leader Spring 2000, at http://www.pfdf.org/leaderbooks/L2L/spring2000/bridges.html

Dreyfuss, "How to Understand and Manage Organizational Change and Its Effect on People," Gartner Research, 2005.

Lientz & Rea, Breakthrough IT Change Management: How to Get Enduring Change Results. Elsevier, 2004.

Cameron & Green, Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide.  Kogan Page, 2003.

Parting thoughts … “Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful,

committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

• Margaret Mead