(Guest Post by TIGERS Licensed Consultant Ali Cammelletti)
Have you ever implemented change, such as a new technology or process in your company and wondered why it took so long or felt so difficult? Why does implementing change fail so often? Maybe it looked more like the spaghetti method when you throw it on the cabinet and see if it sticks. There is a process that can easily be done with the right focus and outline.
According to research there are three skills that provide the necessary connection between the process part of change and the people part of change. The 3 C’s are Communication, Collaboration and Commitment. That is easily said, yet how do we implement these 3 C’s?
Following is a step-by-step process with two parts to set you and your team up for success. If you have already done personality assessments with your team or the TIGERS (Trust, Interdependence, Genuineness, Empathy, Risk and Success) team wheel game, you will want to have that knowledge going into the process to assist.
The first part is focusing on the Emotional Target. This includes the team getting to a place of feeling accountable and committed to achieving the plan. Some might also consider this engaging the right side of the brain before shifting to the left side. Often this will take teams up to three hours to complete with this four-step process.
Step 1– Outline the plan. We will use a technology change over and implementation as the example. With the team you review why this change is happening, the desired ground rules for implementing the plan, and the steps for that are important for effective planning. Many Vacation Rental Management companies have encountered new technology due to some platforms not integrating well together or some platforms choosing not to grow and expand. It is important for the team to understand in detail why the change is happening.
Step 2-Looking at what the success looks like. Talk about what success looks like for everyone. Maybe this is reducing double entry as much as possible, having enough staff to help with the process so it doesn’t feel too overwhelming and eliminating redundant steps with daily processes. It is important to bring in personal satisfaction as much as task success. Recently I asked a business owner who implemented a new technology platform in her business, what she would have done differently knowing what she knows now being on the other side of the change. She said, “I would have staffed up and accepted the decrease in net revenue during the transition.”
Step 3-Admitting the reality. Talk about what team members bring to the table as positives and how others will struggle. We know in companies some team members or more “techy” than others. This is okay, yet we need to acknowledge that and have people placed where their strengths are for a successful implementation process. We also know that some are better at looking at the process at a higher level and others are great at digging into the details. You need all strengths to have a well-oiled machine when undertaking such change. Talk about what will work best and address areas that could lead to problems during the process. If a leader is constantly going to an employee who isn’t strong in the area the leader needs help in, it will create frustration for the leader and will make the employee potentially feel under valued or incapable.
Step 4-Outline an agreement with team for commitment. It is recommended the agreement states wanted behaviors, ground rules, communication techniques and decision processes. This will support everyone being accountable for their part in the change.
The second part is focused on the Goal Target. This is where you go more into the action planning of the process. This four-step process can take anywhere from four to six hours of focused time with the team.
Step 1-Document the tasks at hand. Talking about the actions that will take place during the process. Gather the actions and divide them into sub teams to finalize the actions. Sometimes technology platform companies will give you this information. If this is the case, the head implementation team member can still do this process with the team and then add in areas the team didn’t think of. What information needs to be saved from the previous platform to move to the new platform? How do you clean up the information to reduce duplication and clean data?
Step 2-Make the timeline. As we know, timelines are great to have and know they will be flexible based on business flow and running into glitches. Ensure this timeline is somewhere everyone can always access and will be referenced throughout the process to keep on task. Is it in a shared Google sheet?
Step 3-Coordinated the final details. This is where the team discusses leadership roles with specific areas, decision -making, task reporting, communication and where specific tasks rely on completion of other tasks to make happen.
Step 4-Resolution and pulling it all together. This is where you have the team meet and agree that everything is covered. Some teams like to create a theme to the implementation with a title and slogan to create focus and a team spirit. This is great for bringing the creatives into the mix so they feel like they are adding value to the change.
This process can be facilitated by a leadership facilitator that is in the company or a consultant. If you are looking to be certified in this area, Dianne Crampton of www.corevalues.com offers such certification to company leaders. I have found the certification to be extremely helpful and has allowed myself to offer teams support during change and implementation in their companies without the 65% failure so many change initiatives face.
In companies change is always happening. Sometimes it is hiring a new team member, implementing a new position as the company has grown or even adding company values and mission statement. It is all about how we as leaders implement the change with the team to create a culture of inclusion and honor the 3 C’s.
“A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.” Simon Sinek
Copyright Ali Cammelletti, Spark Your Mindset
About TIGERS Success Series
TIGERS provides a comprehensive, multi-pronged and robust system for improving your collaborative workforce behavior, collaborative work culture, profitability, project management and team leadership success. We license existing coaches, consultants and HR professionals in the use of these tools.
We specialize in building cooperation among employees and collaboration between departments for profitable, agile, and high performance team outcomes. Scaled to grow as your organization and leadership performance improves, our proprietary TIGERS Workforce Behavior Profile, Micro-Training technology and group facilitation methods result in your high performance team outcomes and change management success.
Here is a complimentary 30 minute webinar on the TIGERS 6 Principles. Course Certificate for Completion.
Join our Newsletter for subscriber savings. content and announcements: https://corevalues.com/tigertracks-newsletter/
