Change Management
Creating change, making it permanent.
It’s practically common knowledge that the majority of large technical projects fail to deliver on their promises. For technology and BI initiatives, Gartner estimates that roughly 67% of them fall short. Such routine flops share many common pitfalls, but underlying almost all of them is the failure to realize that change is more than just a technology implementation.
Amitech’s view is that technological capability drives only 25% of desired business outcomes. Equally important are the people within the business teams, the cultural norms and dynamics, and repeatable processes and workflows.
Driving Change is Knowable, Tactical and Sustainable with the Right Approach
Through dozens of customer engagements we learned that for large projects, systematic change management work is often not just helpful, but critical. As a result, Amitech has made organizational change management a core competency in our business. We help customers contemplating transformational initiatives to:
- Understand and avoid common hazards of large-scale change
- Focus on cultural and human elements to power through typical, stubborn resistance
- Leverage proven Change Management processes to ensure both short-term successes and change “permanency”
- Use Maturity Models to set expectations, close gaps and chart sustained progress
Avoid the Hazards
We’ve worked with hundreds of healthcare leaders wrestling with institutional resistance to IT transformation. And we have seen several common misconceptions about driving sustainable change. Although complex and unique to each customer, three primary assumptions stand out:
- Altering an organization’s learned behaviors requires an emotional component in addition to data-driven, rational approaches
- Typical change initiatives focus on the “more controllable” elements like technology and process improvement, which can be useful but not enough to significantly move the needle – and it’s almost never permanent
- Altering human behaviors consistently and sustaining them over time is the missing link in the vast majority of underwhelming project implementations
- Six-Sigma process improvement or leadership upgrades will likely drive some progress, but without ongoing analytics, accountability tools and work to “institutionalize” changes, bottom-line results will be elusive
- True change management is not a core competency for most companies/managers, yet it appears intuitive and “doable”
- On-going business priorities and challenges always take oxygen away from change initiatives
- Organizations don’t create sufficient conditions for successful change due to lack of experience and know-how
Focus on the People, Culture and Processes Too
As companies prepare for disruptive adjustments, there are some key realities that business leaders must recognize:
Recognize
Lasting change requires winning BOTH hearts and minds of people
- Including emotional sensitivity and empathy, as well as hard, data-driven analysis and metric-centric accountability
- Communication and engagement elements are as important to the initiative as technical requirements
Recognize
When leaders talk about change, the organization hears "pain, loss, extra effort, increased risk and greater uncertainty"
- For people to embark on a journey from known state to unknown state they must have deep trust in those leading change, and a deep understanding of the vision – include the compelling reason to change
- Leaders have to model the change they want to affect to shift the culture
Recognize
Leadership and change "champions" are the scarcest resources available, but are absolutely critical
- Select change champions in the business who must be systematically freed-up (wholly or partially) to do the work
- Champions must have change goals as a primary part of their evaluation criteria
Recognize
The majority of large change initiatives struggle to maintain progress over time
- To make change permanent, it is imperative to use a data-fueled approach and automation - down to individual employee level - institutionalizing new metrics, processes and accountability
Leverage Proven Change Management Processes
Change implementation partners bring expertise and energy to push programs to success while making sure the wheels don’t come off the business. Amitech uses a proven 5-Step process to drive real change and business outcomes – and also underpins hard-won momentum. In brief, the process follows these steps:
- 1. Establish the Why
- In-depth, data-rich discovery process to develop compelling reason to act. Establishing WHY things must change is the first and the most critical step to embarking on a change initiative. Prioritize and assign clear accountability, goals, and timetable for each work stream
- 2. Establish and Launch a New Operating System
- Create a new organizational framework and operating model for the initiative. Enrolling senior executives is critical to bring legitimacy, acceptance, collaboration, and much needed resources. Use Governance as a laboratory for change
- 3. Deep Analysis, Then Design
- Rigorous analysis, then detailed design for desired state with crystal clear objectives and measures of success
- 4. Communicate with the Organization
- Frequently and consistently communicate the VISION: the WHY, WHAT, WHEN, and the HOW
- 5. Implement Change
- Go live! Announce widely, follow the new Operating System, train and roll out processes to the font line employees
Benchmark Maturity
Change and Data Maturity models provide a vital backdrop that can give context to organizational realities. They also allow for specific progress objectives, targets and success metrics to be created as healthcare payors and providers chart their transformation as data-driven businesses.
Companies’ maturity can range across several states:
- “Surviving” day-to-day operational requirements
- “Operating” with some increased efficiency
- “Achieving” in select areas with increased organizational dexterity
- “Optimizing” around data liquidity and market responsiveness
- “Leading” industry transformation and ideation
Change Management is Not a Project
It’s a new business capability that requires leadership and management. It must be designed, implemented, adjusted and practiced until the new “muscles” are strong enough to function on their own. Amitech is an expert in helping leaders transform their approach to change in order to transform their organizations — and ultimately the quality and cost of healthcare for all of us.
Contact us today for a “sales-free” discussion of how you and your leadership team can more effectively and predictably generate results from your teams.
“There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who profit by the new”
Niccolo Machiavelli