Le ad ing S us ta in ab le Or ga niz at io n Ch an ge

In trod ucti on

Most organizations are committed – or find they are compelled to improving themselves. New competitors,
globalization, economic and market trends, societal changes, and technological advances are among the
forces that cause organizations to change and adapt, or face the risk of collapse and failure. Successful
companies recognize the need for change is ongoing; relying too heavily on past accomplishments can
quickly erode an organization’s competitive advantage. Seeing the need for change is easy – planning and
orchestrating effective organizational change is among the most difficult but important tasks required of
successful leaders today.

The task of changing an organization is complicated and filled with paradox. To change, organizations need
to be more agile when much of what they do is designed to reinforce their continuity, stability, or efficiency 1.
Productive change, adaptation, and innovation usually requires a lengthy, deliberate process, but most
organizations assume they have little choice but to do things faster. Shortcuts usually result in wasted
effort, disappointment, and the loss of previously gained advantages 2.

Change initiatives often require additional resources – when organizations have most of their time, money,
and energy devoted to maintaining ongoing operations 3. New ideas and approaches that make good sense
are often not adopted at all or only reluctantly embraced by those who need to implement them. In many
cases, change leaders assume the biggest barrier to achieving change is resistant employee “attitudes,”
when re-aligning roles and responsibilities, and underlying organizational structures, systems, and
processes is necessary 4.

Wh at W e Kn ow Abo ut Succ essf ul Chan ge

Organizational change has been studied, researched, and written about since the mid-1950s. A number of
change models have been proposed, but many have less than more in common in the approaches they
recommend. Considerable attention has been given to dealing with change-resistant employees. Since the
latter part of the twentieth century, much of the change literature has focused on the need for strategic
change and the difference between transformational (radical change aimed at transforming the organization)
and incremental change (slow, gradual changes that involve fine-tuning the organization).

Change processes and the need for change management vary greatly depending on the size, scope, and
complexity of the change that is undertaken by an organization. Likewise, the collection of prescriptions
available to change leaders differ substantially in their practicality and usefulness. Nonetheless, looking
across change theories, models, and frameworks; some conclusions can be drawn. We know that
successful change processes must establish several conditions and include a number of important
elements.
Successful organization change initiatives must:

• Ensure that the organization is well-prepared and ready for change – and provide employees with
a compelling reason to do so.
• Create the picture of the future that the organization wants. Describe the why, what, and how of
the change in vivid, motivating terms. Often this involves creating a new vision for the organization
that is reinforced through consistent and credible communication.
• Gain support from leaders and involve employees who will be responsible for executing the
change. Organization members must be the key source of energy for the change process. When
people are given a significant role in designing and implementing change, the change is more
readily accepted and resistance to it can be minimized.
• Introduce and manage the efforts and initiatives that will move the existing organization to a new,
more effective future state. This is where the rubber meets the road in the change process. It
involves designing and experimenting with innovative approaches; and helping employees learn,
take risks, and disengage from the past. It often requires a transition structure to support,
coordinate, and manage the set of change activities.
• Provide resources for sustaining momentum and implementing new ways of doing things; as well
as ways to measure, reinforce, and institutionalize successful change in the organization. This
requires evaluation expertise and re-aligning other parts of the organization so the change
becomes embedded in its ongoing operations and in the organizational culture.

A Syn the sis: Th e LSC Mo del

To take advantage of the best that these and other change models have to offer while minimizing the
potential problems adhering too rigidly to any one approach may cause, MDA Leadership has developed the
Leading Sustainable Change (LSC) model.

The model is straightforward, comprehensive, and practical. It sequences the key steps in the change
process logically, and is consistent with Lewin’s fundamental organizational change rhythm. It focuses on
the most important steps that change leaders must take, incorporating the most useful activities from a
variety of models. It is prescriptive but not rigid. Certain objectives and activities must be accomplished
before others – for example, a change plan should be well-designed before resources are committed to
implementing it – but it allows change leaders and organizations to tailor the approach they take to their
circumstances. It shows that change is a continuous process. As the success of a change initiative is
evaluated, the need for additional or different change strategies can be identified and form the basis of a
new cycle of planning and implementation actions.

The LSC model includes four major steps or phases: Planning, Engaging Others, Taking Action, and
Sustaining Change. On the surface, this appears to differ somewhat from Lewin’s basic model. However,
Planning and Engaging activities are meant to correspond to Lewin’s Unfreezing phase.

Engaging Others is shown as a set of distinct actions for several reasons. By showing this phase
separately, it disentangles the work of articulating the need and creating a rationale for the change from the
task of persuading others and enrolling them in the change process. Most importantly, however, it highlights
one of the best supported conclusions from years of research in the social sciences: people’s commitment
to plans and decisions that affect them will be strengthened if they are involved in their design and
implementation. The LSC model calls for active engagement of a broad network of stakeholders – once the
key ideas, rationale, and high-level direction for the change has been established.
Graphically, the LSC model is:

PLAN ENGAGE
- Identify key change need - Establish change management
- Secure top management team
support - Create a vision for the change
- Build the business case for - Establish sense of urgency
change

SUSTAIN ACT
- Adopt & institutionalize change - Establish change
successes implementation teams
- Realign the organization - Manage the transition
structure systems, & processes - Frequent communication
- Plan for continuous change - Generate short-term wins
management

Th e Pl ann ing Ph ase. The activities in this phase involve understanding and articulating – at least at a
high level – the change that is needed. Thoughtful planning helps organizations gain a clearer picture of
what is needed and what it will take to accomplish what they want. Comprehensive initial planning must
include developing the logic and business case for the change, as well as the magnitude of the effort, who
will need to be involved, and the obstacles and objections that will likely be encountered in the change
process. The key activities include:
• Identifying the change that is needed – specifying the discrepancy between the current
and desired state.
• Understanding and building the business case for change. Creating the rationale for the
change in terms that are meaningful to and will make a difference in the success of the
business.
• Securing top management support. Larger organization initiatives rarely succeed without
influential leaders and decision-makers who are on board.
• Assessing the organization’s readiness and capability for change including understanding the
organization’s acceptance or commitment to the need for change, and the resources and skills
required to carry out the necessary tasks the change effort will require.
• Identifying probable sources of individual and organizational resistance, potential
obstacles, and objections so that the right steps can be put in place early to minimize or
avoid them.
• Establishing a high-level timeline and milestones that will signal progress and momentum
for the change.
En gag ing Oth ers. This phase includes the activities that engage the broader group of people who will
be most responsible for ensuring the change is successfully implemented in a more detailed and specific set
of preparatory actions. The key activities include establishing a change management team or steering
committee of key stakeholders who can provide guidance, make plans and decisions, provide resources,
and oversee the change initiative. The change management team’s charter should include:
• Creating a vision for the change.
• Responsibility for communicating the vision and establishing sense of urgency for the
change in the organization.
• Developing plans for involving others, communicating about the change, overcoming
anticipated obstacles and resistance, and measuring and evaluating progress.
Taking Ac tion . This phase involves trial, experimentation, and implementation – actually doing new
things and determining how they work. The key activities include:
• Establishing change teams who are chartered to do things in new ways, for example,
special task forces, committees, or project teams
• Provide training, resources, and support as needed.

During this phase, the change management team or steering committee needs to remain especially active.
They are responsible for:
• Identifying milestones and managing the transition.
• Implementing regular, frequent communication.
• Identifying, generating, and communicating about progress and short-term wins.

Su stai nin g Ch ang e. In this phase, change leaders need to evaluate the outcomes from their efforts.
The results from an evaluation may indicate how proposed changes need to be further modified or adapted,
new or additional change initiatives that are needed, and/or it may show that change initiatives have been
successful. In this case, the organization needs to take any steps that are required to make the change a
permanent part of its ongoing operations, including re-aligning other parts of the organization to ensure the
desired change is fully integrated and supported by the organization’s systems and processes. The key
activities include:
• Collecting measures of change progress and successes.
• Adopting and institutionalizing change successes.
• Realigning the organization’s structure, systems, and processes to reinforce changes that
are desired.
• Using evaluation results to refine the change process and plan for continuous change
management.

Su mma ry

This overview is meant to be just that – only an introduction that sets the stage for deeper thinking, more
extensive discussion, and the careful planning that is required to successfully orchestrate a complicated
change process. In addition, change leaders need to understand their roles, and in many cases, develop
expertise they do not yet have. MDA’s Leading Sustainable Change Tool Kit is designed to help change
leaders meet this challenge and develop their approach to planning, engaging others, taking action, and
sustaining the changes their organization requires.

Re fere nce s
1
Christopher Worley and Edward Lawler, “Designing Organizations That Are Built to Change,” Sloan
Management Review, Fall, 2006
2
John Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail.” Harvard Business Review, March-April,
1995
3
Thomas Cummings and Christopher Worley, Organization Development and Change, 2005
4
Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat, and Bert Spector, “Why Change Programs Don’t Produce Change,”
Harvard Business Review, November-December, 1990
5
Kurt Lewin, Field Theory in Social Science, 1951
6
David Nadler, Champions of Change, 1998
7
Todd Jick, Managing Change: Cases and Concepts, 2002
8
John Kotter, Leading Change, 1996