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World Leaders in Transformation

Tra
The Change Leader’s Roadmap Methodology

Article
How to Increase Employee
Commitment to Change
(Task I.E.8)

Employees more readily commit to change when they

understand why it is occurring and how it will benefit
them and their organization. Learn how to use a very
effective tool to provide this “big picture” understand-
ing and generate greater employee commitment.

By Dean Anderson
and Linda Ackerman Anderson

1
1242 Oak Drive, DWII
Durango, CO 81301
(970) 385-5100
www.BeingFirst.com
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How to Increase Employee
Commitment to Change

We suggested last month that employees are Here’s the story the model tells: Changes in the
more likely to commit to change when they have environment create new requirements for success
the full story about what is causing it, and they in the marketplace as customers demand new
tend to resist change when they don’t see the services or products. Meeting these new market-
rationale for it. We want to show you how to use place and customer requirements demands the
the Drivers of Change Model to create a logical formation of new business strategies, which in
story line that demonstrates to employees the turn require certain changes in the organization’s
purpose and value of your change efforts so structure, systems, processes, or technology in
they’ll commit to supporting them. order to be implemented successfully. In trans-
formational change, the scope of these
We introduced the Drivers of Change Model in organizational changes are often so significant
our first book, Beyond Change Management, that they also require the culture to change for
(pages 16 to 30). In our own consulting, we use the new organizational design to operate
the model with our clients in many ways: smoothly and produce its outcomes. Culture
change demands change in leader and employee
• Educating executives about the causes of behavior, which further requires leaders and
change employees to shift their mindsets, often about
meeting customer needs, their business model,
• Creating a framework for their business case
how work gets done, or even how they work with
for change
each other.
• Accurately identifying the scope of their
change If you look at these components as critical
• Integrating all of their major change efforts factors in successful change, then you see that
into a unified story the reverse sequence depicts the enablers of
change: if mindset doesn’t change, behavior
• Identifying the relationships and interdepen- can’t change. If behavior doesn’t change, culture
dencies between their change efforts won’t, and therefore, major changes in the orga-
• Linking all of their change efforts to their nization won’t succeed, and the business strategy
business strategy and marketplace require- will fail. Ultimately, all of the components must
ments for success change to produce the results required to meet
the new marketplace requirements.
We’ll begin by refreshing your memory about the
model itself, and then apply it to a fictitious That’s the concept; here’s an example of the
company to demonstrate how to use it to increase Drivers of Change model in action.
employee commitment to change.
Let’s assume ABC Company is the largest print-
There are seven components in the Drivers of ing company in the world. They have 25,000
Change model: employees in thirteen countries, and have been in
business for sixty-five years. Let’s assume that
Environment - Marketplace Requirements for the current changes in their environment include:
Success - Business Imperatives - Organizational
Imperatives - Cultural Imperatives - Leader and 1. A significant evolution in printing technol-
Employee Behavior - Leader and Employee ogy, which makes a number of their largest
Mindset plants outdated and requires massive capital
expenditures to upgrade equipment.

Page 2 www.BeingFirst.com Article • © 2009 Being First, Inc.

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How to Increase Employee
Commitment to Change

2. The merger of their two main competitors, To get results from these organizational changes,
which enables this new merged organization ABC must transform its culture. They must over-
to offer a more seamless one-stop solution to come the entitlement mentality their old
their largest and most profitable customers. paternalistic culture has promoted and the risk
aversion their command and control style has
3. The industry move away from paper prod-
supported, since these will limit employee’s good
ucts to digital renditions of books, journals,
use of the customer data their new CRM system
annual reports, etc.
will make available. They must be able to cross
old rigid boundaries to provide seamless solu-
These environmental changes are creating very
tions to customers.
different marketplace requirements for success,
which in their current state, ABC cannot readily
This cultural transformation demands massive
meet. A new business strategy is in order.
behavior change, including the following: Lead-
ers must loosen the reins, offer more information
They decide to:
instead of withholding it, and focus on the long-
term investment, not only on short-term
1. Acquire boutique printers to service niche
numbers. They must learn to cooperate with their
markets and build capability to provide a
colleagues and overcome viewing them as
wider bandwidth of printing solutions.
threats or competitors. The sales force must learn
2. Consolidate their numerous sales forces to about all of the products of the business and
provide a more integrated package of “solu- begin selling them in creative, integrated ways.
tions selling” to large customers (so they are Employees in the print shops must learn new
no longer called on by three or four sales technologies, new standards, and about new
people selling different ABC Company ser- customer requirements for online products.
vices), and to create customized web-based
services that includes digital services, not And of course, all that behavior change simply
just traditional print solutions. Sound good? will not occur unless both leaders and employees
embrace the mindset that ABC Company has the
This new business strategy requires dramatic best chance for long-term success if they become
change to the organization: an integrated solution provider, offering a
common technology platform across products, in
1. Restructuring away from their traditional both paper and digital mediums.
focus on product lines to now organizing
around customer needs. There is logic in the story, isn’t there? The
2. Initializing a very large worldwide CRM change initiatives fit together, with one driving
implementation. the next. Each has its place, and it is the cumula-
tive impact of all of them together that will
3. Establishing online solutions. enable ABC to meet its new marketplace require-
4. Re-engineering their supply chain. ments.

5. Redeploying and retraining their sales force. Imagine if ABC didn’t integrate its sales
6. Integrating their acquired companies (peo- forces...then it wouldn’t be able to offer an inte-
ple, product, technologies, and culture.) grated solutions package to customers and their
newly merged competitor would steal business
7. Revamping their compensation systems. away.

© 2009 Being First, Inc. • Article www.BeingFirst.com Page 3

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How to Increase Employee
Commitment to Change

Imagine if they didn’t upgrade to a common IT Summary

platform and implement CRM...then they
couldn’t integrate customer information across Use the “Drivers of Change Model” as a
product lines. template to create your organizations’ own clear
and compelling case for change. Use it to demon-
Imagine if they didn’t transform their cultural strate how each and every change initiative in the
top-down, risk averse leadership style...then organization is required by changes in the envi-
employees would be less willing to step out of ronment and your new marketplace requirements
the box to provide the unique solutions custom- for success.
ers are now demanding.
And remember, without understanding the driv-
And imagine if they refused to deal with their ers, employees tend to think that the massive
leadership mindset, and only mandated new tech- changes coming at them are the product of exec-
nology to solve the integrated solution utive whim. Employees want what is best for
challenge...then employees would likely not take their organization, and when they resist, it is
the personal risks associated with using the new usually because the changes seem more burden-
customer information (this is a common reason some than they do beneficial. Telling the story of
CRM implementations fail, by the way.) the organization’s changes using the Drivers of
Change Tool found at www.changere-
Imagine! Imagine! Imagine! sources.com can clarify the business case for
change and link all of the initiatives required in a
Each of the change initiatives—structure, tech- way employees can understand and appreciate.
nology, culture, skills, business processes—is a Good luck!
part of what is required for the entire organiza-
tion to succeed. Seeing how all of the initiatives
fit together removes the confusion about why
any individual change is needed. However, with-
out this integrated story, and without a clear
understanding of the business drivers for them
all, any one initiative can look unwarranted and
burdensome.

The employees of ABC Company will respond

with greater faith and willingness when they get
this big picture view about what is required to
succeed in the future. How about the employees
in your organization, or the organizations in
which you consult? Will understanding what is
truly driving their organization’s changes
increase their commitment? We think so.

Page 4 www.BeingFirst.com Article • © 2009 Being First, Inc.

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How to Increase Employee
Commitment to Change

About the Authors

Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman Anderson are the co-founders of Being First, Inc., a results-
oriented change leadership development and transformational change consulting firm working with
visionary leaders of the Fortune 1000, government, and large non-profit organizations. For twenty-five
years, Being First has been assisting executives to maximize their ROI from change, transform their
cultures to high performance, and build their organization’s change capability. Being First provides a
complete change solution, including change strategy development, change methodology and tools,
training, coaching, consulting, and hands-on change project support. A Deloitte and Touche research
study once named the Being First Change Methodology the most comprehensive in the world.

Mr. Anderson and Ms. Ackerman Anderson are co-authors of two cutting-edge books on change,
Beyond Change Management: Advanced Strategies for Today’s Transformational Leaders and The
Change Leader’s Roadmap: How to Navigate Your Organization’s Transformation. They co-author
The Change Management column for Workforce Performance Solutions magazine, as well as the e-
newsletter, Results from Change, which is distributed to change leaders and consultants worldwide.

Mr. Anderson and Ms. Ackerman Anderson speak internationally about the people and process
dynamics that are key to succeeding at transformational change. They can be reached at
info@beingfirst.com or 970-385-5100.

© 2009 Being First, Inc. • Article www.BeingFirst.com Page 5

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How to Increase Employee
Commitment to Change

About Being First, Inc.

BEING FIRST, INC. is a highly specialized change leadership development and transformational
change consulting firm, serving Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, non-profit organiza-
tions, and change consultants worldwide.

We partner with our clients to achieve breakthrough results. We provide a fully integrated solution of
consulting, training, coaching, change methodology, and tools; everything our clients need to radically
improve outcomes. We are experts in unleashing extraordinary human performance, transforming
culture to enable that performance, and developing leaders to lead those transformations.

Outcomes
• Maximize ROI by achieving the tangible business results you are after from change; faster and
with less cost to your business and people

• Build your organization’s change capability and skill so you can consistently reap the benefits
of successful change, now and in the future

• Transform your people and culture to truly unleash breakthrough performance

• Develop your managers and leaders into competent change leaders who know how to lead all
aspects of change, including the people and cultural dynamics

• Develop your internal consultants into expert change consultants

Services and Products

• Web-based Change Methodology, Products, and Tools for every task in your change effort.
Test drive The Change Leader’s Roadmap™ at www.changeleadersroadmap.com

• Change Strategy Development and Process Planning for complex transformation

• Change Leadership Development and Coaching for senior executives, change sponsors,
change process leaders, change project teams, change consultants, mid-managers, and frontline
targets of change

• Change Consulting that ensures you get the best change solution implemented by an engaged
group of stakeholders

• Change Consultant Development to build your in-house skills

• Executive Team Development that builds cohesion, alignment, and commitment

• Assessments: Change Project Audit, Change History Audit, Change Readiness and Capacity,
Change Sponsorship, Change Leadership, and Change Team Performance

• Results from Change e-Newsletter at www.resultsfromchange.com

Page 6 www.BeingFirst.com Article • © 2009 Being First, Inc.