We know that it’s important to build readiness for change early on. Many organizations look to communications as the primary driver for building readiness, and miss one of the most powerful tools available: involvement. When used appropriately, involvement can be help to build commitment to the change, surface resistance, and actually produce better solutions. But recognize that involvement can take time and be expensive on the front end.
Involvement Builds Commitment
Organizations aren’t democracies, and we aren’t advocating that strategic business decisions be put up for a vote of approval. There is, however, a powerful principle which says, “If you cannot get people involved in deciding what to change, get them involved in how to change it.”
Differentiating the “how” from the “what” is important. When people are appropriately prepared, they can be involved in defining the problem, developing the solution, designing the change, and either planning or actually implementing the solution. Through this type of involvement, you increase the Targets sense of control over their work, and that’s a stress reducer and a way to lessen resistance.
Of course it’s much faster to bypass getting people involved—or at least it may seem that way. Creating involvement takes time on the front end of an initiative—it’s an investment of time that will pay off later. The benefits might not be immediate, but they can be significant, and will ultimately accelerate behavior change.
Avoid the Potential Risks
If you are going to get people involved, here are some tips for avoiding potential problems:
- Make certain that you are very clear that the opportunity to be involved will not alter the decision to move forward on the change. This requires clear communication and appropriate behavioral reinforcements from Sponsors.
- You can’t get people involved without creating structure for the involvement.
- You’ll need to invest in preparing people for involvement through skill development on team principles. Don’t expect people to “come to the table” with the requisite skillset.
- Understand and be prepared for the investment of time that involvement requires on the front end of the project.
- Don’t get people involved if the decisions on how the change will be implemented have already been made. It’s counter-productive and you’ll just create greater resistance.
- If your organization isn’t prepared to deal with solutions that may be different, or is afraid of what people may recommend, don’t build an involvement strategy.
- If your organization is risk-averse, understand that you may end up with a solution of lesser-quality as opposed to a solution that is enhanced through involvement of multiple frames of reference.
If you aren’t currently building a specific and explicit involvement strategy as part of your implementation readiness plan, consider adding involvement to your change toolkit. Be aware of the risks, but understand the potential power of using involvement to build commitment to your change.
