“If you can dream it, you can do it”
As many of you are aware by now, a month ago I left my permanent position at Danone to embark on a new chapter of my professional life: becoming a freelance change management consultant. Gosh, it sounded exciting when I told my friends, and it sounds even cooler now (I’m literally throwing euro notes from my balcony as I type).
In reality, the absence of job security, knowing I won’t qualify for unemployment scheme, no company perks, the need to market myself, and the associated costs, all with no guaranteed income, have taken me on two-weeks emotional rollercoaster I’d rather not detail! A change consultant struggling with change himself…that really takes the biscuit!
How did I react, and how does this relate to Kotter’s 8-step change model?
Step 1: Create Urgency
To initiate change, I focused on the implication of not securing a client before August, a time of the year when most employees go on holiday and companies typically put hiring on hold. The risk of spending the entire summer unemployed served as the initial spark and motivation that got me moving.
Step 2: Form Coalitions
Helen Keller inspirational quote “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”, perfectly captures the need to form coalitions. I connected with project managers, recruitment firms, former work colleagues, and even sought support from my university professors. Change requires allies, choose them strategically.
Step 3: Create a vision for a Change
At Walt Disney World in Florida, I learned Walt Disney once said: “If you can dream it, you can do it”. This means envisioning your goals, and build that in you real life. My vision is to help organisations succeed with seamless changes and major results. I envision myself as respectable field expert, occasionally lecturing in top universities.
Step 4: Communicate the vision
Having a vision is just the beginning, you must communicate it consistenly. Talk about it at every chance you get, adding more details each time to help everyone visualise it as you do. It took me numerous calls with a recruitment agent before she fully understood my goal and the kind of projects I wanted to lead. Eventually I succeeded.
Step 5: Remove obstacles
For those not familiar with change management theories, employees resistance might be understood as a sign to re-define the plan. In truth, once “the fish is on the table”, openly listening from your employees what isn’t working well provides an opportunity to learn about the emotions behind resistance. Addressing these concerns honestly and constructively is more likely to increase their collaboration.
Step 6: Create short term wins
When recruiters’ emails with job proposals began to balance out the amount of unwanted newsletters and annoying spam, I realised that things were starting to work and I was heading in the right direction. De-construct success into small milestones and treat them as celebration roadmap. This boosts confidence.
Step 7: Build on the change
“Don’t sell the skin before you’ve caught the bear”. It is crucial to stay focused until the change has been fully implemented. The post-go live phase is as critical as the planning and execution. Imagine if I had assumed those emails equaled new clients, and had stopped searching. If the proposals did not progress I would have spent the summer writing Linkedin articles so that you could feel my pain too.
Step 8: Anchor changes to company culture
The duration of a change activity is directly linked to the employees readiness to change. Organisation with frequent restructures tend to have an highly adaptable workforce compared to those in stable markets and minimal business disruption. To foster a culture of continuous change, encourage employees to up-skill, to explore other areas of the business, to simplify their processes, and save time. For instance, despite having a full time client now, I am building a website to maintain my online presence.
As Kotter’s story about the penguins in Antartica teaches us, don’t wait for the iceberg to melt before taking actions. I leave you the link should you wish to watch it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB-c3pJR0qU.
