A year or two ago I was working with a senior executive team on a change initiative that would affect about 200 employees in the IT services department of a pharmaceutical company.  When we got to the portion of the strategy that dealt with how we'd communicate the changes to the team, I met resistance.

"Why do we have to have this 'kickoff' all-team meeting at the beginning and an intranet site for daily updates on the changes?" one of the executives said.  "I just don't understand why we have to waste all this time and money on explaining everything to the junior employees.  They don't understand the overall business, and they won't understand why we're making these changes.  If they want to keep their jobs, they'll just do what we're telling them!"

Unfortunately, this isn't an uncommon reaction.  Many senior execs seem to think that (a) junior and mid-level staffers are too dumb to understand 'the big picture' and (b) people who are collecting paycheques should simply do what they're told, and not suck up all kinds of resources by demanding explanations.

The truth is that emplyees often have a better grasp of the big picture than might at first be evident - it's hard to be a successful, long-term employee in any job without having at least some understanding of the organization as a whole.  What's more, the internet age means that the average employee has more access, to more information, about the organization for which s/he works than ever before.  Employees are more familiar with terms like 'shareholder value' and 'market capitalization' and 'competitive advantage' than they were even 25 years ago.  All of which means they're probably much better equipped to understand business decisions - even those made 'at the highest levels'.

What's more, study after study shows that the best employees - the most productive, valuable ones - are those who are actively engaged in their jobs and their organizations.  In other words, the best employees are definitely not the kind of people who want to just 'do what they're told' - they want to understand their role within the organization, how they're contributing to the organization's success, and that their efforts are making a difference.

If organizations want to keep these high-value employees through a change - and keep them productive - they must communicate the reasons for change, the rationale for decisions, the process of change, and how everything works together to achieve the goal.  Does it take time and money to do this?  Yes.  Will everyone on the team understand every detail?  Probably not.  Will it, in the end, help you retain your top performers and navigate the change successfully?  Absolutely.

'Resiliency' is one of those words, when used in the context of people and workforces, which tend to sound a little touchy-feely/HR department-ish and the kind of thing you can safely ignore.  The truth, however, is that resilient employees, and a resilient workforce, are crucial to a successfully innovative organization.  The more resilient your employees, the more likely you'll be able to implement new strategies effectively and efficiently.

Resiliency in the workplace doesn't just happen.  It's built over time, and while individuals can help themselves become more resilient, it's more effective if they're supported by their managers and by the organization as a whole.

Assessing resiliency is an important part of the change management process - but it needs to happen well before any change is implemented.  Ideally, before you undertake any change initiatives, you'll ensure you've built some resiliency within the organization.

Characteristics of resiliency

How can you determine whether your organization is resilient enough to embrace change?

Research shows that resilient individuals display specific characteristics.  Though not all experts agree on every characteristic, the four most commonly cited are the following:

Sense of purpose:  Studies show that people with a sense of purpose in their life can use that as a stabilizer in times of change.  Having a sense of purpose helps people manage through disruptions more effectively because it provides a context or perspective for change.  It's not uncommon for people to get so caught up in the day-to-day activities of their job that they forget why they chose or loved it in the first place.

As a company, your employees' sense of purpose can be found in the company's vision and mission statements.  Vision and mission statements are designed to give context and meaning to the work every employee dodes.  Although having meaningful vision and mission statements can't guarantee resiliency at the individual level, it can help to provide the context and perspective that can contribute to employees' sense of purpose.

Ask yourself:  Are the organization's vision and mission statements known throughout the organization?  Do people understand them?  More importantly, do your employees believe in the vision and mission of the company?

Feeling in control:  People who feel in control of themselves and their world are more confident as they move through change.  A change may make them feel temporarily out of control, but they're able to return to a positive state.  However, when we're not in control, we feel unsettled, which may lead to lower productivity and effectiveness.  In that state, any disruption will heighten the feeling of being out of control.

At an organizational level, maintaining an environment in which people feel in control of their work lives is key.  An organization that encourages people to control their success, and gives them the tools and support they need, is a resilient organization.  

As you assess Control in your organization, ask yourself:  As a company, do we encourage people to take responsibility for their own success - and then allow them to do it?  Many companies tell employees they are accountable and responsible, but then don't give them the tools or support they need to be successful.  A mixed message will undermine the organization's resiliency.

Teaching employees to be their own guides during change is one way of building feelings of control.  When employees have the tools to create their own map of a change, they can build on their own feelings of control - and, as a result, resiliency.  A 'map' is basically a way for them to answer some very simple questions:  What is the change, how does it relate to our current business, how does it affect me, what will I do differently, what will my team do differently as a result, what other parts of the company will be affected, what opportunities do I see?

Once they know the answers to these questions, most people can begin to manage through the change successfully.  More questions will come up and people's need for control won't go away, but at least they'll understand how the change will affect them.

Positive outlook:  Optimism is very helpful when managing through change successfully and efficiently.  An important component of having a positive outlook is not to dwell on the potential downsides of a situation - but not to ignore them, either.  Some people are naturally optimistic; others are naturally pessimistic but can learn how to have a positive outlook.  Resilient people not only focus on opportunities that can emerge from change, but can see themselves taking advantage of those opportunities - and succeeding.

As a company, negativity plays a big role in the level of resiliency.  At the individual level, it's 'negative self-talk'.  At the organizational level, it's the 'never good enough talk'.  An organization that always pushes for high achievement may fall into the trap of never being satisfied with the current level of performance.  While it's good to strive for high achievement, many organizations forget the importance of rewarding and celebrating the current high performance before moving on to the next set of goals.  Employees who work extremely hard and exceed their goals, only to be told that their performance is 'adequate', start to believe that they'll never be good enough - and that can undermine even the most positive employee's optimism, which in turn undermines the organization's resiliency.

Physical and spiritual well-being:  It's a well-known fact that stress takes a terrible toll on humans both physically and emotionally.  It's very hard to be resilient if you're physically and emotionally exhausted.  Resilient individuals recognize the importance of this and make a concerted effort to balance their lives with enough rest, time away from work, exercise and healthy foods.  Organizations can build the well-being of their workforce by encouraging and allowing for work/life balance.

Now, it isn't the role of the company to play 'mother' and get everyone to eat right and exercise.  However, providing healthy food in the cafeteria, encouraging exercise via gym facilities or memberships - these things can play a role in the way the organization affects its employees.

A company president who is known to check and send email until 1am, 7 days a week, and praises people who consistently work 12 hours a day is sending a clear message:  Work/life balance is neither important nor possible for employees.  But work/life balance is a business issue:  Overworked, burned-out employees aren't resilient (and often aren't productive, either).  A company which needs to change and grow can't accomplish much if they don't have resilient employees - and that affects the bottom line.

Resilient individuals can take care of themselves, which helps them move through each change or disruption with ease - and organizations can benefit greatly from that.  It's important for a company to pay attention to the resiliency of their workforce as part of the strategic planning process.  After all, you make all the plans you want, but if your employees aren't sufficiently resilient to carry out those plans, you won't succeed.

I was a little surprised to discover that one of my most popular blog posts in the past few months has been my piece on '10 Tips for Choosing the Right Change Management Consultant'.  I've heard from several people who said that it had helped them clarify what they were looking for.

One person in the UK said that she's been able to narrow down the list of consultants to 3, but has been asked by her leadership team to 'interview' them to assess which one will be the best fit for their project.  She asks:  "What interview questions should I use?"

My advice was to approach it the way you'd approach any BBI (Behavioral Based Interview), with open-ended questions designed to identify strengths, weaknesses, skills and attitude.

Here are the 10 questions I think she should ask:

1.  What is your approach to change management?

This is a bit of a trick question:  You want your change management consultant to have a good understanding of the various theoretical approaches out there, but as I've said before, different projects will require different approaches or a combination of approaches.  A consultant who says they follow X approach every time probably isn't going to be flexible enough.

2.  Do you do the work yourself?

Is the person sitting in front of you merely the selling face of the organization, who will send in junior interns as soon as you're paid the first retainer?  There is no wrong answer here - just know what you think would work best for you.  You may llike that young, enthusiastic individuals will be joining your team for the project.  Or you may think that this change really needs seasoned individuals.  Know what you want before you ask the question.  And if the answer isn't what you want, ask how to get what you need.

3.  What does your team look like?

Depending on the scope of the change, and the nature of the organization, specialist team members may be required to take on different tasks (documentation, communication, training, etc.).  You're looking for an answer that makes it clear the consultant recognizes the need for specialists and can bring them in as required.  Another way to ask this question is:  What kind of specialists do you think this project needs?

4.  We've historically had X problem.  How will you deal with that?  

You're looking for an answer like "I've encountered similar challenges in the past.  Here's the approach I've taken in those situations..."  A consultant who dismisses the issues or says "History isn't important - we're moving forward!" isn't going to be a productive fit in the long term.

5.  How will input and insight be gathered?  How will you collect criticism?

With the first question, you're looking for a structured approach that includes representatives from across the organization - a consultant who focuses only on gathering input from 'management' will run into trouble getting junior and mid-level workers to buy into the change.  With the second question, the best respons is one that acknowledges that criticism will happen regardless of how great the change process is - and acknowledges that criticism can provide valuable insights.

6.  What is your approach to communication?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Communication is absolutely crucial to a successful change management project.  A good change management consultant should be able to speak knowledgeably about communication strategies both at the outset of a change and throughout the process, and should recognize the need for frequent, honest communication via a variety of media.

7.  How will knowledge transfer be handled?

It can seem easy to bring in a change management SWAT team who takes care of everything - but then the changes often leave when the SWAT team does.  You want a change management consultant who works with your team throughout the process, to ensure your employees are fully engaged in the process and understand all the details.  An answer like "We have training sessions during the last week of the process..." isn't enough.

8.  Tell us about a successful change management project you led.

This is classic BBI questioning, designed to get at the example which most easily comes to mind.  The answer will give you good insight into the way the consultant works best.

9.  Tell us about a failure - and what happened.

No change management project goes seamlessly - there are always challenges along the way.  This question will help you understand the problem-solving skills and responsiveness of the consultant - and whether they'll fall down at the first hurdle.  You're looking to find out how the consultant managed to turn that failure into a success - either with the client or with future clients.

10.  What does success looks like to you?

Some people resist change management consultants, thinking they're too much like HR types who are more concerned with 'process' than with 'bottom line'.  Asking what success looks like will help you identify whether the person you're talking to is really focused on business results.

Telling the right story is the first step.

I don't know about you, but the moment I lost interest in mathematics was the day in 9th grade when, struggling with an algebraic formula, I asked the teacher what it meant and what it was for, and her answer was a curt and dismissive:  "Because it's on the test."

That didn't help me understand how x2 + 3y = 72 was relevant to my life.  As far as I was concerned, it was just a bunch of random numbers.  And in 9th grade, my first year of high school, "it's on the test" didn't help me do anything but panic.  Needless to say, my grade reflected that.

My friend's physics teacher had a better approach:  By telling stories about sailing ships headed for cliffs ("calculate the angle") or balloons taking off from earth ("calculate the velocity"), she was able to put the numbers and formulas into context and make much more sense of it all.  The teacher didn't claim that she'd need this information for some nebulous event in the future, either; he pointed out ways it could be useful to understand events in her daily life.

The same thinking applies to change management:  When you tell employees that they have to make a change, but your explanation never gets beyond a vague "because it's good for the business" and you don't help them see how it will be relevant or useful to them, you end up with a lot of confused, reluctant and possibly downright mutinous employees.

I've talked to senior leaders who insist that the average employee doesn't understand and doesn't need the details about the big picture; that it's pointless to try to explain it to them because they're not interested in anything outside of their own little job.  Sure, there are some employees like that.  But in a successful, growing organization, there are far more people who want to be engaged in the full picture, who want to know how they fit into that picture, and who really want to know what it takes to be successful within it.  These people are prepared to make changes - as long as they feel like they're making those changes as part of the team, not because they're peons who're forced to do The Boss' bidding.

So how do you get them engaged?  It starts with telling the right story

If you're making changes because you have research that says the next 5 years will bring revolutionary change to you industry and you need to make sure you're ready, tell that story.  Show people the research, walk them through your thinking, demonstrate how the changes you're making now will ensure business success in the short, medium and long-term.  Tell them how it's going to become part of your culture, your brand story, your sales strategy - and how it's going to give them more opportunities to shine.

If you're making changes because the business is in trouble, it's even more important to tell the right story.  Your employees already know there's something wrong; making unexplained changes will only increase the feelings of panic.  Instead, create a story that recognizes the current challenges and explains how the changes are designed to transform the business.  It's okay to acknowledge that some of the changes will be difficult for some people, as long as you're honest and logical in your narrative.

People don't get engaged in facts; they get engaged in stories.  When you create a narrative for your changes, you'll find your people are more willing to become part of the team rather than a roadblock to the process and the company's ultimate success.

Change management can get derailed by the weirdest things

A few years ago I was working on a change management initiative:  Implementing a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) process within a mid-sized organization.  The project mostly involved changes to the way customer inquiries and issues were managed and monitored, but the software was staying the same.

I thought the project was going quite well, until one Monday morning I checked my email to find 4 messages from the manager of the sales team.

"I can't stand this new system!" the messages said.  "You never told me you were going to change the whole computer system!  I thought were were using the same software as before!  I can't find anything!"  There were a lot of exclamation points, and the messages got progressively more strident.

I was confused, because I knew we hadn't changed the software.  The project was really about providing a better customer experience and ensuring that we had a more consistent message across all touchpoints.

Luckily I happened to be on-site with the client that day, so I stopped by the sales manager's desk to ask for more information.  I was glad I did.

It turned out that over the weekend (typically a slow time), the IT team had made some changes to the look and feel of the back-end of the CRM system, to make it more consistent with the front end of the website:  They'd added the company logo, changed some fonts and colors, and added a background image to the login page.  Nothing about the functionality had changed:  Users still logged  in the same way, entered the same information, and navigated through the same screens.

The problem?  The IT team hadn't told anyone that they were making the changes over the weekend, so when the sales manager called up the CRM system on that Monday morning and saw an unfamiliar background image, and was then faced with a system that looked different, she panicked.

The lesson?  When people are in the midst of a change initiative, they can feel more insecure and uncertain than usual, because they know they're going to have to learn to work - and be successful - in different ways.  That kind of stress can lead them to misread information (mistaking new colors and fonts for a whole new system) and then over-react (sending 4 panicked emails).  This is why it's crucial to communicate - and keep communicating - even the smallest details, throughout the process.  If the IT team had simply sent out an email on Friday saying they'd be making some cosmetic changes to the CRM system, the sales manager would have been prepared for what she saw on Monday.

BONUS LESSON:  Your sales team can be your most effective allies in a change management initiative - but they tend to be emotional engaged, so it's extra-important to manage their experience throughout the process.