Important consideration when implementing change:

1. The chance of change being implemented successfully is slightly better odds than tossing a coin.
2. Change failure is a combination of Shortfalls, Overuns, Unintended Consequences, Projects being Killed and lack of a Sustainable results (S.O.C.K.S)
3. A substantial reason for change failure is that people were not on the same page, including the leadership team.

How can you ensure your people are on the same page before, during and after a change is implemented?

Certainly, it requires concerted and sustained effort founded on all stakeholders being aligned. This means that if people are to be clear on their expectations of others they need to understand the change from their perspective. The problem is that too many leaders use rational models which they think just makes a common sense and is why things go wrong from the get go. Why?  Because simply implementing prescriptions often means they disregard or are not aware of certain, sometimes irrational- but predictable elements of human nature. This is why an approach to aligning and tackling people’s expectations was developed.

The Alignment Process

What’s needed is a process that helps people clarify and develop agreed expectations to which there is genuine mutual commitment. Agreeing and measuring such specific expectations forms the basis of managing the tensions in education in a different way. It’s different because the focus is on people comparing their expectations of others with those others has of them. This focus helps people be more aligned and strategically focused.

Then analytical tools can help drive performance discussions between groups and individuals on their expectations and assumptions that result in:

• Specifying what people can stop, start and doing
• More objective  performance criteria against which individuals/groups will be measured
• Removing expectations that are non-value added and not strategically aligned
• Identifying significant issues to address

This methodology then becomes a key change driver by accelerating alignment and tracking the health of working relationships.  Such tracking includes:

• Distractions that impact work loads
• Misaligned expectations which reduce flexibility and strategic focus
• Factors that reduce effectiveness
• Misalignment with organizational principles and strategies
• Productivity issues between administrators and staff

The final outcomes help individuals understand:

• What is expected of them
• What they can expect from others
• How well they are strategically aligned
• How their performance is measured and compensated
• What they can stop doing
• What they need to focus on
• What information and resources can be used to achieve their goals
• How they are going to be supported and coached

How has it been used?

This alignment process has been used as a key driver of successful systemic change.  It supports these efforts by clarifying and improving performance contracts between critical relationships, such as:

Indiana University’s Kelley Business School’s Clients Genzink Steel Qwest Telecommunications Seward County Community College

Managers and Subordinates Leadership Teams Cross-functional groups Sales Teams

Groups have successfully used alignment processes to:

Improve competitiveness Deliver more learner-focused solutions Realign Projects

Accelerate and build partnerships Restructure organizations Cross Functional Effectiveness Sales Strategy Implementation Develop strategically relevant skills

How it Works

The process starts with leaders and stakeholder representatives defining areas of alignment judged to be crucial to the success of a project, strategy or implementation. It is imperative that these definitions are a consensus of those leading alignment and provides focus for those generating expectations. It’s worth stressing that this process is not trying to align people on every aspect of their work – just those areas where improved or initiated alignment is needed.

Using this framework individuals are coached to identify their expectations of others and what they think is expected of them. This data is then used to analyze content, quantity, and quality of the expectations generated.

This analysis then provides targeted data pictures of groups and one-on-one relationships based on Figure 1.

For example, the relationship between Tom and Cliff looks aligned if you only look at Tom’s expectations of Cliff (13) and what Cliff thinks Tom expects him (12).  But, Cliff’s expectations (22) & What Tom thinks Cliff expects of him (4)
tells a different story.

Then users meet and decide which of their expectations are to be discarded, agreed or are unresolved.Users are then shown how to use their relationship analysis to prioritize which alignment meetings are really needed.

Alignment Outputs

1.   Distraction Index

 

Identifies which individuals or groups are aligned or distracted from achieving strategic goals:

Aligned, and Doing Things that are Expected — expectations and assumptions of these expectations are in balance.

Distracted, and Doing Things that are Not Expected— individuals are making incorrect assumptions about what others expect of them.

Distracted and Expecting Things that are Not Done — expectations exceed assumptions of those expectations.

2. Tension Ratings

 

 

Expectation originators rate each of their expectations on a scale from High to Low Tension if an expectation is not met. Tension rating filtering enables users to see how well they are aligned in terms of stress and the importance others place on different areas of the change process.

 

 

3. Communication Channel Analysis

 Un-Channeled

In a change process, groups are often expected to change who they communicate with and about what. If for example, the Sales VP is expected to work closely with the Chief Data Analyst and her team to create customized solutions for clients and they do not have any expectations of each other…..! Conversely, if the customer service team now reports to the newly appointed Head of Customer Service and not the General Manager then you would not want to see people still having expectations of the GM.

Cross-Channeled

Medium levels of expectations are often needed when sales people are selling within the same customer base and need to migrate customers from one to another, e.g. a customer relationship needs to change from transactional to consultative, as their needs grow and become increasingly dynamic.  An account in this condition will need to be moved to the sales team with more expertise and resources.

Highly-Channeled

High levels of expectations are needed where people work in the same function or process, e.g. Architects and General Contractors

What is a practical way to start?

Clearly, this alignment process has a powerful set of tools and needs to be used in a progressive way. This progression is driven by the value it delivers at each stage. So, we have found a good first step is running short half-day or full-day workshops with stakeholder groups like sales and sales support to uncover or validate misalignments and plan how to move forward.

These sessions consistently establish the value of alignment and provide insights into how much is either assumed or vague when setting a new direction or improving effectiveness.

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