Self awareness is defined as having a conscious knowledge of your feelings, motivations, and desires.  To be self aware, we also need to consider what the driver is behind the feelings.  We need to be able to assess what is triggering our thoughts and reactions.  It is only when we take the time to understand the root cause that we can take control and achieve the end result that is needed.  

​Are you exhausted?  What about your team?  Most organizations have various strategic and operational projects they are undertaking in addition to the day to day activities that are required to keep the lights on and the business running.  With new business objectives emerging and new technologies being added to the long list of priorities, the relentless pace of change in the organization may be starting to wear on everyone.  You and your team may be suffering from Change Fatigue. 
 
Change fatigue is often experienced when people feel overwhelmed for an extended period of time.  Dealing with a small number of changes is often difficult for people as they feel the need to protect themselves and the status quo.  They want to maintain the current way of doing things as they feel comfortable with doing their job and meeting the expectation.  They can usually manage a small amount of change without too much difficulty.  In today’s world though, it is normal to have big changes taking place for extended periods of time due to technology, new or changing business objectives, and ongoing departmental efforts to become more efficient and effective.  Add to the mix large long term initiatives like digital transformation or an enterprise resource planning implementation (ERP) and the stage is set for IT leaders and staff as well as business partners to be exhausted.
 
How do you diagnose change fatigue? 
 
Change fatigue manifests itself in many different ways.  Most people don’t recognize the symptoms.  They are unable to see that change is affecting them or that they are change resistant.  Unfortunately, individuals and teams rarely self- diagnose the issue.
 
Visible symptoms of change fatigue often include:

• project delays becoming the new normal rather than the exception
• a lack of enthusiasm for anything that is out of the ordinary
• small issues creating an unusual amount of complaining or finger pointing
• key resources or leaders are absent during meetings
• a rise in customer complaints
• a decline in customer and employee satisfaction
• an increase in attrition.

 
Individuals experiencing change fatigue may feel like every day work and projects are completely out of their control and that their voice isn’t heard when they provide input.  Their productivity will decline as small tasks start to feel like they take a lot of energy to complete.
 
Treatment for Change Fatigue
 
To avoid change fatigue, organizations should first understand the level of change required based on their strategic and operational project portfolio.  While organizational change management is often addressed at the project level, it is imperative that organizations continuously evaluate change at the portfolio level as well.  Evaluating the entire scope of change associated with the current portfolio will enable the organization to identify themes relating to change and possibly streamline some organizational change management activities.   It may also uncover significant concerns relating to the volume of change the staff and customers must adapt to in a specific time period to be successful.
If the organization is suffering from change fatigue, there are steps you can take to reduce the impact and slowly get back on track.  It will take some time to recover as a magic pill does not exist.  Consider the following actions to start the recovery process: 

• Leaders in the organization need to be more visible with their presence and their show of support for the change and those that are impacted.  They need to show their excitement relating to the change and rally the troops.
• Take the time to honor the work that has been done to date and celebrate the success even if there is still a long way to go.
• Train leaders on how to help their employees adapt to change.  Middle management and frontline staff are often the teams that are most impacted by change.  Be sure to help middle managers as they are largely responsible for the individuals affected.
• Adjust timelines for some initiatives to reduce the amount of change required during a given time period.  Engage the employees that are experiencing the most amount of change in discussions around adjusting the schedule.
• Add information to every communication about how the work that is being done contributes to achieving the organization’s purpose.
• Revitalize individuals in the organization by allowing them to significantly determine the course of action for any new initiatives.  Engage them in determining the strategy as well as the implementation details associated with new initiatives.  It is okay to give them some boundaries but giving them some control over anything new in the environment will help them to begin to feel as though their input matters. 

 
Change fatigue didn’t happen overnight.  The organization experienced a gradual decline in productivity.  It probably started with a handful of staff and spread to infect teams and divisions.  Even with aggressive steps, it is a long road to recovery.  Professional help is most likely needed to assess the recovery plan and help the organization take preventative measures to reduce the likelihood of future outbreaks.  

​Information technology (IT) leaders and their staff talk about applications, network components, databases, storage, and servers every day.  It is their job and often, their passion.  It’s no surprise that many leaders in this field have a blind spot when it comes to communicating about the work that is occurring. 
 
They often communicate about the technology rather than the results the technology is going to support or deliver.  It is an easy trap to fall into and it is difficult for leaders and staff to recognize.  It can be challenging for IT leaders and their staff to fully acknowledge that their customers don’t really care about technology.  This is not a statement about IT’s value to the company.  Without technology, everyone in the company can pack up and go home.  IT’s value is immense.   It is just a reality that people want to use technology to accomplish a task.  It should be easy.  They just need to do their job.  They don’t even think about the technology until there is a problem.  They shouldn’t have to think about it. 
 
Many times, “tech speak” is the organizational norm.  Business cases, presentations, reports, and project documents will all contain more information about the technology than the results it supports.  This situation is quite challenging when the organization is attempting to introduce a new or changed service to the community it serves.  To solve the problem, IT organizations began hiring organizational change management (OCM) professionals but it didn’t quite resolve the problem.   
 
IT is still too focused on the technology and the OCM staff were often relegated to merely communicating what they were told.  IT leaders are excited about technology and it is difficult to get the necessary buy in to change the overall focus of the message.  The OCM staff didn’t have the technical background to serve as a translator which left them crafting messages that considered the end user but they were still technology focused. 
 
Answering Four Questions will Significantly Improve Communications
 
1)  What results will this initiative deliver to the company?  The answer to this question is key.  Put the business case aside.  The communications don’t need to include the return on investment or net present value information.  Using simple language, answer the question by considering how the company will benefit.  Does the technology lay the foundation for new products and services?  How does the technology enable the company to achieve the strategic goals?  Every communication should talk about the linkage to the broader organization achieving results.

2)  What is the benefit for the company or department staff?  This is basically “what’s in it for me?” but when answering consider how the technology is going to fulfill a need for the staff member.  Is it going to automate a complex process?  Will it reduce the time they spend on specific tasks?  Remember, people don’t care about the technology.  They care about how it helps them.  If you adhere to this basic idea, the answer to the question won’t include any technical information.

3)  What happens if we aren’t successful with delivering this technology?  Asking this question might seem counterintuitive as IT is planning to deliver.  Every initiative experiences obstacles.  The answer to this question is meant to motivate staff members to work together and achieve the goal.  Normally, the answer to this question is incorporated into initial communications regarding the initiative as well as communications relating to some sort of challenge such as a schedule or budget change.  Be careful when incorporating the information into communications as it should be a motivating factor.  The answer shouldn’t spark fear or paint a picture that is all doom and gloom.  It should focus on the business challenges that may occur and engage the staff in being part of the solution.

4)  Where does someone go if they have questions or ideas relating to the initiative?  The answer to this question should include specific people.  Distribution lists are great but they do not encourage strong, meaningful dialogue.  People need the option of contacting an individual rather than emailing a faceless distribution list that may never reply.  Notice that having both questions and ideas are a part of this question.  Encouraging the sharing of ideas may help to lay the groundwork for a stronger solution.  Ensure the people noted in the communication are prepared to address both questions and new ideas and that they understand the importance of a timely response to anyone that contacts them.  Even if they don’t have an answer, they should reply to let people know how they are handling the inquiry.
 
Communicating about technology won’t garner the support that is needed for IT related changes.  It may have the exact opposite affect by instilling fear into the hearts of the end user as they are unable to understand what is happening or how they will do their job once the new technology is implemented.  Fear often manifests as resistance to change which actually makes IT’s job more difficult.  Focus communications on results, benefits, and business challenges to maximize the opportunity for success.

​Research by the Corporate Executive Board[i] (CEB) shows that when employees help to determine the right course of action and they are responsible for the implementation of the changes, the chances of success double and the implementation will most likely be faster.
 
IT staff that are actually doing the work need to be involved in creating the change necessary for their teams to become more efficient and effective.  Whether you are implementing a best practice, a new type of technology, or going through a digital transformation, if you want a higher probability of achieving the expected return, the IT staff need to be engaged. 
 
Engaging employees in determining the right process or technology changes isn’t as easy as merely assigning them an action.  To be successful, the same CEB research also shows that leaders need to change how they communicate about the problem, the project, and the end result. 
 
It is time to throw out the PowerPoint slides which encourage one way communication with the team. 
 
The adoption of change requires a two way conversation right from the start.  Rather than telling IT staff about the problem, leaders need to ask IT staff about the problem and how it affects the customer as well as completing their work.  The staff are in the best position to understand the issues and the ramifications as they are actually involved in the work every day.  They are also in the best position to solve the problem.
 
Once the problem is known, the IT staff need to be tasked with solving the problem and implementing the solution.  Leaders may need to set limits relating to budget, schedule, risk, etc. but if the IT staff are charged with determining and implementing the solution, the adoption of the solution amongst the staff will be higher.  The end result will be a stronger return on investment and most likely, a better customer experience.

[i] CEB HR, The Power of Open Source Change Management, May 2016 

If you are involved in implementing DevOps practices or if you are researching DevOps, you know that culture change is critical to success.  Developers and Operations must work together to create high quality deliverables on a frequent basis.  For most organizations, bringing Developers and Operations closer together is a significant cultural shift.  It is the most important aspect of transitioning to DevOps practices.  Without fully addressing the people side of DevOps, you can only make so much progress.

The various DevOps discussions and materials tend to focus on the behavior and subsequent culture change required within the IT organization but what about the business.  If you are going change how IT works and delivers services to the business, there is a business impact.  They are the customer.  They need to be prepared to have discussions about the value of various requirements and deliverables.  These discussions require someone at the table that can make decisions about functionality that delivers value, resources that may be required for user acceptance testing, the business impact of delivery schedules, etc. 

In the last fifteen years, IT leaders often talked about wanting a seat at the table with the business.  They wanted to be involved in strategic decision making and offer advice and counsel on the various initiatives that the business was undertaking.  Many IT leaders struggled with achieving this level of involvement.  Now there is a new opportunity.  In a sense, DevOps creates a brand new table and the business is definitely interested but they need to be involved in the planning as well as the execution so the entire organization can fully recognize the value of changing how the work is delivered.

The culture change required for DevOps involves more than just IT.  It needs to include the rest of the business.  IT provides foundational technology for the entire company and it may create services that are sold to the community. 

​It’s great the Development and Operations are recognizing the value of tearing down the silo between the organizations but to be truly successful, it is time to remove the silo that exists between IT and the business.  Any organization adopting DevOps practices needs to focus on the behavior changes required across the entire organization. 

It’s a new day.  DevOps practices involve more than just IT.  The business needs to adopt a new mindset as well.  Organizational change plans that address IT behavior need to consider the behavior of their business partners as well.  The business needs to take the journey with IT to achieve the expected return.

When adopting DevOps practices, engage the business in the early discussions prior to making changes.  Even if you want some time to test and learn within the IT organization, take the first step in tearing down the wall that exists between IT and the business.  Bring the business into the conversation.  Talk with them about your objectives and ask them about the results they would like to see from this type of initiative.  Partner with them on developing a strategy and path forward. 

Engaging the business in the early conversations relating to DevOps will help to gain their buy in.  The behavior change from the business will evolve as DevOps practices evolve in the organization.  They will have a voice in the adoption of the changes and while IT Development and Operations are adjusting to a new way of working, the business will be planning and adjusting as well.  Inviting the business to the table along with Development and Operations will strengthen the end result and help to tear down the silo’s that have existed for far too long. 
​
To be successful, the adoption of DevOps practices requires a cultural shift from IT and the business.  Take the journey together to achieve a much more valuable outcome.

​In Part 1 of “How can Business Relationship Managers Influence Organizational Change”, we looked at how Business Relationship Managers can serve as a translator for both IT and their business partners by bringing the benefits of IT work to life for both sides.  They can help IT staff and business stakeholders understand the true impact of the work by relating the benefit in a manner that is meaningful.  It is about more than saving money or upgrading a server.  Business Relationship Managers can explain how the work directly impacts the customer or the employee.  They understand the bigger picture but they can drill down to the day to day operational level and explain the benefit which allows all stakeholders to connect with this work at an emotional level and ultimately, improves the adoption of change.
 
Another aspect of driving change adoption is understanding existing performance as well as progress toward improvement.  Business Relationship Managers (BRM) are in a unique position to use metrics to help all of their stakeholders understand the value of the work being proposed or completed through the use of metrics.  The metrics can drive action and improve the adoption of change.
 
The business areas are tracking various productivity and satisfaction metrics.  The work completed relating to technology should enable stronger performance in these areas.  The BRM should be reviewing these measures with their customer on a routine basis.  Work completed by IT is often reflected in these measures.  Using our example from part 1 of this blog series, the work to upgrade an ATM may be reflected in the volume of customers using specific ATM functionality, the volume and type of security issues relating to the ATM, or the number and type of support calls about a particular application used at the branch. 
 
Technology supports the business in doing their job effectively.  Metrics that are monitored by business partners often show the impact of changes to the technology as well as changes to IT process and changes to the IT organizational structure.  Business Relationship Managers are able to use these metrics to show the IT staff how the work they do has a very meaningful impact. 
 
The same metrics can be used to facilitate a conversation with the business about the value IT is bringing to the organization.  While the business will also be making changes to strategies, processes, staffing, procedures, etc., and the BRM needs to understand the work that is underway, changes to the metrics also reflect changes taking place to the technology that is used every day by the business staff.  With minimal effort, the BRM can help the business understand the value proposition for IT by using metrics to show how IT is supporting business outcomes.
 
Using business metrics and correlating them to the work of the information technology team will have a considerable impact on change adoption by helping both IT and their business partners understand how the work being completed is affecting success.  Additional training, communication, application or other technical enhancements, process and procedure changes, and even organizational changes may result from truly understanding the metrics and how the changes completed by the IT team influences the end result.
​

When an organization adopts new technology or processes, there is a change to how people work.  They need to modify their attitudes and behaviors to adopt the changes and this usually results in new procedures, updates to tools, and changing relationships between coworkers or departments.
 
Business Relationship Managers (BRM) understand the needs of the business and they understand how the IT organization works.  BRM’s work directly with business partners to ascertain their current and future needs and they help the IT team navigate meeting these needs.  They have intimate knowledge of both organizations and they are pivotal to keeping these organizations in sync.
 
While some would argue that the BRM should not be spending their time on organizational change management, it is actually a critical part of their role.   IT staff often wonder about the value of the work they perform.  They are asked to do tasks or take on projects but they aren’t provided with a lot of information.  They may be given a copy of a business case but the overall handoff to the IT staff generally does not include the context relating to the true impact of the work they are doing.  The BRM’s are in a perfect position to provide this context.  They understand both the tangible and intangible benefits.  Every communication to the IT staff should talk about the value of IT’s work to the business and relate this information at a level an IT staff member can understand and connect with at an emotional level.
 
For example, the business case for completing an application upgrade at a bank may indicate that the branches will save millions of dollars and that customer satisfaction will be increased.  Generally, this is what IT staff know about the work as it is in the business case.   Why should they care?  The upgrade could result in lots of additional hours of overtime.  In this scenario, the programmer or engineer only sees the negative impact.  They don’t connect to the meaning of the work and therefore, they aren’t incredibly motivated to do the work.
 
The BRM has the opportunity to translate this upgrade into something meaningful for the IT staff.  They know the impacts to the organization’s strategic plan as well as the individual employee at the branch.  They can relate the impacts to a customer experience.  If the programmer or engineer understands that a branch employee will no longer have to contact support about the application when a customer is sitting in front of them or that the upgrade will provide the ability for self service through an ATM rather than requiring a customer to visit a branch, it would make a difference.  It would motivate the IT staff member to improve the experience for both their internal and external customers.  The BRM is in a perfect position to help IT staff understand why the work is occurring and the true impact of their work.  The BRM can tell the story.
 
On the business side, the BRM understands the various departments, organizational structure, and politics of their assigned area.  They are instrumental in setting and managing expectations.  The BRM understands enough about the IT organization and workload that they can effectively translate something technical into something meaningful for their business partner.
 
The BRM also knows their business partners well enough to understand their pain points and what motivates them.  They can influence buy in for upgrades, downtime, process changes, IT restructures, and other changes by applying this information in a useful, meaningful way.  For example, the server upgrade that will restrict application access for a half a day is required if you want the self-service functionality on the ATM.  The ATM downtime this week will allow us to ensure the customer’s information is safe and secure.
 
The BRM can tell the story to both IT and the business about how their work creates something meaningful for the staff and for the customer.  They can link the impact of the work to tangible and intangible benefits that will appeal to leadership as well as the frontlines.  They can have a huge impact on the success and adoption of change.
 
Don’t miss part two of this blog where we’ll talk about how Business Relationship Managers can use metrics to influence change!  Join our mailing list to ensure you don’t miss the next blog!

Advanced Organizational Performance Techniques (AdOPT) is Now an Authorized Partner of GamingWorks for the Delivery of The Phoenix Project Interactive DevOps Learning Experience 
​
-- The Phoenix Project simulation is an experiential learning opportunity that fosters an understanding of DevOps principles and how those principles can be applied in the real world. --

TUCSON, AZ, October 13, 2016/ -- DevOps is becoming more important as businesses look for ways to achieve a competitive advantage. While best practices relating to DevOps are emerging, it is clear that every organization is unique, every implementation will be different, and that the culture of an organization can make or break the success of DevOps.

Advanced Organizational Performance Techniques (AdOPT) focuses on helping Information Technology and business teams to harness the power of change. By fostering an environment which adapts to change quickly, organizations can achieve a higher level of performance. Over the years, AdOPT has focused on helping organizations adopt and excel in achieving their objectives by customizing various best practices, tools, and techniques and providing advisory services and training relating to the acceptance of change as well as identifying targeted actions to influence organizational culture.

The Phoenix Project simulation is a natural addition to AdOPT's portfolio of service offerings. During this interactive, one day simulation, participants experience situations that mirror the real business world. Projects in trouble, system issues, financial pressures, and new priorities plague the team as they race to provide the technology services required to turn the company around. 

The simulation helps to break down the barriers and change resistance that often exists when a new way of working is discussed or initiated. It provides participants with a DevOps experience that becomes a foundational building block for achieving concrete change when they return to the office.

At AdOPT, we are transformation consultants focused on strategy, innovation, process, and culture to increase effectiveness, improve efficiency, and optimize costs.

​We’ve all heard the research.  Roughly 70% of project fail to achieve the intended return.  Approximately 50% of the time this is due to leadership protecting the status quo.  Change is hard.  Even for leaders, it is difficult. 
 
As leaders, we don’t set out to protect “the way we’ve always done it” but we have habits too.  We are used to making decisions using similar criteria or in a certain way.  We also have very busy schedules which sometimes affect our decision making as it relates to change.  We make choices every day and sometimes we have to weigh the time it may take to deal with an issue one way vs another.  We may choose the easier option as we don’t have the time to dedicate to the more difficult path and the results will be similar anyway. 
 
The challenge for leaders is that our staff is looking at our actions.  They are evaluating what they are hearing and they are looking to see if actions are aligning with what is being said.  They are taking their ques from what is being done versus what is being said.  Leaders go through the same change cycle as everybody else.  It can take time to fully comprehend the changes taking place and how you should react.  While you are going through the change cycle, you are sending signals to our staff about the importance of adopting the changes taking place. 
 
Invest in Four Key Areas to Maximize the Opportunity for Success

1. Be authentic and transparent.  Communicate that you are still figuring out what the changes mean for everyone.  You may not have all the answers and the team needs to work together to figure it out. 
2. Form a coalition of sponsors.  You can’t be everywhere at once and when an organization is undergoing significant changes, sometimes you will just need a break.  At the onset of change, engage key leaders to help.  They can facilitate changes in their department and they can participate as part of a broader team that evangelizes the need to change.  When you aren’t in the room, they can take the lead to deliver the message and help to manage resistance. 
3. As the organizational impact of change is recognized, ensure leaders at all levels understand what is changing and why.  Every leader should craft key talking points for their direct reports to ensure there is consistency and understanding among the entire leadership team.
4. Every leader with staff affected by change needs to be visible throughout the change and facilitate an ongoing conversation.  If it sounds like additional work, you are being realistic.  As a leader, you need to be visible and engage the team.  It is more than sending an email or attending a status meeting.  The team is looking to you for guidance and encouragement.  Town halls, lunch and learns, open office hours, random visits to team members, etc should be routine throughout the entire lifecycle of the project. 

 
Yes. It is extra work.  The coalition can help and you can grow the coalition over time.  It won’t replace you being present but it can lessen the load.  Also, consider the organizational consequences of delayed or partial change adoption.  Investing time and energy into being visible and fostering a conversation will pay dividends and you may even achieve a greater return from the change than you expected.
 
Research over the last 15+ years has repeatedly shown that effective leadership is pivotal to the adoption and success of change.  Leaders at every level need to effectively engage and take action.  It is an investment of time and energy but the returns are well worth it.

Organizational agility is the ability for your IT organization to adapt quickly in response to changes in technology or changes in the business.  It requires the IT organization to have a foundation in place that includes the processes and controls that equate to stability but allow for flexibility so that the IT organization can be dynamic, taking advantage of change and potentially, actually thriving on change. 
 
When the IT organization has high agility, it not only supports the business in achieving its’ goals and objectives, IT offers a competitive advantage providing its’ customers with the opportunity to improve the speed to market for new products and services, facilitate a new customer experience, or optimize costs by taking advantage of changes in the technology landscape. 
 
To build agility, IT organizations must take actions to harness the power of change in the organization.  It must help people not only adapt but feel that they can prosper in times of change.  This often requires culture change with the organization.  IT leaders can define a path which embeds agility into the culture.  This requires targeted actions that tie to the very foundation of the organization.  Redefining the vision and strategy process and plan, identifying and changing management behaviors, modifying job descriptions, changing the reward and incentive plan, and redesigning employee development are some basic actions that tie to embedding agility into the culture.  It is an effort that requires focused planning and leadership.

What if you aren’t ready to undertake this type of initiative but you want to improve the agility within your team or division?  What steps can you can take to see some improvement?
 
5 Tips to Improve Organizational Agility 

1. Change the way you frame initiatives when communicating with your team.  Provide context as to why changes are occurring, the business impact, and the team’s role in being successful.  When IT staff understand why something is changing, the business impact, and their role, it helps to reduce fear, reinforces the anticipated outcome, and provides them with context for decision making. 
2. Ask key stakeholders about the results they need in order to strengthen the relationship, understand their perspective, and discuss any misconceptions about what is or will be delivered.
3. Challenge the way you and your team manage setbacks.  Strive to turn setbacks into true learning opportunities with everyone on the team examining their own behaviors and actions to determine how they could have changed the outcome. 
4. Routinely ask what you are your team are doing to help each other as well as how you are hindering individual and team performance.  Asking these questions helps to build a stronger understanding of how you can support each other and it often identifies behaviors that are causing difficulties.
5. Discuss your risk tolerance and decision making authorities. In the areas where you have a higher risk tolerance, consider simplifying decision making processes and approval authorities.  Taking this action will empower individuals and teams and greatly improve the speed of decision making. 

 
Embedding organizational agility into the IT culture takes time and focused effort but given the critical nature of technology and the pace of change in your industry, how can you afford to postpone taking steps to improve the effectiveness and adaptability of the organization?