When does change become Change?

Heraclitus said: “The only constant in the universe is change.”

When I finished the first draft of this article, I struggled with why I had written it. Dealing with change is, to me, a normal thing. Why write about it? Then I thought back to my last several contracts and realized that while it is normal for many people, we forget in the heat of the moment. Big change doesn’t always kick in the door and start shouting. Sometimes it sneaks in quietly. In those cases, we don’t notice what is going on until it is too late. That is what this article is about, reminding us to be vigilant and always asking questions.

Most changes are too small for anyone to even notice. Sometimes changes are bigger. Then the change becomes a Change.

With that said, a Change might not be a large event, but the impact definitely is significantly larger. In personal lives the bigger changes are easy to see. Birth, graduation, marriage and death are examples of Changes. Losing a job may or may a change or a Change.

In business, doing a software release probably is a change; replacing one system to another is usually a Change. The difference between change and Change depends on various factors. It depends on each individual impacted; on how they interact; on how the change impacts the organization. And it even depends on how everyone reacts to the change.

The difference between change and Change are affected by factors unseen (the economy, company politics, foreign affairs, etc.) and factors not thought about (weather, family issues, job market, etc.). Despite the “it depends” answer, there are some guidelines for differentiating change versus Change.

One guideline is looking at the impact. There are two aspects to the impact.

1) Who is affected by the change,

2) How much are they affected?

Two examples:

- Rolling out a new release of software to fix bugs is a change. It is a change that could impact the entire organization but will have little effect on individuals (Who?). Most people won’t even notice it.

- Rolling out a new version of software, with new look and feel, with familiar icons and functions and features shown in new or different ways is definitely a Change. This will also impact a majority of the organization, but it might have a larger affect. If not properly rolled out (i.e. with e-learnings for the “new” programs), people will spend too much time doing “normal” things. This slows down productivity, degrades morale, and drives unwelcome behaviors.

Other guidelines to look at are the work processes or scope of the change.

1) Are people being asked to do things differently?

2) How differently?

By asking the right questions, a little change might end up becoming a Change.

If the new procedure is too similar but still different, it can be a source of mistakes until people adjust. This leads to discomfort in the staff, a key indicator that you are dealing with Change instead of change.

Ask questions like: What does a Change look like? Do you have new procedures that don’t follow the old ways or do similar things in totally different ways? How much discomfort might be generated? How strong is the resistance to the proposal? How is it impacting morale?

Once you have answered these questions and determined that you are dealing with a Change, you need to address it. There are a few steps to be taken to move Change to change. The first and most important step is communication. Everyone impacted by the Change has to be informed. They should be asked about their input to the Change. While their input might not be included, even asking helps remove some of the discomfort. The communication must go on during the entire Change. It has to be decided how and how often the people impacted are informed. Documentation and testing are very important as well. Giving staff the new steps to follow and let them try before rolling out the Change, will be helpful since it helps create proponents for the change. Provide the appropriate level of training to supplement the documentation.

Other ways are to identify that a change becomes a Change are when the impact to the staff and customers becomes disruptive; when the discomfort level of the organization rises above the acceptable; and when productivity plummets for no visible reason. These are some of the ways you can tell that a Change is coming.

I have mentioned discomfort and disruption, but where do they come from and what do they look like? There have been numerous papers on human behavior, but here are a few of the reasons. Some people are resistant. Some people don’t like change. Some people don’t understand what the change means. Others might not think it applies to them, even when it does. The behaviors manifest as ignoring requests around the change, pushing back on the change or even performing tasks incorrectly to show the change won’t work.

Ask the right questions and answer them honestly! Ignoring the fact that change happens does not make it go away. Projects can be implemented on time and on budget and still be failures if the change to the organization is not taken into account. The impact will be felt by you, your staff and your customers and is easily preventable.

There are no set rules for knowing if something is going to be a change or a Change. Knowing who is impacted and how much they are impacted is a good start. Communicating to these people can help you measure their discomfort level. Communicating, testing and including staff in the effort will help mitigate negative impacts.