Listen here (30 minutes):

Be sure to visit the radio show page to listen to past episodes and subscribe to the show.

The trouble is, leaders often don’t do what is needed to implement change, even if they agree it should happen. You may think, If only they would (fill in the blank), you would be able to make some real progress.

This lack of proper leadership support is the top challenge for most change agents.  It frequently stays that way because change agents get stuck by the following traps.

1.  “It’s not my place.”

Allison was a supervisor who had been given a special assignment to implement the recommendations that resulted from an employee survey.  The biggest roadblock to improvement, she decided, was her boss’s boss, the very person who had commissioned the survey.  Allison’s boss agreed but would not do anything about it.  “What can I do?” Allison asked, “It’s not my place to address the issues with my boss’s boss.”

The organizational hierarchy can seem like an insurmountable hurdle over which to affect change.  When the person whose support you need is outside of one degree of authority, it can seem like political suicide to attempt to do something about it.  From this position of helplessness, it is easy to get stuck hoping he will figure it out on his own.

2.  “That’s just the way they are.”

Dan was a senior manager who worked directly for the CEO.  Dan’s key initiative to improve the company was to develop and solidify accountability to procedures.  The CEO, while supporting the initiative verbally, did not want to abide by procedures himself.  It was the CEO who had embodied the previously lackadaisical culture.  “I can’t do anything about it.  That’s just the way he is,” Dan lamented.

We often assume that the behaviors of others reflect an inner character trait.  This assumption is so common that psychologists call it the fundamental attribution error.  When you consider that someone will not support you because it is part of his DNA, of course you would automatically chalk it up as a lost cause.  You get trapped knowing it is impossible to change someone else.

3.  “He just doesn’t like me.”

John was a project manager who needed key data from the manager of another department.  However, John’s phone calls and e-mails requesting the information were repeatedly ignored.  John asked his boss to request the same information, and it was immediately handed over.  “Maybe she just doesn’t like me,” was John’s reasoning.

This trap is the mirror image of the fundamental attribution error.  Instead of thinking the lack of support is caused by her character, you think the lack of support is your own fault.  Whenever you interpret her behavior as a personal slight – she doesn’t respect you, she doesn’t like you, she doesn’t trust you – it traps you with self-doubt.  Insecurity is a lousy place from which to exert influence as a change agent.

Allison, Dan and John are composites of real change agents who were stuck.  But none of their traps were inherently real.  The traps were assumptions they made about the leaders and the organization.

The first step in getting out of a trap is to recognize that you may be in one.   Separate the facts from your assumptions about them.  From there, you can select a new point of view and step out of the trap, so you can find new ways to get the support you need to implement change.

You can get the support you need to make a difference!

Join me for The Proper Care and Feeding of Leaders webinar series on May 20 & 27.  I’ll be sharing practical ways to get unstuck from these common traps.

The Proper Care and Feeding of Leaders

So They Help You Implement Change

Dates: Thursday, May 20 & 27, 2010

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Cost: $149 (The first 5 tickets are only $99!)

Maximum attendees: 20

For whatever reason, they are not doing what is needed to implement change? Perhaps they say they believe that change should happen, but their actions indicate otherwise.  Maybe they seem to dismiss it altogether.  Or they just do all the wrong things with the best intentions.  Either way, they feel like a giant roadblock in the path to change.  If only they would (fill in the blank), you would be able to make some real progress.

As an internal change agent with less authority, you probably feel powerless to do anything about it. Until now, your main tactics have been dropping hints and wishful thinking.  Maybe you have waited a while for them to get with the program — weeks, months, even years.

You are not alone.  In fact, not having adequate support from key leaders is the top challenge for most change agents I talk to.

It doesn’t have to be that way.  There are ways you can help leaders help you influence change, even from where you sit on the totem pole.  Join me for a 2-part online course that will help you get the leadership support you need for successful change:

The Proper Care and Feeding of Leaders

So They Help You Implement Change

Dates: Thursday, May 20 & 27, 2010

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Cost: $149 (Only 3 more $99 early bird tickets remain!)

Maximum attendees: 20

Course Description

During this 2-part online training session, you will learn:

• Whose support you really need, and who you ignore at your own risk
• What leaders need from you most as a change agent
• How to tell which of five levels of support you have, and which you need
• Six reasons why leaders don’t do what you need them to do, even if they want change to happen
• What you can personally do to gain the support you need to successfully implement change

All attendees will receive:

• Two 90-minute interactive webinar sessions
• Access to the webinar video recordings
• Influence Factors: A checklist of 99 strategies to help people change
• Two article reprints: “Tips for Getting Your Project Approved” and “How to Deal With a Clueless Boss”

• BONUS: You will receive the Beyond Buy-in Workbook, a $34.95 value, when you register to attend.

Who Should Attend

Mid- to senior-level managers and individual contributors who are responsible for implementing change in their organizations won’t want to miss this series. Specifically, this webinar series will help people who need to influence change without having direct authority over people going through the change. Examples of roles that typically require the support of leadership to get things done include (but are not limited to): IT, engineering, human resources, strategic planning, internal communications, process improvement, and project management.

Without real leadership support, your change initiative will have diminished impact. Register today to learn practical ways to help leaders help you implement change.

Tickets are regularly priced at $149. Only 3 more early bird $99 tickets are left.  Register while they last!

Chris shared the story of his career as an internal change agent within Lockheed Martin.  It’s an interesting story interwoven with the path of a long-term initiative to continually build operating excellence in the company through Lean Six Sigma.  He shared a number of tips for how to influence change without authority.

Listen here (30 minutes):

Be sure to visit the radio show page to listen to past episodes and subscribe to the show.

If you want organization change to stick, you need someone with authority to take ownership of the change.

 

When they take ownership, they tend to want to do it their own way, or at least add their personal stamp to it.

Being a change agent ultimately means letting go of what you are trying to implement in order for it to actually happen.  If the new state requires your presence for it to continue, then nothing has really changed.

What might you do to give up control of your change initiative to someone who can carry it forward?

A former boss used to tell new employees, “Take notes about everything you think is messed up now.  In 6 months, you’ll be part of the problem.”  When a new employee first enters a new environment, he sees things as an outsider.  The behaviors and processes that are different or troublesome are more noticeable.  As he starts to modify his own behaviors to fit the culture and learns how to operate within the existing processes, the tension and attention is reduced.  This assimilation is what helps him to be successful as an employee of that organization.

One of the key challenges of being an internal change agent is that the same forces that are acting on everyone else in the organization are also acting on you.  The more you get used to the way things are, the less you can see how it can be different.  As you go about implementing change in this fuzzier-yet-comfortable state, the realm of possibilities – in both problems and solutions – shrinks.

These blind spots happen all the time.  Teams remain ineffective since members have learned to work together without addressing core trust issues.  Elephants stay invisible because employees who point them out are essentially shushed.  Managers continue poor behaviors when people shrug and say, “That’s just Steve.”  Employees, even those who are responsible for making the organization better, learn to turn their attention away from things that seem especially out of their control.

The following are three ways to illuminate assimilation blind spots:

Follow the frustration. Blind spots often appear in stories of banging your head against the wall.  When you feel like you are butting up against something immovable, look to see where you may have taken certain aspects of the organization – processes, people, or culture – for granted.  Follow your frustration to its root and you may find something you have come to believe is “just the way it is.”

Learn and observe. The more you remind yourself of what can be, the more dissonance you will have with the current state within your organization.  Read books, attend training, and network so you can see how other organizations do things.  Observe your organization through the lens of what you learn to increase your awareness.

Find an objective point of view. Things always look different from outside.  Talk to someone who can shine a light on your assumptions and help you see your own blind spots.  Go even further and partner with someone who will help you decide which assumptions to challenge and work with you to figure out how.

When you are an internal change agent, one danger is that you don’t know what you used to know. Proper action in support of your change initiative is dependent on your search for possible problems and solutions.  Keep your eye out for blind spots that have been created over time by the cultural forces exerted on you by the organization.

The Ten Essential Tools include personal influence and structural influence methods, plus a focused foundation that every change agent needs to start with.  If your change initiative is stalled, use the Ten Tools as a checklist to see what areas might be in need of a boost.

Listen here (30 minutes):

Be sure to visit the new radio show page to find other ways you can tune in to the show.

If you prefer to read a small synopsis of the list, see the previous post Ten Essential Tools for Change Agents.  However, you will miss out on a special offer that is presented at the end of the show!

At the heart of the decision to stay or quit is a question.  Is the organization really stuck, or have you just not tried the thing(s) that will work to make it unstuck?

In my experience, an organization is only truly stuck if someone with authority wants it to be stuck.  I don’t mean that the senior leaders say they want change but unconsciously sabotage the effort. When that happens there is still an opportunity to hold up a mirror to show them what is going on.  No, the organization is only stuck if the CEO (or equivalent) says to you, “We are ending this initiative.”  In every other case there is something else you haven’t tried yet.

Consider this:  when you are banging your head against the wall, the proverbial wall may not be the immovable organization.  The wall might be your own internal barrier that is keeping you from trying the thing that will work.  Whether it’s one of many available fears, or conflicting priorities, or imaginary or real inadequacies, an internal barrier may stop you from even considering something that might otherwise be an obvious step forward.  If such an internal barrier exists, quitting now in the hopes that another organization will be easier to change will most likely end at the beginning of a similar cycle of frustration.

So go.  Go until someone tells you to stop.  Otherwise you’re stopping yourself.

What is the wall you’re banging your head against?

If you don’t know what is stuck or don’t know how to get unstuck, contact me to learn how we might figure it out together.

1.  Change Knowledge

Change agents are the people in their organizations who understand how change works – or at least how it is supposed to work.  Your own change knowledge helps you know what to expect and understand what is really happening.  When the initiative is stuck in a rut, your knowledge helps you generate ideas for what to do next.

2.  Clarity

A lot is said about the importance of a clear vision.  In addition to making sure leadership has a vision and that it is clear, change agents also assess current reality and identify the barriers that stand in the way of achieving the vision.

3.  Your Role

When used correctly, your role as change agent can be a powerful tool.  As trusted advisor, you help leaders fill in the gaps to ensure that change happens.  It is necessary to strike a balance of ownership of the initiative and to manage relationships.

4.  Power

People who have power are able to take action, make decisions that affect other people, model behavior and open minds.  Since change agents don’t have direct authority, they need to build up indirect authority to influence others.

5.  Leadership Support

Also, since you don’t have direct authority as a change agent, you need to gain a partner who does have it.  When you have leadership support, you need to make sure it manifests as behaviors and activities that drive the change forward.  If you don’t have support, you will eventually need to get it.

6.  Conversations

The one-on-one conversations you have as a change agent will help get beyond fear and develop mutual understanding.  Conversations are a means of providing feedback and preserving relationships.  The most important conversations are the ones you don’t really want to have.

7.  Meetings

Most meetings are seen as drudgery, or necessary evils; however, when effective they can be a key means of moving a change initiative forward.  Whether you are meeting with a project team, a leadership team, or a work group or a steering committee, your job as the change agent is to make sure people are collaborating for results.

8.  Accountability

Without having direct authority, you will most likely not hold people accountable yourself.  As a change agent, your responsibility is to make sure a system of accountability is in place.

9.  Incentives

Although incentives can be tricky because they frequently have unintended consequences, effective change agents find ways to motivate desired behaviors or results.  The best motivation techniques are not external rewards but psychology-based nudges in the right direction.

10.  Communication

Some say the first law of change is communicate, communicate, communicate.  To be more specific, the key activity for change agents is to get the appropriate message to the right person and to have them do something about it.

Whether you are executing strategy, implementing technology, designing process improvements, or transforming culture, your role as change agent is fraught with challenges.  Use these ten tools to help navigate them successfully.

For a more in-depth look at the 10 Essential Tools, check out:

• The 10 Essential Tools webinar
• The INflux Change Agent Network

While people who are in leadership positions are not the same as the people who are change agents, change agents themselves must demonstrate leadership qualities to be effective.  In that sense, change agents are leaders.

Because trust is essential for change agents, the same standards of integrity and credibility apply.

To gain buy-in, change agents consistently communicate the vision and purpose of the initiative.

Change agents frequently gain their own tribe of followers who also believe in the vision and want to be involved.

Savvy change agents may even be leading the leaders!

The tagline for Enclaria is “Equipping individuals to lead organizational change.”  I frequently add “from the middle” in conversations, because my focus is building up the capability of change agents to influence their organizations.  To that end, I believe it is important to distinguish between the leadership position in a change initiative, and the leadership characteristics that change agents must have to increase their power and influence.

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• Traits and skills of effective change agents