Core Skills for Change Agents

Core Skills for
Change Agents
1 Nov 2012
Southern California Quality Conference
Rick Hefner, PhD
Director, Process Assurance
Northrop Grumman Corporation
rick.hefner@ngc.com

Background
• Many organizations struggle with implementing process
improvement
• A key enabler is the skill of the change agent
• This presentation will examine the core skills and concepts
needed to be an effective change agent
Topics
• Strategizing organizational change
• Planning organizational change
• Overcoming resistance to change
2 © 2012 Northrop Grumman Systems CorporationRick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC

• What are you here to learn?
3
Discussion
© 2012 Northrop Grumman Systems CorporationRick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC

Strategizing
Organizational Change
4

Projects Have Historically Suffered from Mistakes
Reference: Steve McConnell, Rapid Development
People-Related Mistakes
1. Undermined motivation
2. Weak personnel
3. Uncontrolled problem
employees
4. Heroics
5. Adding people to a late
project
6. Noisy, crowded offices
7. Friction between developers
and customers
8. Unrealistic expectations
9. Lack of effective project
sponsorship
10. Lack of stakeholder buy-in
11. Lack of user input
12. Politics placed over
substance
13. Wishful thinking
Process-Related Mistakes
14. Overly optimistic schedules
15. Insufficient Risk
Management
16. Contractor failure
Insufficient
planning
17. Abandonment of planning
under pressure
18. Wasted time during the
fuzzy front end
19. Shortchanged upstream
activities
20. Inadequate design
21. Shortchanged quality
assurance
22. Insufficient management
controls
23. Premature or too frequent
convergence
25. Omitting necessary tasks
from estimates
26. Planning to catch up later
27. Code-like-hell programming
Product-Related Mistakes
28. Requirements gold-plating
29. Feature creep
30. Developer gold-plating
31. Push me, pull me
negotiation
32. Research-oriented
development
Technology-Related Mistakes
33. Silver-bullet syndrome
34. Overestimated savings
from
new tools or methods
35. Switching tools in the
middle
of a project
36. Lack of automated
source-code control
Standish Group survey of
13,000 projects (2003)
• 34% successes
• 15% failures
• 51% overruns

Top Five System Engineering Issues
1. Lack of awareness of the importance, value, timing, accountability, and
organizational structure of SE on programs
2. Adequate, qualified resources are generally not available within
Government and industry for allocation on major programs
3. Insufficient SE tools and environments to effectively execute SE on
programs
4. Requirements definition, development and management is not applied
consistently and effectively
5. Poor initial program formulation
6
“Top Five Systems Engineering Issues In Defense
Industry”, NDIA Systems Engineering Division Task Group
Report, Jan, 2003 © 2012 Northrop Grumman Systems CorporationRick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC

Top Software Engineering Issues
1. The impact of requirements upon software is not consistently quantified
and managed in development or sustainment
2. Fundamental system engineering decisions are made without full
participation of software engineering.
3. Software life-cycle planning and management by acquirers and suppliers is
ineffective.
4. The quantity and quality of software engineering expertise is insufficient to
meet the demands of government and the defense industry.
5. Traditional software verification techniques are costly and ineffective for
dealing with the scale and complexity of modern systems.
6. There is a failure to assure correct, predictable, safe, secure execution of
complex software in distributed environments.
7. Inadequate attention is given to total lifecycle issues for COTS/NDI
impacts on lifecycle cost and risk.
7
“Top Software Engineering Issues In Defense Industry”,
NDIA Systems Engineering Division and Software
Committee, Sep 2006

Many Approaches to Solving the Problem
• Which weaknesses are causing my problems?
• Which strengths may mitigate my problems?
• Which improvement investments offer the best return?
People
Product
Technology
Tools
Management
Structure
Business
Environment
Process
Methods
One solution!

Approaches to Process Improvement
Data-Driven (e.g., Six Sigma, Lean)
• Clarify what your customer wants
(Voice of Customer)
– Critical to Quality (CTQs)
• Determine what your processes
can do (Voice of Process)
– Statistical Process Control
• Identify and prioritize improvement
opportunities
– Causal analysis of data
• Determine where your
customers/competitors are going
(Voice of Business)
– Design for Six Sigma
Model-Driven (e.g., CMMI®)
• Determine industry best practices
in the area of interest
– Benchmarking, models
• Compare your current practices to
those practices
– Appraisal, education
• Identify and prioritize improvement
opportunities
– Implementation
– Institutionalization
• Look for ways to optimize the
processes
9
Rick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC
© 2012 Northrop Grumman
Systems Corporation

• What improvement initiative(s) are you undertaking?
• Data-driven:
What (customer, process, business) data currently exists?
• Process-driven:
Are the best-practice accepted by the change targets?
10
Discussion

Planning
Organizational Change
11

Planning Organizational Change
• Your approach for selecting process improvement projects
should be based on several factors
– Top-down analysis based on your business goals
– Identification of critical business processes
– Viewpoints of internal and external customers
– Direct and indirect ROI
– Maturing over time

Projects Driven by Business Goals
• A vision of what the organization needs to be…
– Customers, needs and wants, products and services
– Benchmarking with competitors
• What are the business goals? How is success
measured?
– Profitability, market share, speed, quality, etc.
– Gaps between “as-is” and “should-be”
• Which processes are critical to meeting these
goals…
– Process maps, swim-lanes
– Value stream mapping
• What problems exist in these processes?
– External/internal customer perspectives
– Unwanted variation

Division
Dashboards
Sector
Dashboard
• Used to Manage
the Core
Business
Processes
• Defined by
Business
Executives
• Owned by
Business
Executives
Enabling
Processes
Financial
Management
Information
Management
Governance
Compliance
Relationship Management
Technology/Product Development
Employee Management
Portfolio Management
Business Development
Program Execution
Core
Processes
Results of Lean Six Sigma Projects seen
in improved business performance
• Productivity
• Profitable Growth
Key Business
Questions
Sub
Processes
Gaps
&
Goals
ROI Gate
….
Subcontractor Management
MissionSystemsBusinessObjectives
Goals – Processes - Measures
• Customer Satisfaction
• Operational Effectiveness

Watch
De-Emphasize
Focus Improvement
Efforts
Protect/Optimize
Low High
ProcessMaturity/Performance
1
2
34
6
7
8
9
10
12
13
14
15
HighLow
11
Criticality to Operations/Function
Performance Gap Analysis
Lean Six Sigma
• Conformance
• Process
Definition/Desig
n
• Lean Tools
• Best Practices
5
Focus on
2, 5 & 9 for
process
improvement
Based on goals,
optimize 3 & 11
and sustain
1, 4, 5 & 14

Different Strategies for Different Practices
16
New practices
Already
performing
Not performing
Aware of Not aware of
Don’t perceive
as valuable
Perceive
as valuable
Strategize
appropriate
approach
Capture
appropriate
evidence
Learn how
the practice
adds value

17
Organizational Change…
Management vs.
• Drafting plans
• Establishing baselines
• Selecting models and
frameworks
• Committing/securing resources
to do work
• Designing solutions
• Monitoring and controlling
progress
Leadership
• Creating a Shared Vision
• Communicating vision and
expectations
• Being honest (not just “happy
talk”)
• Handling resistance and
dysfunction
• Recognizing and rewarding the
right behaviors

18
Problem #1 - Lack of Alignment
Examples:
• Change goals not tied to stated business strategy, current
priorities or CEO focus
• Change Leaders can’t/don’t sufficiently communicate the vision
and its connections
– Per Kotter – “We underestimate the power of vision”
• Folks trying to make the changes carry the weight without any
energy supplements
– Every decision is hard without direction/inspiration
Source: Leading Change, Kotter 1996

19
Communicating to Your Teams
Can you describe the key reasons why we are doing this?
• We have specific plans to grow
– To reduce new hire ramp-up need common
language (steps, roles, deliverables, tools)
• We need proven, repeatable processes
– New programs perform like established programs out of
the gate
– Deliver more value to clients
– Reduce risks & overruns and maximize profits
• We need CMMI Level 3 Rating
– Opens doors to bid on and win new contracts (and
increase revenues)
– Other divisions will bootstrap their own PI efforts with
our processes and process improvement expertise

20
What’s the Vision –
Do you have it?
Marketing will
have a competitive
edge with
certification
CMMI
Level 3
Lower Costs
Less Rework/Waste
More Reuse
Higher Quality
Predictable Results
Our Company
Programs will
Perform better
Outcomes
New Clients
Division Growth
New Faces
New Opportunities
Culture
More Change, Not Less
Change is Good!
Culture
Clear Roles
Confident Staff
Empowered Teams

21
Problem #2 - Siloed Thinking
Examples:
• Allowing personal ambitions to rule
– Unwilling to give up power/control
– Performance narrowly measured & rewarded
• Competing vs. cooperating
• Allowing poor coordination to persist (“weak matrix”)
– Collaboration is frowned upon
– Clearly defining the interfaces is not part of improvement program
• Ignoring interdependencies
– Change has intended and unintended effects

22
Problem #3 – Decision Dysfunction
Examples:
• Who gets to make the decision (in the absences of total
consensus)?
• How much authority do you have?
• What are the boundaries?
• Invisible Infrastructure
• Vague Roles

Management Support
Management must:
• Understand the key messages
• Be willing to take actions to reinforce them
• Provide resources to support/sustain
the improvement efforts
• Set expectations that essential project functions will be funded
and processes will be followed
• Support process improvement and sustainment, rather than
passing appraisals and achieving numeric goals
“Tell me how you will reward me, and I’ll tell how I will behave”

24
Problem #4 – Not Seeing it Through
Examples:
• Lack of (real) short-term wins
• The difference between acceptance and action
• Celebrating too soon
• Withdrawing support after initial push
• Losing interest
• Backsliding is allowed
RH+

25
Problem #5 – Missing Measurement
Examples:
• Not capturing a baseline first
• No accountability for the validation of ROI
• Lack of interim progress measures
– Where are we against vision?
– What level of institutionalization exists?
RH

26
Assessing Change Readiness
For the organization…
• Current Culture
– Change is norm, cross-functional,
aligned goals, reward structure
• Change History
– Number, breadth, depth of
successful past changes
– Failures/lessons learned
For the specific initiative…
• Vision
– Defined, aligned, communicated…
• Plans and Expectations
– Expectations re: time to change
(what is timeline)
– Expectations re: resistance to
change
– Complexity (breadth/depth) of
planned change
• Change Team (by key role)
– Level of personal belief in change,
chg mgt experience,
communication skills, opinion
leadership, openness, team
players…
• Infrastructure
– Long-term personnel support
budgeted, technology/tool support
– Systems exist - Training, Process
Mgt, Reviews, Measures…
RH

• What is your organization’s history with change initiatives?
– How does that impact your success?
• What is your organization’s readiness for change?
– What activities should come first?
27
Discussion

Overcoming
Resistance To Change
28

Background
Leading change can be difficult when:
• The change agent does not have any direct authority over the
people whose behavior needs to change;
• The people have not bought into the change; and
• The people do not see the benefit in changing.
This presentation will provide practical approaches, tools, and
techniques for introducing and sustaining change in your
organization

Approach
• Successful change requires the right combination of strategy,
structure, and support
• Your chances of success depend on your current culture, the
desired end state, the resources available, the past response to
change, and your ability to recognize and address resistance
Topics
• Why people resist change
• Keys to leading the change
• Keys to sustaining the change
30
© 2012 Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

Influence without Authority
• All interpersonal behavior involves exchange
– “Paying” others for what we request; being paid for what we do
– You have influence, insofar as you can give others what they need, in
exchange for what you need
• To have influence, you must:
– See the other person as a potential ally
– Clarify your goals & priorities
– Diagnose your ally’s goals & priorities
– Possess resources to help your ally
– Negotiate the exchange
31

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
32 Rick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC

Possible “Currencies” to Exchange
33
Inspiration
• Vision
• Excellence
• Moral/ethical correctness
Task
• Resources
• Challenge/learning
• Assistance
• Organizational support
• Rapid response
• Information
Position
• Recognition
• Visibility
• Reputation
• Importance
• Contacts
Relationship
• Acceptance
• Understanding
Personal
• Gratitude
• Self-concept
• Comfort

Why Do People Resist Change?
I want to stay where I am because…
…my needs are already met here
…I have invested heavily here
...I am in the middle of something important
I do not want to change because…
…the destination looks worse than where I am now
…there is nothing to attract me forwards
…I do not know which way to move
…the journey there looks painful
...the destination or journey is somehow bad or wrong
…I do not trust those who are asking me to change
I am not going to change because…
…I am able to ignore the change
…I have the power to obstruct the change
34

Why Do People Resist Change?
Perceived Loss of Personal Power
35
Here’s the new
practices you need
to start
implementing.
If these are
essential industry
best practices…
and I haven’t been
performing them….
then I’ve been
wrong….
so they must not be
essential industry
best practices!

Reaction to Change Perceived as Negative:
Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle
36
Immobilization: Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news
Denial: Trying to avoid the change
Anger: Frustration, outpouring of bottled-up emotion
Bargaining: Seeking for a way out
Depression: Final realization of the inevitable
Testing: Seeking realistic solutions
Acceptance: Finally finding the way forward

• Where are your change targets in the adoption curve?
• What actions could you take you further in the adoption path?
37
Discussion

Topics
38

Willingness to Change
• Early adopters are motivated by perceived benefits
• Late adopters are motivated by avoiding pain
39
Source: Geoffrey A. Moore, Crossing the Chasm, 1999, used with permission

SCARF Model
• Status: relative importance to others
• Certainty: ability to predict the future
• Autonomy: sense of control over events
• Relatedness: sense of safety with others
• Fairness: perception of fair exchanges with others
40
http://www.neuroleadership.com, used with permission

Communicate the Key Messages
• The change is driven by proven, industry best-practices
– Adoption is about learning how to apply these practices
to our work
– The practices may feel awkward and have limited value
until we learn them
– It’s OK to make mistakes – we will get better over time
• Improvement involves short-term investment for long-term gain
– Improving is essential to meeting our business goals
• These improvements are an enabler (not a guarantee) of success
– Other aspects (people, technology, customer relationship, etc.) are equally
important
• When the entire organization is improves, everyone’s job becomes
easier
• Continuous improvement is a way of life
41

Address Fear of Failure
• The risk of change may be seen as greater
than the risk of standing still
– Making a change requires a leap of faith
• The perceived loss of personal power
– I’m seen as competent now, but in a new culture…
Effective Strategies
• Clearly describe why the situation favors change
– Business goals, WIIFM
• Make it clear initial mistakes are expected and will be tolerated
– Create forums for asking and answering questions
• Show people how they can be effective in the changed
environment

Encourage and Support
• Practitioners may feel they don’t have time
to learn new ideas
• Practitioners may need role models
– Most change agents don’t need role models,
because they easily imagine new situations
• Ensure adequate resources during the learning curve
• Search out and publicize good examples and successes
– Set up pilot programs that model the change
• Encourage the next step in the change process
• Ensure management takes accountability for action
– Must change short term priorities to achieve long term results

Ensure Accountability
• Adopting and sustaining improvements
is about each practitioner learning and
performing the new behaviors
• The role of management in cultural change
is to hold people accountable for the new
behaviors and conduct
• Change agents can enable management by:
– Helping them have a clear vision of the new culture
– Identifying inappropriate behavior
– Providing tangible, objective measures of adoption/sustainment

• Healthy skeptics may improve an idea
• People may fear hidden agendas
– Late adopters often look for messages
in how resistance is handled
• Set up mechanisms for obtaining feedback
– Some will prompt genuine improvements
– Some will be based more on fear and anger than substance
• Be honest about setbacks and negative impacts
• Management must be willing to enforce change in the face of
objections
– Consensus will almost never be reached
– Communicate that objections and uncertainty does not eliminate the
need for change - "The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on."
45
Help Them Accept Change

Not Everyone Will Feel More Comfortable in a
New Environment
• Skill variety - The degree to which the work
requires you to exercise a variety of skills
• Task identity - The degree to which the
work requires you to complete a whole,
identifiable piece of work
• Task significance - The degree to which
your work affects others and contributes to
social welfare
• Autonomy - The degree to which you have
control over the means and methods you
use to perform your work
• Job feedback - The degree to which
carrying out the work itself provides you
with direct and clear information about how
effective you are.
46
Richard Hackman & Greg Oldham, Work Redesign

• Who stands to lose the most in the change process?
• What can you do to gain their support?
• What can you do to minimize their resistance?
47
Discussion

When Faced with Unexpected Resistance
Stop
• The natural tendency of many people
is to respond immediately, with an
authoritarian or angry response
• This may generate sympathy for the resisters,
galvanize the resistance, and/or make it covert
Look
• Pause, assess the situation, and diffuse the emotion
• What is the person’s emotional state?
Listen
• Is this a misunderstanding or a legitimate concern?
• What does their message say about their underlying beliefs, values,
goals, perceptions, potential, triggers?

Deep vs. Shallow Commitment
Deep characterized by:
• A good understanding of the
logic and other reasons
• Alignment of the commitment
with personal beliefs, values
and motivations
• Strong emotional buy-in
• A personal attachment to the
person doing the persuading
• Little questioning or doubt about
what needs doing
• Timely actions and persistence
in the face of adversity
Shallow characterized by:
• Limited understanding of the
logic of the argument
• Misalignment with one or more
of beliefs, values and
motivations.
• Low emotional buy-in
• Limited trust or liking of the
person doing the persuading.
• Wait-and-see, detached attitude
• Internal justification for limited
actions
49 Rick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC© 2012 Northrop Grumman
Systems Corporation

Encourage and Support
• Practitioners may feel they
don’t have time to learn new ideas
• Practitioners may need role models
– Most change agents don’t need role
models, because they easily imagine
new situations
• Ensure adequate resources during the learning curve
• Search out and publicize good examples and successes
– Set up pilot programs that model the change
• Communicate the key messages
50

Key Messages: An Example
• “The change is driven by proven, industry best-practices”
– Adoption is about learning how to apply these practices
to our work
– The practices may feel awkward and have limited value
until we learn them
– It’s OK to make mistakes – we will get better over time
• “Improvement involves short-term investment for long-term gain”
– Improving is essential to meeting our business goals
• “These improvements are an enabler (not a guarantee) of
success”
– Other aspects (people, technology, customer relationship, etc.) are equally
important
• Continuous improvement is a way of life
51 Rick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC

Ensure Accountability
• Adopting and sustaining improvements
is about each practitioner learning and
performing the new behaviors
• The role of management in cultural change
is to hold people accountable for the new
behaviors and conduct
• Helping management have a clear vision of the new culture
• Identifying inappropriate behavior
• Providing tangible, objective measures of adoption/sustainment
52

Apply the Changes Fairly and Equally
• People may fear hidden agendas
– Late adopters often look for messages
in how resistance is handled
• Set up mechanisms for obtaining feedback
– Some will prompt genuine improvements
– Some will be based more on fear and anger than substance
• Be honest about setbacks and negative impacts
• Management must be willing to enforce change in the face of
objections
– Consensus will almost never be reached
– Communicate that objections and uncertainty does not eliminate the
need for change - "The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on."
53

• What mechanisms have/should you establish to explain the
change?
• What mechanisms have/should you establish to gather
feedback and gauge buy-in?
54
Discussion

Topics
55

Back-Sliding:
A Failure of Institutionalization
Institutionalization implies that the process is ingrained in the way
the work is performed and there is commitment and consistency
to performing the process.
An institutionalized process is more likely to be retained during
times of stress.
Institutionalization: The ingrained way of doing business
that an organization follows routinely as part of its corporate culture.
(CMMI)
56
© 2012 Northrop Grumman
Systems Corporation

Organizational Culture
A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its
problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well
enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as
the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.
• Artifacts
– The practices that can be observed in such areas as dress code,
leadership style, communication processes
• Espoused values
– The elements the organization says it believes in, the factors that it says
influence the practices in which it engages
• Basic underlying assumptions
– Unstated beliefs the organization has come to accept and abide by
57
Organizational Culture & Leadership,
Edgar H Schein, used with permission© 2012 Northrop Grumman Systems CorporationRick Hefner, "Core Skills for Change Agents", 2012 SCQC

Addressing the Underlying Beliefs
• Sponsors and performers must have a strong vision of the
desired culture
– What are my roles and responsibilities?
– What changes in behavior are required?
– What are the underlying beliefs and values?
– How do I benefit ? WIIFM?
58
Culture
Ethics Values Norms
Attitudes Beliefs Priorities
Opinions Behavior Conduct Do & Don’ts
Covert level
Intermediate level
Overt level

Reinforcing Behaviors Through Cultural Support
59
• Policies and enforcement
Commitment
to Perform
Ability
to Perform
• Monitoring (against plans, budgets and
schedules)
• Peer reviews, expert reviews
Directing
Performance
• Audits and appraisals
• Senior management reviews (long-term
alignment with business objectives)
Verifying
Performance
• Training, template, and tools
• Time

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