Accompanying Implementation PDF

8 ACCOMPANYING IMPLEMENTATION Planning to change is only the beginning. The real work is implementing...

8 ACCOMPANYING IMPLEMENTATION Planning to change is only the beginning. The real work is implementing the change. This is when actual change takes place. We need to pay much, much closer attention to this stage of change, even if it appears less exciting and creative. This is the nitty gritty reality of change – where inspiration gives way to perspiration. Going down the mountain may be harder on the knees than climbing! THE PROCESS OF CHANGE 3 Inspiring change 4 2 Planning for implementation Understanding the client system 5 Accompanying 1 implementation Engaging THE the client CONSULTANT Once the plan is complete, many consultants feel they have finished. They can invoice and walk off into the sunset (or to the next consultancy contract). It may well be that they have fully played their part. It may be time for others to carry on the process. Leaders and internal change agents take centre-stage during implementation. But the CSO client will often benefit from a consultant’s support in embedding the change. This often takes the form of mentoring support to key staff and also monitoring the process from outside. If they have played their role well, the organisation will have been left empowered to change, not dependent on their continued presence, so this chapter also explores how to exit gracefully. 100 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 101 WALKING ALONGSIDE MENTORING Consultants can make a valuable contribution during this INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS critical implementation stage. But we need the commitment to continue to walk alongside the client in these more If organisations are to change, people inside the organisations need to mundane moments. They have to be prepared to go the extra change. Sometimes they may need individual support to make those mile. Personally, I find this challenging. I know that once the changes. Some may need training to develop new skills and competencies. excitement of the turning point has passed, my passion wanes. Others may need counselling to help them adjust psychologically (moving I have to discipline myself to keep going to see the assignment through the transition curve we mentioned in the last chapter). People through. I have to remind myself that implementing change need to feel listened to and understood. As the Philip Stanhope, Earl of is what matters. I have to be faithful to the organisation Chesterfield, said: ‘Many a man would rather you heard their story than and overcome the temptation to disappear off into another granted their request’ (Bridges, 1995:24). Others may need coaching to assignment once the planning stage is over. I therefore try help them reach their potential in their changed role. Leaders are often in to build in this follow-through time into the initial contract. particular need of support in implementing change. And not just individual Yet, even without remuneration, a good consultant should be leaders – this may include management teams and even key board members. prepared to go beyond the formal contract and invest unpaid Leading change processes is an essential skill for any leader, senior time (provided this does not encourage dependence). management team or change task force. But few have been trained to manage change, though this may be a core part of their role. Having a coach, mentor or peer to come alongside and ask them the right questions about the change process will help them manage the process better. TYPICAL COACHING QUESTIONS If we think of ‘a’ as the current situation and ‘b’ as the ideal situation: What would ‘b’ (the ideal situation) look like? Why do we need to change ‘a’ (the current situation)? What might you do in the short term, medium term, long term to make ‘b’ happen? What are the main obstacles in moving from ‘a’ to ‘b’? How will you know when ‘b’ is reached? Furthermore, implementing change often involves changing the culture of an After planning for change, starting some implementation needs organisation. Leaders are uniquely placed to do this. According to Edgar Schein to happen soon. If we do not act quickly, organisational inertia (2004), they have a major influence on the culture through six primary levers: sets in. But because change is a journey, not an event, people 1. What leaders pay attention to, measure and control take time to develop new ways of working and alter ways of relating and behaving. Change does not embed itself overnight. 2. Leader reactions to critical incidents and organisational crises Accompanying change requires different roles for consultants. 3. Observed criteria for resource allocation They may need to: 4. Deliberate role modelling, teaching and coaching 1. Mentor individuals and teams to adapt to the change 5. Observed criteria for allocation of rewards and status 2. Monitor progress to maintain commitment 6. O  bserved criteria for recruitment, selection, promotion, retirement and They may also need to ensure that they: excommunication 3. Exit gracefully Consultants who coach may need to help leaders become more aware of these 4. Evaluate proportionately tools at their disposal. They can also discuss what culture messages they are already sending out and what they might need to do differently in the future. Providing support in these areas requires a different set of consultant competencies. Leading change is an incredibly difficult process. It can be isolating. Leaders often have few safe places where they can offload their concerns or seek advice about the way forward. It might be that coaches/mentors provide a place of sanctuary. They create and hold a space for leaders to withdraw from the pressure of daily work and life and reflect on what is going on. 102 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 103 It is especially difficult when the best way forward is not certain. Machiavelli warned almost 500 years ago: MONITORING IMPLEMENTATION ‘There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more People often need outside help to break bad habits, even if they desire to uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. change. Monitoring the implementation of change is a great way for consultants Because the innovator has for enemies all those that have done well under the old to do this. Ideally, we should build this into the terms of reference from the start. conditions and lukewarm defenders who may do well under the new.’ (The Prince 1532 reprinted 1995) How are things going? This basic question is central to embedding any change. We should ask it regularly of different groups and in different ways. This In addition, leaders are frequently the ones who have to change the most in monitoring will be much easier if the plan developed has named people with order to implement organisational change. The extent to which an organisation is responsibility for doing things by a certain date. If done well, this monitoring can able to change may be strongly linked with the extent to which individual leaders maintain energy and build commitment to the process as people realise they are able to change (as we read about in ‘Engaging the client’). This personal are moving forward. People want to join in with something that is heading in the change is extremely challenging, which is why it often best takes place through right direction. It is important then to monitor what has changed already and one-to-one conversations. Leaders need people who will ask them the right celebrate those successes along the way. It is also important to highlight what questions and not be afraid to point out issues that need addressing. Leadership has not yet shifted and what difficulties are being encountered, and then to coaching and mentoring is so often a critical aspect of any implementation adapt and work out the next step. process. Some key questions to use in monitoring include: Questions are more powerful than answers in provoking change. Change comes from within, when we realise ourselves we need to do things differently. Are our current priorities still valid? Consultants need to have a series of good questions to hand, to avoid the What is going well in key areas of change? temptation to give advice. Some of the useful questions I often select from How do the facts compare with our workplan? include the following:7 Did our workplan work according to plan? What are some of the blockages? USEFUL MENTORING QUESTIONS Do we need to make adjustments? What has surprised us? Why did you become a leader? What made you accept this responsibility? What do the results (or their absence!) say about our strategies? Why should anyone be led by you? What sort of leader do you intend to be? In brief: are we on the right track? What do you want to be known for? What legacy would you like to leave? If I asked members of your staff ‘which gods you follow’, what would they respond? What are we learning? What are you teaching through your leadership? What would your daughter/granddaughter learn about you by following you around It can help to show this visually: the office all day? How and what are you communicating to your followers? S NTH 2 MO Where do you experience conflict? How are you managing conflicts? What is important here? What is really at stake? To whom and how are you accountable? How do you ensure their effectiveness? What do you pay attention to, measure, affirm, reward? What do you fear? Where are you most vulnerable? Where do you spend your time? What does stewardship look like? Consultants can play a key role in continually monitoring the change process. When did you last change as a leader? They provide an accountability mechanism as well as peer pressure to fulfil Tell me about a recent risk you have taken. What happened and what did you learn? commitments. Unless change activities are an explicit part of the work schedule, Where do you get your energy? Who gives you energy? What gives you hope? they are likely to be lost amid the tyranny of other more ‘urgent’ work. In What have you learnt from failure? addition, because the consultant is outside traditional power structures, they may be able to get a better quality of response from people being more honest What do you need to learn next? and open with them. Some suggest, for example, having a ‘transition monitoring Whom are you preparing to take your place? How? team’ from as wide a cross-section of the organisation as possible to meet When will it be time to leave? regularly to take the pulse of the organisation in transition. You can use a variety of methods to find out how things are going including: focus group discussions, workshops, observation, question-and-answer sessions, staff surveys, staff representatives, comment boxes and confidential hotlines. 104 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 105 EXITING GRACEFULLY EVALUATING PRAGMATICALLY The acid test of whether our consultancy has been effective is whether Meaningful consultancy has to provoke positive change. After a consultancy and how we are able to disengage. Lippitt and Lippitt argue that ‘a ends, it is important for consultants to have a good idea about whether the professional responsibility and goal of most consultants is to become assignment was worth their effort or whether it had been a waste of time. progressively unnecessary’ (Lippitt and Lippitt, 1987). There is a myriad of different evaluation techniques, but any consultancy evaluation should be relatively simple and easy. Otherwise, it probably Exit may take place at different times throughout the consultancy process. will not be done. In exceptional cases, the consultant may choose to exit before they start, when it becomes clear that the fit between the consultant, the task and For many consultants repeat business is a useful proxy-indicator of impact. the client is not good enough. At other times, they may disengage after If the client is satisfied with our work and has come back for more, this is an giving feedback at the end of the ‘Gaining understanding’ stage – though indication that they see it as value for money. But it is important to hear from this runs the risk of the client never reaching the summit of deciding to the client about the past work. change themselves, let alone implementing any change. It may be simply At the most basic level, there is a simple evaluation form for the client to fill that the contract has ended. in. Increasingly consultants ask clients to complete an online feedback form. Whenever we choose to exit, it is worth asking: ‘Am I avoiding anything In some firms, this request comes from the consultant’s supervisor, so the by terminating at this point?’ It could be self-interest, rather than client- feedback becomes part of the supervision agenda and annual review process. interest, that is encouraging our exit. We may want to leave a client Sometimes it may be better to fill this in through a verbal conversation. because we have another more interesting assignment on offer or we may This is like an exit interview at the end of the assignment. This can be done want to leave something that is not going well. Are these good enough immediately after any intervention ends. reasons to leave? But because change takes time to take root, it may be more meaningful and But if a consultancy has gone well, trust has developed, the relationship informative to go back to the client some six to 12 months later and find out has deepened and we are walking alongside in a helpful way, it may how things have progressed. This could be by Skype/phone or by visiting or be hard to know when to leave. There is often more we can do: new more formally by running a review workshop with staff. initiatives, new requests. It has become comfortable for both the client Some use After Action Reviews – a set of simple four questions: and us. There is a danger that the client has become dependent on us. We may have inadvertently assumed an informal leadership role in the CSO. What was supposed to happen? Furthermore, the longer we work with the client, the more we may lose What actually happened? our critical distance, our external perspective, our sharp edge. We have Why were there any differences? become part of the furniture and perhaps even part of the problem. What can we learn from that? Finishing a consultancy can be a bittersweet experience for a consultant. In some cases, we have worked with people intensively at some very INTRAC uses a two-step approach in our consultancy job evaluation forms: momentous and meaningful moments of their work lives. Strong personal friendships may have developed. There is a personal cost to leaving and an INTRAC FEEDBACK QUESTIONS element of grief. Phase 1: At the end of the job On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the results of the consultancy? On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the way INTRAC managed the consultancy? What, in your opinion, went well in this consultancy? What, in your opinion, did not go so well? What, in your opinion, could have been done better? Phase 2: Six-month follow-up What change has occurred since the job was completed? How did INTRAC’s work contribute to that change? What interest is there in building on this relationship? However, more than simply assessing value for money, evaluation can and should contribute to consultant learning. In the next chapter, we will see how making time to reflect systematically on and document personal learning after every assignment can be one of the greatest assets for a consultant’s self-development. 106 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 107 KEY LESSONS CONSULTANT Implementing change is the final stage of the change model. It is where the real work of change takes place. However, it may be the most challenging CHECKLIST OF QUESTIONS part of change – tired as we are, having climbed up and down the summit and now reaching ‘the end’. It may be especially tiring for the CSO to realise that change never ends and the next stage of change is just beginning. How is my role in this consultancy shifting? What is it now? Where is it going? Consultants may have a vital role to accompany the CSO in this final phase. Who is making it happen internally? Who needs help and encouragement? It is tempting for both the consultant to leave at this point and focus on the next exciting contract, and for the CSO to think, ‘We have done the hard part, How can I support key individuals and teams to implement change? the rest we can do ourselves.’ However, unless change is well-implemented, all the previous work may prove worthless. What are the milestones for change that the client can see? Consultants can play an important role in mentoring individuals and teams. Do I have a role in monitoring the change and holding the client to account? Leadership and those managing the change process require support. Implementing change is likely to be harder than was previously thought. What is an appropriate way to measure the success of this consultancy? Many people may need to change, including the leadership. They often need help for this to happen. Am I prepared to go the extra mile here? By monitoring progress, a consultant can play an important role in When is the right time to leave? maintaining the CSO’s commitment to its own change. Regular visits or Skype meetings and simply asking questions – ‘How are things going? What do we need to do differently now?’ – keep up a healthy pressure for implementing change. Providing such follow-up support also gives the consultant the opportunity to assess whether all the time, effort and money invested in the consultancy and resulting change process has been worth it. Some form of evaluation is vital. A good consultant is only involved temporarily with a client. They need to leave the client stronger on their own two feet and not dependent on outside support. A good consultant is able to discern, with the client, when it is the right time to leave (and not simply to have this dictated by the terms of a contract signed some months or even years earlier). 108 Consulting for Change: Strengthening Civil Society 109