Just under two years ago, I became a Certified Change Practitioner through Prosci, the “world’s most popular change management certification.” Used by 80% of Fortune 100 companies, their framework – ADKAR – can design and implement individual and organizational change programs.
Tim, their Chief Innovation Officer, is one of the most passionate people about OCM I’ve ever met. He loves getting the weeds and getting wonky about change. This podcast interview is no different and is probably best aimed at OCM professionals already doing the work.
That said, there were two concepts he raised that I think are widely applicable. First, he acknowledged that the shift to data-driven decisions is a step in the right direction, but that data without context – and data that doesn’t line up with what we see – is useless.
For example, your data could show that employee engagement is way up, but based on what you and your colleagues are observing, that doesn’t seem to be true. That can be a confusing place to be in. You’re not sure if you’re tripping or the data is wrong. The lack of alignment between what you feel and what’s reported impacts your buy-in to the change program.
The second point that stuck with me was making sure everyone’s working toward the same goal. He said something like, “empowerment without alignment is anarchy.” It had a slightly softer tone, but you get the idea. It’s so frustrating for a team to work hard, only to find out they’re working in different directions.
This was a solid podcast episode. If you’re into change and you’ve got 30 minutes, I think it’s work a listen.
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