Change Perspectives with PROSCI's Chief Innovation Officer Tim Creasey

“We can't necessarily control change because organizations are living systems. But we can certainly more effectively manage the journey and impact and ramifications of the changes in our organization,” explains Tim Creasey, Chief Innovation Officer at Prosci, an international leader in change management. Today, he discusses new perspectives in the world of change management and what is needed for leaders to drive successful, authentic change within organizations.

Change is both continuous and inevitable, so it is critical that leaders understand how to successfully guide their employees through the process. It is all well and good to make changes to the technical side of your organization, but without getting your people on board, successful change will be much more challenging to achieve. Prosci uses their ADKAR model to navigate constructive resistance to change at the individual level. This model refers to the awareness of the need for change, an individual’s own desire for the change, the knowledge required for successful implementation, and the ability to actually implement the change. If one of those pieces is missing, that will cause resistance within the change process.

When employees understand the purpose for the change and how it will benefit them on an individual level, they are more likely to embrace the journey. Clearly define for your employees what is that the change is meant to accomplish and how it will impact each of them on an individual level. By managing each step of the process and being up front with your team, it will be much easier to navigate change as it occurs.

• “We can't necessarily control change, because organizations are living systems. But we can certainly more effectively manage the journey and impact and ramifications of the changes in our organization.” (6:37-6:50 | Tim)
• “If we don't define the change in terms of the impact it means to the people, we can never hope to help manage and support people through that change journey.” (16:28-16:36 | Tim)
• “If we want to set ourselves up for success, we need to define what it is we're setting out to achieve.” (20:59-21:03 | Tim)
• “Change is continuous, but change success is accessible with and through our people.” (31:43-31:49 | Tim)