THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PEOPLE SIDE OF CHANGE
We all know that the people side of change is very important when it comes to implementation and execution. And yet most change initiatives fall short on buy-in and commitment from the employees …
Making sense of things is key
The thing about sensemaking is that we all like things to make sense. When it does, it makes us feel good – and often we become very attracted to these things (or people for that matter). Put in another way, when new activities, initiatives or strategies make sense to us we get highly motivated and committed to carry them out.
And vice versa, we try to avoid things (and people) that don’t make sense to us – because it makes us uncomfortable mentally and physically.
This makes sensemaking (or ‘sensegiving’) highly relevant to implementation of change.
It’s actually quite simple. When we do things that make sense to us we are happy. For this reason sensemaking also should be considered when working with job satisfaction.
When organizations implement a new strategy – or a new initiative (e.g. a new IT system, new procedures, new roles or assignments, etc.) more often than not it does not make sense to people.
You might have been a key player in the implementation process. And you might have scratched your head and had a hard time understanding why they do not understand. Why can’t they see what we can see? Why are their goals and opinions on what to do so different from ours? Why don’t we get the buy-in?
Well, remember that the vast majority of people in your organization have not been involved in the process. And strategy development is by large a sensemaking process – for the people who are involved. You might also remember that people in your organization are different – from you. They have different backgrounds, experiences, education, etc. The have different mindsets and think differently. At the same time they will look at challenges from different perspectives than you. Their jobs are different. They have different tasks, experience different touch points and social interfaces. They relate to different stakeholders, face different challenges and different types of pressure. They will have different interests. Different things will be joyful and annoying to them.
For these reasons they will come to different conclusions about which goals to pursue, what will be the right strategy to get there, and so on. In addition to this, because they are different, the very same thing will have different meanings for you and for them. And they will sometimes react differently to all sorts of things than you. They will unavoidably come to misinterpret your messages and your intentions.
No wonder why different things will make sense to them! This is pretty hard to deal with. It’s pretty hard to change. Question is, do you want to do something about it?
Understanding sensemaking is highly relevant if you are in charge of implementation of new strategy, new solutions, new procedures, new systems and tools, or new responsibilities, roles and assignments.
Especially when you’re in a situation where nobody really seems to care.
Understanding sensemaking gives you choice.
It’s not that leaders deny that implementation is important but often the people side of change is ignored – at least until it comes to implementation. And that’s a big mistake.
In our opinion, the way people in (and outside) the organization will react to a new change initiative should be analyzed beforehand. In fact, the people side of change should be considered already early in the strategy development phase. Strategy development and implementation must not be divided into two.
You have probably heard this before … but at Supersensemaker we have developed a new analytical framework – the SMOT (SenseMaking Operational Tool). With the SMOT you will be able to make an early assessment whether the new change initiative will make sense to people. You will be able to identify why or why not. A lot of different reasons will apply. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to people because they profoundly disagree with the objectives (you need to find out why). Sometimes people disagree with the starting point or the way forward and the things to be done. Sometimes it might (just) be rooted in lack of the right knowledge or the right skills – Or because the timing is off. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense because people have misunderstood something. Sometimes it has been presented in a stupid way
It is important to know this stuff! Understanding the why and the why not gives you choice. It will give you a much better grasp of what activities should be initiated during the implementation process, how the process should be designed and who should be involved.
