The Six Sources of Waste in Change Management
CONTEXT
“You used the wrong font and the old corporate template. Please update.”
I had been awaiting the director’s review of the change plan that I had written and this was the feedback that she left in the draft.
I had just signed on as a change management consultant with a new client and was required to use their in-house change management templates which were all large Word documents.
I hadn’t written a big change plan in a Word document for at least a decade, but I decided to go through the process because I was new to the organization. Besides, I wanted to see if I still found big upfront change planning as much of a waste of time as I used to.
Huge waste of time.
Not only did I spend weeks putting it all together, but it was full of guesses and assumptions. I felt like I was writing a fiction story about the change rather than a realistic plan. Worse, the entire time I was engaged in this activity, I wasn’t engaging with stakeholders.
WHAT IT MEANS
In a previous post I shared my view that the definition of value in change management work is anything that creates context for stakeholders – nothing more, nothing less.
Waste is the opposite of value, which is simply something that does not create context for stakeholders.There are many sources of waste in change management.
The six sources of wastes highlighted here a good place to start if you want to remove waste from your process, because they are common. The key is to train yourself to continuously seek out and remove waste from your work.
HOW I HANDLE THIS CHALLENGE
I classify my change work into three categories that provide me with a lens through which I can identify and remove waste:
Value Work: work that creates context (value) for stakeholders through direct interaction.
Ancillary Work: work that supports the value work (i.e. prepping for a workshop) generally occurring in advance of or after the value work.
Waste Work: work that creates no value (context) for stakeholders and in unnecessary for the ancillary work. Waste work can be present during value work, ancillary work, or on its own.
Ancillary work offers the greatest opportunity for removing waste, because change management is bloated with this work. Every unnecessary hour spent doing ancillary work is an hour that we lose to connect with stakeholders.
Let’s explore this further by looking at the six sources of waste through the lens of my work classification.
Waste #1: Overanalyzing
Work Classification: Ancillary
Analysis work is ancillary work, the outcome of which informs the change strategy and plan. We need some level of analysis, but waste is incurred when we try to analyze everything in advance.
There are two things I do to remove waste and increase the value of analysis work. First, I use lightweight, lean, visual analysis tools that become living documents that I update as more information emerges.
The lean tools make the second thing more feasible – I involve stakeholders in the analysis work. By involving stakeholders I extract value from traditionally non-value adding activities, because I am creating context for them through the process.
"By involving stakeholders I extract value from traditionally non-value adding activities, because I am creating context for them through the process."
Waste: Overplanning
Work Classification: Ancillary
Change strategies and plans are ancillary work because they don’t in of themselves create context for stakeholders. We need some level of planning, we just need to think about it and do it differently.
I use my Strategic Change Canvas to create a framework change strategy and then I get it in front of stakeholders immediately to validate my assumptions and get feedback. I can frame up a Strategic Change Canvas in the morning and discuss it with stakeholders that same afternoon.
I repeat this basic process continuously through the life of the initiative, treating the change strategy and plan as living documents that evolve as my knowledge and insight into the change evolves.
Waste: Overselling
Work Classification: Waste
If you ever find yourself looking, feeling, and sounding like the weird wacky inflatable tube man on your local used car lot, you’re selling the change too hard.
You can't “sell” someone on a change that they fundamentally don't align with or understand. This is where the wasted effort emerges.
At some point you need to step back and reassess your approach. Instead of selling, focus on aligning people towards a common cause and purpose for change through continuous meaningful dialogue and co-creation opportunities.
If you simply do this from the start of the change, you won’t be in the unenviable position of showing up like that weird wacky inflatable tube man.
"If you ever find yourself looking, feeling, and sounding like the weird wacky inflatable tube man on your local used car lot, you’re selling the change too hard."
Waste: Pursuing Perfection
Work Classification: Waste
The delta between “good enough” and perfect is often huge and not worth the effort. We spend so much time worrying about sharing something that might not be 100% accurate or polished, that we don’t say or do anything at all.
A better approach is a practice that I call “50% there, now share”.
I generally take work to what I consider to be 50% done and then share it with stakeholders for feedback. This approach moves you to value work quicker.
Waste: Obsessing Over Resistance
Work Classification: Waste
It is not possible to predict all potential resistance in advance. Resistance management planning leads us down all sorts of rabbit holes of trying to guess the resistance and then making up mitigation tactics.
The way I handle form of waste is by applying the mental model that there is no such thing as resistance to change – there is only a response to change.
Not only are resistance management plans wasted effort that takes me away from value work, they create a negative context and lens through which I view and react to stakeholder responses to change.
When I default to a stance of response to change over resistance to change, I can engage with empathy, seek to understand, and build trust and engagement with the stakeholders in the process.
99% of people want to do good work. If you remember that, you’ll assume positive intent and do things differently.
"There is no such thing as resistance to change – there is only a response to change."
Waste: Heavy Tools and Processes
Work Classification: Waste
Because I define value in change management as anything that creates context for stakeholders, the heaviest tools and process I often need are sticky notes, sharpie pens, and a conversation.
Processes and tools are important, especially for ancillary work, but waste is incurred when they are over engineered.
I use lightweight lean change management tools that are easy to complete, easy to understand, and easy to update and change.
For every initiative I create a Minimum Viable Change Process (MVCP) – the leanest change process that I can use for that specific change. My MVCP is always context sensitive, so it can look different from initiative to initiative.
In the next newsletter I will share details of how to create your own MVCP!
Thanks for reading!
