#87 Rehumanising the workplace : people in times of change with Tim Creasey

"Crisis can be the catalyst but not the reason for sustained change ... "

Tim and I explore the nature of change, the link with innovation and the effect of COVID on the workplace. We particularly explore the people side of change and delve into what happens when we look at the re-humanisation of the workplace. What skills are needed ? What place will technology have ? and how will we constantly adjust to continuous change.

Ai brings its own disruption to change management and the speed of change, at 3 different levels of disruption: to jobs, organisations, and industry.

Change success is accessible with and through people, and the future of change management will see more emphasis on the human side of change (most important asset) and intentionally integrating change management and an understanding of the human dimension of change into the strategy and culture of an organisation.

Tim shares his research, insights and experience from working with change and innovation for several decades.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       The post-COVID era is about the people side of change, with an infusion of humanity into organisations and a re-recognition of the value of each person: the human side is the biggest identified gap between successful and unsuccessful change projects.

-       The aftermath of COVID is impacting organisations, where change is happening, bringing new capabilities, new expectations and new skillsets, which have to be incorporated.

-       According to statistician George E P Box, ‘all models are wrong, but some are useful’ - change management models are continually evolving based on research and there must be curiosity about what moving parts fit together.

-       Leadership is about creating the conditions for change to succeed on both the release level and the initiative level: ADKAR describes the technical side and change management looks at the people side in the pursuit of sustainable change.

-       The future of change management will see more emphasis on the human side of change (most important asset) and integrating change management into the strategy and culture of an organisation.

-       Prosci’s ‘we over me’ is a mindset shift and impact value to manage the human reaction to change - learning is change and change is learning, an extension of the growth mindset, creating learning paths and orientating towards skills/capabilities beyond job descriptions.   

-       Crisis can be the catalyst but not the reason for sustained change - regression occurs as a natural human tendency and there must be true intention to keep innovations in place.

-       Intentionality is required from the top otherwise implementation becomes problematic in practice as sponsors are going through change themselves; a symbiotic relationship is required:

 Sponsor

Have : Influence, authority, resources, long-term view

Don’t have : Time, pulse of people (operational eyes and ears), expertise re human systems

Catalyst

Have : Focus on people, expertise and experience in human systems, tools/methodologies for people

Don’t have : Resources, authority, organisational influence

-       Business as usual and innovation are two (operating) systems involving the same individuals helping an organisation be what they want to be; they should be in alignment with each other to converge with a shared (future) purpose. 

-       The future brings three relationships: between AI and change; AI and change management; and AI and practitioner; and three layers of disruption: to jobs, organisations, and industry.

-       Prosci has an AI tiger team to capitalise on the advantages (better starting points, quicker sense making, bigger sample sizes); generative AI provides ‘moments that matter’ which can be incorporated into work.

-       The re-humanisation of the workplace means that soft skills like collaboration and conversation become more crucial - change is hard and continuous but change success is accessible with and through people.

-       Imperative to start by asking: Why? Why now? What if we don’t? Why this instead of that? in order to create that first spark for people to learn a new skill, embrace a new mindset, or engage in a new technology.

Find out more about Tim and his work here :

www.prosci.com – webinars, tutorials, blogs,

Prosci YouTube channel: @ProsciChangeManagement

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timcreasey/

Sponsor / catalyst symbiotic 2x2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8j9nGv-UAg

Role of Sponsor: https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/primary-sponsors-role-and-importance  

Future of Work: New capabilities, new expectations, new conditions:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/organizational-landscape-future-workplaces-conditions-tim-creasey/  

• Aligning change management to pace and cadence of ADKAR:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tUp6kM-ug
• AI, change, and change management: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/point-view-ai-change-management-tim-creasey/
• Plain language question approach to change management:https://www.prosci.com/blog/using-plain-language-questions-to-enable-more-effective-change