Assess Your Readiness for Organizational Change

 

Summary: Readiness for change is a function of both commitment to change and capability to change. If your people are not willing or able to change, the efforts to implement change will fall short of expectations. This “tip” offers a 28-item Change Readiness Assessment that addresses four categories: (1) Conviction; (2) Will; (3) Individual skill; and (4) Enablers. It also provides an Overall Readiness Factor. Try it and learn more about your readiness for change!

 

My first boss, George Low, was President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a world-class engineering and science university. Among his other impressive credentials, George served as director of the Apollo 11 moon flight.

Prior to that flight, he wrote to President John F. Kennedy, saying we could put a man on the moon…and he did it! To recognize his contribution and his leadership, NASA’s quality award was named in his honor.

As a young professor, I participated on numerous projects and teams with George…and it was a ball!

As an example, during one morning meeting, George asked, “What do you think about putting a new computer center in the church?”

RPI had a beautiful old seminary chapel on its property, built in 1933 with flying buttresses and stained glass windows.

In those days (many many years ago!), we input data into the computer using large stacks of punched cards that were fed through a card reader. There was plenty of BM&C (bitch, moan and complain) about the computer system, to which George responded, “Don’t you think God would help us out more if we put the computer center in His house?”

We were all dumbfounded. What a crazy idea! Yet George was a visionary, a master of change and possessed two attributes that are, indeed, essential in leadership – Will and Conviction. By example, George taught us that change takes both the head and the heart: an emotional commitment to change as well as the technical capability to change.

Today, organizations must continually transform themselves to compete. As a result, the pace of change has exponentially increased and competitive pressures from around the world continue to emerge, virtually overnight.

The first step in this transformation? Assessing your organization’s readiness for change. This readiness is a function of both commitment to change and capability to change. If your people are not willing or able to change, the efforts to implement change initiatives, regardless of their technical merit, will fall short of expectations.

The Components of Change Readiness:

The Commitment to Change. The two essential components in the commitment to change are conviction and will. Conviction is the intellectual understanding of the need for change. Will is the emotional response to this need.

The Ability to change. Ability involves two essential elements — individual skill and enablers. Individual skill is a measure of an employee’s ability to operate in a new environment – and if they have the necessary skill sets and training to make for a successful transition. Enablers are the human systems and technology facilitating operations in the new environment. Each must be in place – and assessed — to understand how much employee education and technology will be needed to achieve the proposed changes.

What is your company’s readiness for change?

Anytime it is determined change is needed, it’s important to evaluate your organization’s commitment and capability for change. This step is necessary, not only in terms of those impacted by the change initiative but also for those leading the change, as well.

To help your organization take this initial step, we have developed a 28-item Change Readiness Assessment that addresses the four categories of (1) Conviction; (2) Will; (3) Individual skill; and (4) Enablers. It will also provide you with an Overall Readiness Factor.

If you are involved in or facing a significant change project, you may want to take this free Change Readiness Assessment.

Once you’ve assessed your organization’s readiness for change, let me know how I can support you and your organization in this move to the next level.

By the way, the Voorhees Computing Center that George Low envisioned for RPI became one of the world’s finest graphic computer laboratories and still stands today. At its completion, it was touted in The New York Times and scientists from around the world came to observe operations in the facility George called "the most unique computing center in the world."