Case for change

From HMCwiki

Unless there is a compelling case for change, stakeholders will be reluctant to put their hearts into it while enduring a needed change. Without this case for action, your change effort will lose focus, lose momentum and be outrun by the resistance of the past. If it is not “in their bones” the workforce will lose heart. It’s the battery that keeps the light shining on why you are forcing disruptive change. It is not a one-time event but a “Remember the Alamo” cry that rallies the troops against seemingly impossible odds and should:

Provide focus for those enduring change.
Reinforce why the old way is not good enough.
Provide a cultural bond during the change

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How to develop a case for change

Generally it is a leadership facilitated team that realizes the need for change is eminent. However, it can also be done individually by leadership. Regardless, this is a useful procedure for developing the case for change.

On the flip chart paper, write the word “Broken”
Using Post-it Brainstorming (write one thought per post-it) write down the major aspects indicate the culture, organization or processes must change.
Put a 5-minute time limit to get all of them out. Be specific.
- Include what needs to change: trouble within the culture, forces outside the organization, the work life of the staff.
- Include why it needs to change now: lost opportunity, waste in manpower, cost etc.
- Who is affected by this need for change.
Cluster the post-its into natural themes and place a header over each theme.
On another flip chart sheet, write the word “Opportunity”. Repeat steps 1 through 5.
One a third flip chart sheet, “Case for Change” begin crafting by contrasting the elements and themes of “Broken” and “Opportunity”.
It should be Compelling, Concise, and Convincing; where the typical worker would say, yes it is broken. It must be forceful enough to make your staff take a sober look at reality and say we have got to change or we will all lose. Big time.
Don’t be surprised if it takes several iterations. Don’t get hung up trying to include all the material from the post-its. They were just starter fluid for the few paragraphs to emerge.
Finally: validate the Case for change with a few trusted staff. Ask them if they agree with it, does it cause them to be a part of changing the way things are.

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Example

Below is a case for change that was developed by a group of referral specialist. It rallied the culture around a change by:

conducting an internal benchmarking of best practices in speaking and servicing patients among all their staff
collectively determined which elements should be followed by all (super specialist)
built it into the procedures/expectations
developed the tools needed to achieve this super performance
built it into the expectations and performance evaluations.

This group of referral specialists found that there were increasing demands on their department to provide the most efficient, top quality, high service work around. They often went home feeling stretched from the work that was left undone, or that was incomplete because of the lack of time. Each of them may have been doing their best, but that didn't always get the job done. They had to work smarter or they would always be playing catch-up with the amount of work coming their way.

They needed to get to a point where they collectively shared and adopted the best traits among all of them so they could corporately be there best. They wanted their expectations to be clear, appraisals to be fair and their workload evenly shared. And determined that they could not achieve this using the existing method of work.

In short, they had to make themselves as secure as possible through instilling the best traits in all involved regardless of what changes came their way. They felt they deserved to be able to achieve this quality of work life, and that their patients truly need this level of performance.