| | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | **Table of Contents** ===================== [[_TOC_]] **Making change stick diagnostic tool** --------------------------------------- ### **Purpose ** Often times, change initiatives are successful only during the time that everyone is focused on them. Then once the formal effort ends and the change is declared "complete!" all of the hard work seems to evaporate. The new innovative behavior disappears. Whatever the reason, if the behavioral and procedural changes do not become a part of everyday life, the change initiative will not stick. And for a change to really become part of your new culture, close attention is needed. This diagnostic tool will provide you with a better understanding of how well change is sticking within your organization, and how strong (or fragile) your culture really is. ### **Description ** The types of questions included in the Making change Stick Diagnostic are: 1. **Statements about how your organization and its people operate/behave.** The word "organization" is meant to depict the whole company, not just a particular work unit. Questions regarding specific work units will be indicated as such. 2. **Open-ended description questions.** At the end of the survey, there are a few questions that allow employees to provide suggestions on how your organization can improve change initiative and/or the strategies in place to drive that transformation. 3. **Demographic questions.** ### **How to use ** * Distribute the following Survey Sheets to a cross-section of the organization to gather a broad-based view. * Ask the individuals being surveyed to answer the questions according to their own experiences and knowledge of the organization. * As indicated on the directions that accompany the Survey Sheets, individuals will assign a rating of 1 - 6 to each question, with 1 indicating "strong disagree" and 6 indicating "strongly agree." * Tally the results after the sheets have been returned to you. The farther the results are from the maximum score indicated on the sheets, the bigger the problem. * Suggestions on how to make change stick within your organization can be found following the Survey Sheets. * The Diagnostic should be confidential so those taking the questionnaire can be as open and honest as possible. ### **Instructions** Begin by filling out the information below. * Please read each statement and indicate the extent to which it describes the norm in your organization as a whole. Your responses should reflect what you have experienced, as well as what you have generally observed in your organization. * The questions can be answered using a 6-point scale where the far right of the scale indicates that you strongly disagree and the far left of the scale indicates that you strongly agree. Please respond by checking the box that corresponds most closely to your situation. * If you do not know the answer, please choose the "Do Not Know" box. * Please take the time to respond to the open-ended questions at the end of the survey. Your responses are crucial in improving the change initiative. * Be honest in your responses. There are no right or wrong answers. Your answers will be totally confidential. | Making Change Stick | Strongly Agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly Disagree | Do Not Know | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Our organization… | | | | | | | | Would say that new behaviors and norms will stay, even if key leaders involved in the effort were to leave. | | | | | | | | Agrees that leadership spends a lot of time promoting new attitudes and behaviors. | | | | | | | | Feels that leadership takes the time to explain why the way we did things in the past is no longer suited to our future goals. | | | | | | | | Believes that new practices resulting from the change effort are superior to old norms. | | | | | | | | Agrees that people who behave/perform in ways that support our new vision are promoted. | | | | | | | | Believes that leadership succession is carefully planned. Executives with "yesterday's" mentality will not assume key leadership positions. | | | | | | | | Sees that new, forward-thinking leaders have been hired. | | | | | | | | Agrees that the organization is careful in who they hire. New people will not be brought on board if they exhibit traits of a culture that we are trying to move away from. | | | | | | | | Sees leadership exhibiting new behaviors. | | | | | | | | Sees management/supervisors exhibiting new behaviors. | | | | | | | | Sees their peers exhibiting new behaviors. | | | | | | | | Agrees that we are consistently rewarded for behavior that suits the new way of doing things. | | | | | | | | Consistently reinforces the vision. | | | | | | | | Has formed a new culture that values adaptation to change. | | | | | | | | Sees new behavior becoming a part of the norm. | | | | | | | | Sub-Totals | | | | | | | _To get your total:_ _Add vertical columns to get sub-totals. Then add together the sub-totals to get your grand total._ _Grand Totals: 15= serious problems… 90= no problems. Any score below a 60 indicates a need for improvement._ ### **Open Ended Feedback** What additional things can be done to make the change initiative stick? Do you feel that the company really supports the change effort? What kinds of new behaviors do you see leaders and employees exhibiting on a daily basis? ### **Demographics ** | **Level in the organization:** | * Executive/Gen Mgr * Mid-Management * Professional * Technical | * Office/Clerical * Production/Maintenance * Other (Specify) | | --- | --- | --- | | **Function:** | * Administration * Customer Service * Finance * Human Resources * IT Systems * e-Business * e-Commerce | * Manufacturing * Marketing * Operations * Research & Engineering * Sales * Other (Specify) | | **Length of Service:** | * Less than 1 year * 1-5 years * 6-10 years | * 11-20 years * 21 years or more | ### **Suggestions for Improvement** Building roots for your new changes is vital to making change stick. This may be the hardest step in the change process because it means breaking away from tradition after the change has been implemented. If you scored low in this area, it means you have stopped the change effort one step too soon. Creating a culture to make change stick is essentially creating a new tradition, and we all know that this can be a difficult process. If change does not become a part of the culture, it is fragile and will easily break apart. ### **Creating a culture to make change stick** * _Differentiate between change in behavior and change in culture._ We often act as if we believe that any change in a group's behavior means a change in their culture. Don't confuse culture with an influential boss, a compensation system, or even a group habit. Culture is rooted deeper than rational thought, so when an individual or group goes astray, your peers nudge you back to the norm. A change in a group's behavior only becomes part of the new culture when the behavior becomes a norm—without constant attention and reinforcement from a boss, or a performance measurement-reward system to keep it in place. The odds are low that the change will stick. * _Hire the right people who will enhance the new culture instead of steering it back to the old culture._ Succession is very important, especially when replacing a member of the guiding coalition. Make sure the successor understands the importance of the change, the value of the change, and behaves appropriately. Also, keep in mind that promotions are also important in setting the norms and establishing the new culture. This is due to the power and visibility of the positions. In a situation where there is rapid growth, it is important to hire the right people who will mesh well with the new culture. Be aware that hiring many new people in a short period of time requires a lot of awareness in getting the new employees acculturated. It could either help you build a new culture quickly (since the new employees don't know what the old culture was), or create huge problems because they didn't go through the initial change effort and don't understand the value of the vision and the norms. * _Be patient and persistent. First, realize that culture cannot be changed over night._ Changing a culture requires establishing a new set of values and norms. Breaking old habits and embracing new values are difficult, especially if your organization dates back a few decades or more. In order for culture to change, you must be patient in your expectations of how long it will take for your changes to take root. However, persistence is the key. Often, people feel satisfied with the change effort and do not build the roots to make the change stick. Their efforts will be wasted after some time when people revert back to their old habits. Make sure all the key change leaders self-consciously know what is the winning behavior, the actions that need to be sustained. Reiterate the vision and the norms that will sustain that vision. Sooner or later, it will sink in and the old ways will be replaced by the new culture. **Attachments:**