Change Initiative Roadmap

In any organization, in any department implementing change is going to be difficult. People like routines and like to do what they are familiar with. Change brings about so many unknowns for people it can be extremely difficult and stressful for them to adapt to a new change. When looking to implement change there are two ways that it can be looked at, either a top-down or bottom- up approaches. These are named like this because of how the change is being developed and implemented. Top-down is exactly like it sounds, change is coming from the top-down in the organization. The executives within that business are developing and implementing a change. There are a few steps that Rothwell lays out that need to happen when developing the plan or “roadmap” for change in a top-down or bottom-up approach.

  

Top- Down Change Roadmap

·        Determine why change is needed, or what the root cause of the change is.

·        Clarify the measurable goals to achieve in the change effort.

·        Clarify the roles and accountabilities of key stakeholders in the change effort.

·        Establish a clear, step-by-step implementation plan for the change effort to achieve the measurable goals and thereby address the root cause.

·        Implement the change effort.

·        Monitor the change as it is implemented

·        Evaluate results against the measurable goals established in step 2.

Bottom-Up Change Roadmap

·        Ask people what they believe their problems are.

·        Distill down what people said about their problems and/or dreams and feed it back to them.

·        Get general agreement among people on what they believe their problems and/or dreams are.

·        Ask people what they believe they can do to solve their problems (or realize their dreams) and feed it back to them.

·        Distill down what people said about their solutions and/or dreams and feed it back to them.

·        Gain general agreement among people on what solutions they believe they should use to solve their problems.

·        Ask people what action plans and metrics can be used to implement their solutions.

·        Distill down what people said about their action plans and metrics to implement their solutions.

·        Gain general agreement among people on their action plans and metrics.

·        Clarify the roles and accountabilities of key stakeholders in the change effort.

·        Implement the change effort as people generally agreed on it.

·        Monitor the change as it is implemented, feeding back progress during implementation to key stakeholders/supporters.

·        Encourage stakeholders to evaluate results against the measurable change goals established in Step 9.

When developing a change effort there are always going to be unforeseen events. No matter how much planning goes into the development and implementation there is a possibility for some hiccups. Because of this it is extremely important for organizations to be on top of the change effort and making sure it aligns with not only the organization, but the people within it. There needs to be full commitment from all individuals influenced by the change or there is a potential for the change to be unsuccessful.  Although there is a lot of room for errors, there is still a lot of room for growth with change initiatives. Changes need to be made to better the organization and a successful change will do exactly that.

Rothwell, W. J. (2013). Performance consulting: applying performance improvement in human resource development. San Francisco: Wiley.