Knowledge and awareness. At this point we want to begin to signal our intentions to change, and to create sensitivity to, and a sense of urgency for, the need to change. Whether we are changing individuals, groups or entire organisational systems, awareness of the need to change is a necessary first step. At this point, we begin to move from knowledge and awareness of the external organisational environment and our internal strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, to a more local kind of knowledge and awareness. The people who will be responsible for, and affected by, the changes, must be told why these decisions have been made. These decisions must be linked to strategic, as well as business and more local issues, and eventually translated into operational plans and activities.
Facilitating structures. In order to enable change to take place, you must provide new skills, new structures and sufficient resources to motivate people to behave in new ways. There are so many factors reinforcing the status quo, that enabling processes must be well defined, well funded and well supported. There are a host of issues to consider at this point having to do with planning, roles, analyses and structures.
Persuasion, decision, commitment. Now, the persuasion process begins as we sell the idea and cost justify it. When this is complete, and is added to adequate facilitating structures, and adequate knowledge and awareness, we approach decision and commitment.
Roll-Out. The changes are then rolled out over time (i.e., implemented), systems are slowly converted, and people make thousands of incremental adjustments.
Confirmation. Finally, the changes are fine tuned, confirmed (or rejected), and then slowly embedded with local systems. At this point, the micro implementation process blurs into the more macro innovation process, as we enter a cycle of never-ending implementation, evaluation, modification and evolution.
If changes are handled in this manner, the process is respectful of both the needs of the organisation, to make the changes necessary to ensure continued success in terms of performance and returns to investors, and the needs of individuals, to have some degree of control over their work-lives.