Creating a Change Management Playbook for Teams

Stop creating strategy that lives in powerpoint. Start making strategy that lives in action. Having a great strategy is only the first step—activating it is where the magic happens. But strategy activation doesn’t just happen on its own. It requires intentional focus, clear priorities, and critical decisions. Here’s a breakdown of the 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 with key decisions for each element: 1. Empathy – Treat Employees Like Customers: 🤝 How can we lower the friction for employees to do the right thing? 🤝 How can we strengthen the connection between roles and strategy? 🤝 What tools and resources will address their needs effectively? 2. Insight – Understand the Real Employee Experience: 🔍 What are the root causes of current behaviors that may block progress? 🔍 What are the barriers to adopting new behaviors? 🔍 What obstacles and counterforces do we need to remove? 3. Service – Think of Strategy as a Service: 🛠️ How do we shape strategy as a tool that empowers teams? 🛠️ How can we foster permissionless action? 🛠️ What mechanisms can we use to help employees make decisions aligned with the strategy? 4. Alignment – Connect Strategy to Behavior: 🎯 What specific behaviors are critical for success? 🎯 How are these new behaviors different from today's behaviors? 🎯 How do we make these behaviors actionable and easy to adopt? 5. Environment – Change the Environment to Drive New Behaviors: 🌍 What environmental factors are reinforcing misaligned behaviors? 🌍 How do we design triggers and feedback loops to encourage desired habits? 6. Clarity – Tailor Your Communication: 🗣️ How do we adapt our messaging to meet employees where they are? 🗣️ What communication methods will make our strategy clear and engaging? 7. Advocacy – Recruit Strategy Ambassadors: 📣 Who are the key influencers we can empower as strategy ambassadors? 📣 What tools and training do ambassadors need to succeed in their role? 8. Iteration – Use Pilots and Replication: 🔄 Where can we run pilots to test and demonstrate the strategy in action? 🔄 How do we refine and replicate successful approaches across the organization? 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲: Strategy activation isn’t just about creating a plan—it’s about enacting intentional choices that empower your people and create momentum. Which element do you think is most important?

Ever heard of the Lippitt-Knoster Model for Managing Complex Change? It's a classic in the change management world, laying out the essential pieces needed to navigate big transformations. Taking a cue from that, I've adapted it to fit the world of digital transformation. There are seven key elements you can't afford to miss: Vision, Strategy, Objectives, Capabilities, Architecture, Roadmap, and Projects & Programs. Skip any one of these, and you're asking for trouble. Here’s why each one matters: • 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: This is the 'what' of your transformation. A clear vision gives everyone a target to aim for, aligning all efforts and keeping the team focused. • 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲: Think of this as the 'why' and 'how.' A solid strategy explains the logic behind your vision, showing how you plan to get there and why it's the best route. It’s designed to guide everyone in the company on how to make decisions that support the vision, aligning all efforts and keeping the team focused. • 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: These are your milestones. Clear, specific objectives make it easy to measure success and ensure everyone knows what's important. Without them, you can easily veer off course and waste resources. • 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬: These are what your company will now be able to do that it wasn't able to before in order to achieve the objectives. These can be organizational capabilities (like improved decision-making), technical capabilities (such as real-time operational visibility), or other types like enhanced customer engagement or streamlined processes. • 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: A robust architecture ensures all your tech works together smoothly, preventing inefficiencies and costly headaches. This includes various types of architecture such as data architecture, IT infrastructure architecture, enterprise architecture, and functional architecture. Effective architecture is central to reducing technical debt and aligning software with broader business transformation goals. • 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩: Your roadmap is the game plan. It lays out the sequence of actions, helping you avoid uncertainty and missteps. It's your guide to getting things done right. • 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 & 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬: These are where the rubber meets the road. Actionable projects and programs turn your strategy into reality, making sure your plans lead to real, tangible outcomes. From my experience, I think '𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬' and '𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩' are the two most overlooked. What do you think? ******************************************* • Follow #JeffWinterInsights to stay current on Industry 4.0 and other cool tech trends • Ring the 🔔 for notifications!

Too often sales managers and VP's 'Set Expectations' but then are SHOCKED when people don't follow through. More often than not it's because they skipped some VERY important steps when it comes to rolling out anything new. So for change management to really occur, any new process, these are the steps you have to follow. 1. Sell vs Tell - Sell WHAT you want done. Tell the story. Tell the impact. Sell the WHAT, not just tell it. 2. Explain the how - Aka WGLL (wiggle aka what good looks like) - Here is what good looks like. 3. Teach and Train - Don't just assume people know how to do it! You have to actually teach it step by step. 4. Get Agreement and Commitment - You need direct agreement back saying 'yes I will do this thing and I feel confident i can do this thing' 5. Do it together - The first few weeks/iterations ideally are done as a group. Get the momentum going, get the questions out of the way, etc. 6. Inspect and Follow Up - Don't let weeks go by and THEN check in. That needs to be done before something is due AND after. Don't wait for the miss. 7. The 4 R's - Recognize (If they did it, recognize them for it!) Reward (same idea, what does it unlock) Repercussion (If they didn't what are the repercussions) Repeat/Repetition (Keep it going. Review, Update, etc) This is change management. So if there are certain things your team is supposed to be doing but arent... Go to these 7 steps. Did you miss something?

Change can be a pain and so can change management. Switching up how teams do their work can be executed well and here's how #revenueoperations can support 👇 Change management drivers: ▶️ Develop early communication to the team ▶️ Where and if possible design a thoughtful set of roles for folks. A RACI may not be a bad approach (who is responsible? accountable? contributes? informed?) ▶️ Preview/demo the changes in sandbox to stakeholders ▶️ Test rigorously and assign test roles to end users ▶️ Collect and let feedback drive any adjustments ▶️ Continue selling the benefit and recruit champions. End users who support your changes are far more effective than ops and enablement selling it ▶️ Be ready to deploy and provide training. Several of them and office hours where needed ▶️ Extend hypercare to the org. When things go live they don't always go smoothly believe it or not. Be ready at the helm to support ▶️ And lastly, document! Plan ahead and start early. Leave buffer time just in case. I've leveraged Tango to document how my teams can do their work across our tech stack. Go forth and operate 👋 More musings on the Substack (link in profile)

Change is inevitable, but success isn’t. Time and time again I've encountered failures trying to implement true change at my own businesses or seen it with the organizations I've collaborated with. It's often too tough to identify what went wrong when the "change" didn't goes as expected... That said, the Lippitt-Knoster Model can really help an organization or team define a clear path to achieving positive change. This model emphasizes five critical components: 🚀 Vision: Define a clear destination for your new path. 🛠️ Skills: Equip your team with the know-how to navigate it. 🎯 Incentives: Motivate your people to stay the course. 🔧 Resources: Provide the tools, time, and systems needed to keep moving forward. 🗺️ Action Plan: Create a detailed roadmap to reach the destination. Miss any of these, and you risk derailing your efforts: 🔍 Lack of vision = Confusion 🧠 Missing skills = Anxiety 💡 Inadequate incentives = Resistance 🔄 Insufficient resources = Frustration 🚫 No action plan = False Starts Concisely put: 1️⃣ Vision: Define how your change will enhance the organization, the well-being of employees and the experience for customers. 2️⃣ Skills: First, don't be afraid to hire folks smarter than you. Then provide the training necessary for employees to master the skills to accomplish what is needed to make the change happen. 3️⃣ Incentives: Take the time to explain how this change aligns with the professional and personal goals of staff. Ensure they feel invested in and have the opportunity to grow. 4️⃣ Resources: Provide the necessary tools, processes, policies and staffing to make the change possible. 5️⃣ Action Plan: Don't just assume everyone else will understand your vision and will just make it happen. Take the time to break the vision down into a digestible action plan for your team; be sure to listen to your team if they suggest tweaking the action plan so that it's best grounded in reality and pragmatism. Change may be inevitable, but with the right approach, success can be too.