Levels of Change Involvement: Top 4 to Consider

Levels of Change Involvement to Consider
Change management consulting experts know that there are different levels of change involvement to consider depending upon stakeholder needs and the urgency, scope, complexity, and impact of the desired changes.  Not all changes are of equal importance, and not all stakeholders require the same level of involvement to share their reactions, concerns, and ideas.  One thing is clear however, change leaders know that the more commitment you need to succeed, the higher the level of change involvement to consider.

4 Levels of Change Involvement to Consider
Based upon change management training best practices and in escalating order of involvement and commitment, the four overarching levels of change involvement to consider are:

• Level 1 — Change Awareness
  Change awareness refers to those affected by change being conscious of the fact that a change is occurring. Change awareness is often discussed as the first step of change.  If key stakeholders have low levels of influence and commitment to the desired changes, then change awareness is typically enough.

  If your objective is to create simple awareness that a change is happening, company-wide emails, newsletters, memos, and presentations may suffice.

  Is everyone adequately aware that change is happening?

• Level 2 — Change Understanding
  Understanding why change is occurring is much different than simply being aware that change is happening. Understanding requires fully sharing change information and honestly answering change questions about the:

  — Urgency for change
  — Business case for change
  — Vision for change
  — Risk of keeping the status quo
  — Requests being made of each person and team
  — Specific next steps to make it happen

  Change leaders know that change understating matters — in Prosci’s latest benchmarking study, a lack of upfront change understanding was identified as the number one reason for employee resistance to change.

  If your objective is to create change understanding, you need to do more than one-way company-wide change communications. Consider creating ongoing communication processes to deal with rumors and answer questions in addition to holding focused meetings with leaders, managers, and teams to openly discuss the reasons for change.

  Do those most affected by change grasp the full context and meaning of the desired changes?

• Level 3 — Change Favorable
  We know from project postmortem data that seeing the desired changes as favorable is different than just being aware of or understanding why the changes are necessary. Being favorable to change means that the changes are viewed as something positive or advantageous that are likely to lead to a worthwhile outcome.  It is important that those affected by change see the vision for change as creating improved and positive circumstances when compared to the status quo.

  If your objective is to create change favorability, you need to clearly identify and communicate the benefits of shifting from the current state to the desired state at the individual, team, and company-wide levels.

  Have you done all it takes to increase people’s favorability rating of your desired changes?

• Level 3 — Change Commitment
  Fully committing to change is different than just having a favorable perception of change. When people commit to change, they personally dedicate themselves to actively supporting it and making it happen. We know from change management simulation data that most complex organizational changes require the full commitment of those affected by change.

  To increase change commitment, you must actively involve stakeholders in the change process from the very beginning by having them initially help you answer three buckets of questions:

  (1) Impetus for Change: What triggered the need for change?   What are the consequences if we don’t change? What are the benefits changing?  Why is it important to address now?  What has stopped us from changing before now?

  (2) Change Solution: What specifically will be changing? (e.g., Strategies, Systems, Processes, Technologies, Business Practices, Success Metrics, Structures, Team Norms, Behaviors, etc.)

  (3) Stakeholders: Who will this affect directly?  Indirectly?  What do they care most about?  Why?  Why might the changes be desirable (or undesirable) for them?

  Have you done enough to gain enough change commitment from those who matter most?

The Bottom Line
The level of change involvement to consider is related to the level of commitment you need for your change initiative to succeed.  The higher the level of required team alignment and commitment, the more you must invest in ways to improve people’s motivation and capability to change.  Getting people to be aware of, understand, become involved with, and commit to change is the key task of leaders today.

To learn more about the levels of change involvement to consider, download 5 Science-Backed Lenses of Successful Change Leadership