Key Points
We largely ‘manage’ change through six types of practices: According to a recent review of change management research, change agents influence people’s responses to organizational change using six practice groups: Communication, Support, Involvement, Reinforcement, Social Influence, and Pressure, with the latter being less effective and generally advised against.
Each change practice has strengths and drawbacks: Like any tool, you need to learn how and when to use these practices in order to optimize their effectiveness.
Developing a tailored strategy using a mix of these practices is best: A successful change strategy involves a careful mix of these practices versus taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Such a strategy is developed by first engaging with stakeholders to identify what is supporting and challenging them, and then selecting the most appropriate practices to address these factors.
Navigating organizational change can be quite a challenge. Employees often face uncertainties, unclear demands, and stress during these transitions. To successfully guide your team through these changes, it's crucial to have effective strategies in place. In this blog, I aim to demystify change management, by providing an overview of five research-backed techniques that you can use to enable change. We'll discuss these different practices, their possible downsides, and how they can be tailored to address commons obstacles that hinder people from supporting organizational changes.
What are the Six Types of Change Management Practices?
Change management practices, sometimes referred to as changed manage interventions by researchers, are deliberate activities undertaken by change agents or leaders to facilitate organizational change. They are essential the tools we use to influence employees' responses to change and encourage the adoption of new practices, programs, policies, or systems.
In 2023, a team of researchers reviewed 119 studies of change management to identify specific techniques that “manage change.” They categorized the practices into six buckets. Five of these are useful in many situations — communication, support, involvement, reinforcement, social influence. However, one — pressure or coercion — is often not as effective as we may think, and likely best to be avoided in most change situations.
What are the Pros and Cons of Different Change Management Practices?
A hammer is great if you are working with a nail, but not a screw. But if you don’t know how to use the hammer, you may find it’s not good for much of anything. The same holds true for change management practices. We need to understand what they are best suited to do and how to use them effectively for them to be truly useful.
To that end, I summarize what different change practices entail, where they might work well, and what to watch out for, informed by the findings this 2023 review.
Communication: Exchanging information about the change to build shared understanding.
Purpose: To inform and persuade employees about the change.
Actions: Providing timely and accurate one-way information, framing messages compellingly, and engaging dialog with impacted stakeholders. .
Best for: Addressing gaps in understanding or misinformation.
Be mindful: Research offers a mixed view on the most effective timing, amount, and degree of transparency in communications needed to achieve positive results from change communications. To navigate your way, consider getting feedback on communications for those they are meant to serve — and adjusting accordingly.
Support: Providing assistance, resources, and encouragement to facilitate adoption of change.
Purpose: To equip employees with the necessary resources and skills for change.
Actions: Offering training programs, coaching, and organizational support like resources, time and managerial help and assistance (lending a hand).
Best for: Bridging ability gaps and building competence or providing resources to overcome obstacles that are hindering participation in the change.
Be mindful: Support comes in many forms. Dial in your efforts to meet the specific needs of the groups and individuals you are working with. One-size-fits-all is likely not the best strategy.
Involvement: Engaging stakeholders in change decisions and the change process.
Purpose: To engage employees actively in the change process.
Actions: Including employees in decision-making (co-deciding), seeking their input (consulting), and collaborative problem-solving (co-creating).
Best for: Enhancing buy-in and addressing motivational gaps.
Be mindful: Research tends to focus on positive outcomes of involvement — of which there are many. However, there is some evidence to suggest that tailoring involvement to focus on tactical aspects of change (vs. strategic) and avoiding giving “veto power” to a broad group, may lead to greater acceptance and efficient achievement of change goals.
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Reinforcement: Clarifying and incentivizing alignment with change-related objectives.
Purpose: To motivate employees towards change-related behaviors.
Actions: Setting change-related goals and providing rewards for meeting them.
Best for: Motivating employees and reinforcing desired behaviors.
Be mindful: Rewards can come in forms beyond money or prizes — tapping into internal motivators such as values, sense of purpose, and belonging, can also work well. In addition, while we are often encouraged to set specific goals, for large-scale changes that require collaboration from many different actors across the organization, challenging and directional goals may create more space for people to see themselves as important contributors to the cause.
Social Influence: Leveraging personal power of key stakeholders to influence attitudes about a change.
Purpose: To leverage social dynamics in facilitating change.
Actions: Using role models, credible experts, promoting peer exchange, championing behaviors, leveraging existing networks.
Best for: Creating a social environment supportive of change.
Be mindful: Influence can be positive or negative. Ensure leaders are walking-the-talk, by modeling behaviors that align with the desired outcomes of the change. Check-in with stakeholder groups to gauge sentiments and actively address gossip before it gains momentum.
This final group is likely best to AVOID. While many leaders may feel this is their most expedient tool, it is unlikely to create the type of enduring support that is required for organizational change to take hold.
Pressure: Using coercive tactics to encourage alignment with change objectives.
Purpose: To enforce change compliance.
Actions: Employing managerial demands, directives, threats, or frequent checks or reminders.
Best for: Crisis situations requiring immediate compliance.
Be mindful: Research on influence indicates that this tactic does not often work and can reduce commitment to change. Think twice prior to using.
To get the most from your efforts, develop an intentional strategy using a mix of practices
If you are wondering how you can apply these practices to create an effective overall change strategy, you are on the right track!
First, avoid taking a one-size-fits all approach, or using just one practice, or aiming to use them all. Rather, figure out what’s driving people’s responses to the change so that you can emphasize interventions suited to address those issues. You can use a framework such as — ability, motivation, and opportunity change framework—to help you pinpoint where people have a high degree of readiness and where they have gaps, so you can invest your efforts where they are most needed.
For example, if people are excited about the change, but concerned they don’t have skills or background required to be successful, training is appropriate. What about those who have relevant skills and are supportive of the change but are overwhelmed with other priorities. For them, more training is not going to make much of a difference. What they may most need is organizational support in the way of additional resources, reprioritization or manager encouragement. Still others may have the necessary skills and time to invest but are not sold on the benefits. In such cases, it can be worthwhile to emphasize involvement, social influence and reinforcement.
References
Hagl, C., Kanitz, R., Gonzalez, K., & Hoegl, M. (2024). Change management interventions: Taking stock and moving forward. Human Resource Management Review, 34(1), 101000.
Photo Credit: Ketut Subiyanto