Change is inevitable. Readiness isn’t.

What does it take for an organisation to truly say: “We are ready”?

Organisations often recognise the need for change. The harder question is how to build collective readiness to make it happen.

Readiness for change is a shared state – a combination of:

we WANT to make the change happen = change commitment
+
we believe we CAN = change efficacy [1]

This is the definition by Johan Roos and Viktor O. Nilsson, following scientific research about organizational change readiness [2].

Conditions for shared readiness

Johan Roos and Viktor O. Nilsson define a model, consisting of five related drivers.

[1] “Situational motivation” concerns people’s motivation to participate in the change, including its personal importance.

[2] “Psychological safety”, in Amy Edmondson’s terms, means a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, such as speaking up, asking for help or admitting mistakes without fear of humiliation or punishment [3].

[3] “Team cohesion” concerns unity around a shared task and goal.

These three elements – well known and recognised in any field of organisational development - serve as entry points to the core of what makes readiness for change real.

In the centre of the model is the interplay between “Engagement” and “Knowledge creation”:

[4] “Engagement” in practical terms means active participation in shaping the change - to the extent the circumstances define this possibility. It may be about what and/or how the change is shaped or implemented.

Along the process of practical engagement, [5]“Knowledge creation” involves combining expertise, developing new insights and building shared understanding [2,4].

How to recognise if we really have “Engagement” and “Knowledge creation” in the team and the organisation? Clear behavioural signs are:

• High level of concentration,
• Genuine interest,
• And enjoyment in the activities, related to making the change happen

How to make it happen?!

The research by Johan Roos and Viktor O. Nilsson shows that “the magic” is in the different process, and ways of working along the change implementation which needs to be highly inclusive.

What are these ways of working?

A strong candidate is Real Time Change – Readiness® application of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, developed by Johan S. Roos and Micael Buckle, CEO of IntHRface. It delivers exceptional results, integrating all 5 elements of the “Readiness for Change” model, related to real-life changes organisations face.

What this looks like in practice

In Smart Minds’ Future of Work session, Tzvetelina Teneva used Johan Roos and Viktor O. Nilsson’s study to connect readiness with inclusive process and different ways of working, while crediting Johan S. Roos and Micael Buckle for Real Time Change® - Readiness as presented in the session [2][4]. For leaders and facilitators, this raises a practical question: where can people influence the work, and how will their contributions be used?

For a team about to launch a change, a useful starting question is not whether people agree with the plan. It is how to create the “Want” (change commitment) and “Can” (change efficacy) in their teams to have their readiness for change.

Behind Real Time Change® – Readiness:

• Johan S. Roos – Senior Advisor at the Peter Drucker Society Europe, co-initiator of The Next Management initiative, co-inventor of LEGO® Serious Play®
• IntHRface — international LEGO® Serious Play® consultancy company, involved in the development of the method from its early years, with 2,500+ workshops and 750+ certified facilitators worldwide.

Smart Minds is IntHRface’s Certified Training Partner in Bulgaria and Romania for the Foundational and Real Time® Purpose Facilitator Certifications in LEGO® Serious Play®.

Sources

[1] Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4, 67. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67

[2] Roos, J. and Nilsson, V. O. (2020). Driving Organizational Readiness for Change through Strategic Workshops. International Journal of Management and Applied Research, 7(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.18646/2056.71.20-001

[3] Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

[4] Teneva, T. Readiness for Change: What does it take for an organisation to truly say “We are ready”? Future of Work presentation, Smart Minds.