"If you do not change employee behaviour, you will not get organisational change and performance improvement"
Sometimes, achieving successful change and sustainable benefit realisation goes beyond mere strategy and structural adjustments. It hinges on the profound transformation of employee behaviours and habits that define an organisation's culture and performance. When implementing new systems or adopting cutting-edge technologies, it becomes evident that a shift in the collective mindset and behaviour of employees is necessary. This truth lies at the core of the daunting task of cultural transformation. Without addressing embedded habits, systems, and practices, transformation initiatives are bound to stagnate. In light of this, leaders must step up and take responsibility for enabling new collective behaviours that align with the desired future state and enhance execution. This entails providing comprehensive support to employees throughout their adoption journey, following the guiding principles of the 5Rs model: Recognise, Redesign, Resolve, Replicate and Reinforce.
Recognise:
The first tactic is to officially accept that there is a problem with the current behaviours within the organisation. This may require an analysis of the current behaviours and any challenges this causes. It is important that the change team recognise the current behaviours and the impact they could have on change implementation.
Redesign:
The second tactic is to agree to redesign the new solution and define the few new critical behaviours. A selection of employees should be involved at this stage. If the few new critical behaviours are not developed, then the employees will automatically fall back to the old way and their inherent behaviours.
Resolve:
The third tactic focuses on getting all employees to make a resolution to implement the few new critical behaviours. Piloting the new behaviours, collecting feedback and making necessary modifications will increase full implementation success.
Replicate:
The fourth tactic is about getting the employee to continue the implementation of the solutions to achieve the future ‘B’ state, ensuring they are replicated during normal day-to-day operations to become the new way of working and normal expected behaviour.
Reinforce:
The final tactic focuses on ensuring the new behaviours are reinforced. Psychologists have long known that behaviour often stems from direct association and reinforcement. The change agents, leadership team and sponsor should reinforce the new behaviours by first modelling them, as well as intervening to provide feedback to employees when behaviours are not being exhibited, and rewarding them when they are.
"To solve the employee behaviour problem, the organisation must Recognise there is an issue. The new behaviours need to be Redesigned, a Resolution made to implement them, Replicate them and Reinforce the new way"
Change Management Behaviour - Leadership of Change® Volume 6
The Leadership of Change® Volume 6, focuses on how to achieve employee behaviour change in a major organisation change or transformation using the a2B5R® Employee Behaviour Change Model. The a2B5R® Model outlines the five key life cycle stages of the change transition that change teams should take their organisation and employees through. The first stage is to get the organisation and its employees to Recognise there is a behaviour issue. Then the new behaviours need to be Redesigned, a Resolution made to implement them, then Replicate them and finally Reinforce the new way. Change implementation focuses on aligning employees, processes, systems and leaders, it is also supported by the a2B Change Management Framework® (a2BCMF®).
“While adopting change it is important to learn the new skills, but sometimes the new behaviours are critical”
Find out more:
Further Reading: Change Management Behaviour: Leadership of Change Volume 6
Peter consults, speaks, and writes on the Leadership of Change®.
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Peter F Gallagher is a Change Management Global Thought Leader, Guru, Expert, International Speaker, Author and Leadership Alignment Coach.
Listed #1 by leadersHum Top 40 Change Management Gurus You Should Follow in 2022 (Mar 2022).
Ranked #1 Change Management Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (2023-2022-2021-2020) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #1 Business Strategy Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Business Strategy (2022) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #2 Leadership Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Leadership (Aug 2020) by Thinkers360.
Business Book Ranking
Change Management Behaviour - Leadership of Change® Volume 6, listed among the 50 Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2022.
Change Management Adoption - Leadership of Change® Volume 5, listed among year-to-date’s (Jul 2021) most popular books on business and technology from Thinkers360 member thought leaders.
Change Management Handbook - Leadership of Change® Volume 3, listed among the 50 Business and Technology Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2021.
Change Management Pocket Guide - Leadership of Change® Volume 2, ranked within the top 50 Business and Technology Books (Jan 2020) from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders.