By Boris Korenfeld, Global CTO and General Manager of Tech Practices, Sphere Partners
Strategies for Strong Communication Amidst Uncertainty and Change
Over two decades as a technology leader, I’ve seen first-hand how our world thrives on continuous change. Successful adaptation is essential, yet about 70% of changes flounder due to mismanagement.
In this context, effective communication and structured methodologies like those proposed by Dr. John Kotter and William Bridges become indispensable. However, drawing from my leadership experiences at world-leading conglomerates like HP Software, Gett Taxi, and Google, I’ve learned that the linchpin to successful change management goes beyond structured methodologies.
Consider your change management strategy as a carefully prepared dish. Kotter’s 8 Steps and Bridges’s 4 Ps – Purpose, Picture, Plan, and Part – form a robust recipe. However, like any exceptional dish, there’s a ‘secret sauce’ that turns it from good to great.
This article will explain what that ‘secret sauce’ is.
The Tech Industry Faces Consistent Changes
The technology sector is an arena of ceaseless evolution, with innovation driving rapid change. Every day and year, these changes become more frequent and rapid, with more changes coming. A perpetually shifting landscape like this demands a response to emerging trends that transform aspirations into achievements overnight. However, fear of failure often halts managers from embracing these changes, a crucial misstep in an environment that requires adaptation to thrive.
Variations in business goals and technological advancements directly influence an organization’s structure, methodologies, and processes. These adjustments can range from adapting to the AI revolution and market volatility to data requirements shifts.
Agility and adaptability, strengthened by effective communication, are essential tools for leadership to navigate this tumultuous terrain. Understanding that change isn’t a risk but necessary prepares an organization for survival and progression. As we further explore the core changes you might encounter, it becomes evident how essential a comprehensive change management approach truly is.
Generative AI Disruption
The tech industry has recently experienced a significant shift with the emergence of AI-powered communication tools like ChatGPT. These tools have revolutionized how we approach technology by providing solutions to tasks such as copywriting, image generation, code writing, and user prediction. Therefore, companies should actively leverage this impressive technology to avoid falling behind competitors.
Data & Analytics
As a CTO, I’ve observed an increasing emphasis on big data, AI, and machine learning in modern businesses. These technologies have become crucial for companies to gain a competitive edge in an increasingly tech-driven world. By leveraging these tools, it’s possible to extract valuable insights, enhance customer experiences, and streamline business processes. However, succeeding in this data-driven era requires CTOs to prioritize robust data governance, privacy, and security. Equally important is fostering a culture of data-centric innovation among teams.
Shift From Hyper-Growth to Profitability
Lastly, the tech market’s recent turbulence has prompted many businesses to shift their focus from aggressive growth to cost-efficiency and profitability. Here, CTOs find themselves grappling with changes reminiscent of a startup environment. It’s vital to frame these transitions as a necessary evolution for survival without triggering undue alarm.
How to Effectively Enact Change
In the tech sector, proficient change management is critical. I’ve used Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model throughout my experiences, and I believe it offers a practical blueprint to lead transformative shifts.
Yet, success extends beyond managing change to truly communicating it – therein lies the ‘secret sauce.’
This potent blend of strategy and communication can turn challenges into opportunities. I urge you to read Kotter’s Change Model to appreciate this integrated approach fully. It will serve as a critical cog in unlocking profound change in your organization with the following steps:
1. Create a Sense of Urgency
Start by articulating a persuasive need for the change, fostering a sense of urgency within your team. This motivation is pivotal to galvanizing the organization towards a shared goal.
2. Build a Guiding Coalition
Gather a team of diverse individuals possessing the necessary skills and influence to drive the change. This coalition will serve as the backbone of your change initiative.
3. Shape a Vision and Strategy
To align your team towards the desired outcome, craft a clear and compelling vision for the future and communicate this strategy across the organization. This step ensures everyone is on the same page and working towards a shared goal.
4. Communicate the Change Vision
For a successful outcome, everyone must comprehend and embrace the vision. Effective communication makes it easier to encourage a shared sense of direction.
5. Empower Employees by Removing Barriers
Spotlight and tackle any obstacles to the change, be it resistance from employees or obsolete systems and processes. An environment that enables, rather than hinders, change is critical.
6. Celebrate Short-Term Wins
Set and recognize attainable goals that build momentum and confidence in the change. These early victories can significantly enhance morale and commitment.
7. Consolidate Gains and Produce More Change
Leverage the momentum of initial wins to drive further changes and sustain progress. Constant reinforcement can ensure your organization does not rest on its laurels.
8. Anchor New Approaches into Organizational Culture
Incorporate the changes into your organization’s cultural fabric to guarantee their longevity. This step is crucial to prevent regression and ensure the change becomes a new norm.
Plan and Communicate the Changes
Beyond leaning on Kotter’s 8 Steps when instituting change, I also heavily utilize William Bridges’s Managing Transitions Methodology. This pragmatic approach, epitomized by the “4 Ps” (Purpose, Picture, Plan, Part), ensures the timely dissemination of vital information to all stakeholders. By addressing all four elements, organizations can drastically increase their chances of success and ensure that any transition goes as smoothly as possible.
The “4 Ps” in Action
The Scenario:
A company faces several distinct challenges: prolonged time to market, affecting customer satisfaction and competitiveness; suboptimal product quality due to late-stage bug detection, impacting each product release; and an engineering team, despite their diligence, struggling to allocate sufficient time for innovative feature development.
Upon careful analysis, the company recognizes the need for a strategic realignment. As a result, they decide to adopt a ‘Shift Left’ change to emphasize internal team reorganization. This strategy addresses the symptoms while fostering an environment conducive to innovation and quality improvement.
Why Shift Left:
The ‘Shift Left’ strategy, which originated from software development, involves moving tasks such as testing, deployment, and security checks from the later stages of the production chain to the earlier stages. This proactive, reverse engineering approach promotes continuous improvement, collaboration, and early feedback, elevating product quality. In addition, it optimizes resource use and mitigates issues stemming from delayed defect detection and imprecise resource allocation.
Unlike traditional tech organizations where functional teams operate in silos, ‘Shift Left’ reconfigures responsibilities, offering a more integrated approach. This strategic shift ensures quality ownership is shared, streamlining operations and fostering an environment of shared accountability.
The Challenges:
A ‘Shift Left’ transformation will inevitably cause several internal challenges.
First, one of the main challenges for engineers is taking more ownership and E2E responsibilities. Of course, this is a tough and significant hurdle.
Second, managers may be discontent over diminished team sizes with QA engineers or operations teams reassigned or relocated to other teams. In many other cases, a change in direct management can spur stress and distrust among team members.
Additionally, introducing this restructuring necessitates real-time alterations to plans, creating an environment of uncertainty. This uncertainty can lead to questions surrounding the leadership and organizational placement of the new team, provoking confusion and limited employee buy-in.
“Purpose” – Communicate the Structure Change:
In confronting challenges, the essence is clear communication about the change’s goals. The “Purpose” is to lay out the reason for the shift, be it increasing revenue, safeguarding jobs, or enhancing efficiency.
Undergoing a ‘Shift Left’ transformation requires reorganizing the tech structure, necessitating expanded functionality from Tech and Product teams. By clearly illustrating these changes, we can mitigate uncertainties and foster acceptance.
The ‘Shift Left’ strategy addresses primary operational issues, including extended delivery timelines and quality control, by moving tasks such as testing and deployment earlier in the process. Doing so promotes improved collaboration, early bug detection, and better software quality.
The purpose behind the strategy is multifaceted, anticipating outcomes such as:
- Enhanced collaboration and feedback loops
- Accelerated time-to-market via continuous integration, testing, and deployment
- Improved software quality through early testing stages
- Reduced time and costs for defect detection and correction
- Efficient utilization of resources throughout the development cycle
- Incorporating improved security and compliance from the development process’s inception.
“Picture” – Show Employees the Good That Will Come from the Change
Cultivating enthusiasm for upcoming changes begins with painting a compelling image of the expected outcomes for your employees. This visualization lets employees grasp the potentially positive impact, fostering eagerness to contribute to the transformation. As employees mentally engage with this process, anticipation and dedication to shared goals grow.
Help them visualize a future with a more efficient, cooperative engineering organization consistently delivering high-quality software rapidly. Enable them to picture a landscape where:
- Engineers spend more time developing new features (roadmap) rather than fixing bugs, production incidents, etc.
- Cross-functional teams, including developers, testers, operations, security, and business stakeholders, work synergistically from the project’s inception, fostering immediate feedback.
- Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) become pivotal elements in the development process.
- Automated testing is entrenched, ensuring prompt detection and resolution of any issues.
- Proactive security measures permeate every development phase.
- A culture of continuous learning and improvement thrives.
- Teams gain greater autonomy, enhancing accountability and pride in their work.
“Plan” – Give Employees a Solid Idea of Their Upcoming Tasks
Outline a phased strategy illustrating the transition path to reach the desired outcome. Transparently realign teams, adjusting roles and responsibilities to echo the new objectives. Structure a clear timeline, promoting punctual delivery for the evolving revenue stream. A detailed roadmap enhances understanding and provides a concrete direction, strengthening the collective endeavor to implement the new business model successfully. Consider these examples:
- Training and Skill Development: Investment in training programs and workshops will equip employees for tasks traditionally handled by separate teams, such as testing and security.
- Process Redesign: Prioritize the integration of testing and other tasks early in the development cycle.
- Tool Selection: Identify and deploy tools suitable for Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), automated testing, and early security checks.
- Measurements and Metrics: Define clear metrics to gauge the initiative’s success, such as early bug detection rates, reduced time to market, and enhanced code quality.
- Gradual Rollout: Share a detailed rollout plan with milestones, developed in collaboration with employees and communicated across the organization.
“Part” – The Secret Sauce – “What’s in it for me?”
Now, we discuss the ‘secret sauce’ of change communication: explaining “What’s in it for me?” to each of your employees.
Efficient planning without clear communication is a recipe destined to fail. To ensure success, you must explain to your team the benefits they stand to gain from the impending changes. Think of it like B2B sales, where the sales representative emphasizes to the buyer how the product will enhance their career and what personal benefits they stand to gain, rather than focusing on its contributions to their organization.
After all, we’re human beings, fundamentally driven by what’s in it for us.
Thus, the “Part” aspect of the “4 P’s” is crucial in implementing this strategy effectively. It’s vital to ensure that each team member understands their specific role in achieving a shared objective and clearly understands how their tasks fit into the larger context of the company’s success. By highlighting the benefits that each person can expect from this transition, you can ease any natural resistance to change and shift the focus to “What’s in it for me?” This approach helps team members feel valued, motivated, and confident in their roles within the company.
The ‘Shift Left’ transformation is integral in utilizing this ‘secret sauce’ because it is a cooperative endeavor, not a top-down mandate. By establishing feedback channels to encourage the sharing of ideas, this shift offers several benefits:
- Skill Development: Employees can broaden their skills beyond traditional development work, enhancing their career prospects.
- Career Growth: A wider understanding of the development process opens potential leadership opportunities.
- Less Stressful Work: Detecting and fixing issues earlier in the cycle leads to more efficient, less stressful work.
- Big Impact on Business: Ownership of the end-to-end process directly influences time to market and product quality, resulting in happier customers and business growth.
- More Interesting Work: Your employees will invest more time delivering roadmap/innovation and less time fixing and maintaining issues.
Key Takeaways: Implementing These Tactics
Often, managers devote inadequate time to contemplating the individual employee’s perspective, focusing more on the organization’s benefits. Leading in the dynamic tech landscape, teeming with constant change, presents substantial challenges, particularly in guiding engineering teams. Yet, well-executed change management can convert these trials into opportunities.
The cornerstones of such success are clear communication, effective preparation for upcoming changes, and precise execution of plans. As leaders, the responsibilities extend beyond mere decision-making; ensuring teams understand the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ behind each action is essential.
The approach to managing change determines the trajectory more than the change itself. Adopt this perspective; even the most disruptive transformations can fuel growth and innovation. The secret sauce? Uncover the ‘what’s in it for me’ aspect for each employee – this can significantly enhance the likelihood of success in change management.
Chat with Me
To connect and discuss ways to properly enact change or to share your experiences in navigating changes, drop me a line here. I’d love to learn from and glean insights from other CTOs and tech leadership as well as offer my own insights from my experience.
More about me, Boris Korenfeld, Global CTO and General Manager of Tech Practices, Sphere Partners
