How to be the change agent you were hired to be

1. How to break into the Company
Culture
You brought me in to change things! Joyce Zamaitis August 17, 2016

2. Culture
• Joining a new company is never easy
• You have to learn your way around:
• How does the company communicate? Lots of meetings, email central, IM, good ole fashion
phone calls
• Who are the power plays?
• What are the expectations?
• What are the roadblocks?
• How does reality mesh with the wonderful things you were told during the interview process?

3. Then comes reality
• You meet your team mates who look at you like you are either the savior or the devil
• You meet your peer teams who see no reason for your existence because everything works just fine
• You meet your customers who tell you how screwed up everything is
• Then you go back to your office and try to put the pieces together.
We have been doing it this way for years and it works
We implement products
With no way to support
Everyone already participates in
Our meetings, we have 20 folks on a
Product call all the time
We are inefficient, we need you
To tell us a better way
Gap1: No operational
consideration
Gap 2: The road blocks
Gap 3: no trust
In support groups
Gap 4 : Management out of
Touch with the people

4. So What do you do and how do you do it?
• Make sure you talk to your manager, if they don’t initiate the conversation, don’t wait, show that
you can take the lead. Questions to ask “what are their expectations of you?” What are their
priorities? Who do they believe you should meet/talk with. How do they want to be kept informed? I CAN W
• Talk to everyone you can, do your homework on their organization/role and have an agenda to stay
on track!
• Never say “well, we did it this way at my old company”, do use empathy “we had the same issues”
• This will lead to “so how did you fix it?” and a conversation that is two way!
• Listen for the undertones, no one wants to admit that things aren’t perfect, but by active listening,
you will be able to understand what really is bothering folks, what they know and perhaps ideas on
how to fix it. These become you leads
• You can start as the “newbie”: Help me understand! Everyone likes to feel needed and will take
the time if you ask the right way
• To your customers “What is the first thing that would help you do your job better?”
• Talk with, not at, your staff. Begin to build a change team – they are the ones in the know!!

5. Organizational Change isn’t easy
• In today’s world there is a software product that will fix every business issue a company has
• Great, but if you don’t have buy in and you don’t have processes, you have just spent a whole lot of
Money for nothing
• Document your findings with your initial recommendations
• Create that Road Map they hired you to do
• Get involved in the day to day while planning how you want to move to the new future; everyone
dislikes the new person who sits in their office planning how to change the world without being
engaged!
• Once you have your draft, send it out to those you spoke with, ask them for their constructive
criticism and ideas. Then take it to your manager and up the chain
• Make sure your roadmap includes KPI’s, metrics and check points! This is what management will
want to see
• Once approved, go ‘on the road’, meet with those decision makers and the change agents
• Tweak but don’t break, you have done this before and you know how things work, one failure and
you start over!
• Put on your political hat (even if you hate it)

6. Road Map Example
cu
Too many
Customer calls
Tech support
Training
Review IVR
For types of
calls
What can we
change
Develop new
Call flow and
survey
customers
Next phase

7. Beat the Drum
• Be the biggest change agent the company has
• Change cannot be implemented without Sr. Management Support
• Set up on-going meetings and if that is not possible; send reports backed by metrics
• Celebrate every change
• Support those people that are having a hard time with change
• Understand that you will be undermined – by managers or staff. Do not be afraid to start a
conversation with those people
• The will either turn around
• They will leave
• They will quietly attempt to undermine
• Passive/Aggressive people will derail organizational change
• Bring them into the fold by giving them a lead on a change project
• Hold them accountable and if they do not follow the process, take appropriate company
action

8. No Short Cuts
• This presentation is very short and only hits the highlights
• It was designed to remind you of the high level steps to take
• There are thousands of books and articles on organizational change
• Take what works for you
• Remember, you are in the real world with deadlines, personalities and lots of politics
• DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE WAVES, JUST MAKE SURE YOU ARE WEARING A LIFE JACKET!