1.
Getting Executives on
Board with Change
Management
Presented by:
Catherine Smithson
Managing Director
October 2016
Change Community
of Practice Webinars

2.
Introducing Being Human
• Founded in 1993
• Our mission: develop
change-capable people and
organisations so they
achieve the benefits of
change
• Prosci Primary Affiliate
Australia and New Zealand
since 2006
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3.
Where to find today’s slides and recording
3
Being Human Company Linkedin
Profile
Follow us!
Being Human Pty Ltd page
Like us!
Slideshare.net
Search for Being Human Australia
Slides and recording available.
Follow us!
Search for Being Human Pty Ltd.
Recorded version.
Follow us!

4.
Agenda
• Quotable quotes
• The role of Senior
Executives in successful
change
• Best Practices highlights
• Top 5 tips
• Your experiences?
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5.
Quotable quotes
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“My Sponsor thinks now we have
hired a Change Manager they can go
back to BAU and I will deliver the
project benefits”.
“Our Executive Sponsor
believes having a PMO and
effective PMs is enough – they
manage change!
“Even though the business has
Change Managers, the Sponsor
thinks they are more a “feel
good factor”.
“Our Sponsor thinks
Change Management is
still training and
communications.”
“Our Sponsor relies on the Project
Manager and Change Manager to get
other Executives on board – there’s a
limit to what we can do.”
“Even after we have
successfully built change
capability, I need to
continually socialise and
“sell” the benefits of
Change Management to
Executives… go figure!

6.
The role of senior executives in
successful change
© Prosci Inc. All rights reserved www.change-management.com
Greatest contributors to
success - 2016 data
1. Active and visible
executive sponsorship

7.
Best Practices Snapshot
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Only 40% of
Sponsors fully
understand their
role as change
leaders (p198)
Access to the
Sponsor drives
effective Change
Management -
weekly is ideal
(p200-201)
Top 3 roles of the
Sponsor
Actively and visibly
participate throughout
the project
Build a coalition of
sponsorship with peers
and managers
Communicate directly
with employees
Projects with effective Sponsorship are
3 times more likely to achieve objectives
than those without
2016 Best Practices in Change Management Report.
1122 participants in 56 countries. Prosci copyright 2015.

8.
Other credible sources to use
• Executive sponsor engagement:
top driver of project and program
success. PMI’s Pulse of the
Profession In Depth Report, with
Boston Consulting Group,
October 2014
• Making change work...while the
work keeps changing. By Hans-
Henrik Jorgensen, Oliver Bruehl
and Neele Frank, IBM Global
Business Services Executive
Report. August 2014
• Redefining business success in
a changing world: PwC’s 19th
Annual Global CEO Survey,
2016
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PMI’s Pulse of the Profession In Depth
Report, with Boston Consulting Group,
October 2014, p4

9.
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10.
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11.
Tip 1: Put away the soap box!
• Park your passion
• Executives are allergic to
lectures
• Talking about Change
Management is putting
Knowledge and Ability
BEFORE Awareness and
Desire!
• Talk about what you deliver
not what you do
• Are you the Sponsors
preferred sender? Who is?
• Who do they listen to, trust,
rely on – can you influence
them?
“Stop being a self appointed apostle of
the cult of change management!”
Greg Bellingham, Consultant,
Being Human

12.
Tip 2: Executives need a WIIFM too!
• What’s their WIIFM for the change
itself? Don’t assume they are on
board!
• What’s their WIIFM to sponsor the
change and lead change
differently?
• What do you know about Executives’
drivers, aspirations, pain points for
above?
• Is is risk mitigation? Innovation?
Customer experience?
• What scar tissue do they have – “we
won’t make that error again”
• What does the Future State or success
look like to them?
• Are they a reluctant Sponsor or is it their
passion project?
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13.
Tip 3: Speak their language
• Change the conversation from
Change Management blah blah
• Focus on the outcomes and results
Executives want during Transition
and in Future State (what success
looks like)
• Tease these out - get to specifics
that mean something to Executives
e.g.
• Link to vision, strategy and goals they
have committed to
• Customer experience
• More collaboration, less silos
• Increased productivity
• Process excellence
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Current
state
Transition
state
Future
state
What will
success look
like? How we
will we know
we are on
track with
people
transitioning?
What will
success look
like? What
results and
outcomes do
we need to
achieve?
© Prosci Inc. All rights reserved www.change-management.com

14.
Results and outcomes depend on employee
adoption and usage
Solution must be:
• Designed
• Developed
• Delivered
and
• Embraced
• Adopted
• Used
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Effectiveness = Quality x Acceptance
General Electric – 1980s
© Prosci Inc. All rights reserved www.change-management.com
Organisations change when the people in
them change the way they work

15.
What percentage of the results or expected benefits
of the change depend on adoption and usage?
Select a current change -
what percentage of
expected benefits are
dependent on “people doing
their jobs differently”, i.e.
adoption and usage.
• 0 – 25%
• 26 - 50%
• 51 – 75%
• 76 -100%

16.
Follow up conversation topics
• Are all groups equally important in delivering expected benefits, by
adopting & using the change?
• If not, which individuals or groups are most critical ?
• What are our assumptions or targets for on-time adoption and usage
for these groups?
• What are the risks for project delivery (budget, time, solution quality)
and expected benefits after go live, if they do not adopt on time, or
achieve expected (100?) utilisation and sustainment?
• What level of investment in Change Management is required to
ensure these groups adopt and use the change so benefits are
delivered
Others?
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17.
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18.
Tip 4: Set them up to succeed
• Most executives need help to understand and fill the roles required of
Sponsors.
• Don’t expose their weaknesses to employees.
• Ensure they know you can support them to be the best sponsor they
can be through:
• drafting communications messages
• briefing on events
• only making them do activities that will make them authentic and credible.
• Coach them and become their trusted advisor – this takes time,
• E.g. One sponsor I worked with was terribly introverted. There was no
way she could host a ‘town hall’ event. Over time, we built up the size
of the groups she could brief face-to-face. It meant I had to adapt the
way I wanted to do the communications, but I didn’t let her lose
confidence in herself or credibility with others by making her do
something she couldn’t do authentically. Employees can easily see
through an act.
• Max Knobel Senior Consultant, Being Human
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19.
Tip 5: Ask and you may receive part 1
• All three of the client
projects I'm working on
have executive and/or
project sponsors who have
done the Prosci
Certification Program.
Bliss!
• They understand what
change management will
deliver, their role as
sponsors, and the role of
the change manager. A
very happy partnership!
• Julie Stalley, Consultant,
Being Human
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20.
Tip 5: Ask and you may receive part 2
• A highly effective
strategy is for the
Executive Sponsor to be
clear that this change
will be successful (and is
on their bucket list) and
to put successful
implementation and
reinforcement into the
senior leadership team's
performance targets
Julie Stalley, Consultant,
Being Human

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22.
Where to find today’s slides and recording
27
Being Human Company Linked in
Profile – Follow us!
Being Human Pty Ltd
page - Like us!
Slideshare.net
Search for Being Human Australia
Slides and recording available.
Follow us!
Search for Being Human Pty Ltd.
Recorded version.
Follow us!

23.
More info
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beinghuman.com.au
• Free Prosci Webinars
• Free Change Community of
Practice Webinars
Prosci
• prosci.com
• portal.prosci.com