Projects don’t fail at “go-live;” they fail at “sustained life.”
Our problem isn’t in having great plans with detailed timelines and risk assessments. The problem isn’t even in the execution of those plans, with the celebratory go-live and the obligatory six-week review of our project. Instead, it lies in the ingraining of the change into our daily routine in such a way that we normalize the new.
Sustaining change, or creating a culture of agility, requires shared ownership of the new realities. But many times we fail. Employees revert to old patterns, and meet with even greater skepticism the next ‘flavor of the month.’ They build calluses to our halfhearted attempts to engage them, and disengage from participation, from buy-in, and ultimately from adoption.
Reinforcement of the change is the removal of the old, with the consistent empowerment of the new. Reinforcement is taking away the option of doing things the old way, and setting up the system to ease the way of the change.
Sadly, the autopsy of failed projects reveals two primary causes: lack of reinforcement and lack of systemic alignment.
Four requirements of reinforcement, when executed diligently, will create the foundation for some (not all!) of the systemic change needed.
- Shared & Clear Expectations
Three-way repeat back conversations is a simple way to ensure the expectations have been set. The person communicates the expectation, the receiver of the expectations repeats it back, and the first person confirms it has been understood correctly. Expectations should be measurable or made concrete through the visible behaviors which will be seen. Documentation is essential to honor varied learning styles and to solidify the ‘baseline’ of the agreement. The essential piece here is what the agreed upon success measures or milestones will be. The expectation should directly connect to the desired outcome, which should be quantifiable through specific behaviors. The interval of reporting must also be established.
- Consistent Accountability
The relationship between the reinforcer and the reinforce often weakens or dismantles because of the failure to ask the right questions. A simple sequence of questions can guide this process:
- Were you able to perform the agreed upon task? 2. If not, help me understand why not. 3. What will you do differently next time? 4. How would you like for me to hold you accountable moving forward? 5. If you fail to achieve the goal again, how would you like for me to respond?
The consistency piece requires the rhythmic pursuit of the goal. It is also a shared understanding that when the reinforcer sees the reinforcee, this item will consistently be a part of their conversation.
- Transparent Reporting
Making results visible has a systemic element of accountability hardwired into it. Positive peer pressure around adoption of change or around team-based success measures can be posted, emailed, and highlighted throughout the organization. This can be quantitative data (dashboards, posters, etc) and it can be qualitative. Stories of success and early adopters create momentum needed to hardwire the reinforcement of the desired behaviors. Reporting is directly connected to the expectation and the agreed upon measures. This behavior based measurement is linked to the desired outcome and should consistently limit the scope of the reporting to activities directly connected to the change. (Example: I’m not going to report on an annual employee engagement shift if my behavior shift was to have a 10 minute stand-up meeting in the morning to raise issues together.)
The system of quantitative reporting can often remove the personal feel of holding someone accountable, making it less threatening to someone who typically shies away from confrontation. “The numbers don’t lie.”
- Connected Consequences
Soak in the idea that consequences can be positive or negative. With consequences, we are addressing the “So what?” question. What happens if I perform, or what happens if I don’t perform? Mapping out these ahead of time can help people understand the serious nature of the reinforcement… and it ties back into the clear expectations. Our goal is to guide our reinforcee into the consistent new reality so they can thrive. They simply need to understand it is so important that their action (or lack of action) has impact. This can be done at two levels: individual or team. Team has a beautiful, built-in peer accountability. However, there are times where an individual’s actions (or lack of action) must be addressed.
Quit assuming that people aren’t willing to change, or that people aren’t able to change, or that people don’t want to change.
Instead, begin to show people how important it is to their success by navigating these four pieces of reinforcement.
Have I been clear on what I would like for you to do?
