Change Management Toolkit
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Why Change Management?
As a top-ranked public research university, UC Berkeley serves as a flagship institution when it comes to our bold and innovative
initiatives. Change management is often the key component in driving the success of these ventures. As we know from our own
experience, not all change initiatives are equally disruptive. Some will have a greater impact and be more challenging. Others may be
barely noticeable.
Change can be bucketed into two main categories: Incremental and Transformational. Incremental change is easier to implement
successfully. It is often based on the current state in order to improve the existing way of doing our work. It typically involves fewer
changes and affects a small number of people. On the other hand, Transformational change is more difficult to implement, typically
having only a 30% success rate.
(Taking Stock survey by The Change Management Toolbook, February 2005) Why is that?
Things get more challenging when the change is Transformational because it is designed from a future state and involves a
fundamentally new way of doing things. This typically involves significant culture change and affects a large number. The complexity
involved in culture change is often why it is easier to change the change than it is to change the culture.
Culture is our values, beliefs, assumptions, and unwritten rules. These shape our behaviors and mindset as well as our performance.
Individuals within an organization co-create the culture through conversations and by following behavioral norms. In addition to the
overarching culture of an organization, individual subcultures often exist. Taking both of these into consideration for your particular
initiative is necessary when determining how to approach a change for your area.
Since there are many complexities involved in executing a change initiative, both change management and project management
components are required. Sometimes change management and project management are mistaken as one in the same…when
actually they are two complimentary yet different disciplines. Both utilize formal processes, tools, and techniques to plan for the
change, manage the change, and sustain the change. While change management focuses on ensuring the support of the people,
project management focuses on the work tasks to be executed. Coupled together, proactive change management and project
management will lead to the actualization of the benefits of the change initiative.
The one common denominator to achieve success for all change initiatives is people. According to Chip and Dan Heath, authors of
Switch, peoples’ brains have two independent systems at work at all times: the rational side (is reflective, it deliberates, analyzes,
and looks to the future), and the emotional side (is instinctive, feels pleasure and pain). Think of the rational side of the brain as the
Rider and the emotional side of the brain as an Elephant. The Rider’s strength is to think and to plan. Without a plan there is no path
to get things done. The Elephant’s strength is emotion. Without emotion there is no motivation (no energy) to get things done.
To change behavior (our own or someone else’s), we must do three things:
1. Direct the Rider – make the destination crystal clear
The Rider has their own issues. A Rider likes to contemplate and analyze information before deciding on a
direction. When a Rider isn’t sure exactly which direction to go, they lead the Elephant in circles. Often,
what looks like resistance is actually lack of clarity.
2. Motivate the Elephant – make people feel the need for change
When an individual’s six-ton Elephant is not in agreement with the direction their Rider wants to go, the
Rider is going to lose. The Rider may get their way temporarily, through close monitoring and exerting self-
control, but in the long term the Elephant will ALWAYS overpower the Rider. Why? Self-control is an
exhaustible resource. Often what looks like resistance is actually exhaustion. Motivation provides the
energy the Rider needs to maintain self-control; a lack of motivation may doom a change effort.
3. Shape the Path – make the required changes specific
To direct the Rider and motivate the Elephant, we need to shape the Path by focusing the situation,
including the surrounding environment, to make the change more likely. Being specific narrows the focus,
so the Elephant and the Rider are more likely to stay traveling together toward the goal. Often, what looks
like resistance is actually lack of direction.
Heath, Chip, and Dan Heath. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. Thorndike Press, 2011