Chapter Four: Getting Started

Contents

4.1 Purpose of the Getting Started Stage
4.2 Understanding the Context
4.3 Presenting Problem vs Real Problem and Root Causes
4.4 Stakeholder Analysis
4.5 Tips for Developing OD Skills: Active Listening
Questions for Reflection & Summary

4.1 Purpose of the Getting Started Stage

Getting started can be the most difficult step of any project, but it is often the most important. In the OD process, this starting point is essential for setting the tone of the change project ahead and ensuring the efficacy of the work that is to come. During this critical first phase, change facilitators are able to develop relationships with stakeholders, establish ground rules and expectations for the project, and establish mutual goals and a shared direction for the outcome of the project.

Further, these early conversions and meetings about the change project at hand are important in order to have clarity on what are realistic outcomes of this project as it relates to the role of the change facilitator and the OD process in general. It is important to educate the stakeholders about what OD is and what change facilitators can accomplish realistically within the constraints of a particular project. Many stakeholders and organizations may be unfamiliar with OD and not fully understand what the goals are or what the process entails.

What should change facilitators say about the OD process? Change facilitators should articulate that OD is about supporting organizational change through a collaborative and humanistic approach. During the change process, a change facilitator will work together with the organization to facilitate the change process. This is important to articulate as it sets the expectation that a change facilitator will need collaboration, support, and trust from stakeholders involved in the project as it unfolds. The change facilitator cannot make these changes happen without active engagement from those involved in the organization, group, or individual that is implicated in the change process.

Lastly, it is important to outline the OD process broadly at the start of a project. Change facilitators should explain that the OD process involves five main stages: (1) getting started, (2) gathering data, (3) analyzing data and providing feedback, (4) facilitating intervention activities to support change, and (5) evaluation of the change efforts and sustaining change.

4.2 Understanding the Context

The process of getting started allows the change facilitator to get a first look at the context of the organization or team / group that the change process will involve. In this first stage, it is important to get familiar with key factors such as the size of the organization, geographical locations, the line of business, and other general characteristics. If you are not a member of the organization, a good practice is to visit their webpage and check recent news about the organization. Additionally, noticing the way people communicate and interact may give some cues about the organizational climate and culture^[1].

Usually, a change project starts with an initial conversation with some key members of the organization who will be involved in the process. In this conversation, it is important to gather information about two important questions:

1. What is the problem we are trying to solve?  In general, organizations want to make changes seeking to solve a problem. While it is critical to understand their perspective about the problem they are trying to solve, it is common that the presenting issue is only a part of a larger problem, or a symptom, a consequence of underlying issues.
2. Who are the key stakeholders?  Stakeholders are the individuals, at all levels of the organization, who are in the best position to influence or contribute to the success of a change effort. These are individuals who can have a significant impact on the outcome of a project, either positively or negatively, and need to be involved in the planning process.

In the next two sections, we discuss these questions in more detail.

4.3 Presenting Problem vs Real Problem and Root Causes

What is the problem we are trying to solve?

While it is always helpful and important to get initial thoughts and reactions from the individuals or groups involved in the particular problem from the beginning of the project, during this initial stage, there are some things to consider during these conversations.

What you are hearing during these initial conversations is the problem as identified by just a handful of particular people, or sometimes even fewer. This is rarely reflective of the real problem or the entire problem. This is called the ‘presenting problem.’ Often, this ‘presenting problem’ is a symptom of a broader issue, which we will call the ‘real problem.’ It is the change facilitator’s job to help identify the real problem. These initial conversations with the involved stakeholders are helpful, as they provide some idea regarding the type of issue or problems you are about to embark upon working with. However, just be aware that there is more to learn and more to unveil. The complete picture of the real problem is really only made known during the data gathering and diagnosis & feedback stage when there are more voices involved in delineating the core issues at play within the particular context.

Here are some questions you can ask individuals involved to guide your first conversations and gather some initial information about the problem at hand:

• What have you already tried to do to address or solve the problem?
• What do you think are the causes of this problem?
• How long has it been happening?
• Why do you want to solve it now?
• What happens / what are the risks if this does not get solved?
• Who will directly / indirectly benefit from solving this problem?
• Who is impacted by this problem?

Remember, while the answers to these questions may be insightful and well articulated, one person’s or one group’s opinion on what is going on cannot be taken as the full picture of a problem.

4.4 Stakeholder Analysis

A critical aspect of getting started is understanding who will come to play an important role in the change process.

There may be multiple stakeholders involved in a change project. It is important to identify stakeholders as these individuals may be the people that will ultimately come to help shape the success of your project, like organizational leaders, department heads or those with some sort of power and authority within the organizational hierarchy who must be ‘bought in’ to the project and the changes you are suggesting.

However, these individuals might not necessarily be the most impacted or the ones who have the most impact on the project. Often, organizational changes implicate a variety of groups or people within organizations, and even if those individuals may not have the authority of leaders or CEOs, they are still hugely important to the success of a project. Further, any organizational or team change that directly involves people should take their voice into account, thereby making them stakeholders in the change process. It is not unusual for an OD project to fail because the relevant stakeholders were inappropriately defined or missed in the process.

Here are some questions to consider when figuring out how to identify stakeholders:

• Who has the ability to mobilize the necessary resources to support a desired change? Who has personal or organizational power within this particular context?
• Who has the responsibility for making the change?
• Who is in charge of the areas affected by the desired change?
• Who possesses the knowledge & skill necessary to make the desired change?
• Who is handling projects that may affect or be affected by the desired change?
• Who has been involved in past similar, successful change efforts?

Stakeholders can have different levels of interest in the change. For example, if the change is related to how the organization sells its products, the sales leader and the sales team will likely be very interested in the change. They will also have rich information about what works well and what can be improved in the sales process, and can contribute significantly to the change. Moreover, as they are responsible for the sales processes, it is important that they are aligned with the change, understand why it makes sense to change, and are committed to making the change happen successfully.

Likewise, stakeholders can have different levels of power to make decisions or influence the change. In the example above, the leader of the sales department likely has the right to make some decisions about the way the organization sells its products. Nevertheless, the sales team likely has limited or no power to make decisions about the sales process, although they might have some ways to influence these decisions.

Change facilitators should identify key stakeholders in a change project and consider their interest in the change and their power to make decisions or support the proposed changes. This understanding is crucial to help change facilitators decide how they will manage these different stakeholders throughout the OD process. The matrix below (Figure 1) is a helpful tool to define the best management strategy for each stakeholder group.

Going back to the example of the organization seeking to change its sales processes, the leader of the sales department should be fully engaged in the OD project as they have a high interest and high or medium power to make decisions, depending on the organization’s hierarchy. On the other hand, the sales team should be engaged as needed, as they are interested in the change and can contribute to it, but have limited power to make decisions. The CEO of this organization has high power to make decisions and can approve or vet proposed changes, but they likely are not interested, or might not have time, to participate fully in the OD process. Therefore, the CEO needs to be kept informed about the overall progress of the project, but does not need to be fully engaged. Lastly, if we think about the financial team, which is responsible for tracking and reporting the revenues and profits of the organization, they have a low interest in change in the sales process and little power to make decisions about it. Still, they might need to be informed of the changes if they somehow impact revenues and profits when they are implemented.

The Stakeholder Map (Figure 2) is a template that can be used to map and analyse key stakeholders. This template is meant to be a useful tool to help you identify stakeholders and work through their involvement in a project. 

Stakeholder analyses are ultimately subjective. Your reasoning as to why a stakeholder has been identified as ‘high’ or ‘low’ impact should be well argued and well supported. This can also change throughout the course of a project, meaning that initially you may identify a person or a group as ‘low’ impact, but come to realize, as you work through gathering data and your data analysis, that they are in fact a ‘high’ impact stakeholder. That is ok! The OD process is flexible and iterative.

4.5 Tips for Developing OD Skills: Active Listening

Listening is something we all do all the time. However, active listening is a specific skill that individuals can develop in order to listen in a deeper way. The goal of active listening is to listen in order to truly understand, which requires giving people your full attention while in conversation, and focusing on understanding and engaging with what they are sharing. Active listening involves asking questions, intentional eye contact, paraphrasing what you have heard from the person you are speaking with to ensure that you understand them and making sure to not interrupt them and creating a welcome and safe environment. Approaching a conversation or a meeting with openness and no judgment is essential to active listening. When done effectively, active listening can help to establish and build trust, avoid miscommunication, and ultimately improve interpersonal and team relationships.

The video below offers good suggestions for honing your listening skills.

Summary

Getting started can be the most difficult step of any project, but it is often the most important. This chapter included information on how to navigate the early stages of the OD process, and most importantly, the relationship with your collaborators. This chapter also provided information on the ‘presenting problem’ and the ‘real problem.’ It is important to remember that the ‘presenting problem’ is a symptom of a broader issue, or the ‘real problem.’  It is the change facilitator’s job to help identify the real problem in order to ensure the success of the project.