Client centered CM V2

Client Centered Change
Management
A learning approach to change management
15 June 2015
MAC Consulting

“The manifest discourse will in the final analysis not be anything other
than the repressive presence of what it does not say, and what is not
said is a hollow that undermines from within all that is said.” (Foucault,
1969, 1979 in Apter 2014)
• Effective change management requires that the entire story is told,
understood and acknowledged in the change agenda and change plan
(Egan, 1994).
• Failing to appreciate and acknowledge the entire story will surely
undermine even that which is known and acknowledged (Kilmann &
Mitroff, 1977; Egan, 1994; Apter, 2014).
• Change management is therefore the art and science of inclusion and
holistic appreciation.
Change management as organisational dialogue

The natural problem-management process (Egan, 1994)
• The client or client organisation becomes aware of a single or set of issues through their internal
and external interaction. Such issues are manifestations of frustrated personal and / or
organisational goals.
• A sense of urgency develops as the threat or irritation value of the issue or issues grow in
magnitude or / and intensity.
• The client organisation starts looking for and implementing various remedies. If they are perceived
to deliver the required results in the short or medium term the motivation to explore more options
usually declines. If not then the urgency to find solutions grow as does the sporadic and often
situational implementation of solutions.
• The growing cost of pursuing different and often ineffective solutions grows which in turn creates
more discomfort.
• The problem becomes part of the organisational consciousness at some or all levels. This leads to
more serious and purposeful seeking and implementation of solutions leading to even more cost
and discomfort. It may even lead to panic and a growing lack of effectiveness and efficiency as the
organisational rhythm of internal and external interaction further decays.
• Usually at this point an intellectual decision is taken at top management level to pursue a certain
course of action leading to top down and power driven change (Egan, 1994; Apter, 2014).
• The client organisation often requests assistance from professionals or consultants at this point to
assist them with the problem solving and change management process.

The challenge is to avoid a type III error
• Type I error is made when the alternative hypothesis is accepted when the null is true
• Type II error is made when the null hypothesis is accepted when it is actually false thus
rejecting the alternative hypothesis when it is really true.
• Type III error results from formulating the wrong hypotheses for testing thus exploring and
attempting to solve the wrong problem, avoiding the actual root cause.
• Problem solving therefore starts with explorative questions, followed by effective problem
formulation and effective root cause analysis.
• Senge raises the following warnings;
- “…the primary threats to our survival, both of our organisations and of our societies, come
not from sudden events but from slow, gradual processes” (p.22)
- “…we learn best from experience but we never directly experience the consequences of
many of our most important decisions” (p.23)
• An effective change consultant helps the client formulate the most appropriate questions so
that the most holistic appreciation of the problem state may evolve, thus avoiding a type III
error.
4(Kilmann & Mitroff, 1977)

The consulting / intervention process
1. Sensing
problems
2. Defining
the problems
3. Developing
solutions
4.
Implementing
the solutions
5. Evaluating
the outcomes
5
(Kilmann & Mitroff, 1977)

Egan’s skilled helper model: Framework for change
management
• Stage I: Reviewing the current situation
- The principle is to help the client organisation identify, explore, and clarify their issues,
concerns, problem situations, desires and unused opportunities.
• Stage II: Developing the preferred scenario
- The principle is to help the client organisation identify and formulate what they want in
terms of their goals and objectives that are based on an understanding of their issues,
challenges, problems situations and opportunities.
• Stage III: Developing the way forward
- The principle is to help client organisation develop action strategies that is most likely to
support their goals and objectives. This may include stabilisation the organisation,
preparing the organisation for change and only then launching the transformation.
• Stage IV: Getting things done right
- The principle is to help clients learn along the way and then to act on what they learn. The
focus is therefore on helping the client organisation translate their strategies into goal-
accomplishing action and not merely action for its own sake.

(Adapted from Egan, 1994)
Egan’s skilled helper model: Framework for change management
The principle is to help
the client organisation
identify, explore, and
clarify their issues,
concerns, problem
situations, desires and
unused opportunities.
the client organisation
identify and formulate
what they want in terms
of their goals and
objectives that are based
on an understanding of
their issues, challenges,
problems situations and
opportunities.
client organisation
develop action strategies
that is most likely to
support their goals and
objectives. This may
include stabilisation the
organisation, preparing
the organisation for
change and only then
launching the
transformation.
The principle is to help clients learn along the way and then to act on what they learn. The focus
is therefore on helping the client organisation translate their strategies into goal-accomplishing
action and not merely action for its own sake.
IV: Action orientation

Stage I: Understanding the current situation & identifying the
levers for change
valued outcomesleading toAction
1. Story
3. Leverage
for change
2. Blind
Spots
I. Current Scenario II. Preferred Scenario III. Strategy as journey
to success
1.
Possibilities
for preferred
future
3. Commitment to
change
2. Change
Agenda
1.
Possible
strategies
3. Change
plan
2. Best-fit
strategies

Stage I: Understanding the current situation & identifying the
levers for change
1. Story
3. Leverage
for change
2. Blind
Spots
I. Current Scenario
• The story is told through the use of qualitative and quantitative data
collection methods including Root Cause Analysis.
• Thorough root cause analysis lays a solid foundation for balanced
decision making and performance improvement (Rademeyer, Du
Plessis, and Kepner, 2009).
• Qualitative methods includes internal and external individual and group
interviews, written accounts such as diaries or any narrative
information, participative observation and other observational
narratives collected for the purpose of understanding the current
scenario.
• Quantitative methods typically includes surveys, performance records,
financial records, client satisfaction survey and data, absenteeism
records, safety and quality records and audit reports. Any quantifiable
data falls in this category.
• The story should be collected from all relevant stakeholders to ensure
that blind spots are minimized (Kepner & Iikubo, 1996).

Stage II: Crafting the preferred scenario and developing
commitment to change
1.
Possibilities
for preferred
future
3. Commitment to
change
2. Change
Agenda
II. Preferred Scenario
• The responsibility for crafting the preferred scenario forms part of all
personal and organisational change initiatives but is not always given
the required attention.
• Even though top and senior management is usually included in this
exercise all relevant stakeholders needs to be included. Such inclusion
may be limited to how they will be impacted. The RACI provides
guidance in this regard.
• Collaborative problem solving and decision making leads to better
results because those responsible for making it work is more informed
and better prepared for the change (Kepner & Iikubo, 1996).
• Commitment at all relevant layers are required to make the
transformation sustainable.

Stage III: Establishing value adding change strategies and
building the change plan
1.
Possible
strategies
3. Change
plan
2. Best-fit
strategies
III. Strategy as journey
to success
• The brainstorming of all possible change strategies is firstly conducted
at top and senior management level but should also be extended to
other stakeholders required to implement the change.
• It is important to ensure best-fit before the strategies are migrated into
the plan because this will support implementation and achievement of
the desired performance gains (Rademeyer et al, 2009).
• Best-fit is promoted through robust problem identification, formulation
and problem solving during Stage 1 (Kilmann & Mitroff, 1977; Egan,
1994; Rademeyer et al, 2009; Apter, 2014).
• The change plan is not static but a dynamic document which should be
updated throughout the transformation process as new information
becomes available (Egan, 1994).

Stage IV: Getting things done right
valued outcomesleading to…action
• Change is an inclusive process of transformation and dependent on the commitment of all key
stakeholders throughout.
• Change is never a linear process but rather an iterative and messy one that requires continuous
learning and adaptation to the plan throughout the change journey (Kilmann & Mitroff, 1977; Egan,
1994; Rademeyer et al, 2009; Apter, 2014).
• Change management therefore demands the continuous development, implementation, monitoring
and adaptation of the change plan (Rademeyer et al, 2009).
• This process suggests that there is change within change throughout the process (Rademeyer et al,
2009).
• In order to achieve this the first three stages of the client-centered helping model to managing change
are applied during the transformation process with the purpose of keeping the process on track and
moving towards the actual goals and objectives of the overall change strategy and plan, therefore
applying action research as an empirical process (Rademeyer et al , 2009).
• Failing to manage the transformation process through focused change management is likely to fall
victim to the forces of entropy (Egan, 1994).
• At inception the change initiative is threatened by systemic inertia but later entropy threatens to
derail the transformation. The focus should therefore remain on learning and …

Reference:
Apter, B. (2014). Foucauldian Iterative Learning Conversations--An Example of
Organisational Change: Developing Conjoint-Work between EPS and Social
Workers. Educational Psychology In Practice, 30(4), 331-346.
Egan, G. (1994). The Skilled Helper: A Problem Solving Approach to Helping. Belmont,
California:Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Kepner, C.H., Iikubo, H. (1996). Managing Beyond the Ordinary: Using collaboration to
solve problems, make decisions, and achieve extraordinary results. New York:
AMACOM.
Kilmann, R. H., & Mitroff, I. I. (1977). A New Perspective on the Consulting/Intervention
Process: Problem Defining Versus Problem Solving. Academy Of Management
Proceedings (00650668), 148-152. doi:10.5465/AMBPP.1977.4977197
Rademeyer, A., du Plessis, Y., & Kepner, C. H. (2009). Human performance variation
analysis: A process for human performance problem solving. South African
Journal Of Human Resource Management, 7(1), 27-35.
doi:10.4102/sajhrm.v7i1.174
Senge, P.M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning
organisation. New York:Doubleday Currency.

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