In Sustaining Change, after the change has been implemented and you as a change leader are looking to stabilize the change, aligning support systems will become critical. Support systems are the:
- policies
- structures
- procedures
- platforms
- systems
- methods
that undergird organizational operation. When you make change in any unit (department, function, etc.) or multiple units across the enterprise, you must give thought to the changes required in support systems and manage these interdependencies to develop understanding and mutual aid. This is called support congruence. Failure to do so may derail your change. An example will help clarify.
You are redesigning a call center to develop a concierge desk – a highly personalized support service for your very best customers. You want your employees to be able to greet customers by name when they phone in, be able to see their recent transactions, and be able to identify and suggest cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. In order to do this, you will need, at a minimum, new screen pops and software tools. This will require significant support from and changes in IT. You also need your employees to function at a higher level of customer support and possess sales skills. This will require the design and delivery of new training from your training department. Without these (and other support systems we can mention) your concierge desk will not work as envisioned.
Organization support systems must be sufficient to the task of supporting the new way of working and must promote the kind of behavior, cooperation, motivation, values, etc. that you intend to achieve. It is not too early to think ahead about what must “change around the change” to make it successful.
Some places to look for support congruence are:
- People systems – will the new way of working require recruiting and hiring new skill sets, assimilating them differently, developing people differently and planning for promotion differently, appraising their performance differently, compensating them differently, etc.?
- Policies and decision-making - will the new way of working require changes to existing rules and assumptions about levels of responsibility and authority?
- IT – will the new way of working demand different capabilities and levels of support to drive performance?
- Measurement – will the new way of working require different metrics that measure different activities and parameters?