The ways of engaging people in change are limited only by a leader or manager’s imagination. Any activity that makes a meaningful contribution to the change effort and deepens understanding and commitment should be considered.
However, there are three principal opportunities around which to engage people in this phase of the effort. These correspond to steps 2 and 3 of the Engagement Cycle.
- Helping to collect and analyze data about the current state of the organization in relation to the desired future state, e.g. voice of the customer, current state arrangements (structure, processes, technology, etc.) that enable or disable people from being effective, current vs. required levels of skill, knowledge, and ability, etc.
- Developing alternative solutions to address the gaps (organization and process redesign, development plans to close skill gaps, technical system or technology changes, etc.) and choosing the most viable alternatives
- Enacting the decisions – figuring out how to implement, stabilize, and sustain the alternatives chosen