Make sure you baseline your change efforts and measure everything

One of the biggest lessons I have learned while implementing change programs time and time again is to measure the behaviours and the trends related to the change. Why? So you can play back to the stakeholders the adoption trends and capture the lessons for when you try to introduce a similar change again. Those measures can also unearth otherwise hidden leadership challenges or culture issues. You get to tell an evidence based story through measurement and learn in a data driven way.

I had first heard the term 'evidence based decision making' only 8 years ago. It was used in a Policy context but seemed to make so much sense when I was thinking about how I always measured my change programs. After all perhaps as a nod to my marketing days, I knew that by providing the Program sponsor with stats and facts when the change was implemented they could talk (or in some cases brag) about how well the change had gone. That would also help build up a good case for change management support in other areas.

I have written about this before. ALL change can be measured. ALL change can have a baseline measure in place, and one of the most fun things to do is to predict the take up rates, the trends and see what outcomes are achieved. I encourage all teams to do this, as it also brings a learning mindset the fore.  It has some of the team reflect 'Was I too optimistic?' , or alternatively 'Was I too pessimistic about the change?'. It also generates interesting discussion which can then lead to more reinforcement activities when required. 

There are short term measures of course that can be put into place as lead indicators (i.e. early indicators) around engagement or understanding of the change, and then some more longer term benefit indicators. For some major cultural changes it can take a longer time in which to embed and gain real traction, so measurement can take the form of checkpoint surveys which will assist in identifying areas to focus on. The reality is, that if momentum isn't achieved in 6 months, there more than likely won't be the level of outcome achieved over the long term that has initially been projected.

If there is a business case that exists (I write this knowing that many do not have that level of justification) if there are any delays of more than 6 months I would recommend the business case be revisited prior to any roll out. That is because of the level of change within and without organisations needs to be considered. The luxury of stable organisations, where change is well phased is an exception if they exist at all at the moment. So there needs to be an agile (lower case 'a') approach to the benefits side of things as well.

It's the beginning of a new year, but also whether you are mid program, or about to go live it is never too late to measure the 'current state' and create that important baseline in readiness for the change to be implemented. And be sure to reference existing organisation measures such as engagement scores, or other cultural indicators to contextualise the change. You may be surprised (or not) at the themes that emerge. 

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