Change Management Process – Step 4: Enlisting a Volunteer Army
Gary Hamel, management expert and entrepreneur, underscored the need for flexibly minded employees to bring change to an organization when he stated the following:
“You can't build an adaptable organization without adaptable people—and individuals change when they have to, or when they want to.”
Although Hamel advocates for a more bottom-up approach to organizational change, this quote is highly relevant to the fourth step of the change management process, which is to enlist a volunteer army.
The ability to adapt to change initiatives is pivotal to their success or failure. The change management process (CMP) has been tried, tested, and proven effective by consultants, entrepreneurs, and academics.
So far, we have discussed the first three steps of Dr. John Kotter's 8-step guide to the change management process (CMP):
- Step 1: Create a Sense of Urgency
- Step 2: Build a Guiding Coalition
- Step 3: Form the Strategic Vision and Initiatives
Each step of the process plays a significant role that contributes to the outcome. This article focuses on understanding the what, how, and why of step 4—enlisting a volunteer army.
What Does It Mean to Enlist a Volunteer Army?
A volunteer army is a group of identified peers across various levels within the organization. This group wants to be a part of the efforts to get others within the organization to see the value of the change and act on it as a matter of urgency.
As identified in step 2—building a guiding coalition—the objective is to create a team of admired and respected peers to help craft, evaluate, and communicate change initiatives.
Step 3—forming the strategic vision and initiatives—creates the big-picture change vision, identifies the needed efforts, and takes them further by crafting the specific initiatives.
Step 4 brings this all together to enlist a volunteer army that can connect the value and urgency to get started and maintain momentum.
The “volunteers” are simply other professionals within the organization who want to be a part of carrying out the vision and initiatives.
How Can a Volunteer Army Be Created?
According to Dr. John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and entrepreneur, you can enlist a volunteer army by raising a large group of people that are “ready and willing” to drive urgent change.
These are people that:
- See the value, vision, and reasoning behind the logic for the proposed change
- Want to make that change a reality
- Have the knowledge, experience, and social networking abilities to lead the internal forces within the organization
The people who are part of this “enlisted army” for change can and will vary. Typically, the diverse team includes personnel from the organization's top, mid, and entry-level positions.
How Does the Volunteer Army Assist Change Management?
When you enlist a volunteer army, you create a team that believes in the vision and initiatives and leads by example.
The key is to have a diverse pool of talent that shares the vision, drive, and accountability. They support the change outcomes by:
- Participating in change-related training
- Implementing strategic initiatives
- Monitoring the progress of the various efforts
The ability to influence others is key to effective leadership. It relies on communicating and managing relationships throughout the organization. This may involve holding meetings and presentations, showing videos, and sending circulars help to communicate the change message to everyone in the organization.
A guiding coalition may not be able to interact personally with every member individually.
“There's no way a small team can directly influence every touchpoint and interaction. You have to find creative ways to spur action that permeates your organisation.” – Jim Tincher, Founder & CEO of Heart of the Customer
On the other hand, the volunteer army provides the guiding coalition with a network of people at every level of the company who can communicate the strategic vision and initiatives to the broader organization.
Having boots on the ground, therefore, allows change leaders to influence the organization's entire workforce to:
- Buy into the change initiatives
- Collaborate with the change
How Do You Motivate People to Enlist in a Volunteer Army?
Understanding what motivates people to volunteer is key to success when you set out to enlist a volunteer army.
People may be motivated to join because they believe in the project and want it to succeed. But they may also be looking to achieve some personal gain. Others may feel the need to join because a particular person asks them to.
Therefore, a mixture of approaches to motivating people will help bring more diversity as you create your volunteer army.
While motivating people by appealing to logic may feel intuitive, it's also important to recognize other motivators.
For example, to get people to buy in, it helps to encourage them to think of volunteering as an opportunity rather than an obligation. It is also important to appeal to emotions by generating excitement for change, creating a sense of urgency, and appealing to people's sense of self-worth.
Motivating Believers
When you enlist a volunteer army, those already committed to the change effort won't need much convincing. But they may be more motivated by knowing how they can contribute to a successful outcome.
Therefore, focus on the purpose of the change, why it's necessary, and what needs to be done. Encourage people to help solve problems that arise during the change process and come up with innovative ideas.
They may have different opinions on how change can be best achieved. Nevertheless, it is essential to listen and get them to suggest solutions even if their ideas don't initially align with the leadership's perspective. Transparency here is critical to help manage expectations.
Harnessing Relationships
Personal and professional relationships can help motivate people to volunteer for a cause. So, invest time and effort into building relationships within the organization before you enlist a volunteer army.
People may be more inclined to volunteer if a line manager or colleague they know and respect asks them to enlist in the volunteer army.
Motivating Self-Promoters
Employees looking to benefit personally from volunteering will likely respond to recognition of their skills and contribution, professional advancement, and other rewards. Therefore, they tend to be motivated by certifications, awards, training opportunities, and public recognition for their work.
Offering leadership positions when you enlist in a volunteer army will also encourage ambitious employees.
Sustaining Momentum
Once you bring in volunteers, you must sustain morale and enthusiasm through a long, difficult change process. This can be achieved by:
- Creating targets and celebrating wins
- Demonstrating how improvements benefit the company and employees
- Recognizing sacrifices by volunteers and the workforce
- Rewarding individual and group achievements and contributions
Why Does a Change Volunteer Army Matter?
It’s similar to building a guiding coalition in step 2. However, this action takes it even further by building a large team that believes, implements, and monitors the change initiatives.
When you enlist a volunteer army, the organization will benefit from the following:
- Stabilizing the new change initiatives
- Leading by example and mentoring
- Sharing the buy-in of the change initiatives
- Helping to decrease resistance toward change
Helping decrease resistance ties in with the process of unfreezing, implementing change, and refreezing the desired effects, which is one of the fundamental processes of change proposed by Dr. Kurt Lewin, an early 20th-century social psychologist. Lewin’s model can be summarized as follows:
- Unfreezing: Understanding the need for change
- Changing: Adjusting and supporting the change being implemented
- Refreezing: Reestablishing stability by accepting the new normal
Leading by example minimizes resistance and increases acceptance, which is necessary to reach the desired state. The less resistance, the greater opportunity for change initiatives to manifest and last.
Final Thoughts
When you enlist a volunteer army, it helps management form a large group of individuals across many levels and departments to come together to implement, monitor, and maintain change initiatives.
This group can also help create a positive acceptance of the change initiatives and lead by example. Such behavior helps to foster a more positive attitude toward the efforts.
The more positive the environment is toward the change, the less resistance.
When there is less resistance, there is a greater opportunity to unfreeze, change, and refreeze the desired change initiatives to become the standard way of doing things.
Stay tuned to find out how enlisting a volunteer army will help promote the next step—enabling action by removing barriers.
At Viral Solutions we are committed to seeing YOU succeed. It is our goal to grow your business with proven digital marketing strategies that will help your business for the long haul.
Stay Up To Speed in the Ever Changing World of Marketing!
Sign-up today for FREE, monthly marketing tips, loopholes, and news to EXPLODE your Return on Investment!
Share your knowledge and gain exposure by becoming a guest author on our blog! Learn how to write for us.
