Now that I’ve been through the pre-planning and have collected my data, I know the “what”. Now let’s focus on the “who”.

The teams impacted

When I consider the type of change, I need to remember who are all the potential stakeholders in the company who may be impacted. This could be individual people, departments, or organizational units. Just because a product POD is made up of people from multiple departments, doesn’t make them immune to the effects of change.

When I have my list of the people impacted, I need to separate them into 4 groups. Resisters, bystanders, helpers, and champions.

If they’re not included, the resisters can definitely derail a change process. I need to identify them and bring them in. If their resistance is based on a critique of the process, they will have valuable insights that will help me in my process. It’s important for me to talk to them and understand where the resistance is coming from. If I can incorporate their concerns into the plan, perhaps I can get them on board. If not, hopefully I can at least get them to actively commit to the change.

Bystanders are neutral to the change. Generally, there will be more bystanders than any other group. If I identify any bystanders, I should try to build more appetite for the change with them. If I can turn them into helpers or champions, it will only make things easier.

The helpers are in favor of the change, and they will offer their support in technical aspects like data gathering, analyzing, planning, problem solving, or testing.

Champions are in favor of the change, and will contribute in all the same ways as helpers, but they will also be involved in getting more people to be helpers. Identifying champions is important to me because I can get their help in building appetite with bystanders, and turning some of those bystanders into helpers.

The core change team

Once I’ve identified who falls into which camps, I can start to choose people for my core change team. There’s a few characteristics I should look for when I put together my core change team:

• people in a position of power who can secure resources
• people with expertise in the subject, make decisions more credible
• people with credibility who have changed the organization before
• people who can motivate, have vision, will empower the team
• people who can plan and execute well

If my champion is someone that is not respected, that could take away from the change process. It’s best for me to choose people that are respected, with a track record of success, who can mobilize and motivate, and have the skills and authority to execute on the plan well.

Wrapping Up

With a strong understanding of where most people stand in the organization, I know who will need some convincing, who needs to feel heard, and who can help me accomplish these objectives. Next, I’ll discuss how to build the appetite with the team.