Business Change: Applying The Quad A Model As An Effective Means Of Getting Middle Managers On-board With Change Initiatives
Dec 25
Middle managers are very adept at maintaining business. They focus their efforts on maintaining adherence to procedures. They maintain conformity with procedure. They attempt to attain a productive and balanced business situation. Business change is hard on middle managers because the balance of the work environment is disturbed. Getting middle managers on board with change is very important. The Quad A modelA method referred to as Quad A can help to accomplish this task.
The four stages of Quad A are Assess, Analyze, Affirm, and Authorize. Managers that go through these steps are far more likely to get behind the business change. There are two parts to Assess. Initially, assessment involves overcoming middle managers resistance to change. This is done by creating an understanding of the change that is going to happen. Then the business case needs to be presented to them. They then need to assess the impact to their responsibility areas. The last step is figuring out what problems need to be resolved before a full blown analysis can happen.
The second part of the assess stage occurs once the initial resistance has been overcome. This is where objections against the business change should be aired and listed. This is not just air clearing exercise; there needs to be an understanding that solutions will be created for the objections. The flip side is that there is an expectation that the managers will line up behind the change and participate in solution development for the noted objections. There has to be authority in place to assure compliance with these expectations.
The analysis step is where the nitty-gritty of the plans are gone over. This is the time when impacts are assessed, risks are considered, and plans to limit risk are devised. Business will continue whether there is change or not; as such, a business continuation strategy has to created. Identifying stakeholders and what they are to be held accountable for happens at this stage. The analysis should not be brought to a close until all of the managers are prepared to give a stamp of approval to the business change.
The affirm step is very straightforward. Initially, the managers are required to offer their affirmation of the workability of the change and their belief that it will create the looked for effects. This is useful in generating a perception of support in the managers as well as getting them to admit that they are out of objections. Next, they will be asked to offer an affirmation of the completeness of the implementation plans and the readiness of the resources to enact the plans.
The final phase of the model is the authorize step. This is the juncture where managers are asked to commit tangible support to the project. They are asked to put into writing that they authorize approval of the business change. They send that authorization to the change team and up the chain of command. Frontline supervisors will have both authorizations and the plans distributed to them. This will include a date for the institution of the new process or procedure. As there are always unpredicted problems during change, the middle managers and frontline supervisors will reach an agreement about resolving those problems as they occur.
Once this process has been successfully accomplished with key middle managers, it will need to be repeated with all other middle managers. The hope is that the majority of issues will be rendered moot by the previous experience with the first group of credible managers.
For more information, please see our website: Business Change