Change Management: The Knoster Model applied to RevOps

Driving change within a business begins with changing behaviors. Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to deep dive into a couple of elements around process improvement. We’re talking about process!

If you don’t get it look up “Allen Iverson Practice”

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The one CONSTANT thing in LIFE is CHANGE. My favorite book about change is Who Moved My Cheese. If you haven’t read it… here’s my quick summary of it.

"Who Moved My Cheese?"

The book is about change in the workplace and life, told through a simple parable involving mice and "little people" inside a maze.

The story involves four characters: two mice named "Sniff" and "Scurry," and two tiny humans named "Hem" and "Haw." They live in a maze, representing one's environment, and search for cheese, representing life's happiness and success. One day, they find a cheese station filled with cheese. The mice, Sniff and Scurry, continue their routine of searching for cheese even after it's gone, adapting to the change. The humans, Hem and Haw, react differently; Hem refuses to accept the change, while Haw is initially hesitant but learns to adapt in time by overcoming fears and searching for new cheese.

The core message of the book is about the importance of being able to adapt to change, as change is constant and inevitable. It's a call to anticipate, monitor, and quickly adapt to the changing environment. The story encourages readers to overcome fears, let go of old behaviors that are no longer effective, and embrace new opportunities that change can bring. The narrative is often used as a metaphor for dealing with change in business and personal life, suggesting that flexibility and adaptability are valuable traits.

Okay now back to the show

This week I dive into Change Management. Next week I’ll dive into documenting your processes by building both SOPs (standard operating procedures) and policies.

There are many Change Management theories such as Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Theory, ADKAR, Gene Dalton’s theory of lasting change, McKinsey 7S model, Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model and the Knoster model. Most of these theories have been developed by business consultants and psychologists. Today we’ll walk through the Knoster Model.

Change is never simple. But what if I told you that the secret to driving change within a business doesn't rest solely on the shoulders of technology? What if, instead, it hinged on the alignment of five critical elements?

The Knoster Model calls out five elements, namely:

• Vision

• Skills

• Incentives

• Resources

• and an Action Plan.

Alone, change is unlikely but together, they form a potent combination that can ease the team into adopting any level of change. Large changes include reorganizations, layoffs, rebrands, and leader transitions. Medium size changes can include territory rollouts, compensation plan changes, and segmentation adjustments. Small changes may include Salesforce page layout adjustments, new fields, and a screen workflow.

Let's dive into how the Knoster Model might work for you.

Vision: why are we doing this

Vision is where it all starts. Without a clear, compelling vision, why should anyone abandon the comfort (or discomfort?) of the status quo? Crafting a vision that resonates is not about being aspirational but being directional.

Examples of vision may look like this:

• “This year's comp plans were designed to align business outcomes, financial realities of our business, and give you the opportunity to achieve personal financial success”

• “This year's territories represent a significant departure from last year. Each territory is estimated to enable each rep to build a meaningful book of business with proper pipeline coverage potential for to achieve target”

• “We've heard your request for simpler yet effective tooling. Our new contact enrichment tool was selected because it met all of requirements and we believe you'll find it to be easy to use, comprehensive, and increase your selling capacity by saving you time on menial tasks”

Skills: The Toolbox for Success

Imagine asking someone to paint a masterpiece but handing them a single, worn-out brush. That’s what it’s like embarking on a process change without upskilling your team. Investing in skills isn’t a luxury; it’s a lifeline.

Let's say that rolling out a tool like Outreach. If there is no training or documentation the sales team will either fail to adopt the tool or they will try to figure out how to use it on their own.

In the first scenario, failed adoption is a waste of money. It also paints a bad look for operations and sales management. “Why did we purchase this tool if no one is using it”. Reps may not have embraced the solution because quite frankly they don't know how.

In the second scenario, reps are eager to use the solution but don't know how. So they end up figuring out how to use it on their own. They will click here, then click there. They'll add sequences on their own. Either way, the tool can begin to sprawl out. The tool becomes messy to navigate.

Easy solutions for this would be to host a training (or several) or to document the process (Loom videos or a slide deck). Ops can create a list of all the people who need to master this skill and check off whether or not they've been trained.

Often times I hear operators hosting office hours. In my opinion these hardly work for scaling change. Instead it ends up becoming an hour of free time for ops to get work done. Occasionally someone drops in to ask a question but it's mostly lip service. Just my opinion.

Incentives: The 'Why' Behind the 'What'

Human nature is wired to ask, "What’s in it for me?" Incentives align personal goals with organizational ones. Incentives are easy to espouse verbally or in a deck but incentives are truly truly felt when the team gets a crack at trying the new process.

If it's indeed “better” the team will definitely let you know. In a classic project management lifecycle the testing phase is where operators have an opportunity to ease into the new changes.

Reps talk to one another. Reps also listen to role models within their team. One practice to consider is to identify who on the team has influence across the team. Typically this can be the individual who rightfully complains about the existing process. Just because they complain often doesn't mean their influential. In fact, other team members may find that individual to be a distraction. You want to find the individuals who complain yet don't a way to perform well.

Win over those individuals and you may be likely to increase acceptance across the team.

Resources: where does the team go to learn?

For some reason I keep thinking of trying to build IKEA furniture without reading instructions. I know what a table looks like so how hard could it be?

To train the sales, marketing and CS team in a new process, RevOps can offer various resources, including:

1. Training Programs and Workshops: Customized training sessions that cover the new process in detail, including its purpose, workflow, and expected outcomes. These can be conducted in-person or through online platforms.

2. Documentation and Manuals: Comprehensive guides and documentation detailing every aspect of the new process, including step-by-step instructions, best practices, and FAQs. Next week we’ll go over SOPs and policy docs.

3. E-Learning Modules: Interactive online learning modules that sales team members can complete at their own pace, featuring quizzes and assessments to test their understanding of the new process. Tools like LevelJump, Seismic, Highspot, Mindtickle are all tools here. If you’re on the Google Suite and have price sensitivity you could run with Google Classroom.

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