Question 1

Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) - The importance of understanding attachment for communication

Accepted Answer

Led by Victoria M Grady
The Federal Government in the United States is often volatile and chaotic plagued by constant change.  The Federal Register Index identifies 257 unique agencies.  (https://www.federalregister.gov/index/2015).  The Federal Aviation Administration is one of those agencies.  The FAA is home to more than 30,000 employees globally.
During 2016, the Flight Standards Division of the FAA began preparing for a structural reorganization.  The results of this change would be new reporting structures for the entire division.  There was great attention to this change as it would serve as the benchmark change process for other change initiatives across the FAA.
Study Included:
During June through August of 2017, the authors worked with the Flight Standard Services Division of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) who were in the process of a wide reaching organisational change initiative. From a change management perspective, the initiative was led by FAA Change Management Advisor, who had implemented the Prosci ADKAR high level framework for change delivery.   The Attachment Style Index (ASI) was used alongside the deployed to ensure continuity and familiarity for the parties involved in the change. The goal to understand and transition successfully through DESIRE.  Both quantitative and qualitative questions were included within the survey and all responses were anonymous.
Value Delivered:
The results from the participating cohort recorded a dominant attachment style and also provided insight into a number of underlying change dynamics from which change interventions were formulated. The participants included a group of individuals who were committed to the change at an organisational level but whom for many, were unsure (at the time the survey was taken) of the benefits to them personally. From a change management perspective, this insight informed the communications approach and message on a number of levels. Firstly, the attachment assessment provided additional evidence to support the way in which the participating cohort were recommended to communicate with their colleagues at both a peer and subordinate level. Secondly, having insight to the attachment styles and the associated reactions to the way in which the change had been previously communicated, enabled a set of change recommendations to the content of subsequent communication, given that the attachment style exercise enabled a better understanding of how the message would be received.

Question 2

Business/Process Structure Change Utilizing the Change Diagnostic Index

Accepted Answer

Led by Drs. Victoria M. Grady & James D. Grady
In this case, the change was based on a business process/structure redesign of the organizational units that impacted the Audit Staff, Actuarial Staff, and associated Management personnel. The client was a Federal Government Agency located in Washington D.C.  The key business function of this agency is the protection of retirement incomes of more than 44 million American workers in 27, 500 private sector defined benefit pension plans.
This Study Included:
Selection of the Change Diagnostic Index by consultants/directors managing the change process to provide measurable, actionable data throughout by utilizing two administrations of the Index;
Establish a baseline prior to the change and approximately two weeks after the change was in place and operational.
Staff and Management participation in the Change Diagnostic Index surveys at an overall response rate for invited participants of 62% and is considered representative of those directly impacted by the change.
Value Delivered:
The Change Diagnostic Index results evidenced an inadequate leadership/sponsorship buy-in prior to change process plan development.
The data provided by the Change Diagnostic Index was then used to enhance the project at the onset to increase leadership/sponsorship buy-in.
The Change Diagnostic Index highlighted strengths in the Actuarial department and weaknesses in the Audit department that led to reallocation of resources after new business process integration that resulted in significant resource savings. The Change Index® score for the actuarial dept decreased as the result of reversal of previous change in technology. The reversal of this previous change positively impacted the current Index score for the Actuarial dept demonstrating a decreased need for training/education on current change initiative--- the resources were reallocated to Audit dept where additional training/education was required.
The Change Diagnostic Index provided all employees impacted by the organizational change the opportunity to influence the change implementation plan through the cumulative results of the Index at the baseline and beyond.  This is consistently cited by employees in their respective organizations as the primary motivation for completing the survey.  We attribute this response to our consistently higher than average response rate.

Case Studies

Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) - The importance of understanding attachment for communication

Business/Process Structure Change Utilizing the Change Diagnostic Index