Well, it looks as though big changes in our industry, and our livelihoods, are a virtual certainty. The only question is the direction and magnitude of the change that is coming.

There are people around the country whom I hear from each week who believe the sky is falling. Fortunately for me, most of the firms that I work with embraced the positive implications of change long ago and are already adapting to create their own future.

With this in mind, let's take a look at the "why, what and how" of change management through the lens of strategic planning in employee benefit advisory services. In the past 18 months, there has been a growing reverberation around the use of strategic plans to help us become trusted advisers. However, the way these usually get positioned is to simply portray them as another product or tool.

Hello, McFly! Stop selling tools, and products, and services! The strategic plan should be experienced, not sold. It is a part of your value proposition, not the value proposition! As you ask questions and build understanding around your clients' and prospects' situations and what they want to accomplish, let them feel the value of a strategic plan through how you execute the planning process.

Why

What conditions or parameters do you want to change or improve? This question should always be at the center of your strategic planning initiatives. It should be reinforced regularly. At the end of the day, we are in the people business - helping employers attract and retain the best people, and helping employees be as productive and engaged as possible.

So how's this working out for us? We have seen double-digit trend for most of this decade, growing numbers of uninsured and skeptical clients who demonstrate decreasing loyalty over time. And how have we responded? We add (and lead with) more products, tools, and solutions, in an effort to be more competitive. And so do our competitors. All of which leads to a more reactive, transactional environment, where our clients and prospects see us as simply vendors that are completely interchangeable.

We exert huge amounts of energy and resources in the name of becoming trusted advisers, but in reality, our efforts have ultimately done little but reinforce the tactical, transactional image of "skilled benefit technicians." Not that there isn't a need and a role for these, but if that is not what we want to be viewed as, then something needs to change!

I submit that our goal is actually to be a "trusted peer adviser." This changes everything. Stop looking at the world from a granular, insurance-centric perspective. (I guarantee that the advisory firms that are experiencing strong organic growth right now stopped looking at the world through that toilet paper tube a long time ago.) Instead, start looking at the bigger picture of what the employer is trying to accomplish from a human capital perspective. Think strategically, not tactically.

What

Look at the methodology you are going to use to achieve the client's ultimate goals or purpose around human capital. Create the project team and establish leadership alignment. Determine the roles, scope and process each team member is going to use to execute his or her portion of the plan. What needs to be done to assess and clarify the desire and the will to change? Look at the impact of the strategic plan from the perspective of each stakeholder.

Now you are creating a business case for change - something decision makers can relate to, and which they expect from a "trusted peer adviser."

How

Next, design and execute the plan. There are six "levers" for executing the desired change:

* Leadership. It is about trust, inspiration, and challenging everyone to achieve the maximum of their potential.

* Involvement. It is about engaging all of the stakeholders.

* Communication: It is about collaborating and sharing information about the change.

* Learning. It is about us growing and building new skills and competence.

* Metrics/measurement. It is about defining, quantifying, and monitoring.

* Reinforcement. It is about sustaining the behaviors of change over time.

Finally, measure progress and outcomes to ensure that you are meeting expectations and delivering on all of the agreed-upon elements.

As we look toward the future, look at the incredible opportunities we have to make a difference and the unique position we are in to take advantage of those opportunities. As Winston Churchill once said, the pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.