Adaptive Data Governance: The AT-EASE Change Management Approach - Data Governance: Creating Value from Information Assets - page 158

that employees know specific steps that they need to take to implement
data governance. However, they also need confidence in their ability to
implement ideas in practice. In other words, confidence in implementing
the selected steps helps individuals progress from E xploring to A pplying.
During E xploring and A pplying, information needs are narrower and
relate to specific data governance issues and practices rather than the
broader range of information provided during accessing and trying.
Leaders can assist employees in this phase through providing training and
support, and by providing access to information and tools.
Develop Ownership: Seeking and Embedding
S eeking and E mbedding lead to a broadening of perspective as stakehold-
ers continue to learn more and integrate new information and insights.
Unlike the initial stages, employees are more at ease with the new prac-
tices. The link between A pplying and S eeking is labeled caring to convey
the shift toward greater ownership and initiative.
The adaptive lens results in a subtle, but important, shift in the focus of
embedding and sustaining stages to the actions of those affected by the
change. Change agents still need to sustain communication and maintain
stakeholder attention on change for an extended period of time. As new
ideas, practices, and policies seep through the organization, employees
embed them in their routines. However, the focus of the change process
is on fostering ownership in those who will be affected by the change and
how they embed data governance ideas and practices.
This idea of embedding is reflected in some current data governance
approaches. For example, Corcoran (2009) frames the change process in
terms of infusing data governance policies and procedures and letting it
seep. The change management process described for IBM's Data Security
and Privacy (DS&P) (Schell 2012) is based on a mental model of each
individual's journey from initial awareness to general and personal
understanding resulting in a willingness to accept change. As buy-in
increases, individuals take greater responsibility for changing their own
behavior. In contrast to the change agents' efforts to embed in earlier
stages of the implementation process, end users create their own ways
to embed and improve data governance practices. As stakeholders con-
tinue application of data governance practices, their knowledge about
data governance expands. Change agents can foster communication
to encourage knowledge sharing. In other words, stakeholder learning