Call Today
0870 803 4922
Delivering Change Successfully
Business leaders understand that change is the catayst for growth, and failure to grow results in impending failure of the business. How often the growth plans fall short of thier optimal delivery, or even fail completely. This full or partial failure can be attributed to many issues but usually it is the result of falling foul to one or all of the 8 common errors when implementing change.
Eight Common Errors
The truth is that change is painful, difficult and hard work, but necessary. To avoid all of the effort going to waste some things we need to avoid :
- Too Much Complacency - Stuck in the comfort Zone
- Insufficient power in the team to drive the change
- The Vision - Lack Of Clarity
- The Vision - Poorly Communicated
- Allowing the vision to be obscured by obstacles
- Failure to implement milestone delivery points
- Premature Declaration of Victory
- Failure to adopt change as part of the Culture
In a rapid paced, dynamic environment, we do not want to overburden ourselves with precautionary planning, and be overly risk averse, "Fortune favours the brave", so adopting these thought patterns into our everyday activities will ensure that we are not making uneccesary work but we will automatically identify the 8 mistakes and help each other steer clear of making them and more importantly build a culture based on best practice.
The most apparent opportunities or crisis are insufficient to drive change if only the driver can see them. They need to be made visible and relevent to each member of the team driving the change and the staff subject to the change. Without this shared vision of the opportunity or crisis, there will be a lack of urgency, and the needed commitment and effort will not be freely given. To share the passion we must share the vision, human nature is not to rock the boat or upset status quo, thus remaining in our comfort zones. Honest self analysis of our own errors and methods is critical to shaking off the complacency that will embroil and suffocate the most significant and critical of changes. The realisation that in order to effect change we must change is the only way push employees and managers from their comfort zones.
"Do what you've always done, get what you've always got!"
"To make an ommlette you have to break a few eggs!"
We all know the cliche's, but we have to remember change is a journey not a destination and we all must take the first steps out of our comfort zones and embrace the needed changes to adapt and improve.
"Develop and spread a sense of urgency, make it personal to each stakeholder and communicate it accross the organisation"
Top of page
For change to be successful it requires a powerful driving force. A coallition could be derived from senior management, board members, the CEO but ultimately someone who can make the decision to allocate resources and time to the change initiative. The collective group must contain sufficient qudos, in Formal Title, Experience, Skills, Information, Relationships and Capacity for Leadership. To get the involvement of every key stakeholder in the organisation is not only nigh on impossible but also impractical. The group will not consist of every memeber of key personnel, but those who are already on board with the vision and share the passion, it is imperative that a strong initial drive be excerted to break the inertia of status quo, and once movement is gained it must be maintained and accelerated. The hype, excitement and momentum will attract others who wish to be part of the success, who wouldn't. The rest will be drawn in an attempt not to be left out. Groups that lack these ingrediants will show progress for a time, but will inevitably hit apathy, passive resistance where the doubters will drag the momentum to a halt, thus causing loss of interest, progress and drive, to generate the effort to get the drive started again will be a bleak prospect even for the original initiators.
"Start well, maintain momentum and let nothing slow you down"
Top of page
Complex growth strategies result in many supporting projects being conducted often accross departments, divisions, cities even continents. Without a clear vision, that is easy to understand, has defined "benefits if we do/impact if we dont" and holds meaning for all who read it those projects can and will soon become a blurr of activity that either has no direction or has taken the wrong direction. Your vision is important if you want others to help you achieve it, give the time and effort deserving of the driving factor for your change initiative.
"Prepare you vision, make it clear, realistic and meaningful to those you want onboard"
Top of page
In communicating the vision it is worth remembering that actions make a stronger statement than words. Where communications take the form of Meetings, Memos, Emails and Speeches, to truly win the hearts and minds of all staff the driving coallition must all act in a manner supportive of the change and encourage all managers and staff to do so. The impact of this not happeing is increased cynisim coupled with a decrease in the belief that the new change will be realised or bring the benefits promised.
"You must eat, sleep and breath your vision, make it a part of everything you say and do, others will follow"
Top of page
Your path to success will be frought with obstacles to overcome, these maybe people, technology, other changes, resource conflicts, corporate structure or empowerment issues. What ever they are they should be approached with a positive attitude, only then will you stand a good chance of overcoming it and maintaining momentum. Primarily ensure that the team have the power to make decisions and over come thier own obstacles, this will empower them and they will feel more in control, positive and an integral part of the change initiative. Lack of empowerment causes frustration, alienation and loss of momentum, and if your team cannot make decisions there is only one place all of those issues can get resolved....with you.
"Establish a clear, empowered structure, with defined reporting lines and escalation paths, you cannot make all of the decisions alone"
Top of page
Cultural change, which is the ultimate objective, takes time. To ensure that everybody can feel and see the progress being made it is important to identify and create short term wins. These need to be significant for the change direction and measurable in terms of delivery, quality and benefit. The benefits of these short term wins need to be felt by the business, thus enforcing the message again that the change underway is happening, needed and on target, another way of creating momentum. From timt to time an outside force will render a change intiative no longer feasable, if the progress has been supported with shorert etrm wins then the effort already spent is not wasted, and a sense of achievment will still be felt.
"Dot the progress path with quick wins or delivery milestones, thus maintaining progress, increasing momentum and visibility of the change.
Top of page
Celebrating the completion of the first major change initiative is critical as part of the reward process. This reinforces the message of gratitude to all the staff and increases the awareness of the success of making changes. However, the cultural acceptance of the change process is going to take a good while longer to fully embed into the corporate culture. In fact the chances are high that future change intiatives will regress to earlier, unsuccessful delivery methods if the message is not right. coupled with a decrease in the belief that the new chnage will be realised or bring the benefits promised.
"Your first success is merely a step in the right direction, momentum and progression will continue the programme"
Top of page
The first success under your corporate belt, all of the new methods, thought patterns, manamegment techniques are still at the forefront of your mind and have been reinforced by your success, but they are still new to you. They will be polished, adapted and honed over future change programmes, until they cease to become new, and are talked about as....
"The way we do things around here!"
Top of page