Some 70% of change efforts fail to achieve their potential so how can organisations ensure that they don’t throw their money away? Nick Fewings, Director of The Colour Works International Limited, formerly a senior change Director with Barclays outlines the path to change management success.
With current economic pressure on profit margins, increased competition from both within the UK and abroad and ensuring shareholder value is enhanced, it is of the utmost importance that companies ensure that any change being implemented is embedded successfully in order to maximise planned benefits. And whether the change is driven by new technology, new products, mergers or acquisitions, the key to success comes down to one thing – people.
The harsh reality:
The ability to manage change effectively is the single most important skill needed to establish and sustain strategic success, however some 70% of change efforts fail to achieve their potential and three of the top reasons are; lack of effective leadership, ineffective project team skills and a failure to actively and effectively educate employees and customers about the change and how it will impact them.
When either one or a combination of these happen, change doesn't last, costs escalate, time is wasted and employees develop a negative view of future change.
Leading change – know yourself:
Whoever is appointed to lead the programme or project will lead it in their own style. Some will be driven to achieve goals as quickly as possible, others will excel in painting a compelling vision of the future, whilst others will want to ensure that all the I’s are dotted and t’s crossed and that there is a consensus within the team before moving things forward.
There’s nothing wrong with this as each of those different styles brings with it great strengths. However the reality is, based on behavioural psychology, we cannot be all of the above and will have a preference, just like we have a preference for writing with either our left or right hand. Some styles will come more naturally whilst others we will struggle with.
The key therefore is to fully understand what your preferred leadership style is and who you need around you to compliment your style and bring skills that you may not have. Get this wrong and you have a strong chance of not obtaining the buy-in and commitment to your project that is required.
Resourcing the project – know your team:
Sometimes you will inherit a team and in the more forward thinking organisations you will be able to resource key players to the project! Whether it is the former or the latter, the key is how to harness the skills of the team effectively.
When building a project team it’s important to make sure that you have a mix of personalities and core skills that will see a project through to completion with positive results. An unbalanced team may have too little of one personality and hence skills and not enough of another.
For example, if the majority have sociable, enthusiastic temperaments and the team lacks those with a more formal and analytical approach, a project which starts out with lively and innovative ideas may not have the methodical staying power to see it through.
Stakeholder management – know your audience
‘There’s now’t as queer as folk.’ An old adage but how true. We’re all different and hence will be affected by change in different ways. The key to success therefore is to recognise these differences and manage the needs of those affected by change accordingly. At a high level there are five main areas to focus on.
1. Clarify the change – manage expectations
Identify early on in the project lifecycle who your stakeholders are. A stakeholder is an individual or group of individuals who exert an influence over the outcome of the project. What the impact will be on them their relative importance and potential hotspots. Once this data is gathered the interaction with the stakeholders then needs to be continually managed.
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate
A communication plan needs to be developed to support the stakeholder groups identified. Communication helps to educate people as to what is happening, how it will affect them and the support that will be provided. It is a key part in developing the appropriate levels of commitment and helps reduce the fear of the unknown, loss and incompatibility.
3. Involve staff
People like to feel part of change rather than having it done to them. Involve them at every possible opportunity and value their skills, experience and feedback. Wherever possible use face to face meetings e.g. workshops, forums and presentations that enable two-way communication.
4. Manage resistance
Resistance to change will occur. This needs to be recognised and managed effectively to ensure that issues are kept in the open and addressed. As soon as things go underground the job gets much more difficult.
5. Track progress
Develop measurements that enable the project to track the progress of change against the main project plan. Is communication effective, what is the level of business commitment; is resistance to the change being managed?
Again based on the fact that we all have different needs and expectations, an understanding of the different behavioural drivers is required to effectively manage the change to the satisfaction of all concerned.
As an example, effective communication will mean different things to different people, some prefer to access information in a written format or from a website and have lots of detail, others prefer the spoken word in a group environment. Others prefer small focus groups whilst others just want to know top level information like what are we trying to achieve, what are the timescales and who is my main point of contact for issues.
As such, it is important that any communication strategy hits the buttons of all the different people affected by the change. The same also holds true for the other four elements that need to be managed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is the combination of both technical project management disciplines and an understanding of human behaviour and dynamics that differentiates organisations that implement change successfully and those who continue to literally pour millions down the drain.
Undoubtedly, knowledge of project methods and frameworks such as PRINCE2 are important however it is when this knowledge is combined with an understanding of human dynamics that you give yourself and your project a real chance of ensuring that your organisation is not one of the 70% that fail.
About Nick Fewings & The Colour Works:
Nick Fewings, Director of The Colour Works International Limited, has over 15 years experience in change management. Formerly a senior change Director with Barclays, his skills and experience have helped organisations successfully deliver change affecting up to 5,000 people in a variety of global and UK organisations.
The Colour Works specialises in providing learning and development solutions across public, private and charitable sectors throughout the UK. More information is available at www.thecolourworks.com or Nick can be contacted via email at nick@thecolourworks.com
