The human side of change is the most overlooked area in any change, so much so that 60 – 70% organisational changes fail
This failure rate has consistently remained the same for the past few decades and unfortunately isn’t likely to change by the time we retire.
Humans are the most complex organisms on earth, and even though they have been the subject of study for centuries coming from some of the best universities and research centres, we are still far from mastering this topic. Coming back to the corporate world, humans are party to any change, and whilst transformations focus on making strategy, procurement, delivery and transition to operations a success, they are brushing passed the most important entity…humans.
Team members involved in the change will get commitment from stakeholders, rollout changes and use processes and documentation as guides.
How do you really know the change is truly anchored down and things won’t begin unraveling the moment the project is over?
Here are the 7 Must Do’s to consider before rolling out a change in order to not become part of the fail club.
Many organisations fail from the word Go, because their vision isn’t clear. Employees don’t quite understand it, causing confusion. Ultimately if it’s not clear why the change is happening, people will not be bought in to the change and it will be very difficult to bring people along in the journey. Organisations must not rush the creation of the vision, if it can’t be understood by a 5-year-old it’s not clear and simple enough.
If Kotter’s first step of change (creating a sense of urgency) isn’t fully processed, employees will not see the true need for the change. They will be more inclined to want to stay the same (nobody likes change…right?! Especially when it’s not seen to be a priority). As a result leaders won’t achieve the responsiveness that is needed for the change to be a success. To help negate this organisations should create a sense of urgency by making it clear that the existing situation cannot continue as-is with examples of what a disaster can look like. Introducing an aggressive timeline helps to act as a catalyst for the sense of urgency.
Avoiding boring you with the concept of a Forcefield analysis (but if you’re really interested you can find out here), employees who don’t believe in the change are one of the greatest threats to succeeding.
All change comes hand in hand with critics, however it is very important to provide people with a channel to provide feedback and respond constructively. You can help to get them on board by demonstrating that you have processed their feedback and embedded mechanisms into the Ways of Working to address their issue. Another way to get them on board is to make them part of the team, make them accountable for the delivery of an aspect of the change. If managed correctly, your biggest critics can be your biggest advocates when they become on-side.
Most large organisations have complex structures and systems and can be very fragile, therefore introducing the right pace for the change is imperative. We have seen many organisations try to follow aggressive timelines however often this has led to a ‘slapdash’ approach which is not recommended for operation continuity. On the other end of the spectrum taking a much slower approach to the change will remove a sense of urgency, from that point on keeping stakeholders motivated becomes a major challenge. We recommend working at a pace where there is a sense or urgency, however taking time to ensure all Risks Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies are identified and actively managed throughout the lifecycle of the change.
Changes shouldn’t have to be something employees NEED to go through, it should be what employees WANT to go through. This can be achieved by generating curiosity, encouraging creative ideas, and making it an enjoyable journey for the organisation in its entirety. Opportunities to make the workforce part of the change can be a very effective approach to build enthusiasm around the change.
The communication that wins the hearts and minds of the organisation may not only come from the leadership team, or Line Managers, the most effective communications often come from an esteemed colleague that believes in the change. Effective communications can be encouraged by assigning Change Ambassadors and creating online anonymous forums and workshops.
People are more likely to listen to a stranger that has experience in executing change, rather than their colleague whose specialities lie elsewhere. At the same time change specialists are likely to be brought in as a dedicated resource than a colleague who has a day job and may not even be truly convinced in the need for the change.
Final piece of advice
My recommendation to organisations that are about to roll out a change is to detach themselves from the strong focus on the delivery of the change and meeting project deadlines, and firstly focus on winning the hearts and minds of the workforce which is the most important part. A people and change element should be present in every stage of the change ranging from planning to handover to BAU.
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