Our experience in various organisations tells us that Change is predominantly seen as “Installing Technology, Processes, or Adding skills with a “just do it” outlook i.e. “Don’t worry about wasting time on people as this is about getting the systems in and working”.
We continue to see a high percentage, almost 70%, of change initiatives failing.
So WHY are organisations not addressing this key factor that is holding back their success?
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Our experience shows that the most dominant reason is a lack of understanding about what it really takes to deliver sustainable change.
Sustainable change is not cheap but it’s a whole lot cheaper than failed system implementations due to lack of take-up by employees to deliver the widespread benefits that the organisation are relying on to meet their objectives.
Prosci studies over several years (Prosci, 2012) have demonstrated a close relationship between effectiveness of change management programmes and the proportion of projects that meet or exceed objectives.
Those change management programmes rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ had an 80 per cent or greater success rate. Those rated ‘poor’ or ‘fair’ achieve less than 50 per cent. They highlight particularly the importance for change success of effective sponsorship, consistent communication, appropriate methodology, properly resourced change support and employee engagement.
Based on the scenario facing you we can help you to design and apply change at various levels: Organisation, Functions, Teams and Individuals.
If you are running Projects, Portfolios or Programmes then some level of People Change is a must to realise the benefits and HOPS provides the demystification and a simple approach to Change Management with the right experts to help you do the job.
Having a very clear and concise reason for why the organisation is embarking on the Change or Transformation is key. Identifying clearly what the change will produce regarding benefits and outcomes is paramount. One of most misconceived ideas held by organisations is that majority of the people know why it is happening.
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The journey starts early and not at the implementation of a system as this is about People, Hearts and Minds; HOPS can support any part of this journey with their seasoned experts, tools and techniques. Our aim at this stage is that you have the right picture that can be shared across the variety of stakeholder groups; identify the communication approach that best works in your culture, current appetite for change, possible challenges and strategies to overcome these.
Our Change team will connect directly with your people as they have personal experience of going through change for themselves and fully appreciate what you will be facing. We have tried and tested methods with the know-how to reduce the level of pain your organisation could be facing.
Our experience of working with organisations highlights that each organisation has its distinct culture and is most likely to land in one of the formally recognised categories below. Where there have been mergers and acquisitions there is likely to be a dominant culture but the secondary culture is also real and may require a level of fusion to make life smoother for all. You may recognise your organisation is dominant in one of the following:
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Understanding the organisation culture is paramount in ensuring the models and approaches adopted further in the change journey are appropriate for your people and heavily supports the communication; it encourages the use of the right language and material to connect fully with the people to deliver results.
How we do it?
HOPS deploys tried and tested accelerated approaches to make sure you achieve the outputs quickly and make sure your team stays on the journey. We create an environment where your people will learn, participate and have fun along the way.
KOPE Framework
It is essential to be clear about how the organisation will change, the impact on stakeholders and departments and the specific changes that will be seen across the organisation in terms of behaviours and outcomes. To do this, we use various models depending on the organisation and the level of detailed required.
Our specialists will take each of your initiatives and produce a Change map and enable the Change Team with the tools, techniques and methods to Prepare for the Change.
We work to understand your current mode of operation and the shift required to your desired future state at a level that is required to ensure that we will be able to plan what’s needed.
Additional things that are required to create a successful outcome:
- Maturity assessment to take on change by the organisation, functions, teams, etc.
- Clear handle on motivational factors and resistance to change.
- Creation of Urgency/Momentum for Change with the right people.
The two earlier building blocks “Need for Change” and “Defining Change” have created a picture of who you are, how your people are likely to react, Pace of Change and what your change programme should include to be successful.
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Now is the time to bring together and align the Programme delivery and Change to produce the Roadmap that will deliver the real capability to take your organisation to meet its goals.
The objective here is to reduce risk to productivity, raise the tempo for change, stay connected with the organisation rhythm, start the “mind shift” in your people, begin the alleviation of fears, have the right coalitions and manage the uncertainty at various levels.
How we do it?
To deliver the comprehensive Change Plan; HOPS will have looked through a variety of lenses to ensure the concerns from a wider perspective have been input to the design. This action prepares the teams with numerous tools and skills to overcome resistance. Your change team will have started their personal change journey in readiness for the wider change.
All the preparation up to this phase has set up the Change for success, and the execution will have fewer surprises for the delivery team and they are less likely to be phased by the challenges. The key aspect that stops change in people is “Fear”, and this could relate to multiple factors.
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How we do it?
Some of the practical hands-on aspects covered with individuals, teams and organisation as a whole are:
Change is an eight step process that takes clients through the implementation; the longevity of each step will vary based on the complexity and business risk of the change that is required.
Urgency – Generating the prominence of achieving the perceived “Change”, the balance shift from a few seeing the need to the majority regarding the necessity of making the new world.
Leadership Coalitions – Pulling together a highly influential team to penetrate the organisation to further the Change goals. This team is comprehensively supported to overcome barriers along the change journey by HOPS.
Goals & Objectives – To involve people in the change so they engage in understanding the organisation’s goals, how they contribute to these objectives and the serious fallout for the organisation’s well-being if not achieved.
Communication – This is one of the fundamental steps and at the heart of any change programme and the most difficult to get right. HOPS pioneer this by creating and leading custom-made communications for clients that can handle the need for all their people. Our contributors specialise in communication media, human psychology and NLP to effectively deliver the toughest messages to your workforce.
Early Wins – These are identified early on, easy to achieve and the organisation should clearly position the delivery of these at the start of the “Change Transition”. Those involved will champion the benefits and become the platform for launching further change and shift the mood towards making change happen.
Strategic Change – This forms the bulk of the change programme and is heavily intertwined with the project/programme delivery. HOPS would have spent a considerable amount of time in the early stages of projects assessing the people readiness of landing the new capabilities into the organisation. The tempo is raised for change by preparing teams and individuals for their new roles or new ways of working and removing the fear of failure. This stage can take many different forms and is highly dependent on the type of change and who is involved, example: needs of call handling staff is different to those who run teams of IT specialists.
Make it Stick – It is easy for people to embrace change initially, but when under pressure they will tend to go towards what was familiar (their old world). As part of HOPS change methodology, we have deterrents to stop people going back to the old ways of working and ensure the support is available for staff to achieve the required competency levels. For more see Sustaining Change.
Share in the Success – During and beyond the Change it becomes imperative to show how your people/teams and functions are contributing to the success of the organisation goals and objectives. HOPS bring with them their substantial experience in producing the good dashboards to demonstrate the client successes that are easy to understand and motivational to maintain momentum for the Change Journey.
HOPS provide further support to ensure that the investment made in Change Management continues to provide benefits well beyond the initial Change required. With the creation of new energy and successes, the culture of innovation is born and a gentle nudge keeps the employees focused on continuous improvement.
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Celebrate the achievements openly by recognising the contribution by individuals, get your HR on board to reward the right behaviours and encourage further improvements to achieve organisation targets.
How we do it?
The implementation of new processes and controls will have provided your people with reins to steer future Business and System changes, and a path for the organisation to make such request. In some organisations, this will be the first time their IT and Business communities will share the same platform to agree on future changes. This co-existence is the nirvana and the closer you get to this state the better for the achieving the organisation goals.
HOPS can support you in any or all of the steps below and make change part of your organisations DNA.:
