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“In today’s environment, change agility is no longer a luxury but a necessity. The winners of the future will be those who can out-change both the competition and external forces. The current velocity of change leaves us at the doorstep of a new world. In this environment of bigger, faster and more complex change, agility is not an option but a required core competency” – Tim Creasey
It is estimated that two out of three organisational change projects fail. It appears, in some cases, that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Hundreds of books have been written on change management and the guidelines for creating successful change are well documented. You can find perfectly usable change programs online. They may appear different, but all follow a similar approach to change. Change management programs are usually implemented when a company is battling to survive, needs to keep ahead of the competition, or modernise. Organisational change can take a few months or be rolled out over years through numerous change initiatives. Ask any major bank how many change initiatives they are running simultaneously. Most banks are undergoing complete technological and digital transformation to stay ahead. This kind of change affects thousands of people and requires expert management.
Some of the biggest organisational change stories of modern times include Netflix, Lego and Coca Cola. Netflix started out delivering movies to subscribers’ front doors in the late 1990’s, switching to streaming in 2007. Had the leadership of the time not possessed the skills and desire to lead change, Netflix would be long forgotten. Lego has been hailed as one of the biggest turnarounds in corporate history. For nearly 70 years the company never posted a loss. A few short years later, with losses over 800 million dollars, their change program rapidly saw them overtaking Ferrari as one of the most powerful brands in the world.
Change is inevitable and employees should prepare themselves for the fact that change will occur, with or without them. “Fit in, or find work elsewhere”. We interviewed Mr P Moss who was part of the 1000’s of employees who underwent a massive change program in a local organisation. He had this to say:
“I joined this company halfway through their 3 year cultural change program. Having never experienced change on this scale before, I was overwhelmed by the massive transition and unprepared for an environment whose identity appeared unhinged. The old and new cultures were existing side by side.
T-shirts with the theme of the intended new culture were issued for Friday wear making Friday’s the most abhorrent day of the week for me. The garment was ill fitting, badly cut and I hated being told what to wear. I was unaware at the time that my resistance to this change program was causing me emotional turmoil and affecting my overall work performance. I felt exposed and uncomfortable and was not enjoying my job. I felt ‘outside’ of everything.
During a special rhapsodic conference to embed the change even deeper, I felt my regional manager’s gaze from across the room. Our eyes locked briefly and we both recognised that I was purposefully resisting this change. I continued to mumble through the proceedings like an international sportsperson unfamiliar with the words of their beloved anthem.
The theme of this change programme was rebirth. Planting new seeds – awakening new life within the organisation with the expectation of growing into something stronger and more unified, with greater profits and higher yields for shareholders. I had neither asked to be reborn nor did I feel the need for it. Looking back on the experience I realise that no one could really help me adopt and embrace these changes. The change team engaged with me periodically, ultimately I had to make the leap for myself – fit in or accept the consequences. I must have taken the leap unconsciously because it all worked out in the end. I changed my own mind. Not about accepting rebirth, but resigning myself to the fact that I simply had no choice and the best thing was to get on with the job. My own insecurites about my job, in an environment in great transition, was my stumbling block, causing me to resist change on a grand scale.
Shortly after the program’s final stages were implemented, the company refreshed the brand and a new CEO was appointed. Its current financial status proves that with a clear plan, committed leadership, a deep understanding of what needed to shift and enough time to make the changes, effective and lasting change is possible. Although at the time it felt like we were pushing big rocks up a slippery hill.”
The simple fact is that we don’t like change. In the case of Mr Moss, he may have experienced a smoother transition had he joined the company before the cultural change program was rolled out. It is evident that most of the staff in Mr Moss’s organisation had adopted and embraced the change, so its successful transformation was imminent. Mr Moss’s resistance could easily have been a major disruptive force had he occupied a more senior position at the time. Or he could have just been one of those people who go out of their way to derail the process. Effective and lasting change will not take place unless adopted by everyone. All change programs have an adoption process built in. It is vital that we all recognise that businesses must evolve to remain agile and competitive. The change program itself does not have to be complex at all, just very detailed in execution. The more detail, the more likely the change will take hold. At first, the need for change may not be evident to everyone. They may not see the broader organisational needs and feel that as long as their system is working, why change it?
Communication during change plays a critical role, it cannot be emphasized enough. Most change programs fail because of inadequate communication. The more detailed the communication plan, the better. You need to work out what needs to be communicated, by whom, to whom and when?
The acquisition of one company by another and their subsequent merger creates an environment where a dedicated change management plan is critical to success. Everything changes, from reporting lines to roles and responsibilities, even physical locations may change. A change plan would help the both organisations to re-align their respective cultures, leadership styles and general behaviours. Ultimately, only one culture can prevail in this environment and that is a new one.
An effective change plan does not plough through the steps to change regardless of the state of the organisation at each landmark. If the adoption rate is not 100%, or at least close, the next step should not be implemented, until the targeted adoption rate is reached. An acquired company often has to live under a different brand and adopt the values that it represents and the additional ones acquired along the way. Change like this can often be experienced as a clash of two cultures, and if not expertly managed, can cause severe disruption for years to come, or fail altogether.
There will be pitfalls and challenges along the way to lasting change and no two change projects are the same. What is certain is that the basic stages to successful change remain the same: Awareness of the change to come; acceptance and adoption of the change. Change management has been described as “A discipline, based on psychological principles that uses tools, processes and techniques to engage with people and lead them through change, to achieve business objectives”.
A great example of not giving sufficient attention to human psychology during change can be found in the case of a bank that determined that managers were spending way too much time on administrative tasks and not enough with actual customers exploring their needs and matching them with more of the bank’s products. The change team decided to solve the problem by re-engineering the administrative processes, freeing the managers to spend more time with customers.
Fewer products were being sold and managers did not find more time to spend with customers. Upon further enquiry, they discovered that managers did not really enjoy the customer interaction part of the job, preferring instead to sit behind a screen.
For change management to be effective, an environment needs to be built where people are motivated to adjust to shifting circumstances. Leaders need to be clear on their roles in the change process, as the trust of employees will be dependent on the degree to which these leaders live the values that the organisation subscribes to. Ideally, change needs to occur with as little disruption to the organisation as possible. Creating a change ready organisation requires an investment in training and development to begin with (see below). Short courses on change management are the best place to start and will create an awareness of what to expect and how to prepare the organisation for radical change if necessary. Once an organisation has gone through change successfully, they are more likely to adapt to future change more easily.
“If we hope to be prepared for change, we need to develop the requisite skills and competencies, supported by the organizational policies, practices and procedures that will institutionalize our organization’s change capacity, agility and readiness” – Jonathan H. Westover, PHD
With sufficient preparation, any organisation is capable of leading change themselves without help from external consultants. The point is that change should not be seen as an event separate to the day to day activity of the organisation. Rather, it should be considered a relatively normal occurrence, periodically more intense than usual.
Changes; work autonomy and roles, concerns about automation leading to job redundancies, and reduced interaction with people leading to less job satisfaction etc. These may all trigger an emotional response to the change, leading to resistance.
One way to mitigate this is to engage impacted stakeholders in discussing the impact of the changes on their jobs, and how best to handle these impacts. Change Impact Assessments should consider different types of impacts, create an open space for new insights, and explore different Change interventions for addressing them. You can also offer a secure feedback mechanism for any ongoing insights and suggestions around this, once you have positioned the context with identified staff. Don’t let the intangible ‘people’ impacts be a blind-spot in the face of more obvious and tangible system change.
