In today’s turbulent economic times, many of us will face the need to make significant change. The likelihood is that this will continue for many years to come. The drive for greater efficiency as well as improvements to customer service is critical for survival - regardless of whether you are operating in the public or private sector.

Arguably this is a good thing. The ability to continually improve and develop is a factor that is inherent in all successful organisations. But, the climate we now find ourselves working in makes that an imperative, not an option.

Many employees tell their employers that they’re not good at managing change and that they cannot see what benefit change programmes will bring. Many will choose to stick their head in the sand and close their ears as ‘previous efforts to change have failed to deliver – what makes this one different?’

In our experience, there are 4 critical success factors that will enable organisational change to occur and become embedded as ‘business as usual’. These are:

• Leadership of change that is clear, decisive, consistent and engaging
• The ability to bring change to life. Painting vivid pictures of what the organisation will look like when change has occurred
• Pro-activity at a local level. Not waiting for someone else to do something first. Deciding what to do, what not to do and what to do differently at a team and individual level
• Share what works and what doesn’t. The faster an organisation can learn, the faster it can change.

Leadership – ‘from within’

Change programmes often fail where leadership for change comes from outside. This generates a feeling of being ’done to’, as opposed to being ‘an owner of the change process’. Outside in this context doesn’t just mean external to the organisation. It can also mean outside of that part of the organisation.

Leaders are critical to the communications and engagement process. Messages around a change programme will usually be developed centrally. However, local input is essential to place the messages in context and explain ‘what that means for us’ and ‘for me’ personally.

Leaders must be involved in designing and delivering organisational change. You can be sure that you will not achieve your goals unless they are fully engaged in the process. And they can’t be allowed to ‘hide in their bunkers’ when the going gets tough. They must lead their teams through the change cycle from denial to resistance, exploration to acceptance, as quickly as possible.

What will change ‘look like’ – what’s the journey?

It can be challenging to describe what change will look like. There will be many and varied manifestations. Not all change programmes affect all parts of an organisation equally.

The trick is to engage people with the critical parts for them. Otherwise, the programme can appear daunting, unachievable or even irrelevant.

Accurately describe the change programme at an organisational level. Build a clear, concise picture that leaders can use as a base to cascade relevant messages to their teams. Create bite size chunks against which key messages and success stories can be hung.

We all learn in different ways, so ensure the leadership team understand what will be happening, why and when and can clearly articulate this in their own words. Whilst text is often the favoured route for communications, clever use of imagery backed up by verbal briefings help the messages to come across effectively.

‘Face to face’ time at a team level is critical to deal with the ‘what it means for us?’ question. But don’t always assume that this means ‘eyeball to eyeball’. Technology has developed significantly in recent times and audio, web and video conferencing are also great ways to get the message across, facilitate feedback and answer questions. This is particularly useful where time or distance constraints limit the opportunity to meet in person.

Can I just get on with it?

How many change programmes are just waiting for someone to do something? Once your leadership team have understood what change is required, just let them get on with it. Regular feedback and reporting mechanisms make sure that the programme remains on track.

Remember that the impact of change will be different for different parts of an organisation. Success will come through understanding and empowerment. And you may well find that local teams are able to bring about the change in a better way. They understand their work better than anyone else, so let them own the process locally.

Sharing what works and what doesn’t

Get networks up and running to share what works and what doesn’t. Celebrate success and acknowledge disappointment or frustration. Someone had a go and it worked. Great – share the news, encourage others to do the same. Someone else tried and it didn’t work. OK - what can be learnt from this? Are adaptations required to the change process for some parts of the organisation?

And finally.....

Never assume people have got the message until you hear them reiterate it in their own words!