Change conundrum

THE CHANGE CONUNDRUM

7 TOXIC CHANGE HABITS AND HOW TO BREAK THEM At Gallus, we work with lots of organisations and leaders across a variety of sectors and at different stages of development.

So what do you do when your change programme seems to be faltering?

The one constant that we are asked to help with in virtually every case is change. We’ve seen it all – the good, the bad and the ugly.

Where do you turn if your strategic initiatives lose momentum and fade away over time, or create lack lustre results and perhaps less positive side-effects that weren’t part of the original plan?

Our aim is to help organisations and leaders to develop believable, clear, valuable momentum…….

Change is one of the constants in most organisations across the world. Gone are the times when organisations had time to plan their moves carefully and embed a transformation; episodic change has given way to constant change on a grand scale.

Models, theories, formulas and methodologies are plenty but all too often change is far harder to instigate and embed than might first appear.

There are some typical responses – you may have used them – and if you have, you probably found that they don’t work particularly well or for very long…

Dare to be different and consider some alternatives - we guarantee you will create a desire and even a demand for change throughout your organisation far beyond your expectations…

TOXIC

BELIEVE-ABLE

CREATE A SEPARATE CHANGE TEAM, LABEL IT AS SUCH AND GIVE IT HIGH LEVELS OF AUTHORITY OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE ORGANISATION.

CREATE CHANGE FROM THE INSIDE WITH POSITIVE DEVIANTS!

TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED TO BELIEVE AND SHARE THE FUTURE VISION ‘TOP-DOWN’.

ADD MORE GOVERNANCE THROUGH THE INTRODUCTION OF DECISION MAKING COMMITTEES AND ESCALATION PROCESSES.

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‘Change teams’ have their place but when they become too large and disconnected they make it easy for the remainder of the organisation to leave the change to them. Where change is contentious it is always far easier to work against a ‘foreign body’ than those who you work with on a day to day basis – ‘change teams’ can in fact be toxic to the change you want to achieve. Instead, find your ‘positive deviants’ (those who show a natural inclination to demonstrate the changes you want to see more broadly) and give them the support and space needed to experiment. Shout about their successes and reward their achievements so that others can start to understand the new path forward.

BELIEF IS CORE AND ALIGNMENT IS CRITICAL – DON’T CHEAT! Alignment is always a huge issue in any change programme – if you can get it right you’re half way there. Belief will get you the rest of the way…

People don’t react well to being told what to believe – often they rally against it. Create belief in the change by involving people from the start. Explain why change is needed and get your people to help you work out how the most impactful changes could be made in context.

Word of warning – leaders have far more power than they or you think! They need to be committed, consistent, capable, credible, courageous and aligned. If your leaders don’t believe something can be achieved or don’t subscribe to the reasons why then it won’t happen – end of...

SIMPLIFY It may seem that a greater degree of control will provide more leverage over the organisation, but if you think about it, every decision making layer you add removes the accountability for and impact of change from those who really need to make it happen on the ground. Sense-check your change programme – do you really need all of those teams, meetings and the reports that they create or are they actually a distraction from the real work of change?

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GALLUS CONSULTING ANALYSE EVERY STEP AND MOVE IN THE CHANGE PROGRAMME UNTIL EVERY RISK CAN BE FULLY IDENTIFIED AND MITIGATED, AND EVIDENCE CAN BE PROVIDED FOR EVERY DECISION. BRAND THOSE SPEAKING OUT AGAINST CHANGES AS ‘NEGATIVE’ AND REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THEIR THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS.

SHOE-HORN THE CHANGES YOU WANT TO SEE INTO A STANDARD CHANGE PROCESS AND BECOME WEDDED TO ‘BEST PRACTICE’ AT EVERY TURN.

METRICS THAT MATTER AND DECISIONS THAT COUNT! Paralysis by analysis creates a safe haven for those who are perhaps passively resisting changes. By demanding ‘more evidence’ and delaying decisions the likelihood of change becomes more remote.

Be very clear about the critical decisions involved in your change programme and who should be making them. This doesn’t mean more governance – it means less – being clear about decisions, priorities and accountabilities from the start removes the need for complex governance and multiple decision making bodies.

NUGGETS OF TRUTH AND WORKING WITH THE ENERGY! Alignment yes, but cloning no. It may seem frustrating when a particular group keep bringing up a particular issue which doesn’t chime well with the future you are wanting to create. Tempting as it is to ignore what can seem like a sea of negativity and work directly against it by pushing forward you could be missing two huge opportunities! First, the ‘negative’ message may contain some uncomfortable grains of truth – ignore them at your peril – change programme delays and derailments can often be mapped back to issues first raised by ‘negative’ voices very early in proceedings. Second, why work against this energy, work with it and find ways to communicate the changes that assure, engage and perhaps even make change agents of your negative voices…

BEST FIT IS BEST PRACTICE! There’s a lot to learn from best practice models but in the change arena there are so many best practice models that the phrase becomes impotent. Don’t be tempted to force a standard change process into your organisation at the expense of common sense or previous experience. Instead, dare to be different! Combine the ideas that work from multiple change approaches and create best-fit as opposed to being chained to best practice

GREATER MOMENTUM CAN BE CREATED WHEN YOUR PEOPLE ARE DIRECTLY INVOLVED. ENGAGE A TEAM OF CONSULTANTS TO DRIVE THE CHANGE ON YOUR BEHALF.

THE RIGHT KIND OF HELP – THOSE THAT HELP YOU TO HELP YOURSELF! Tempting as it is to hand over change to an outside group; more powerful change and greater momentum can be created when your people are directly involved and have some ‘skin in the game’.

Consultants have their place, but some see it as their duty to drive complexity, remove accountability and hold the key to change readiness; at times establishing themselves as an almost permanent feature!

Get help? Yes; but the right kind of help. Find partners that will work alongside your people and willingly hand over their capabilities. A great team of consultants should be looking to gradually exit stage left having left a content, capable and confident in-house team….

GALLUS BUILD SUSTAINABLE, HIGH PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTS THAT EVERYBODY CAN BELIEVE IN. With particular expertise in leadership capability and alignment,

An established business with Headquarters in Northampton, UK

organisation design, business transformation and enterprise risk

and offices in London, Manchester and Aberdeen, Gallus work

management, Gallus challenge assumptions, cultivate belief and

with ambitious organisations across the world from a wide

drive positive change by making performance excellence systemic.

range of sectors.

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Gallus Consulting Ltd