While many organizations hope a series of informational emails from top executives combined with a few half-day training sessions for end users will work to build Target Readiness for an organizational change, these tactics are rarely enough. The fact is, no amount of communication is going to magically make people change their behavior. And while important, end-user training is just one piece of the Readiness puzzle.
The business value in using a disciplined project management protocol, such as Agile or Waterfall, is undeniable. Project management ensures projects are completed on time, on budget and to scope. And with the amount of investments being made on large, complex organizational change at an all-time high, these metrics are critical. But, what about using a change management process? Is there a value there as well?
Last week our blog article, “15 Common Mistakes Made by Leadership During a Change -- and What to Do About Them” examined the most common mistakes made by leadership during a change. But, Sponsors are not the only ones who are prone to making errors. Change Agents, who are ultimately responsible for an implementation, can also make some very damaging mistakes along the way.
Forbes Magazine recently published an online article, “15 Change Management Mistakes You're Probably Making” written by the Forbes Coaches Council. The article lists their take on the most common mistakes made by leaders and their insights on how to avoid them.
You may be surprised to hear us say that being “change adept” requires multiple capabilities, including, but not limited to, a systematic change management methodology like AIM. It’s true. Change management is just one piece of the puzzle!
Have you ever been in a meeting, talking about change management with an important Sponsor, and slowly watch his or her eyes glaze over? Or how about, when you are telling your Sponsor all about the Reinforcement Strategy, Resistance Management and Key Role Map you’ve put together and they suddenly appear antsy and announce they need to move on to their next meeting. Frustrating, right!?
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A program director from a global industry leader made this somewhat startling admission in a recent call with IMA President Don Harrison: at least 80% of their change projects fail to fully achieve value realization. This really got us thinking about the challenge for Change Agents, and not just at this organization. Where do you start to make a difference when you may not be in a position of organizational power?
Like so many other industries, Pharma is experiencing rapid and highly disruptive change focused on driving innovation and cost efficiencies, all at an accelerated pace. It’s a complex and competitive environment. Clinical process improvement, R&D process changes, re-structuring, new regulatory requirements, and new technology are all more challenging in what is often a matrixed, global structure. What’s more, changes go well beyond drug discovery: transformational changes are also impacting the business side of Pharma.
One of the challenges facing our change management consulting clients is the level of change fatigue across the organization. There is simply no rest from the constant barrage of changes that disrupt past habits, patterns and ways of working. It creates an unprecedented level of organization stress, especially when there are fewer resources than ever before. The change fatigue is further compounded when those Change Agents responsible for implementation confront a history of projects that are initiated, but not successfully implemented.
As organizations attempt to “be Agile” in IT, the PMO, and the business, they’re discovering that becoming an “Agile Organization” is not that simple. There are lots of questions on what actually needs to happen to become Agile, and how to implement what Agile produces.
