One of the common challenges Change Agents confront is getting Sponsors to see how their commitment of resources to Change Management can actually make a difference in business results. We hear this all the time from clients who know that projects could be implemented faster and more successfully if they managed the “people-side” of projects with more discipline. We experience it, too, in our own change management consulting.
From ERP and Technology Implementations to Shared Services to Lean Six Sigma and other process improvement initiatives, change is everywhere. But in our experience, only 25-30% of all business changes achieve full benefit realization.
We’ve spent a lot of years in the global Change Management marketplace. Over 35 to be exact. And after all this time, people still don’t seem to “get it.” Day after day, we speak to Sponsors, Senior Executives, and sometimes even Change Agents who still think Change Management is just a buzzword. Or, they believe it is something to be done “out there” by other people. Some still think they can send an email out to the organization announcing a change, and then check Change Management off their to-do list for good.
The concept of Shared Services certainly isn’t a new one. It’s been a popular business structure since the 1980’s. But, even now in 2017, the number of organizations transitioning to a Shared Services model continues to rise. Why? Because the model makes simple, economic sense. If you centralize administrative functions and share them between business units, you will standardize processes, eliminate redundancies and ultimately reduce costs. Sounds easy, right?
Don Harrison, developer of the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM), has dedicated his entire, distinguished career to helping organizations worldwide implement complex changes at speed. Several years ago, he began to notice an alarming trend. Organizations were so focused on getting to launch or “go live” of their initiatives, once they got there, they declared the project over. They checked the box that the project was complete and then moved on to the next.
Change saturation is quickly becoming one of the biggest challenges in organizations across the globe. Our Change Management Consultants see it everywhere they go. “Sure, we can do that.” “Oh, that initiative will improve sales. Let’s get going on it quickly.” While there certainly isn’t a shortage of good ideas out there the bottom line is almost every organization we know has too many initiatives chasing far too few resources.
Why is it after almost every project is complete, the most common suggestion for future initiatives is, “we need to communicate better?” Organizations spend a lot of time and money putting together intricate communication plans, but at the end of the day they hear the same “we aren’t very good at communicating” feedback time and time again. What is it that makes communicating during change so difficult?
Target Readiness is an important element of the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) change management model. Don Harrison, developer of this highly respected implementation framework, lists four requirements for Targets to get to sustained change adoption, whether the individual is a leader, or at the front lines. These include having:
Your corporate culture is the collective pattern of values, behaviors, and unwritten rules of your organization— in other words, it’s the collective Frame of Reference for your organization. Others can copy your products and services. Others can even imitate your marketing. But no other company can replicate your organization’s culture. Your culture is what makes you… you.
Transformational change is excruciatingly complex. These big changes can’t be done incrementally, and can’t be made totally safe. Once you make the leap, you can’t change your mind and go back to the old ways of doing things if it’s not going well! People, processes and technology will all be impacted. Simply put, your organization will be doing different things in completely different ways.
