Change is hard. Enterprise-wide, transformational change is geometrically more complex. While big changes such as Agile, Mergers & Acquisitions and Shared Services may make strategic sense for an organization, there is no doubt they can be time consuming and incredibly challenging.
Agile, Lean, Digital Transformation, Culture Change and many other similar big changes are all 2nd order, frame-breaking change. People, processes and technology will all be impacted. Simply put, your organization will be doing different things in completely different ways. Large-scale, highly disruptive changes like this cannot be done incrementally. Once you take these leaps, you can’t change your mind and go back to the old ways.
Sound daunting? Yes. But, by employing a structured change management process (like the AIM Change Management Methodology) big changes can be managed and ultimately…successful.
Critical Measures of Success
The end goal of every change no matter how big or small should be full benefit realization. That’s why I am amazed that so many organizations are still getting to “go live,” declaring a project complete and thus, successful. The fact of the matter is, getting to “go live” has nothing to do with being successful. Sure, things may be up and running, but if you look around the organization what has actually changed?
The truth is until you get to sustained behavior change you will not get the financial and other benefits the change is intended to achieve. There is no change unless people change their behavior. And that doesn’t happen at launch!
So, instead of declaring success at "go live," organizations need to re-frame their definition of success to include all 5 of these critical success measures:
When a project is delivered on time, on budget and the technical objectives are met, that’s successful Installation. To reach successful Implementation, the business and human objectives must also be met. These human objectives are the behaviors you seek to see in the future. In other words, what will people be doing differently in the future?
Best Practices for Implementing Big Changes
So, how do you ensure the human objectives of a big change are being met? Here are a few best practices from the AIM Change Management Methodology to ensure success when a big change is on the agenda:
Enterprise-wide, extreme changes are complex. But when you follow a repeatable process like the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM), you will minimize business disruption, increase the speed of implementation, and manage the cultural and organizational risks that are always present. That’s what I call success!
PS - For more information about this topic, I will be holding a Masterclass at #ACMP2019 in Orlando entitled: Enterprise Change is Complicated! Critical Success Factors for Culture, Agile, Lean, ERP’s, M&A’s and Other Big Changes. The session is scheduled for Monday, April 29th at 10:45am. Pre-registration is required.
If you can't attend the Masterclass, or prefer a private meeting, please contact info@imaworldwide.com to set up a time. I will also be at the opening reception if anyone would like to say hello!
I look forward to seeing you all next month!