Welcome to the second edition of our new quarterly newsletter - Implement.

changefirst provides tailored solutions for clients to build sustainable change capability through knowledge, skill and process transfer. In that spirit Implement will focus on giving you information and advice on how to improve your change implementation performance. We also know you are incredibly busy so Implement will always be short and action oriented

In our first edition we focused on the negatives. We looked at risks to change implementation, and the key actions leaders should be taking to improve their success rates.

For this second edition we have chosen to focus on the positives - reporting on the things that seem to be driving successful commitment building.

Audra Proctor
Partner

Must Read:
"Good to Great" by Jim Collins
To review or order a copy click here

Roffey Park Conference Series
David Miller, Managing Director of changefirst will be speaking at Roffey Park Institute, Horsham about "Creating an Adaptable, Change-Ready Organisation". Date: 10 June 2004. To find out more or book a place click here

Article published in Strategic Planning Society extracted from David Miller's 'Building sustainable change capability' report. To view article click here

Change Methodology Transfer

Here we continue our report on the history of change in organisations, drawing out the important lessons to help change leaders improve their execution of major change. Last time we looked at the key actions for change leaders when dealing with barriers to success. This time around we highlight the areas that drive success.

So, what are leaders actually doing to make their changes more successful?

The survey asks respondents to identify key strengths from a list of 20 potential factors. The results strongly point to five actions that successful change leaders take to drive commitment.

1. Communicating a positive picture of the future that has been created collaboratively, and agreed by the whole team; then working with line managers to help them and their teams understand what their local success would look like in the future
   
2. Setting out clear overarching milestones and deliverables that show people the progress and pace towards the future; then working with line managers and their teams to test and refine those deliverables so they are acceptable and relevant to their local context
3. Building formal plans for the training and education needed to support the change, to reduce people's anxiety around learning the new skills they would need to be successful in the future
4. Formalising the strategy, brand and plans for communications so that people get regular accurate sound-bites; they understand their role in the change; they have a way to feedback their understanding, perception and responses as the change unfolds
5. Addressing the personal needs and concerns of key line managers so that they feel able to provide appropriate local manager support for individuals and teams in their area who are most impacted by the change

Is there anything that successful change leaders could do to be even better at executing their changes; to accelerate commitment building?

Once again the results have proved to be very insightful and point to six actions that change leaders could take to be more successful:

• Communicating the Imperative to Change. To kick-start a change process people need to have a valid reason to disengage from the current ways of working where they feel comfortable and confident and move into the unknown. Change leaders can improve their success by paying particular attention to communicating their dissatisfaction with the current situation, a clear problem or missed opportunity if people don't support the change and the cost for people of not changing.
• Building Informal Influence. In organisations there are people who have disproportionate influence over others. They often have high credibility based on factors such as track record, relationships with senior players, willingness to challenge etc. Change leaders can improve their success by spending more time working with these people to explain the change, persuade them of its merits and finding ways to enrol them in implementation.
• Involving people in the change. Involvement is the most proactive method of building and sustaining commitment for change. When people are involved they regain a feeling of personal control over the change. Change leaders can improve their success by building tailored plans to involve people in aspects of the change that will impact them the most.
• Helping local managers to role model the change. Organisations need to rely heavily on local managers to connect the work done to plan the change at an organisational level to the reality of people having to change locally. This connection is easier if people can look to their direct managers and learn by example. Change leaders can improve their success by assessing, developing and monitoring the performance and behaviour of key line managers.
• Addressing concerns about the financial impact of the change. As change progresses, personal implications become clearer and people perceive that an initiative will negatively impact their financial situation. Change leaders can improve their success by building a plan to either "reframe" perceptions about financial costs or analyse the real impact and provide an appropriate buffer for those people who will be more impacted by the change.
• Addressing people's anxiety about their job. Even when people are behaving positively towards the change their commitment should never be taken for granted. As change progresses resistance can re-emerge, particularly as people understand the detail of how their job will change. Change leaders can improve their success by clarifying for people how goals for the organisation have changed, what impact this would have on their job responsibilities, and helping them build appropriate personal goals.

Benchmark your organisation's change performance

We hope you found this report useful. If you go to our website you can complete this survey. Hopefully this will help you understand your own change legacy and as a result you will be better equipped to meet future change challenges