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Welcome to the third 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
David Miller
Managing Director
Landmark For Diageo Change Team
Congratulations to our long standing client, Diageo. The Diageo Change Team who have been trained in the changefirst® methodology have now supported 200 successful projects over seven years.
Diageo were customers of early versions of the approach, and have ensured all members of the Change Management team have been trained in its use. They have also run extensive internal training across the business over the years, from the USA to Australia.
The 200 projects ranged from a £25,000 budget project to outsource distribution of a wine merchant business to a £750million budget project to make the purchase and enable the integration of the Seagram company, jointly with Pernod Richard, for approx £5 billion.
This remarkable tribute to the robust quality of our methodology is just one example of why companies who think of change think of changefirst®.
Change Methodology Transfer
New Appointment
John Parkinson
"This year's change projects that are not implemented, will soon become last year's missed business opportunities, and their failure is often used as the stick to beat leaders with. Getting change wrong is a costly business that carries with it implications way beyond basic financials alone. The real price is often reduced competitiveness, low employee morale and weakened performance. The good news is that the skills can be taught, the appropriate tools can be utilised and the practical application of good practice delivered. I believe that changefirst® provides the finest solutions and people available to make building effective, sustainable change capability truly possible". |
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In our first two editions we examined the results of our Initiative Legacy Assessment and what that meant for change leaders. In this edition we try to answer two questions:
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Why is the rigor, discipline and logic of project management not enough to reach a sustainable return on investment on major projects?
- What change skills do project managers need to be successful?
Hopefully we keep within the spirit of keeping these articles short and thought-provoking. Not an easy combination!
Later in the newsletter we would like to introduce you to John Parkinson, the former MD of Blessing White in Europe who has joined us to "extend our market penetration and increase our network of accredited change agents"
The importance of project management
Project managers are vital to the continuing transformation of most organisations. The need for large-scale technology and process changes means that project managers are at the 'epi-centre' of most organisation's change agendas. While these projects are becoming much more complex and much more expensive they are increasingly the way organisations are led and managed. This has dramatically increased the demand for talented project managers. As a result, across the globe, we have seen an increasing emphasis on project management training as a way to develop talent and to create a common set of standards and competencies. In particular, the development of PRINCE 2 in the UK and PMI in North America have ensured a certified standard for project management competencies.
Why project management is not enough
The problem is that project management is taught and used as a logical process (analysing, planning, checking etc) whereas change management is often a messy 'contact sport' with people learning new behaviours, changing mindsets and giving up well engrained, old ways of working. The result is a common pitfall we call 'Installation versus Implementation'
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Installation is when the organisational processes and technological components of a change have been put in place.
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Implementation is installation plus people are committed and willing and able to change their behaviour to align with the change goals.
Project management without strong change management skills leads naturally to Installation. A realisable return on investment comes from Implementation and that can only come when people significantly shift their behaviour and commit to the new way of working. To support this a survey from the independent IT research firm Gartner Group reported, in 2000, that 80% of major corporate systems investments are not used in the way they were intended to be or not used at all 6 months after installation. In a subsequent study on CRM success rates Gartner pointed to the inability of the organization to change people’s behaviour as the #1 reason for project failure.
So what skills do project managers need to develop to become successful at facilitating change?
While project management methodologies heavily emphasise the criticality of addressing people-centred issues such as commitment building and managing resistance they offer little practical guidance. Our experience is that, with the right toolset, action-centred training and follow-up coaching, project managers can develop these change skills.
The question is what skills do they need? Project leaders who are strong change agents possess a number of important skills. Most critically they:
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help senior executives and managers play an active leadership role that ensures people support the change
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help people in the organisation to see a real personal need for change and to understand the project vision
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identify project stages and activities where high levels of involvement are required and they facilitate this involvement so that commitment is built
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build plans that ensure that people have the necessary skills and motivation to meet the new demands the change brings
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work with front-line leaders and staff to ensure the change is 'biting', where it most needs to, and they develop follow-up plans to accelerate the acceptance of change
Where can these skills be learned?
The Centre for Strategic Business Studies report on Change, Programme and Project Management (2004) states that:
"changefirst's (people-centred) implementation processes are a good fit with the OGC Best Practice Guides (for programme and project management) and would, it is believed, add significantly to successful delivery".
The question for project managers is would they benefit from supplementing their programme and project management skills with People-centred Implementation (PCI™) tools and skills that fit with current methods and are similarly rigorous, proven and robust? We believe that project managers are one of the most important audiences for our PCI™ methodology and whether they reside in the IS function, HR, Finance, Supply Chain or corporate staff areas they will benefit significantly from a structured process to address the people-centred issues generated by large complex projects.
Introducing John Parkinson........
John Parkinson joins changefirst® with responsibility for all business development and marketing. He joined the established team in September 2004 following nine years working with business leaders throughout Europe, on major organisational change implementations. This was in his capacity as a senior consultant and managing director of one of the most prominent international consulting groups in the field of individual and organisational change.
John's experience has given him a unique insight into what makes major change in organisations work. His hands-on design, leadership and coaching of change projects within organisations has shaped his appetite for helping provide long-term change methodology that can truly cause sustained business success. The missing link for him until now (and the reason for him joining the changefirst® team) is the ability to give client companies real change capacity in order that they can continually evolve and embrace change.
Much of the work John has done has been in the field of organisational Values (defining the cultural standards required to deliver business strategies) and the subsequent alignment of activities, performance and individual behaviours. This has shaped his views on the strength and value of the changefirst model for supporting clients; giving context to the 6 critical success factors for successful change implementation (shared change purpose, effective change leadership, powerful engagement processes, committed local sponsors, strong personal connection and sustained personal performance).
His particular belief in the excellence of organisations through connected leadership, strong purpose and employee involvement has already helped to shape his own and many leading organisation's success. If you would like to talk to John directly about how changefirst® can support you and your organisation through change, then please email him in the first instance on: john.parkinson@changefirst.com
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