Hints and Tips
Vision is critical
Develop a really crisp, communicable vision of the world you want to create. If you don’t, you won’t be taking anyone else along with you on your change journey.
The long-term vision won’t be crystal-clear in every detail, but ensure the immediate goals are. Acknowledge that the vision is a general direction which will flex as the world moves on. But make the way forward clear enough for people to get excited by both the vision and the next steps – while accepting the longer term uncertainties.
Break your vision down into manageable steps, so you can deliver in bite-sized stand-alone pieces wherever possible. The more ambitious the target, the higher the chance that you will never reach it, and the bigger the risk of wasted effort and money.
Starting before you are ready wastes time and money
Create a really clear and measurable set of objectives. If you start a change programme before these are agreed by all the key stakeholders – well, you’ve just guaranteed that you have built inefficiency and re-work into your initiative.
Take the time to plan the work up-front, accepting that planning is real work, takes time and will make your head hurt. Have reasonable expectations of the effort you and your team will have to put into this. Rushing it will cost in the long run. But at the same time…
Recognise when you’re ready enough to push on. In many situations, planning every last detail is fruitless: however much effort you put in, you’ll need to adapt your plans as you go along.
If it’s your vision – it’s your change programme
Devote time and attention to leading and owning your change programme. You are doing it because it will improve the future of your business. Yes, you should delegate as much as you can to a programme manager – but ultimately you will be accountable for success, and you can’t delegate the vision or your leadership role.
Stay in control of consultants and contractors. Use them where there are gaps. Use them to advise and coach you when appropriate. But you must lead your initiative. Don’t let outsiders take over, and shun anyone who doesn’t put a priority on the transfer of skills and knowledge to you (and your people).
Take time out regularly for a reality check
Keep checking that your vision is implementable in practice as a more detailed picture of your ‘new world’ is developed. Be sure it will work in a real world occupied by real people – a world where there are often more exceptions than rules. And keep checking that the cost-benefit equation still gives a sensible answer.
Think ahead to how you will communicate the change. There is no better way of validating the soundness of your ideas than imagining what it will feel like when you communicate them, and how you will deal with objections.
People make the difference between success and failure
Remember that people make or break change: success hinges on the ones involved being excited, challenged and supported; and the ones affected being treated openly, honestly and decently. And have a strategy for handling the handful of people who just won’t accept the change: don’t let them create road-blocks, or an infectious negative vibe.
Use your own staff on your change work as far as is possible: they know your organisation best; and you build a change capability within your organisation. But don’t let them wallow – surround them with the expertise they need to help them succeed, at the same time as developing their skills.
Develop your organisation’s capacity for change. Harness every change as an opportunity to develop individuals, and equip your business to handle the ever-accelerating pace of change in the world at large. Involve people, help them to understand the commercial realities and do everything you can to encourage them to enjoy the ride – now and in the future.