WHITE PAPER CHANGE MANAGEMENT ENABLING TRANSITION Member of Grant Thornton International Ltd
TABLE OF CONTENT Page 1 INTRODUCTION 3 2 OUR VISION ON CHANGE 4 3 BENEFITS OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT 6 4 OUR CHANGE METHODS 7 5 CASES 8 6 OUR CHANGE MANAGEMENT TEAM 9 The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking Albert Einstein
1 INTRODUCTION Changes are managed most effectively and efficiently in the form of programs or project. People say: change is the only constant. The environment is constantly in motion: clients demand better service, competitors introduce new products, and governments design new compliancy rules. Organisations will need to improve in order to stay ahead or at least retain their current position. In addition, a company s ambitions will refrain it from not changing at all. A good sound organisational strategy therefore contains both operational goals and change goals. In other words: an organisation sets targets for business-as-usual and separate targets for the changes to be made. Constant changes to regular operations are crucial to stay in business (continuity) and to stay on top (improvement and innovation). A second key element of organisations nowadays to be in control. Not only of their daily business, their risks and their finances, but also of the vast amount of projects, programmes and other changes. Programs managers and project managers will ensure changes are delivered in time, at the right cost, at calculated risks and those they are of the right quality. For short: they make sure that programs and projects are done right. Project Portfolio Managers will ensure the correct initiatives are selected in the project portfolio to maximise the chance of realising the company s ambitions. For short: they make sure that the right programs and projects are done. advises and supports organisations in the set-up, professionalization and management of their projects, programmes and entire project portfolio s. A team of project professionals act as project managers, advisors or project support to help organisations realise their ambitions through change. Our knowledge and experience with methodologies such as IPMA, PMBOK, Prince2, MoP and P3O provide merely as a basis for a customised, pragmatic approach, tailored to our client s needs. We have experience in various industries, such as healthcare, utilities, telecommunications and financial services. Our services focus on: Project Portfolio Management (PPM): a process of subsequent activities which ensures that the right projects and programs are executed the right way and that the intended benefits are realised. Project Control and Project Management Offices (PMO s): an organisational entity which supports individual projects and/or entire project portfolios by providing services, professionalising people and processes and providing management with their required information. Change Management (CM): a dynamic process, enabling organisations to successfully move from the current state to a new status quo. This white paper focusses on Change Management and describes our vision, approach and experience on this topic.
2 OUR VISION ON CHANGE MANAGEMENT It has been often said that change is the only constant. Our environment is constantly demanding that we change our organisation, departments, processes or systems, to ensure that we reach our goals to be successful in the future. If this is true, we better manage changes as best as we possibly can. According to ConQuaestor, change management is not a predefined phase of an advisory process. Instead we say change management is a dynamic process, enabling organisations to successfully move from the current state to a new status quo. We see change as a continuous and dynamic process, in which we do not know - upfront - what type of influences we will encounter or what the impact of those influences might be. We utilise change management to create support, by designing and embedding interventions, and by mobilising positive energy during the change process. An intervention is always strongly associated with exemplary behaviour and shared ambition. Without a clear goal and alignment with the target audience, the intervention cannot be effective. Our activities and interventions parallel content analysis and design processes to implement strategy, to give direction to behaviour and to achieve results. We believe in our distinctive competency to make complex change processes fun. Therefore we use unusual, surprising and refreshing methods and techniques, all aimed at achieving organizational objectives. With our methods and techniques we are able to change behaviour and adjust processes, with the result organisations are not only able to cope with change but also becoming more agile in changing environments and lean enough to adopt new innovations. Figure 1 below represents our vision on change management. Organisational change is influenced by the eight components as stated below. These components are interdependent and may be used in random order. Managing change successfully means that we balance and connect these components, all together with the client. Interventions Strategy Leadership Behaviour Resources Ambition Results People Figure 1: The eight components of change management
CONNECTING THE COMPONENTS Not only managing the hard tangible elements (blueprint) or the soft intangible elements will lead to successful change, but a proper balance between the two is of fundamental importance. Change will not happen according to a specified roadmap, but is a process where several phases follow one another, overlap, or interact. In each phase, we focus on the following related components: Strategy / Resources - there is a plan that needs to be resourced. Strategy / Behaviour / Leadership - there is someone at the helm who sets the course and direction. Resources / Results - with the right resources the results can be achieved. Leadership / Behaviour / Results / People - the right behaviour of the leader makes people follow. Leadership / Interventions - one must believe in interventions in order to reach people s heart. People / Ambition - people can have their own goal in mind that should not be forgotten in the change process. Intervention / Ambition interventions must match ambition, only then change can be achieved.
3 BENEFITS OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT Why should we practise change management? What are the benefits? At the moment that change has impact on behaviour and people s way of working, the relationship between investment and yield arises. The strength of this relationship depends on the type of change. A simple example: assume we are implementing a new IT-system. Technically, the system is up and running, so we could say the project has been successfully implemented. But, if no one will use the system after implementation, the project isn t considered successful, because people did not change their behaviour to use the new system. From a change perspective, we focus on the people side of the return on investment and prepare them so they may actually use the new system. In short, with proper change management we will assist organisations to go through organisational change and increase the return on investment. Investing in change management will make organisations more flexible and more tolerant for ambiguity. In a competitive market, organisations need to adapt and absorb change more quickly to be distinctive and to meet their business goals. Executing change management will educate the people how to respond to organisational change, increases the willingness to change and being open to new opportunities. Change management is adjusting people s behaviour to achieve results. The ability of people to deal with this is a prerequisite for successful change.
4 OUR CHANGE METHODS Change is not a linear process with predefined steps, but consists of phases that follow one another, overlap, or are intertwined. At each stage we focus on the eight components of our change vision to create common understanding by using practical methods and techniques and refreshing interventions. In our work we emphasize the importance of Awareness and Sense. We define and assess what the story is behind the required change and what this could mean for an employee, the department and the organisation. This will be our fundament of the change. In addition we define the Plan which represents the translation of a chosen strategy into a new design and structure as a result of the desired change. Experiencing and feeling the change, by action learning, we consider an important component in the continuous process of change. This influences the speed and effectiveness of Adopting the desired change. Our approach is successful because our consultants drive change. We feel inspired by change and believe in synergy by doing things together. In collaboration with clients and colleagues with other expertise, we develop and create customised change solutions. We think every project contains a change component. This is not always explicitly known and therefore we contribute indirectly to every project with the basic change needs to help customers achieve their successes. We also advise our colleagues on the people side of change in their assignment. We are willing to share and spread our knowledge and skills. An extensive range of trainings, courses and educations, certifications and years of experience ensure we have the knowledge and capabilities to balance between theory and practice. ConQuaestor has built up a broad (international) network and has a team of professionals who keep their knowledge and skills up to date by executing change management. AWARENESS SENSE PLAN ADOPT EXPERIENCE
5 CASES: SOME OF OUR EXPERTISE Our clients not only demand a substantive solution or advice, but more and more also demand an approach, influencing stakeholders using the new ways and methods of working together. Organizations are aware that their success depends on the ability to adapt to new situations. Organizations need guidance and advice in creating enthusiasm and engagement among the stakeholders. They also question themselves how to stabilize after change. If we assume that change adds value, then organizations need to focus on the adoption of that change; otherwise the change initiative will not be effective and costs might outweigh the benefits. We are, and have been, active with change management for several major (international) organizations within different industries. Energy industry Goal: Implementation of the Information Security Management System (ISMS) in line with ISO 27001 What: design of a management system, stakeholder engagement (workshops, communication, simulations, gaming), awareness programs, design of governance organization (staffing, processes, technology, training and education) Result: ISO certification of the Information Security Management System Public industry Goal: Improve ICT services management, and reduce resistance What: Cultural change through process transfer, coaching and development Result: Increase willingness to change Financial industry Goal: Integration projects (professionalization & standardizing) What: Change & Implementation Management training, Training process implementation, large scale interventions, change workshops, awareness intervention Result: merge of two departments into one operational department Retail industry Goal: Execute strategic and operational transition management within projects What: Transition management training, stakeholder engagement, organizational alignment, business readiness, adoption and monitoring of benefits Result: Embedding and adoption of business Health care industry Goal: Redesign and embedding of the primary customer process What: Coaching, process management, large scale interventions Result: Awareness, commitment and meaning
6 OUR CHANGE MANAGEMENT TEAM Simone van Trier Consultant T. +31 (0) 6 100 93 883 simone.van.trier@conquaestor.nl Simone is the upcoming lead change consultant and has more than 8 years of experience in different industries with the people side of change as an organisation coach, processand communication consultant. She believes that people are the most important to drive change. She is the founder of the ConQuaestor change management methodology and training. Her role on this engagement will be to serve as your primary content contact. Robbert Rijssenbeek Consultant T. +31 (0) 6 300 60 127 robbert.rijssenbeek@conquaestor.nl Robbert is a business expert with two Bachelors, two Masters, an MBA and extensive knowledge, skills and 6 years of professional experience in international environments and markets. The combination of his professional (international) experience as a manager in the business, together with his work experience as a consultant makes him a valuable all-round change consultant that knows both fields of play. Harry Klootwijk Associate T. +31 (0) 6 100 41 695 harry.klootwijk@conquaestor.nl Harry is all change- and transition management. He started his consultancy career in 1970 and has a lot of experience in designing and leading complex change processes in profit, nonprofit and public firms. His specialty is to find and adapt non-orthodox and surprising methods to create energy and enthusiasm among all stakeholders in change projects. He loves his profession, he loves his clients and he loves life.