Change Programmes, Change Initiatives, Transformational Change Programmes – lots of different titles for making a change in business, and there are many more. So why is it that very many of these change management activities fail? It doesn’t really matter which sector we consider, some form of change activity will have taken place recently, will be in planning or will be due to start in most businesses. Competent business leaders know that in order to survive and grow they need to upgrade their products and services and changing the way they operate is no different as the operational side of a business, i.e. the way it does what it does, needs to fit with its output. So if we accept that change is necessary, why do so many initiatives fail to live up to expectations?
Not Enough Time – Quite simply, despite extensive efforts to work out what makes sense to change, piloting changes and communicating with all who need to know, impatience can still win the day. The change can be deemed a failure if it doesn’t deliver quickly and something else, another change, is started in its place. What of course this misses is that for all but the most basic of changes it takes time to really see the benefits of a change coming through in improved sales, reduced costs, faster turn-round of inventory or whatever it is that needs improving. So, give the change enough time to become the new ‘business as usual’ and measure what needs to be measured to confirm whether or not there was a benefit or not.
Wrong Changes Made – Insufficient analysis up front as to what needs to change can be an absolute disaster if it means that processes or organisational structures change that were working perfectly well in the first place. This does not mean that you should spend months and months analyzing a situation, paralysis can come about through too much analysis, but it does mean taking sufficient time to gauge what is really going on. So how best to do this? Engage with those people and groups who really know how things are and can help design the change. This could be your own employees but equally could be your suppliers and customers. Explain to them what you perceive the issue to be and what you want to achieve and they will let you know what they think.
Changed Priorities – The business environment is constantly changing and each company needs to stay ahead of the game in order to survive and grow. So, if something needs to change then that is not a problem in its own right providing it is the right change and is implemented correctly. The problem here is when one change comes on the back of another which has hardly had time to become the norm and the new change has unintended impacts on the original. Employees can become extremely weary of continuous change that they may see as change for the sake of change and if this happens the engagement you want from them will slowly evaporate. So, don’t overdo the change thing, keep it to only when you really need to change something.
Ego Led Change – Surely the worst kind of change that can happen within a business. Many leaders believe that in order to make an impact and become known within their organizations (or indeed sectors) they must make a change as soon as they arrive. After all, why have they been brought in if not to improve on their predecessor? And to be seen to be doing something significant it goes without saying that the changes that have to be made have to be significant too. Significant changes made with insufficient analysis to boost the ego and job prospects of leaders can have catastrophic effects on productivity and morale. How to avoid it? Make sure you recruit the right person for the job and ensure their objectives and targets make sense – never easy.
Changes can be made that really benefit businesses in the way they operate and improve profitability. Avoid making changes too often, expecting immediate improvements as soon as a change is made, making the wrong change and letting leaders instigate a change just to show that they can and there is a great chance that if you need to make a change it will be a success.
© Paul Slater and Mushcado Blog, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Paul Slater and Mushcado Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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