transformation

“Creating and executing the recipe for change”

In this article, I’m going to explore the Stakeholder Preparation stage of my change framework which is primarily all about performing the activities to physically prepare the individual, team or organisation for the changes ahead.  Technically performing awareness or education type activities is preparation, however, I like to think of this stage being more of the ‘to do’ list of the business that they need to complete before any change is implemented.

This series of articles is best read in order, so if you haven’t read article 1, article 2.1 or article 2.2 yet, I invite you to head over and do that first.

“Bringing the changes to life”

You’ve managed to get yourself into a good strong position by having defined the change impacts to understand what it means, you’ve built a solid change plan and mapped it to the various stakeholder groups and you’ve built your change networks and established control rooms to regularly measure feedback. 

In part 1 we covered what resistance to change is, what it’s really telling us, and where the most leverage is in terms of intervention.

In part 2 we will look at how an intervention based on the understanding of how the mind works can make a difference – we’ll explore the implications of really understanding what I’m pointing to here.

The practical implications of understanding

In my previous article about creating change-ready teams, I wrote about the understanding of the state of mind that is the key to preparing your people for change.  If you haven’t read that one yet, you might like to go and read it first – it lays the foundation for the rest of this series.

“Creating your own barometer for change”

It’s a well-worn phrase from Heraclitus:

“Everything changes and nothing stands still”

or otherwise translated: the only constant is change.

If that’s the case, change should be no surprise to anyone.  It’s an everyday, ordinary thing – one could go so far as to say it’s the nature of life - so why do so many teams (and entire organisations) struggle to implement change smoothly?   

“Failing to plan is like planning to fail”

Navigating the waters of change management can be a stormy journey and if you don’t have your map to hand or you’re unable to plot your course and plan your route then all you’re likely to achieve is a series of random events which doesn’t even begin to tackle the age-old question “how does this change impact me?”

“You can’t do this on your own”

On the 9th of June, The Business Transformation Network held a VIP event on Delivering Customer Centric Continuous Improvement, which was attended by Director level transformation professionals from a number of FTSE organisations and alike. 

Below are some of the key thoughts and notes from the evenings’ event, which will give you an insight into the discussion points: