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Vol 31 - No 05 - July/August 2005 Editorial : Sustaining Business Improvement and Change This is a test for me, having to write just a few hundred words on such an involved subject, so how can I convey my perspective? Well, I have created a two-stage model, Strategic and Capability, with three items in each, Selection, Scrutiny, Succession, as well as Chief, Communications and Construction, respectively. My position is that all business improvement and change programmes will need to embrace these key elements, if they are to be sustained. Strategic selection refers to the choice of improvement initiative. I still see many senior business people adopting ‘branded’ business improvement techniques too readily, because of the potential benefits on offer, somewhat driven by a fad because it has worked for others, rather than owning the authentic decision themselves. If you do not personally own the decision, then can you be fully committed? Will you want to be personally involved? When an improvement and change idea is identified, following-on from above, it should be strategically scrutinised to evaluate it critically against other options, to determine which represents the best fit against the organisation’s vision and mission, as well as the existing organisational culture. For example, will the change be inflicted on the existing culture, will the change be tailored to suit the prevailing culture, or will the culture be changed to suit the change initiative? Sometimes we automatically adopt the terminology with a change programme. Lean might mean Continuous Improvement to us, but to employees it might mean sparseness. I’ve seen Policy Deployment changed to Goal Deployment, to give better employee understanding and acceptance. Obviously, not until you proceed down the journey of change will you discover the consequences, not all of which are easy, pleasant or straightforward, and this is often the point when change programmes falter. Looking and learning from others can be extremely useful, not just reading or a cursory visit, but greater immersion in some other businesses can help create a route map of likely consequences, forewarned is forearmed. Strategic succession involves project management and a robust plan. A good change programme should be run, cascaded and measured like a military exercise, with a suitably tenacious person pursuing it with vigour. Scheduled reviews at senior level should be held, in fact in some organisations management meeting agendas are driven by the change programme. Training needs a special mention here, all too often it is down to a price rather than up to a quality level, and this should have been identified during scrutiny. To have the Capability to sustain change the Chief must be completely involved daily, and needs to live the change. This is the site leader. Whilst management by walking about is admirable, it can convey just that, walking about, whereas I see it as more about management by working about. First-line managers too are vital in supporting change, as good ones can help mitigate the negativity, and turn it into raised morale and performance. A variety of different Communications are required to suit employees with different learning styles, and the reasons for change needs to be constantly reinforced, as a way of aligning all employees behind the change. The Chief needs to deliver regular face-to-face communications, as this delivers the authentic message and prevents attenuation or distortion. There is also something about seeing the whites of the Chief’s eyes too! Lastly, the Construction of an organisation can inhibit sustainable change, due to self-preservation in the face of uncertainty by managers, the silo effect, or opposing sub-cultures, and this needs to be understood and rectified, if necessary. I’ll leave it there, the top six Ss and Cs of Sustaining Change. Tim Franklin MBA, MD of Ambiance Consulting Related Topics:
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