Facilitating change

Senior management are now being asked to address an increasing number of initiatives - many of which can only be achieved if the organisation changes the way it behaves. Such change can be intellectually straightforward to articulate, but experience shows that it is hugely difficult to deliver. One of the key inhibiting factors is winning the hearts and minds of your staff and getting them to travel the journey with you.

• Provide staff with the rationale and vision for the future by producing destination statements that clearly and concisely explain the "future state" and what it means for them.
• Make your vision real by building on existing success, providing examples from other organisations and using pilots and test deployments.
• Avoid a scenario in which the "vision" of the outcome is too generic or too detached from everyday life to really inspire staff and management.
• Don't underestimate the challenge of identifying a path for the programme and the need to get staff to travel with you - this requires a clear strategy and emotional visioning.
• Communication is key - you need a comprehensive stake-holder engagement plan that uses an appropriate set of methods (e.g. briefings, presentations, emails, intranet, newsletters) and is actively managed throughout the transformation.
• Use interim blueprints and checkpoints throughout the organisational transformation to ensure that you know where you are and can demonstrate that the planned change is being achieved.
• Ensure that there is a strong momentum for the transformation, otherwise it will never get off the ground.
• Don't underestimate the challenges of assembling and developing a coherent capability within the programme team.
• Identify and leverage from local change managers, champions and other stake-holders to support and re-enforce the programme's messages.
• Remember that permanent change is best delivered from within the organisation and not by external influences.