CHANGE LEADERS DINNER & DEBATE D I S C U S S I O N H I G H L I G H T S w w w. n i c h e t a l e n t. c o m
T H E R A T E A N D C O M P L E X I T Y O F C H A N G E I N T O D A Y S B U S I N E S S E N V I R O N M E N T I S S T A G G E R I N G, S O T H E R E W A S N A T U R A L L Y A L O T T O D I S C U S S W H E N 1 0 C H A N G E E X P E R T S M E T I N C E N T R A L L O N D O N A T N I C H E T A L E N T S C H A N G E L E A D E R S D I N N E R & D E B A T E, H E L D A T P O P U L A R I T A L I A N R E S T A U R A N T P I C C O L I N O I N E X C H A N G E S Q U A R E. One of our speakers, a Change Director led the discussion in the first half of the evening, probing the reasons behind project failure, while our other speaker, an IT & Business Transformation Director spearheaded discussion on how organisations can successfully deliver continual change and make transformation part of business-as-usual. In Piccolino s wood-panelled private dining room, overlooking the main floor of the expansive eatery, there was a lively and interesting exchange of views involving people with years of expertise across private corporations, local government authorities and government departments. The event was hosted by Niche Talent s Iola Owen, Kim Woolley & Jonathan Lord. This document has been put together to summarise some of the key areas of discussion. Thanks to all our attendees for coming along and joining the debate.
Why are projects still failing at the same rate as five years ago? The Change Director has previously worked as Head of Strategy and Change for another business, where he managed and led the divestment of Business Services from a banking group and contributed to the design and implementation of a new change management approach used by more than 4000 change practitioners. Drawing on his experience, he kicked off the discussion by noting there had been little change in project failure and success rates over the past five years, asking those around the table to provide their views on why they thought this was the case: was it due to ineffective sponsorship, lack of talent development, or other factors? One guest, a contractor to private organisations, said successful projects relied on a triangle of interdependent factors: leadership and sponsorship from the highest levels of an organisation; project management and business change. Getting the right combination of all three, getting the balance right, is key, he said. There was general agreement that getting effective and on-going executive sponsorship was a crucial factor that often posed the biggest challenge while executives could be fine with giving their support at the start of a project, they were not always actively involved when progressing through changes.
One guest noted that, while their company s leadership programme focussed on changing behaviour from the top down, the stumbling block could often be getting the support of line managers. Each of our Directors sponsored one of the programmes, but then there are those managers who are clearly never going to understand, the guest said. [To be effective], the leadership programme needs to target anyone who has line management. If, however, on-going executive sponsorship and support is the key to successful change, and hence successful projects, how to convince those at the top to continue to be engaged when they have so many projects, ideas and people competing for their time and attention? One guest said the answer was communicating the tangible benefits: how will the change/project improve the bottom line? If you perform a process this way, will it mean a quicker result? Is it going to save money? It is also important that the CEO, CFO and the rest of the executive team were doing more than paying lip service they needed to lead by example. One guest noted that, when executives brought in consultants to advise on change management, many saw themselves as outside of the process, when, in fact, their actions were pivotal in ensuring change would be successful. What they are actually saying is: We want you lot to change, because we re not going to, he said. But when you run a change programme, I am going to [focus on changing management] first, so other people will follow. If you don t, all you will get is stagnation.
Embracing Failure to Find Success There was general agreement that attitudes towards failure and owning up to failure needed to change. Particularly early on in a project, a failure could prove to be a learning point which could reduce the likelihood of more expensive, catastrophic mistakes further down the line. A culture of fear around failure, and reluctance to admit errors, were contributing to an environment that stifled innovation. One guest explained how he was in the process of trying to get the CEO and CFO at the local authority where he worked to sponsor an Agile software development process. It s about making failure an acceptable part of what we are doing: it s not a negative, but a learning point, he said. It is one of the most difficult cultural changes that I have seen in our organisation encouraging people to accept the fact that, if don t fail, you are not learning. Another change leader from a local government background agreed, saying that it was usually better to seek engagement and admit failure at the early stages of a project, than to let projects and programmes run on too long before an end product was shown to management. Of course, admitting mistakes is not easy and encouraging frank discussion of errors in a highly competitive business environment requires a great deal of cultural change. A guest who has recently run a large Agile development said that, during a 360 degree feedback session, he asked participants what the most useful thing he had told them during their sessions together. The answer? We don t do embarrassed. Conclusion Change leaders pointed to three main factors that organisations could focus on to improve their project success rate: Ensuring effective executive sponsorship throughout a project s duration, not just at the start Adopting a top-down approach to implementing change Allowing for and accepting failure as part of the learning process It s about making failure an acceptable part of what we are doing: it s not a negative, but a learning point. It is one of the most difficult cultural changes that I have seen in our organisation encouraging people to accept the fact that, if you don t fail, you are not learning. Change Leader Participant
Embracing Failure to Find Success The IT & Business Transformation Director, is in charge of a top-to-bottom transformation of IT capabilities across the two councils to realise efficiencies, manage risk and drive digital transformation. He started off the second discussion of the evening by explaining how he was working towards a model of delivering continual change. He asked the other change leaders what they thought such an organisation should look like. Increasingly, how we measure ourselves against competitors or peers in the industry is rates of change to stay ahead, you have to have a greater rate, He said. What do people think is most important in creating an organisation where change is part of the fabric? One change leader replied that clarity was allimportant: for an organisation to be clear and consistent across its vision, mission and strategic objectives. Another agreed, describing how an organisation that they had worked with had dabbled with several different visions, changing the vision every time the leadership changed, with predictably poor outcomes. In four years, they have pretty much spent the bulk of their money on consultants and have not really delivered anything, the change leader explained. Participants also pointed to the importance of giving staff the skills and resources they needed to feel empowered and make decisions within their own sphere. We are making a transition from a big programme [approach] to continuous improvement, and what we identified is that it is about chain of command right across the organisation, one guest said. Everybody in every single department at every level has to have that continuous improvement mind-set, so they don t feel that they are having a central programme forced upon them, but that they are empowered and responsible for making changes in their own department. Fundamentally, we have identified it is about the mind-set of the company. We will never stop still. We will never stop learning and we will always be changing and improving. Also, if continuous improvement is done in the proper way, it is very cost-effective. It costs a bit to set up [in terms of] training, getting the right people, doing the handbooks, getting people up to speed, but it is a cost-effective way of getting an organisation firing on all cylinders.
Developing a Sense of Common Purpose One hurdle that needs to be overcome was getting over the understandable fear that change would inevitably mean job losses. A guest explained their experience of introducing a consultant to a firm to make efficiency changes, and realising that many employees were resistant because they feared their jobs were on the line. We restructured 70% of our business, and it has created more opportunities rather than job losses, the change leader said. But, when we did process reviews, staff knew that restructure was coming along, and there was that fear factor. Developing a common sense of purpose and understanding amongst employees specifically that everyone was working towards the same goals was crucial. Change leader raised a number of ways this could be done, from identifying sceptics early in the process and working to get them on side, to programmes that involved management and office staff getting a handson appreciation of day-to-day operations, aka taking a leaf out of Tesco s book, as the speaker put it. He explained that, just as some large supermarket chains had programmes which involved sending their head office staff into stores to work the tills and stack shelves in order to get a better understanding of operations, members of his IT team were getting the wider view of council operations by spending time with front-line services. One change leaders said his local authority runs a similar programme with its staff, but he would like to see it expanded to include more people.
Increasingly, how we measure ourselves against competitors or peers in the industry is rates of change. Change Leader Speaker Everybody in every single department at every level has to have that continuous improvement mind-set, so they don t feel that they are having a central programme forced upon them, but that they are empowered and responsible for making changes in their own department. Change Leader Participant Conclusion The experts agreed that there was no one size fits all model for transforming an organisation into one that embraces continual change, but there are some practical steps that can be taken to make it easier to enable transformation in everyday business: Having a clear and consistent vision, mission and strategic objectives Giving staff the resources, and the means to develop the skills, to make decisions within their own departments in line with wider changes Fostering a common sense of purpose amongst staff specifically a sense that everyone is working towards the same goals Thanks again to all our guests. We look forward to inviting you to another Niche Talent event soon.