Successful individuals and organisations recognise and accept the need to evolve and change. Several factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic or a recession can accelerate this need and increase the urgency and desire for change to occur. Such factors often light a fire under organisations and force them to consider ways to adapt in order to survive and thrive.

Strategic and operational reviews rapidly shift into gear. Organisations establish project teams to identify what needs to change, when it needs to change by, what it will cost (and save) and who or what will be impacted. With this information in hand the project plan is finalised with a view to moving towards implementation to achieve the desired outcomes. Project management is definitely important – you need to know the scope, key deliverables, milestones/time-frames, budget, risks, etc. but it is only one of the key ingredients required to actually deliver the desired results. Successfully implementing and embedding the change is pivotal to actually achieving the desired outcomes and benefits of the change; and achieving this is highly dependent on the adoption and utilisation of the change by those required to make it real – employees.

In achieving Change Success, there is two equally critical elements that are often undervalued or overlooked.

Active and Visible Executive Sponsorship

Prosci Change Management has been surveying change leaders to identify best practice in successful change management since 1998. In their 2018 benchmarking survey of 1,778 global change leaders (22% were from Australia and New Zealand) the number one contributor to change success for the 11th survey in a row, was having active and visible executive sponsorship. The survey revealed that the most challenging obstacle to achieving successful change was identifying and leveraging an executive sponsor to play an active and visible role throughout the life of a change project. Obstacles such as changes in executive leadership; senior leaders launching the change project and then fading into the background; and executives choosing to opt out of the change itself, were identified by participants as some the most significant barriers to engaging an entire organisation in making a change real and achieving the desired outcomes.

Dedicated Change Management Resources

Prosci’s 2018 survey also revealed that the number two contributor to change success, was having dedicated change management resources. Change management focuses on the people-side of change, with its main focus being the successful engagement of people in the change in order to achieve the desired outcomes. Change, or more specifically the benefits expected to be realised from the change, doesn’t happen on its own. Prosci’s research has shown that success is dependent on the speed of adoption by the employees impacted by the change and the ultimate utilisation and proficiency of these employees in effecting the changes required. In simple terms, you can tell someone what you want them to change or do differently, but if they don’t accept or adopt the change, or they are unable to put it into practice, you won’t achieve the outcomes you are looking for.

Get the mix right – the first time

Achieving change success requires strong project management, strong executive sponsorship & leadership and strong change management expertise. I help organisations get this balance right to ensure they have the sponsorship, leadership and change management expertise required to achieve the results they are looking for.

If you are contemplating the need for organisational change, give me a call to discuss how I can help you and your organisation to achieve change success.