Designing and Managing Successful Change Programmes

it is often difficult to identify the point at which a change programme went off track. it is unlikely to have been a spectacular rail crash, a dramatic derailment- much more likely that the programme gradually lost its direction.

The original objectives may have become unclear or less compelling; progress in some areas seems to be going to plan but in others making headway is tougher; or perhaps the mechanics of planning changes to the business appear to be coming together but people outside the programme (or even within it) aren’t completely on board.

The Challenge

We have worked with clients facing a variety of such challenges – the leasing company where the change programme had been skewed by focusing almost exclusively on systems implementation; the large-scale post-merger integration programme which had been running for months without sufficient cross-organisational buy-in; and programmes where geographical and other fundamental operational factors had not been taken into account sufficiently.

Often the problems have arisen to some extent as a result of the common misconception that running a programme is the same as running a business and you can use the same managers, with general business skills and experience. The reality is that while it is vital to have the involvement and buy-in of business managers and subject matter experts, it is important to recognise the need to deploy experts in the establishment and management of major change programmes.

Our approach

Our approach starts by working with the client to review, validate and, in most cases, realign any existing programme objectives and plans, including a critical appraisal of the financial business case for change. Agreeing the overriding principles for change is vital before detailed planning can be carried out and the need for and approach to change communicated across the organisation.

Having established the starting point and the objectives of change, then next critical element is the design of the end business state.  Managing the programme to deliver it requires special skills and techniques – but this isn’t the whole story. The initial design, or architecture, of the programme of change itself is just as important.

Our approach ensures that we address the major structural questions around how the business design will unfold – the order in which migration towards the future business should occur – how the change will fit in with business as usual and allow the organisation to carry on working during the transition. The programme is structured in such a way that no gaps exist, no effort is duplicated, the end state and transition goals are built into the programme of work and there is clarity about how each component fits together.

The architecture and design of a programme is the step in business performance transformation that is most often skipped or done in a rush.  To cut corners on this is almost certain to store up problems for the future implementation of the change programme.