Did you know that according to research from McKinsey and Company, 70% of all change projects fail to meet their original goals?1 The most common reasons sighted are a resistance to change, a lack of clear communication about change objectives and a lack of management buy-in. That’s why members of our Krakow office have been sharing their expertise on change management through a series of employee Lunch & Learns and sessions designed for students from the Krakow University of Economics (CUE). Discover the steps they recommend for increasing your chances of successfully implementing change:
1. Planning: Upfront planning is a vital step in achieving your objectives. When initiating your project, it’s important to confirm your scope by clearly defining the challenge you are trying to solve as a tool to help you understand potential solutions. Then identify which resources will be available, the time required, any associated costs, the potential risks and benefits of the solution(s), and approval to proceed.
2. Define outcomes: Analyze potential options that will deliver the result you want. Keep in mind your solution must also consider the needs of end-users. Also consider, a broad range of diverse views and experiences has proven to create more innovative and effective outcomes.
3. Design the outcome and allocate roles: Outline the core specifications, features and functions needed to successfully deliver the defined outcomes and ensure everyone involved understands their role.
4. Create the elements of your change: Develop the items identified and review your work.
5. Test, Test and Test again! Before moving forward, check that what you have designed meets your defined outcomes. If it does, test to confirm and move to implementation. If it doesn’t, re-assess, adjust and then test again. The key is to always refer to your defined outcomes to help you stay on track.
6. Implement: Kick-off your implementation plan, providing information about the overall goal, guidance key change elements, and major milestones that indicate success.
7. Embed the change: assess outcomes, reinforce change elements, consider feedback and adjust if required: Implementation is often just the start of the process. Particularly for behavioral change, constant reinforcement and adjustments are required. That means continuing to communicate to help people understand why this change is necessary and what success looks like.
“The key to successful change management is planning and clear communication tailored to recipient needs. Additionally, practice is important which is why our sessions are interactive giving participants the opportunity to take on various roles within a project environment. This allows them to discover common project management challenges and to formulate their own lessons learned,” explains Change Management session leader, Ewa Mleko.
“Well managed change is the foundation of our business, enabling us to provide our clients with solutions that work for their businesses. Workshops like these help our people understand how change is managed at BBH and how everyone can contribute, because everyone is a change agent at BBH,” shares Managing Director for Change Management, Jan Hoffmann.
