OTT Consulting

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Our approach to business-led change management

 

The competitive pressures for managing business-led change successfully and consistently have never been stronger… but managing change successfully is one of today’s most difficult business challenges. Without effective management, change just does not happen.  People are naturally averse to change, until they can see and believe the benefits.  Consequently, unless they are led well, change initiatives themselves will tend to fade away, either before delivering the initial benefits, or because the benefits are transient with people reverting to their previous processes and behaviours.   

 

Critical to business success is ensuring that all parts of the organisation, especially the people, focus on what adds most value; and then, get them to do it.  At OTT Consulting our approach to change management recognises that for any organisation considering or implementing 'change', proper attention to the people dimension is therefore a pre-requisite for success in the change programme itself… it is not good enough to simply project manage the project… the integration of technological and behavioural aspects in a single programme plan is critical to ensure overall control of the change and to ensure that the behavioural aspects are not overshadowed by the more tangible, technological issues.  

 

In developing our approach to business change management we recognise that change is rarely a logical, systematic, sequential or indeed simple process.  The first task of change management is to understand the destination and how to get there.  OTT Consulting focuses on two key components in the process of change:  managing the programme of change itself, which is the 'event', and managing the 'transition', otherwise known as the 'behaviour change' process.  Every change programme consists of a number of stages; each of which will result in achievement of one of the following change milestone states: 

  • When the change is essential

  • When you are change ready

  • When the change has happened

  • When the change has stuck.

Achievement of these change milestone states is only realised through careful management of both the technological and behavioural aspects of change and by detailed planning and control.  The management of each of the stage is supported by fully integrating of the “hard” techniques of programme and project management and “soft” techniques of behaviour change.  However, planning alone is not sufficient.  Our experience of managing business change highlights that it is the effective contribution of people that remains the underlying basis for successful change realisation.  Successful achievement of these milestone states therefore requires that to:

  • Make the Change Essential:  Change must be driven

  • Make You Change Ready:     Risks must be controlled

  • Make the Change Happen:    Energy must be released

  • Make the Change Stick:        Opportunities must be realised.  

Change is complete when a critical mass of individuals in the organisation leaves the old situation behind to embrace, or at least honestly accept, the new beginning.  At OTT Consulting we have successfully integrated the best available diagnostic and planning tools and techniques to provide a powerful framework for managing both the technological and behavioural aspects of change (and the realisation of the change milestone states).

 

However, our experience has been, that at some point in the journey from the 'old to the new' in any organisation, leaders inevitably wonder to themselves 'What is taking everyone so long?'  We suggest this is not a cause for panic but a signal to move back into the organisation and, meeting people where they are in the change process, encouraging, supporting, reassuring, communicating and coaching people toward embracing the new beginning.  Why?  Because it is a continuous challenge to get people to do what it takes to succeed during change, with the difficulties of communication, relationships and differing agendas that characterise all human activities.  Our experience tells us that to be effective in bringing about and sustaining change there are a five 'change challenges', that must be consistently and continuously addressed during the course of a change programme:  

  • The Leadership Challenge

  • The Performance Challenge

  • The Competence Challenge

  • The Culture Challenge

  • The Delivery Challenge

Between them, these five challenges address the requirement to create an organisation that is collectively capable of meeting the challenges of managing future change, while managing people as individuals, and aligning their goals and aspirations as far as practicable with the organisation’s.  At OTT Consulting we work with the client leadership and management to understand the change challenges and the behavioural risks that they and their business face.  We go on to understand the ways in which we can help ensure that their energies and those of their team members are directed towards the change areas which will add most value to the organisation.

 

A presentation of 'Our Approach to Change Management' is also available by request.  If you would like to discuss any aspect of our approach to change management or request a pdf copy please contact us. 

 

 

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