Back in the 1990s, General Electric (then headed by Jack Welch) successfully conducted – worldwide across all its businesses – a change of culture that included the culture of change, based on simple, commonsense tools such as Facilitation of WorkOut sessions, Town Meetings and the CAP (Change Acceleration Process).
Nowadays there are countless methods of change management in anything from 3 to 4, 5, 6, 7… steps of greater or lesser complexity, but despite this, many programs for change or transformation plans (relating to operational excellence, the information system, taking the company digital, etc.) are experienced as failures over time.
Why do some businesses manage to implement the change necessary to their development swiftly and effectively, while others run aground despite massive investments?
Comparing our experience of change management at GE against our expertise in supporting CEOs and their management teams in delivering projects for change, business transformation programs, or in the successful execution of their strategy, we have arrived at three convictions on the implementation of transformation plans and change management programs.
Conviction n°1 – A Top-Down Initiative. Every change program/project or transformation plan must, at the outset, be a Top-Down initiative. Without the example set by the management team in supporting the change, all the financial or human ressources will not suffice to bring about sustainable change.
Conviction n°2 – An Initiative Steered by the Management Team. The technical aspects of the change implemented must be monitored by a dedicated steering committee, but the results expected from implementing the change must be steered by the management team.
– Firstly, because no change project/program ever works out as planned. It must therefore be possible to adapt the project/program in the light of the realities encountered on implementation, but also to take into account changes in your environment. If the change project/program is of major importance for the business, only the management team will have the power to make the decisions necessary for its adaptation.
– Secondly because, without the unequivocal, manifest and sustained involvement of senior management, the change called for will be seen by the workforce as simply a “fad” with no real implications for the business. If this view prevails, there is a high risk of seeing the situation return to the status quo antewithin a matter of months.
Conviction n°3 – Choose your Change Champions with Care. When these 2 prerequisites are met (and only then), change can be implemented within the organization. Since change can only come from inside the business, the key will be to develop a network of in-house change champions, representing the target population among whom the change is to be implemented. The role of the champions is to locate areas of resistance (and the types of resistance encountered) in order to identify the actions to be taken locally, or globally wherever possible, to overcome them.
Choosing the right change champions is THE key factor for success.
They must be “credible” in the eyes of the rest of the organization. As a general rule, they are high-potential employees (hi-pots), and often those currently contributing to the success of the business. You will need to “free up” these change champions to devote 20% of their time to managing change.
Are you prepared to free up 20% of the time of key members of staff making the business a success today, so that they can start preparing the business of the future?
The answer to this question will send a clear message to the whole business on the level of priority you are giving to the change you want to implement.
Only too often, management teams are reluctant to free up this 20% of hi-pots’ time, for fear of “jeopardizing” achievements to date.
They decide instead to call on others who are less key, or who have time to spare, to play the role of change champion. The message this sends out to the whole organization is that the change project is of only secondary importance, and anything the champions have to say will fall on deaf ears. The change will prove to be a failure.
Other organizations temporize before implementing the change project. Everything is fine for the time being, so why worry? Quite simply because implementing change takes time and will not be hurried. Human nature is such that achieving buy-in requires constant effort over the long term. Some of the businesses who wait until they are in difficulties before launching an emergency change plan will cease to exist, others will make it, but at the cost of huge pressure on employees that will cause a lot of stress and damage along the way, which is bound to result in them missing out on opportunities.
If you have been involved in the implementation of a change project or transformation plan that failed to live up to expectations over the long term, it may well be that one of our convictions was not met!
To sum up, launching the change or transformation program early enough and adhering to the 3 convictions mentioned above will guarantee you implementation that stands the test of time, as well as considerable added value for your organization.
