Organisation & People Transformation

When going through an important change, managers often perfectly know how to deal with these changes strategically, but struggle to overcome the resistance of employees. This is no surprise, as the impact of an organisational change on employees and their way of working is often significant. However, their acceptance and collaboration are crucial to successfully implement changes on the long term. The key to this lies in involving all levels in the process.

70% of all change initiatives fail due to fear or doubts of employees. Often, these negative feelings result from a lack of communication or clarity. If your people do not understand the change, cannot see the benefits of it for themselves or feel as if they cannot have a say in what is going on, any change initiative is likely to backslide.

This explains why, increasingly often, managers go looking for other ways besides traditional change management models to start a transformation journey. Change is not a linear or top-down process, but rather an inclusive evolution that must involve all levels and is much more bottom-up and rhythmic. After all, if you wish to see a change, you must start with the people who will have to carry out these changes on a daily basis.

Successfully implementing change must take into account four levels of an organisation. This includes:

• Strategic level
• Operational level
• Emotional level (positive or negative, resistance, fear, doubt)
• Formal level (necessary actions, knowledge, tools, support, etc.)

The key in this process is agility. By regularly evaluating how the different stakeholders perceive the steps being taken, you can quickly react with concrete actions to potential doubts and avoid a negative feeling from spreading throughout the entire organisation and spiralling into a bigger resistance issue. Clear and frequent communication is a factor that should not be underestimated.

The success factors of an effective change plan

A change and communication plan that is well-developed yet flexible that is continuously evaluated and adjusted allows managers to communicate effectively and convincingly with their employees to join them in this journey. More specifically, an effective change plan includes the following four success elements:

1. A stakeholder map: who are the stakeholders? How do they react to change? What is the impact on their role? How will you involve them in the journey in order for them to behave accordingly?
2. A strong internal logic: employees are not taken by surprise by all kinds of actions. Instead, there’s a clear step-by-step approach to realise goals in a logic and effective way.
3. A strong external logic: there’s a connection between the different actions that are undertaken, and they are well adapted to each other and can be integrated in other on-going projects. 
4. Employee participation: employees are strongly involved in the change process thanks to co-creation and an open communication stream.

Change Management tailored to your organisation

Thanks to our extensive experience in the public and private sector, we have been able to create a methodology built on various proven frameworks such as Kotter, Kubler-Ross, ADKAR, and 6 batteries of change. Through to our pragmatic approach and in-depth knowledge of theoretical models, we can develop a method adapted to the specific needs of your organisation. Co-creation plays a crucial element in this, resulting in interaction based on mutual trust and strong engagement to succeed.