TACKLING CHANGE IN AN ORGANISATION

We’ve always done it that way...

Yes but the last time ...............

That will never work! Why change what works!

All phrases which could be interpreted as laziness or fear in changing the status quo. How many times are these types of response the default response to any suggestion to change? Wouldn’t it be better to change the default condition to “We do it this way because after evaluation of the possible options, we consider it to be the best”?

If an organisation is operating with processes that have not significantly changed over the years, then it is almost certainly wasting time, energy and resources to some extent. The first challenge is recognising that change is needed. For most organisations, how to tackle the change programme is probably the greatest challenge.

There are many books/training-courses/t-shirts covering the various improvement techniques as well as a plethora of third party people who will offer to sell their package of prescribed toolkits. However, if the change is to be appropriate and sustainable, the key is to spend time up front understanding the organisation, its’ people and culture so that the change programme is tailored to achieve the desired outcomes.

That’s not to say these techniques are not proven and from many years experience of implementation, I can confirm they work well but only if applied in the right way. “Lean thinking” as an example has its’ origins in manufacturing but can be applied in any organisation and is achieving great success in the service sector. The key message of “lean thinking” is to identify the least wasteful way to provide value to the customer i.e. only have processes which add value. Again and again, when processes are analysed, organisations are found to spend 75-95% of their time doing things that increase costs and create no value for the customer.

The power of a properly implemented “Lean thinking” programme is the involvement and empowerment of the employees who develop the “future state” processes – done properly, even the employee who said “We’ve always done it that way” will see things differently and challenge the status quo.

Gerry Cusack