1. A New Direction | 1www.criticaleye.net
When looking to change the culture
of a company, it’s often said that
a CEO has to articulate a vision of the
future that appeals to everyone. It’s a
somewhat simplistic and cinematic view
of the power of speeches, as these ‘visions’
have to be earthed in a reality that can be
understood by customers and put into
practice by employees.
So, when it comes to introducing change
in an organisation, what is the difference
between being a visionary leader as
opposed to just being someone who likes
the sound of their own voice? First and
foremost, a systematic approach will be
required once the speeches are over if
there is going to be any hope of getting
people to think and act differently.
Naomi Wells, Head of Planning and
Sustainable Development at Waitrose, says:“
At the beginning of a change programme,
you need to ask how you’re going to
measure success; how much will it cost to
implement this programme of change?”
Success will lie in the humdrum details. Ian
Bowles, CEO of Allocate Software, says:
“The first thing that needs to be considered
in forming a change management
programme is what needs to change and
why. You then need to consider what
impact – positive and negative – the change
may have on employees and customers.”
Naomi says: “Having a set timescale is one
of the main priorities... knowing you need
things by a certain date and having clear
milestones and a plan so you can monitor
your change programme over its duration.”
Rachel Baynes, Head of Brand and
Communications at Santander, comments:
“Often, enough isn’t done post the launch
of a change initiative. That’s especially true
of senior management... they want to move
onto the next project... But there needs
Embedding a programme of change
into an organisation requires clear
objectives and strong leadership.
Criticaleye speaks to executive and
non-executive directors to find out
how to make employees believe in a
new way of doing business
A New
Direction

2. A New Direction | 2www.criticaleye.net
to be a rigorous, ruthless programme
of work that embeds the change across
everything in the organisation. I’ve seen
change programmes fail before when it is
not embedded in day-to-day performance
management... Every manager must talk
about it in every one-to-one they have
with their employees.”
Employees may nod and agree when
changes are announced. However, the
trick is to get them to believe in what is
being proposed without having to put it in
such black and white terms that it’s either
your way or the highway.
Cheryl Black, Non-executive Director at
Southern Water and a former Customer
Service Director on the board of Telefonica
O2, says: “People have to understand what
you are doing and also why. At O2, we
were talking about turning customers into
fans and we were able to explain to our
people that fans behaved differently from
customers – they stay longer, buy more
and recommend to their friends. All this,
we explained, kept them in a job.”
Alison Esse, Co-founder and Director
of consultancy The Storytellers, says:
“Articulating the case for change needs to
be tied up into a story and brought to life
in a compelling way. You have to explain
why the change needs to happen, how it
will be executed and where the company is
trying to get to and what it will take from
everybody to get there.
“Once that case for change is laid out, then
you can start connecting the organisation
to it and connecting leaders to it. They
can engage their teams with it and start
communicating within the organisation
to empower people to come up with ideas
in line with that narrative, so you are
aligning their actions and behaviours.”
It’s about gaining a consensus, while also
having a plan to deal with the likelihood
of some employees, including senior
management, not being able to make the
necessary adjustments. Mark Parsons,
SVP Business Development UK, Ireland &
Nordics, DHL Supply Chain, says: “The last
thing you would want to do in a cultural
change programme is to force through the
change by removing personnel. That doesn’t
change the culture; it brings in fear, whereas
you want a more engaged culture.”
The danger is that the morale of the
business is broken in the attempt to try
and rebuild it. That’s why a leader must
be strong when it comes to attention to
detail and really think about how a system
can be put in place to build engagement
and belief among employees about why
changes are needed to protect the future of
the company.
Bruce Cox, Managing Director of Rio
Tinto Diamonds, says: “There’s nothing
better when trying to get buy-in than
getting people to build a vision for
themselves, so we brought my direct
reports and other key leaders across the
business together in workshops for three
days or so, to get them to help design the
vision for the new company.”
That’s the key to creating sustainable,
long-term reforms. Annette Burgess,
Commercial Director, Baker & Taylor
UK, says: “Active and ongoing leadership
from the top is an essential prerequisite
for achieving change... Senior leaders
in the organisation must support
what’s being proposed by leading it and
changing their own behaviours.” ▪
© Criticaleye 2013
Leadership
from the top
is an essential
prerequisite
for achieving
change
“
“
Featuring Commentary From:
Contact the contributors through:
www.criticaleye.net
Annette Burgess
Commercial Director
Baker & Taylor UK
Cheryl Black
NED
Southern Water
Ian Bowles
CEO
Allocate Software
Rachel Baynes
Head of Brand and
Communications
Santander
Bruce Cox
MD
Rio Tinto Diamonds
Alison Esse
Co-founder and Director
The Storytellers
Mark Parsons
SVP Business Development
DHL Supply Chain
Naomi Wells
Head of Planning and
Sustainable Development
Waitrose