A simple and practical guide to making business change stick

1. CHANGE SENSE
A Common Sense Guide to Making
Business Change That Sticks
Longmead
Consulting
November 2017

2. CHANGE MANAGEMENT GOAL
• The objective of change management
is to ensure the desired business
outcomes are achieved through all
impacted groups understanding,
embracing and adopting the change.
• Regardless of the nature and scale of
the project there is likely to be a
change to the way people
work. Leveraging change
management principles and outcomes
will improve business adoption of the
solution.
Longmead
Consulting

3. LIVE BY PRINCIPLES
Agree and personalise principles in your business that lead to sustained
benefits through change. The following is an example agreed with a client.
There must always be a clear and compelling reason for the need to change
and view on what success looks like.
Sponsors are accountable for change success and will have the authority,
influence and ability to direct and champion the change.
The active, positive influence of leaders is critical to successful adoption of
the change.
We will engage people in the change. We will never underestimate the
power of the status quo.
We will seek to understand perspectives and starting points and the
combined impact change.
Realising the benefits and making the change last will not be left to chance.
We recognise one size doesn’t fit all and will tailor our approach to the
nature, complexity and prior experience of the change
Longmead
Consulting

4. KEY CHANGE QUESTIONS
WHY CHANGE?
Why?
Vision and Case
for Change
Who?
Stakeholders,
Influencers and
Impacted Groups
What?
Impacts
Understood and
planned for
How?
Comms,
Engagement,
Training,
Readiness and
Embedding
• Our first guiding principle is “There must always be
a clear and compelling reason for the need to
change and view on what success looks like.”
• A clear, compelling, believable case of change is
crucial for many reasons.
• It sets the scene for the business case and
the target business outcomes
• It is also key to creating the ‘change story’
that drives the engagement activities to
ensure people adopt the change
• Remember that the vision and case for
change should make clear why we can’t stay
in the current state as well as what is
attractive about the future state
• The vision and key messages need to be used to
create awareness of the need for the change as
well as desire to adopt the change. We will never
underestimate the power of the status quo.

5. KEY CHANGE QUESTIONS
WHO IS CHANGING?
• It is essential to understand all relevant groups
and teams impacted by the change and how
• The active, positive influence of leaders is critical
to successful adoption of the change.
• We will understand who the key influencers are
and engage them to lead the change
• The consistent support of sponsors and business
leaders, including the line managers of those
impacted is critical to every stage – i.e. to prepare
the way for the change, to lead through the
implementation of the change and to embed and
reinforce new ways of working
• We will engage people in the change. We will
understand what the change means for them.
Why?
Vision and Case
for Change
Who?
Stakeholders,
Influencers and
Impacted Groups
What?
Impacts
Understood and
planned for
How?
Comms,
Engagement,
Training,
Readiness and
Embedding

6. KEY CHANGE QUESTIONS
WHAT IS CHANGING?
• Understanding what is changing for the impacted
teams and what it means for them in detail is
critical for successful change adoption.
• We will seek to understand perspectives and
starting points and the combined impact of
change.
• This is central to our diagram as understanding
what is changing will drive who needs to change,
who will influence the adoption of the change and
how we take action to ensure people have the
knowledge of what they need to do differently and
the proven ability to make the change and stick
with the new ways of working.
• A structured approach to high level and team level
impact assessment will be used
Why?
Vision and Case
for Change
Who?
Stakeholders,
Influencers and
Impacted Groups
What?
Impacts
Understood and
planned for
How?
Comms,
Engagement,
Training,
Readiness and
Embedding

7. KEY CHANGE QUESTIONS
HOW WILL WE CHANGE?
• We recognise one size doesn’t fit all and will tailor
our approach to the nature, complexity and prior
experience of the change.
• Change management isn’t a bolt on. Our simple
complexity assessment will help indicate whether
dedicated change management resource is
needed. However, realising the benefits and
making the change last will not be left to chance
and will always be planned for.
• Communications that will lead to an engaged
workforce ready for the change will be a key part
of any project
• Leadership, engagement and training plans will be
focused on the changes required as identified
through the impact analysis
• Readiness of the business areas will be confirmed
before ‘going live’ and will include the planning of
reinforcement actions to embed the change
Why?
Vision and Case
for Change
Who?
Stakeholders,
Influencers and
Impacted Groups
What?
Impacts
Understood and
planned for
How?
Comms,
Engagement,
Training,
Readiness and
Embedding

8. STAGE OUTCOMES CHECKLIST
Longmead
Consulting
 Shared vision and compelling
business case
 Strategically aligned initiative with
clear goals and scope
 Engaged, empowered sponsors to
lead the change
 Commitment to proceed, including
funding and resources
 Approach tailored to scale and
nature of the change, including
governance and team
 Change impact assessed and
planned for.
 Baseline performance understood
and target state KPIs agreed
 Active sponsorship to lead the business
through the change
 Ongoing business engagement and
involvement in design and delivery
 Milestones that reflect business change
outcomes
 Outcome led communications and
engagement
 Active participation of change agents/
champions
 Mobilisation of leaders through the
change
 Management of the full change impact
on teams (processes, organisation,
systems, performance measurement)
 An engaged workforce ready for the
change
 Continued active
sponsorship and leadership
support
 Continued two way
communication and
engagement throughout
implementation
 Business adoption of the
change
 Pre and post transition
performance reviewed
 Ongoing benefits
measurement
 Actions to embed and
reinforce the change taken,
including improvement plan
Outcomes
Prepare for change Manage the change Reinforce the change

9. GARY CHILVERS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/garychilvers/
Longmead
Consulting