CITI - partners in change » Change management

Director of wealth management in a bank was handed an unmanageable portfolio of work

Paul Ashton — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:27:04 +0000

A newly appointed director of wealth management in a bank was handed an unmanageable portfolio of work. He attempted to gain agreement from the management team on prioritising projects. This proved to be impossible because of conflicting agendas and very differing views as to what was ‘important’. Working with the management team, agreement was gained on the prioritisation criteria whilst ensuring all involved had a common understanding about what was being done and why. This allowed for a significant ‘cleansing’ of the portfolio and acceptance of where scarce resource needed to be deployed.

Some observations on the Stafford Hospital report

Thomas Docker — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:55:12 +0000

At a time when Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony has led to much overseas interest in the National Health Service (NHS) model, the report from the inquiry chaired by Robert Francis QC on Stafford Hospital has many hard-hitting findings and recommendations (access to full report).

One of the factors identified in the report that contributed to the poor level of care in Stafford Hospital was the constant upheaval the NHS is in.

The CIPD/simplyhealth 2011 absence management survey (get report from CIPD) gives the average number of days absence for public services as 9.1 days per year. Although this is a half-day reduction on the previous year, it is significantly higher than the private sector. A particular challenge identified in the public sector is the sheer amount of major change and restructuring, and it is suggested this could be the root cause for the relatively high level of absence.

In analysing the report, the BBC make the following three observations, that are worth highlighting (BBC insight):

The inquiry report said Stafford was “not an event of such rarity or improbability that it would be safe to assume that it has not been and will not be repeated”.
To move forward, the report called for a “fundamental change” in culture whereby patients were put first.
This would require a commitment from all those working and connected to the health service to make sure they put this at the heart of everything they do.

This poses many real challenges for the various trusts in the NHS, which is where most of the changes need to be made, as the recommendation is that any necessary changes are done within the existing NHS structure. Should the change be driven bottom-up, from the perspective of the individual patient, who typically wants a local service, within a general, national framework? If so, what would be the implications on change management skills within the local trusts? Also, the need for successful delivery through projects and programmes is fundamental, given the number of reported unsuccessful change implementations in the public sector.

How will the NHS cope, given that successfully changing a culture is arguably the biggest change challenge. But is there just one culture to change?

Why has the great, early commitment faded?

Paul Ashton — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:04:01 +0000

Gaining commitment and maintaining impetus are fundamental to implementing successful and lasting change. After the initial surge of activity in creating the change vision there is a real risk that business-as-usual concerns will rapidly diminish our interest in, let alone commitment to, making the change. Continual reinforcement of what we want to achieve is required to make sure the individuals from the business stay engaged in the change. This requires a clear communications strategy translated into appropriate, localised directions for use by change leaders throughout the organisation, whether they are business managers or ‘people like us’ – local role models.

Things to consider

Have you established a clear, shared vision for the change among all interested parties?
Does the communications strategy cover the ‘breadth’ (involve all relevant areas) and the ‘depth’ (involve all relevant levels) necessary for long term commitment?
Are you looking out for previously unidentified individuals and groups who need to be ‘on board’?
Do you know how to communicate with each individual or group and how often?
Are those impacted by the change empowered to contribute to the change?
Does the communication feedback tell you what you need to know about how individuals and groups feel about the change? Is their commitment steady, rising or falling?

How can we prevent the business being drowned by ‘too much’ change?

Paul Ashton — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:35:03 +0000

When you are deeply involved in managing a change journey it is easy to overlook the fact that a very significant amount of change can be happening in a single location at the same time, as a result of multiple change initiatives. This can quickly lead to ‘change fatigue’ with resulting low morale, increased resistance, low productivity and high levels of absenteeism or attrition.

Properly structured change initiatives, involving programmes and projects, are designed to avoid this but, too often, insufficient thought and planning is put into how the impacted business units will adopt multiple ‘waves’ of change. Effective portfolio and change management disciplines are good at addressing planned change, driven by the strategy, but not always adequate at coping with additional significant ‘must do’ changes.

Things to consider

Has your organisation an overarching corporate portfolio view of change?
Have you discussed and agreed with affected business units:
- The type, rate and volume of change being introduced into their areas?
- How much change they are trying to introduce themselves and how much is coming from external initiatives?
- How any concerns and issues can be overcome?
- Where ‘hot-spots’ will arise and what strategies and tactics will be used to address these?
- What must be sacrificed to ensure that the operational business units will not be overwhelmed?