Organisational Change Management Volume 1

Framework 13 Change Audit Framework

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The change audit is a structured way of ensuring that a change process maintains its momentum. The most crucial components take place before and after the change process itself.

Before the change process begins

Examine the history of response to change in your organisation

(if you don't understand patterns of past reactions to change, you are doomed to repeat them)

Listen to a wide range of people, then build support among management and the employees

(a change process must be participatory in order to succeed, ie get buy-in)

Prepare for the anticipated risks and gains

(demonstrate that the potential gains outweigh the associated risks. At this stage the building of consensus around the need for change is more important than the detail of what needs to be done differently)

Decide on the messages that need to be communicated

(What do you need to get across in order for the change process to succeed? This can involve contingency thinking, ie anticipating the issues that might impede progress and designing the appropriate solutions in advance.)

Create a time-line for implementation and a set of performance measures

(measure performance against the clear change goals)

As the change process proceeds and after it is completed, ask the following questions

- was there ongoing, effective communication during the process?

(Do not assume that you know what your staff is thinking)

- what stresses has the process created?

(Treat stress as a diagnostic indicator, ie you have to know about its existence before you can find ways to channel it creatively)

- what are the specific outcomes of the process? (This question keeps your organisation authentic. How much progress have you made? Is there room for improvement?)

- have successes been celebrated? (Actively celebrate when achievements occur and this will have a ripple effect through the organisation)

(source: Peter Senge et al, 1999)