(Background to Change Management cont. 15)

Building Change Capacity

Introduction

In building change capacity, the aim is to build lasting, sustainable capability throughout the organisation. Training, at all levels of the organisation, is an important part of this.

Living in a VUCA (volatile, uncertainty, complex and ambiguous) world requires building of change capacity at all levels in an organisation from individuals upwards; generally a structured approach is the most effective to focus on the people-side; there is a currently a move to go
"...from managing change on a project-by-project basis to a proactive, strategic approach..."
Prosci, 2023u

Value comes from change being adopted and used;
"...There is no value in a new process that your employees circumvent because they prefer to do things the old way or can't apply a digital technology effectively because they don't understand how it helps them or how to use it..."
Prosci, 2023u

It is been found that once employees adopt and use new ways, there are better project outcomes, eg excellent change management produces as much as 6X better outcomes than in those organisations with poor change management; this improves the financial position.

"...the more you weave change management into the fabric of your organisation, the better you can manage the people side of change, help transition your employees through these changes, increased rates of adoption and utilisation. And doing so on an ongoing basis enables an organisation to adopt or change, more quickly..."
Prosci, 2023u

Three ways of building capability:

i) practitioner-only approach (this involves in-house change specialists engaging with key stakeholders in the organisation; this can result in many employees lacking the skills and experience to serve their required roles effectively; the organisation does not speak with a common language and generally lacks a common set of expectations, especially about how to execute their roles in change; even though this may require less investment, usually this approach does not build enterprise change capability)

ii) holistic capability building (aim to build change management skills and expertise across the whole organisation; it imparts skills and drive the outcomes while simultaneously building your long-term, enterprise change capability for the future; requires greater investment but yields cost savings over time while building a sustainable strategic enterprise change capability; most useful in ongoing, high-risk change initiatives where speed and agility are important)

iii) consultant only approach (this relies on experienced, external consultants to help implement change strategy projects; this can result in many employees lacking the skills and experiences required; some consultants will focus more on the technical rather than the people side of change; generally will require a large investment but can be effective in the short term)

What happens if key capacities are built?
"...- Stakeholders speak a common language around change
     - Employees embrace the change more quickly
     - Technologies yield enterprise-wide productivity gains
     - Organisations mitigate the negative impacts of change saturation
     - Strategic organisational initiatives meet or exceed long-term objectives
     - Financial performance improves for the organisation
     - Projects harmonise to deliver cumulative benefits
     - Organisations capitalise on market opportunities speed and agility..."
Prosci, 2023u

Agility is defined as
"...the ability to transform information into insight in response to market movement..."
The Economist as quoted by Prosci, 2023u

In contrast, organisational agility is  defined as
"...capacity to identify and capture opportunities more quickly than rivals do..."
The Kinsley Quarterly as quoted by Prosci, 2023u

By developing sustainable change management capability, an organisation requires the key differentiator and strategic advantage for you and your organisation as against competitors, ie
"...the winners of the future will be those who can out-change the competition..."
Prosci, 2023u

Maturing in change management

(source: Prosci, 2023u)