Playing the long-game in Change Management

When organisations are deploying new tech the level of effort required to fully embed the change is often underestimated.

Simply getting the technology ‘in’ means there is little appetite or energy to focus on how people will use it as part of their daily lives in the months and years to come.

This often leads to the tech not being implemented in a way that changes a business to realise the true benefits.

Instead, teams move onto the ‘the next big thing’ and the opportunity is missed. Failed change can build resistance in the system with the consequence of making future changes harder.

To avoid this risk, change plans need to balance short-term activity to support go-live with the effort required to change behaviour over the long-term.

1. Strategy – define the impact to the operational environment and curate a plan accordingly. Avoid falling into the trap of copying and pasting standard approaches, instead tailor to the nature of the change
2. Launch – build readiness and competency through a series of lead up and post go-live engagement and learning activities, enabling the product to be usable from day one
3. Reinforcement – establish ongoing activities that are integrated into operational routines designed to keep the focus on what people need to do differently
4. Operating Model – refine the organisational design in a way that enables the new technology to become part of the businesses’ DNA. Use reinforcement mechanisms to rewire ways of working and nudge behaviour

In EA’s experience, we often see focus on the first two areas with reinforcement and the operating model being overlooked. This gets a product launched but never effectively adopted.