Change Management Consulting
About This Practice
There are many reasons why your organization may want to undertake a change initiative. It may be to pursue a merger, acquisition or downsizing to grow. Or, it may be to introduce new systems, structures, processes or senior executives; to name a few. All such changes can usher in a host of unwelcome and unavoidable side effects that can lower employee productivity and morale.
How We Can Help
Business Improvement Architects can help you avoid the risks associated with the change. We will help you anticipate and prepare for the change journey and develop a successful change strategy and plan.
Manage Change Effectively
We have found that most organizations, regardless of whether they are private, public or not-for-profit, don’t always manage change effectively. This is because they do not always anticipate the risks associated with change and so fail to have a strategy in place to overcome them. Do your management and staff really understand the change? Are the right strategies in place to manage the change? Do your people even know your business case for change? How committed is your leadership to the change? What’s in it for the people involved?
Strategic Change Plan
Our approach to change management focuses on mitigating risk. We will help you develop an effective strategic change plan; one that assesses the risks associated with the change and develops actions to deal with it. We offer custom tools and resources to ensure a successful implementation. This includes: identifying the employee behaviours necessary for change to occur, what’s necessary to re-shape the organization’s culture, how to manage the change journey for employees and how to measure its impact and the extent to which staff have embraced the strategic change.
Getting Started
Contact us to discuss your requirements.
Organizational Change Readiness Assessment™ (OCRA™)
Background
Organizational Culture is the commonly held attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours of its employees. The culture of an organization is as unique and diverse as an individual’s personality. If the employees of an organization believe that change is something to be feared and avoided, then change implementation is often reactive and haphazard. If the employees believe that all change should be aggressively implemented “from above”, then change is seldom supported. However, if the employees of an organization believe that change is worthwhile and everyone’s responsibility; then change and growth occur with relative ease. These are the few “excellent” organizations that continue to excel.
Defining an organization’s culture requires being able to identify common organizational references. For example, how do employees describe their colleagues? What are some of the common phrases or stories they tell each other? Such descriptions as “bureaucratic” or “people are not valued for their experience and knowledge” become a common reference point for interpreting culture, whether or not they are accurate.
Why Assess Organizational Culture?
Organizations need to assess the requirements for organizational change to better understand the driving and restraining forces for change.
“A lot of us will have new opportunities as a result of change and this must not be overlooked. It may not appear that way at the beginning but we all have a choice on how we want to react to a situation whether it is positive or negative.”
– Michael Stanleigh, CEO, Business Improvement Architects
Most organizations operate with a diversity of cultures that change from one department to the next. Best practices that can make or break an organization must be embedded into the very framework and support systems of the organization.
Assessing your organizational culture will help to ensure strategic directives are implemented to support the organization’s key objectives and customer needs and receive the necessary attention and support of senior management and the organization’s employees to allow them to succeed.
Process
The Organizational Change Readiness Assessment™ (OCRA™) will:
- Assess the current organizational culture.
- Obtain information regarding how the culture supports change.
- Gauge the readiness for change.
- Identify and address organizational forces likely to drive or impede change.
- Define specific changes that need to take place
Getting Started
Contact us to discuss your requirements. We will identify the small investment required to implement the Organizational Change Readiness Assessment™ (OCRA™) for your department and/or organization. We will help you understand your readiness for change and help you to create the actions needed to ensure success.
Success Stories
Handling Cultural Issues Resulting from the Merger of Competitive Retail Convenience Store Chains
These two large convenience store chains operated in direct competition for several decades. Then they merged and the result was a huge upheaval for employees. Because the cultures of each of the companies were different, we chose to work with the management to create a strategic change plan for the new organization. The most important element of our strategy was holding mixed group sessions with employees from both the store chains to listen to their needs and suggestions. We identified: what they didn’t want in this change, what they wanted in this change and how they would help to create this future. It led to a powerful change leadership strategy and the impact was tremendous. Within 3 months it was difficult to tell which employee worked for which of the original convenience stores because they were now working seamlessly towards a common goal.
Resolving Operational Challenges for a Government Agency Merger
This government client merged two large government agencies into one unit. The merger had a tremendous impact on their organizational structures and operating practices. Both organizations had to preserve the integrity of the services they were offering while also improving customer service and reducing their operating expenses. They felt they could achieve this objective with a flattened corporate structure of decentralized operating units and outsourcing of some of their services to suppliers who could be more responsive in meeting local needs. Business Improvement Architects helped this organization achieve its objective successfully and rapidly by guiding, coordinating and overseeing a strategic change management process for the transformation. We made sure that our client developed an effective communication plan to inform management and staff on the progress of the change. Within 6 months the two organizations had combined and improved their operating processes. They had also created a new corporate structure with a seamless level of service to their customers. One unexpected outcome was the increase in employee morale and staff retention. Another positive outcome of this effort was an increase in both employee morale as well as staff retention.
Testimonials
This chain of convenience stores has worked with Business Improvement Architects (bia™) for over 10 years. bia™ has worked with the executive team on leadership and coaching, including a 360-degree feedback process. We have also worked with staff through major change initiatives brought about by integration of other organizations that Couche-Tard purchased as well as training on a new Performance Management System.
"Business Improvement Architects helped us to significantly reduce the impact of integrating employees between two diverse cultures into one organization. Previously we suffered a loss of staff and a slow amalgamation of processes. Their approach brought significant change in a relatively short span of time."
Facilitating leadership development through assessment, coaching, consulting and training, the Business Improvement Architect's (bia™) team worked with senior executive, mangers and staff to help them build leadership competencies. bia™ stayed with them throughout the process helping them to develop and implement their key strategies and implementation plan.
"Business Improvement Architects has been instrumental in helping us develop our leadership team. Through the implementation of their recommended processes and continuous guidance throughout, they have helped us build a team of successful leaders and together we have increased customer service, employee satisfaction metrics have increased and projects are implemented more efficiently. I recommend bia™ for their strategic perspective, on-going support and practical measurement tools."
Three separate art facilities in a large city received a mandate from the local government to combine operations in order to better service general public needs and save costs. bia™ was asked to help the management and staff to unify the operation and help the team to overcome their challenges in bringing the exhibits together in one place. As well, staff did not function well as a unified team, rather, they continued to operate as three separate units within one building. bia™ used an "Innovation Process" and "Project Management" to create breakthrough performance for the staff and the organization. The outcome has been highly successful, with most of the innovations having been translated into projects.
"We are impressed at how Business Improvement Architects has very quickly and effectively managed to get us working co-operatively as a team. We highly recommend them to others."
When Rogers Communications needed to start a new division, they called on Business Improvement Architects (bia™) to help them to develop the strategic plan and structure. The new VP had been put in place but the rest of the team would be identified as a result of the strategic plan.
"If I did not say it enough already, again, thank you for all your help in developing this for us. I really enjoyed working with bia™ on this project."
The IT department faced a number of problems and issues not all that uncommon in large IT departments today. They needed a systematic way to approach and manage these concerns. Business Improvement Architects customized the staff training to apply actual situations being experienced by staff. The City of London began to see improvement within several months of the start of the training sessions.
"The training program designed by bia™ was well prepared and motivating and the facilitator was social, professional, intelligent and witty."
