It's time to change change!

How ready is your business or organisation for the implementation and delivery of successful change? That change may be created due to a new process, redundancies, digital transformation, new office desks, a new CEO or apprentice, a new marketing strategy, a breakdown in a relationship, an external factor. There are so many factors that drive change. We must not forget that there can also be so many personal changes all co-existing at any one time in an individuals life, each taking up time and energy.

Change may be well-intentioned, justifiable and necessary to move an organisation forward but how much time is invested on people, be it during pre-change, during change and post change in order to ensure that it is successful and sustainable. On paper that process of change may be well planned with a fantastic strategy and project management, all forensically put in place but how are the people involved going to react when introduced and exposed to that plan? And, when I say "involved" I mean those who will experience the change as well as those who's role it is to deliver that change, including the project team and stakeholders.

In essence what is the initial condition sensitivity (ICS) of those involved?

• Who is approaching or suffering from change fatigue?
• Who is approaching or in a state of burn out?
• Who is not filling the correct role for their individual innate talent complexity potential?
• Who is going to successfully adapt and cope with the complexity involved throughout the life of the project?
• Who's priority is currently not at work but at home?
• Who is approaching retirement and may be in a state of "cruising"?

Just a few of the unseen anomalies that can so easily derail any well intentioned change management project but if they remain unspoken potentially create festering flaws in the project, increasing the likelihood of failure rather than success. Like owning a beautiful diamond which has a fine flaw running through it, not visible to the naked eye and only visible under a powerful microscope. We increase risk and the balance of success tips towards failure, or certainly not achieving the change that was eagerly anticipated.

Using an aviation analogy,

"taking off may appear to be quite straightforward but how straightforward will the landing be if we haven't carried out the proper checks, checked the weather or put the right crew together?".

We need to better understand the human factor.

At the very start of any change management project time is required (invested) to know who is involved, and by who I mean everyone. If there was any moment during a project where "slowing down to speed up" is vitally important then it is at this key stage. Projects require insight and context behind each and every person involved and that has to come from a deeper place and perspective other than visual behavioural (which we have become overly reliant on). We need to go into the unseen rather than the seen.

It is also at this important juncture, pre-change, that hearts and minds are won or lost and that equates to engagement or disengagement, success or failure.

So, how do we get that required level of insight that aids success?

We start by understanding and appreciating the experiences that each and every person is going through at that moment in time. This forms the baseline from which to monitor any future changes experienced by each person. A fluid complexity risk matrix. Yes, each person is totally unique and they will inevitably have different feedback loops (graphic below) acting upon them, exerting different priorities on their time and energy. Only by understanding each person will we truly appreciate that overall organisational picture. This unique set of data provides us with a continual fluid insight as change inevitably occurs to each person involved at different moments across the life of a project.

It is this vital data that can aid decision makers decide upon whether the project is a "go" or "no go". If it is a "no go" then what ground work or interventions need adopting to get the project to the starting line with everyone aligned with a shared awareness? It is that shared awareness that will aid everyone's wellbeing and help build important relationships throughout the life of the project.

If the decision is to "go" people can still be monitored for changes (positive and negative), keeping people and the project on track whilst measuring the degree of success being experienced by those who change was implemented to assist.

If we obtain better data then we can also get ahead of any future danger, becoming proactive to issues before they are potentially exhibited in negative or maladaptive behaviours. This is the beauty of having a fluid complexity risk matrix.

By gaining this vital insight we also change the whole change curve concept as we can now prevent anxiety, fear, denial and most importantly depression and burn out. In essence we bypass the negative issues associated with change. The blue line on the graphic below is the new positive curve, only possible if we gain that insight prior to a change project commencing.

It really is time to change change...