The need for change management

“One thing managers know is that many of the best ideas never get put into practice…. A pilot may prove to everyone’s satisfaction that a new approach leads to better results, but widespread adoption of the approach never occurs. We are coming increasingly to believe that this… stems not from weak intentions, wavering will or even nonsystemic understanding but from mental models. More specifically, new insights fail to get put into practice because they conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works. … But what is most important is that mental models are active – they shape how we act.” (Peter Senge – The Fifth Discipline)

Mental models – How they impact change programmes

Anyone who has been involved with a major change programme will have experienced the situation where people within the organisation who need to change their ways of working or their attitudes will say – “what you are proposing may work elsewhere but things are different in our country, or with our products, or with our customers, or with our competitors etc”. They will make predictions- “If you try to make the changes here we will loose our customers, or our competitors will take advantage etc.” Generally this is not a matter of people trying to undermine the project for no reason. In most cases these are examples of mental models. In some cases these models may be accurate but in all too many cases they are based on an unrepresentative experience or story, or a flawed assumption.

Head, Hand and Heart (After Mick Cope – Seven Cs of Consulting)

Many organisations believe that if staff are trained in the new approach and are supplied with new processes then the change will happen. In all too many cases the initiative fails because the organisation has only covered one or of the three basic elements of change management. A strategy is required to deal with the three key elements.

The Head
	This is about getting everyone to understand the new approach and their role in the new process. This is the part that most organisations do but often it may be all they do!
The Hand
	This is getting individuals to develop the new skills required to undertake their role in the new process. Some companies do this.
The Heart
	No matter how good the new process is and how good the training is, the project will not be successful if the new approach conflicts with the mental models of the staff involved. JustOne provide training to the client staff selected to be Internal Consultants so they have the skills to surface, test and improve the metal models and sell these improved metal pictures to the holders of inaccurate mental models.

Change Ladder (After Mick Cope – Seven Cs of Consulting)

 A change programme can impact each of the ladder’s 5 elements particularly1, 2 and 5. The JustOne approach is to predict potential problems and plan to manage the risks. It is important to be able to assess organisational capabilities and individual competencies. Action is required if there are shortfalls that would undermine the project. However, most projects fail because people are not in line with the changes (4 Desire) or the project causes a conflict with the organisation’s values (5 Ethos).