Purpose of change is vital in success

Why having purpose behind change is fundamental to success

Imagine setting off on a journey.

You leave your home and you know you want to get to a city further away – but you haven’t decided why you want to go or what you’ll do when you get there.

Along the way, you stop off at another town. You look around and find somewhere to eat, then you start exploring the landmarks, enjoying the views and finding some hidden gems. Before you know it, you’ve forgotten all about going to the city and you’re staying in the town – or heading back home.

By contrast, if you set off with a purpose in mind, you are far more likely to stick to your journey and to reach your destination without being distracted by something else before you arrive.

How does this apply in business?

Whenever we’re called in to support an organisation facing change, one of the first questions we ask is, “Why?”

“Why?” is always the starting point for successful change. Without knowing your Why, you can’t hope to get the How, When, Who of Where right.

Having purpose behind change is absolutely fundamental to success. Understanding why change is needed gives you the best possible chance of staying on course to achieve your aims.

Think about it: if you don’t know why you need to make change, it affects everything else in the process.

You will struggle to set the most appropriate end goal if you can’t articulate the reasons for setting it in the first place.

Your method of achieving your goal may be flawed if you don’t fully understand why the change is needed.

You can’t possibly convince your team of the merits of what’s ahead if you’re unsure of them yourself..

How do you establish the purpose of change?

Recognising that change is needed is only the first part of the story. It’s surprising how many people fail to look at the bigger picture at this early stage, ploughing on with the change regardless and soon losing sight of what they wanted to achieve in the first place.

We recommend starting out with a thorough examination of your project. Try answering these questions:

  • What aspect of your business needs to change?
  • What is it that’s not working at present?
  • What does future success look like?

In combination, the answers to these questions will give you your purpose of change.

Getting your team to buy in to change

Once you’ve established your purpose, getting your team to buy in to change is vital – and helping them to understand the purpose of change will be the most important factor in your success.

We frequently come across managers who think that, by simply telling their team what is going to happen, they are saving them from the extra burden of needing to understand why. Their intentions are good, but all that happens is that team members feel dictated to, rather than buying into what lies ahead. The change process is inevitably less successful.

People change faster when they have purpose. Explaining why your organisation needs to change will engage people more quickly with the new ways of working. If we believe in the why, we can accept the smaller process changes as being justified.

Share the purpose of change with your team and you might be surprised by their enthusiasm. If they can see the end goal, as well as what future success will mean to them, they are far more likely to play an active role in achieving it. Not only will they be more willing to follow instructions, but they may also chime in with their own contributions and help to add a new dimension to the project.

What next?

Once you have established your purpose and got your team to buy in, turn your thoughts to the routes to success. In most cases, there will be several ways in which you could implement change, with variation in cost, timescale, effort and so on. As above, your team may also bring forward new suggestions you hadn’t even considered.

Analyse them all in relation to the success you need to achieve before choosing the way forward.

By establishing the purpose of change, you can transform the entire project and hugely escalate your chances of success.

 

Planning workplace change and want to ensure you have the best possible chance of success? Contact us to find out how we can help.

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Posted On March 21, 2018 By Richard Armeson In Change /  
How to calculate the cost of change

How can you calculate the cost of change?

One of the most challenging things about change for any organisation is facing the unknown.

You may know what needs to change, or why you want to change, but can you ever really be sure how the process will go – and, more importantly, what it will cost?

This uncertainty is never more acute than when you look at the human factors which can influence the way change is implemented. Some people are simply more adaptable to change than others – and some have a stronger attachment to their current ways and bad habits.

Whenever any change is implemented, the workplace itself goes through a transition process which may take longer than the change itself. For example, if a workplace were introducing a change in working hours or shift patterns, that might happen overnight. The transition for the team, however, will take much longer, as they accept the change and adapt to it.

Any manager considering change needs to weight up the potential costs of change against the costs of not implementing that change. While it can seem easier to maintain the status quo rather than causing upheaval, the reality is that doing nothing could be costing you money.

So where do you start?

Looking at the costs of change can feel daunting, so we’ve created a simple formula to help you make sure the numbers stack up and give you the confidence to implement change as effectively as possible.

Calculate your answers to the following questions:

  1. How many employees are likely to be affected by the changes in your organisation?
  2. On average, how much non-productive time is spent per week by each employee reacting against the changes – or on worrying, gossiping, speculating and rumour-mongering activities?
  3. How many weeks has this been going on for?
  4. How many weeks will it continue for if you do nothing?

Then use these numbers in the following formulae:

  1. The number of hours lost so far: a x b x c = x
  2. The number of additional hours that could be lost in future: a x b x d =y
  3. How much it could be costing you financially: (x + y) x average employee hourly rate

Of course, this doesn’t take into account any additional potential revenue which you may have missed, such as if your sales team has failed to focus on the needs of your customers in the way that would have generated more profit for you. In reality, the cost is probably even higher than these calculations suggest.

In considering change, no doubt you’ve done some calculations of your own, looking at how your new system, set-up or project could make the business more successful. Compare those figures with the amount you’re currently losing and suddenly, the need to manage change effectively becomes even more urgent. Resistance from employees not only costs you money now, but also delays the benefits you should be getting from your plans.

If you’re preparing for change, our advice would be to consider all the costs first. Weigh up the cost of staying as you are against the cost of change, then analyse how much higher the cost of that change will be if you don’t implement it effectively.

Rather than waste money down the line as your employees struggle to get to grips with transition and resist a change they have never fully embraced, invest from the outset in getting everyone on board. It will reward you with significant savings in the long run and enable you to reap the benefits of change much sooner.

Don’t worry if you looked at this and thought, Oh no, maths!  We have created a worksheet that will help you with the calculation.  This is a great exercise to complete with your colleagues, as it builds the momentum to take control of the change and do something different.  So, once you have downloaded it, print out a few copies.

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Posted On March 8, 2018 By Rob Smith In Change /