Top 6 Reasons Change Fails.

"70% of business change programmes fail."

70% of business change programmes fail, is a shocking statistic from research by Harvard Business Review. There are a number of reasons and I share the 6 most common in this useful blog.  I’m also going to give you a few simple tips to help you avoid these pitfalls.

Reason 1.     Creating a Compelling Vision 

Before you start you need to understand the purpose of your change and what problems you’re solving.  Most change projects know the answers to these from a business perspective but in order for your change to be successful you have to go deeper than that.

You need to find out what positive impacts it will have on each of the key stakeholders.  Research by Towers Watson showed that 40% of First Line Managers didn’t know why business change was happening.  It’s hardly surprising these changes fail – a manager can’t positively support a change if they don’t understand it themselves.

If your stakeholders don’t understand what’s in for them and what the bright exciting future looks like, how can they engage with your project, support you and help overcome resistance? Get this defined and simply depicted in a visual way and your change project is off to a great start.

Reason 2.     Leading the Change

The change needs to have senior sponsorship and they need to be actively involved.  Senior Leaders can help create and communicate that engaging vision and buzz of excitement for the future.  

They are also vital in removing blocks when change gets hard – don't kid yourself it won’t!

Having their understanding and support from the start means they are there when it gets tough and it's easier than trying to catch them up when you are halfway through your project. 

Alternatively, if they then wade in to sort it out the perception is very different to if they have been leading from the front, at the start and encouraging the team along with them.

It’s also vital that the Sponsor understands and commits to their role, they will be the face of your business change.  How they talk about it both in public and behind closed doors will impact your success.  Check out our blog on the key roles in a project for more information on what your Sponsor needs to do to ensure your change is successful.

If they are only doing it because they have been told to, you’ve got a challenge. If they don’t positively sell the change consistently and at every opportunity, you’re in trouble.  The leader casts their shadow far and wide and they need to understand that.

The sponsor also needs to have some understanding of the change process and the emotions that will invariably surface as part of the project.  

73% of employees affected by change quote experiencing moderate or high levels of stress, so building in checks of how people are feeling and giving opportunities to honestly discuss change is important.  If your project sponsor is emotionally intelligent, understands the impact of change on people it helps the whole organisation get through the uncertainty that change brings.  

3.     Gaining Trust

Only 36% of employees say their employers were honest about the changes employees would face. 

When you couple this with Forbes research that 62% of employees don’t like leaving their comfort zone, you’ve got a serious problem.  If they don’t trust you, they won’t want to expose themselves to something new or different without digging their heels in.

Business changes require your employees to take a risk.  You will always have those early adopters who love something new and different, but in order to get the rest to take the leap of faith they need to trust in your vision and that you will be there to support them if they try and it doesn’t work first time.

Communication is key to gaining trust and the level of communication required for a successful change is often under estimated.  62% of employees experiencing workplace change were not satisfied with the level of communication through the process.  Your communications plan detailing who to communicate with, when and what to communicate is vital to support building trust and implementing successful change.

4.     Involving those Impacted

One of the best ways to gain trust is to involve those impacted in defining and developing the change process and new ways of working. 

The types of change that roll over employees, with an attitude of “resistance is futile” may get rolled out anyway, but the damage they do to employee engagement, staff retention and successfully embedding the change can’t be underestimated.

Actively involving impacted employees, creates a group of people excited about the new world.  They will help you sell it to others.  More importantly they will use language and identify benefits that the employees understand and are more likely to engage with.

This approach will also help you identify and mitigate risks early on in the project.

5.     Planning

Most change programmes get the project planning nailed, tasks, key milestones and go live dates.  

It’s the people part of the change that doesn’t always get the focus it deserves.  This is slowly changing with more Change Manager roles being advertised up 6% between 2011 – 2018. 

Change Management covers how to gain support and overcome resistance.  Knowing what you are communicating to who and when, how you really engage your stakeholders and what training is required will make the change more successful.

Often missed in the planning is understanding what actually happens now.  It’s easy to assume because there is a process written down that everyone will follow it.  It is only when you implement you realise that isn’t what 50% of people do.  Your new way of working is now going to have a huge unforeseen impact.

Planning the impact assessments and taking time to understand what the benefits are for each stakeholder will not only minimise these risks, but also make your communications so much easier.

The training plan often gets left until the last minute and is under-resourced.  The project team uses people with expertise in the subject but who don’t have any experience in how to train.  They then end up with death by 80 PowerPoint slides.

If you are launching a new way of doing things this isn’t going to get people excited to try it and will mean you fall at one of the final hurdles.  Properly planning and designing your training early can avoid the stress of trying to push your change over the line.

6.     Failing to celebrate

Change isn’t always easy and often takes between 6 – 12 months.  Maintaining motivation takes effort.  You can’t give someone motivation, but you can create an environment where they are able to motivate themselves.  

It’s so easy when you are wrapped up in the change project to always focus on the next milestone.  But planning regular opportunities for the team to review progress, celebrate success and identify improvements is really important to avoid change fatigue.

The successes don’t have to be the big milestones, they could just be the small things that have been difficult to do.  Celebrating these small successes regularly helps maintain momentum.

What Next?

These tips give you a great foundation for making your change successful, whilst not exhaustive they will help you avoid the most common mistakes.  If you want to read more about the theory of change then check out Kotter’s Change Management Model or ADKAR; both of these will give you a framework to use if you want to DIY it. 

Alternatively, if you need some support to plan your next change management activity, book a 30-minute slot to discuss your requirements and get things moving now.

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this blog. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this blog. Snow Limits Coaching disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this blog.