Intro 00:00
Hello and welcome to all our listeners! Thank you for tuning in to The Capelle Podcast, where you can get insights from Capelle on navigating the recent trends in the business world. I’m your host, Mark Lee, and today we have an extra special episode with 2 guests! I’m happy to welcome Su Min and Sharon, both of who are Consultants with Capelle to share with us insights regarding Change Management. Su Min, Sharon – great to have you on the Capelle Podcast!

[Mark]
So, Su Min and Sharon – we all recognize that change is all around us – if 2020 has taught us anything it’s that isn’t it! So perhaps we can dig a little deeper into what we mean by Change Management and why it is so important?

[Sharon]
Why is CM important? Why do organisations need it?

Too many change efforts fail. Leadership guru Dr. John Kotter says it’s proven that 70% of all major change efforts in organizations fail. They fail because organizations very often do not take the holistic approach required to see the change through.

But leaders embark on transformation efforts to keep ahead of the competition or just to stay afloat. You don’t do change well, you don’t adapt fast enough, your organization loses, gets left behind and your biz dies.

So it sounds like a tough situation to be in for a business. You lose out if you don’t transform, but you also can be adversely affected if you don’t transform well. Perhaps we can dive deeper into what it means to go through this business transformation in a holistically beneficial way?

[Sumin]
What does it involve?

It starts with

· developing the vision & business case clearly (visual image)

· activating people’s sense of urgency to change

Many leaders jump straight into telling people what must change and rolling out the change, without the staff knowing why there is such a need, and being inspired to be part of that change

So, when we have engaged people on the case for change, what happens next?

The engagement is not one-off, it happens along the journey

· putting together a group with enough power and energy to lead the change (not necessary all the high-powered people, but the right composition of people)

· Identifying the key stakeholders

· identifying and eliminating the obstacles

· generating short term wins

· A detailed plan to implement the actual changes

· anchoring new approaches deep in an organization’s culture

[Mark]
Thanks for those insights, Sharon and Su Min! I think another point our listeners may have on their minds is that when is the right time to apply those points you just mentioned. Any thoughts on that?

[Sharon]
When do we need it?

We don’t just think of change as when there is a big reorg, M&As, major technology or digitalisation roll out.

Change management is needed is all kinds of change that the organisation is facing – big or small. It can be about bringing about new

– ways of delivering our products and services

– mindset and culture

– skills and competences

– policies and processes etc

The misconception is that change management is an activity that takes place after the implementation of the new reorg, or technology implementation or whatever change is being introduced. That is far from true. In actual fact, change management is a journey that must start right at the beginning. Implementation is part of that holistic approach, but certainly not the first step.

So, it sounds like beyond implementing the change itself, there are some critical factors that could make or break the transformation efforts. Could you share what it takes to make transformation in organisations truly possible and successful?

[Mark]
I’d like to shift now to your own on-the-ground experience on implementing such transformation efforts with clients. What are some insights you’ve gained?

How has been your experience implementing such solutions for clients? Any leanings you can share?

[Sumin]

One of the common issues faced by clients is managing people’s resistance to change

This happens everywhere you go. If you think of a spectrum of how people react to change, we will always have people who are hesitant about the change, to the other end of the spectrum, who will outright resist and even undermine the change.

And because time is of the essence in most projects, leadership or project teams just bulldoze their way through. They rush through to implementation. This will really cause issues later as the implementation will fail to get the full results.

So it’s crucial to get people’s buy in, and capture their motivation to want to go with the change. A compelling business case to tell people why the organization is changing often hits the rational notes – it only appeals to people’s head and not their hearts. A more successful approach is to “aim for the heart.” They will connect to the deepest values of their people and inspire them to greatness.

We have seen so many cases where IT implementations, for example, result more work, or unused technology because of lack of buy-in or understanding of the system. IT is always the enabler and not the final outcome, and we want the stakeholders to understand what the outcome is, and how to leverage IT to achieve that.

Conceptually I think we can grasp differentiating between the final outcome and the means to that outcome. What are some actions that we can take to bring this concept to life – to recognize what really is the outcome change efforts wish to realize, and not just the tools that will get us there?

[Sharon]
This requires a proper stakeholder evaluation at the beginning, and understanding their needs, their fears and how we can address these. One key stakeholder is the staff whom the change will affect the most. Taking the additional effort to focus on how it will impact them, what support they will need.

But it is important to also acknowledge the additional effort that employees must make to cope with the change. The change will run into trouble if the additional resources needed exceed with is realistically copable, so these need to be worked out.

What clients find valuable is for partnering with us to

– work through all the issues in a structured way with a Change Framework.

– We work through strategically – always with the bigger business strategy in focus.

– And also addressing all the elements authentically (by that I mean, practically addressing what’s on the ground and not skimming though tough issues).

[Mark]
Thanks for those insights, Sharon and Su Min! As we are rounding up our time here, do you have some closing thoughts, some food for thought or a call to action for our listeners on this topic of Change Management?

[Sharon]

What clients find valuable is for partnering with us to

– work through all the issues in a structured way with a Change Framework.

– We work through strategically – always with the bigger business strategy in focus.

– And also addressing all the elements authentically (by that I mean, paying attention to what’s on the ground and not skimming though tough issues, and find pragmatic ways to deal with them).

And we find it much more meaningful and authentic to approach CM that way.

[Mark]
Thank you very much Sharon and Su Min for your indepth insights into Change Management! And thank you to our listeners – we hope that you enjoyed this session of the Capelle Podcast and gained insights on how to carry out such transformation efforts effectively in your organisation. We’ll be back for our next episode. But until then, we thank you for joining us on the Capelle Podcast. Goodbye now.