It’s important that the tools you use feel connected to the broader agenda - reinforcing key messages in the flow of work. We work with you to make sure you message lands. Our consultants have done hundreds of change programmes for some of the worlds best known businesses.
"Every business is going through a transformation of sorts". The comment of a CEO we worked with in 2019. “Engaging your people in the change process is essential to its success.” According to McKinsey “70% percent of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.”
How can organisations equip and empower leaders at all levels for successful change?
Organisation change requires individual change at scale. Self awareness leads to better team performance. But self awareness must lead to self development, changing behaviours. We need easier ways to understand how we are "showing up" at work and the implications for the change we will go through.
Bain, the consulting group call this the inner game. The recognition that we as individuals are a key part of change. Leaders that master “the inner game” are 2x more likely to achieve ambitions and 3x times more likely to sustain change. Bain
The role of a manager is critical in their team’s success. 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined by the manager. The power of effective one to one meetings and management in sustaining change is key. These one to ones are both personal to each individual. But they are also consistent in driving consistent communications. Why are we changing? How are we changing? What does this mean for me?
One to one coaching is necessary but not enough. Collaboration is becoming increasingly important as the problems we try to solve become more complex.
94% of companies say that agility is critical but only 6% of them claim to be very good. At the root of being agile is a focus on the customer and an ability to empower high performing teams. A team of stars who don’t work well together will be out-performed by a less skilled team with great team cohesion.
We know that team development works. “Out of a variety of organisational change interventions, team development interventions were one of the interventions that had the greatest impact on behavioural and financial measures of performance.”
Macy & Izumi (1993) Results of a meta-analysis of 131 field studies of change over a 30-year period.
The principles of team management are also well established. Defining a shared purpose, setting goals, fostering psychological safety and accountability. But teams are under-served when it comes to the technology and tools to support managers.
Saberr is designed with the team in mind.
Transforming a team will have impact. Transforming a team of teams will be transformational. Meaningful relationships between teams are what drive progress. The role of leaders need to bring clarity, alignment and intensity.
But teams need to make sense of this in their context. Teams need the autonomy to think for themselves and take action.
As Stanley McChrystal writes in his book on creating a team of teams in the US Army
“Each unit was fighting their own fights in their own silos. The specialisation that allowed for breathtaking efficiency became a liability in the face of the unpredictability of the real world…….Our challenge now that we understood it, was to find a way to reshape our structure to create a team-like oneness across an organisation of thousands."
Change is in the interests of a purpose beyond the individual, team or organisation. Too much change suffers from "inside out" thinking. Individuals and teams fixate on themselves without understanding the wider context. This creates silos.
Peter Hawkins, describes the power of an "outside in and future back". "By focusing outside in, the team ask who they are there to serve and what stakeholders require from them". Future back plans are based on historic understanding and future possibilities.
Embedding this thinking in individual & team meetings can create a more cohesive approach as change takes place.
Successful change and transformation requires human leadership. Technology and tools must reflect the way change happens. Participatory, iterative, team based.
Slack and Microsoft teams are examples of how technology can support collaboration. But none of them support people's development. Managers must become the change coach for their teams.
