Phased Forward

Whether it is a merger, a new accounting system or a revamped network or telephony system, large-scale changes are constant for modern organisations. And how those changes are managed can be a crucial factor in that organisation’s success or failure.

Often, once senior management has been convinced of the benefits of the new method, the temptation is to steam forward as quickly as possible. However, many believe that the best way to implement a major business change is to take a more considered, ‘easy does it’ approach.

David Williams, MD at consultancy H2X, puts it starkly: ‘Projects worth more than £10m have less than a 10% chance of success. Most of those that do succeed are implemented in stages. I like to point out to people that while we might be on the road to Damascus, we’re starting from London and so the most important thing now is to make it to Dover!’

This calm, steady approach is especially important when it comes to telecommunications projects. Kelly Macmillan, Market Specialist at Mitel, has advised on many large-scale telecommunications projects. She says she usually recommends taking a staged approach as opposed to a slash-and-burn system replacement because telephony is absolutely business critical and if anything goes wrong during a major change it can lead to disastrous downtime.

Taking a phased approach also allows closer management of expenditure and greater security of data. And phasing changes through, especially where your people are going to be expected to get to grips with new technology gives everyone the chance to be thoroughly trained, to voice concerns and to try out the new systems.

For Alastair Clifford-Jones, CEO of Leadent Management Consultants, however, the main reason to take this approach is to maintain momentum and to keep everyone involved and motivated during what can be a stressful changeover period. He says: ‘For the projects we’ve been involved in, we advised setting 90-day milestones. These projects can take years to complete so it can be hard for those working on them to stay motivated. Also, it can be easy for the implementation to stray from the original design. Stepping back every 90 days to celebrate successes and see how the project is progressing against the original plan tends to ensure it does eventually provide the anticipated benefits.’

So, you’ve decided to make your big change in stages. How do you know what those stages should be? At Roffey Park, a think-tank on leadership and development, they have mapped out a five-step process they call ‘Seasons of Change’:

1 Create a ‘burning platform’ – a shared sense of urgency across everyone involved.

2 Determine who will be involved – ensure there is buy-in at every level.

3 Create a vision for change, an idea of how the project will look in two or three years.

4 Develop a strategy, a plan for how to get there.

5 Implement this plan.

Finally, it is also important that senior management is deeply involved. Over the past 18 years Lucy Rowbotham, Innovation Expert at Cambridge Consultants, has been involved in more than 50 major change projects. She concludes: ‘Whether you do it in one go or phased, it is crucial that senior management invests time in the project. In fact, I have found that unless senior directors invest at least 24 hours in planning the project at the early stages, then an idea is unlikely to come to fruition, no matter how good it is.’

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