The Problem With Organisational Change

Do you know that?…

• it’s much easier to fail at change than it is to succeed
• most people and organisations are not good at change
• the failure rate for organisations has been around 70% for the last 70 years
• a third of organisations are worse off after change
• for every 12 people who make New Year’s resolutions, only 1 person succeeds

There is a serious problem here that costs companies millions of dollars, making them less efficient, less competitive, and less viable. The good news is, you can do something about it.

What’s the cause of this problem?

There are 2 main causes, and they both relate to important things that are missing.

1) Capacity

The first is that many people lack the capacity to be successful. Think about a change project. Some parts of it may be quite easy and other parts very hard. Where would you be most likely to fail? On the hard parts, right? Why? Because the hard parts demand more from you than you may be able to give – that’s why they’re hard. In other words, the risks of failure accumulate around your limitations, your weaknesses.

We’re not talking about job-performance weaknesses here, or about the level of commitment. We’re talking about people’s capacity to handle change and be successful at it. The poorer people are at it, the more likely they are to fail.

2) Right Information

The second problem is a management issue. Leaders, managers, consultants, advisers, and coaches often lack the right information to make the best (or right) decisions about implementation. And what do the best decisions look like? They look responsive.

The best decisions about implementation are responsive to the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. When you get the right information about the change fitness of your people and the readiness of your team you can design change plans that reflect what they are actually capable of achieving.

In other words, having the right information doesn’t suddenly build people’s capacity, but it does enable you to devise responsive plans that take advantage of your team’s strengths and protect you against the risks posed by their weaknesses. It doesn’t affect where you want to go, but it does affect the route you take to get there.

What’s the solution?

We target these 2 issues head-on with reliable, research-based solutions.

Solving the capacity problem

You and your team don’t need to be limited by low change fitness.  We provide solutions to help you build capacity for change.

We want all people to live up to their positive potential and be the best they can be, but that’s not possible without change. Our Personal Fitness Program helps people build their personal change fitness so they can:

• live better, more successful lives
• improve how they handle change and achieve better outcomes more often
• handle workplace change more successfully and efficiently
• be less stressed about change
• live up to their potential and make the most of their lives

To further help you (and only if you feel you need it) we offer specialist coaching, mentoring, and counselling services based on our change fitness principles. We will support you every step of the way for as long as you need it.

Solving the information problem

We have the expertise to give you accurate and reliable information about your team’s change fitness and the readiness of your organisation. Don’t make important and costly decisions based on incomplete data. We have tools that can measure the change fitness of every member of your team, and assess the change readiness of your entire organisation.

We also have programs that build your leadership capacity for change. With this knowledge you will have increased capacity to:

• clearly understand the change capacity of your organisation and its people
• make the right decisions about implementation
• design responsive change plans
• develop your entire organisational capacity for change
• recruit people who will build strengths and minimise weaknesses
• review the change performance of your staff
• coach and mentor staff

 Think about it

Why struggle with change and waste time and money when there is a better way? We teach people how to stand on their own two feet with change; how to get better at it on their own. We develop tools that you can use to help yourself and your people. Isn’t it worth just a few minutes of your time to find out more? Please contact us to discuss how we can help you.

Dr Steve Barlow

steve@thechangegym.com