The Big Change ReportResults of the 2015 Big Change Survey

240 change professionals share their opinions on the state of change today.

32 research-led recommendations for improving change success rates.

Xceed Group December 2015

Clarity for Complex Change

Big Change Report 2015© Xceed Group 2

Executive SummaryEarlier this year, during a round-table with 12 senior Transformation Professionals, discussion turned to ‘What are the defining characteristics of successful and unsuccessful change?’ An engaging and well-informed group quickly arrived at a top five for each.

Succeed Fail 1. Clarity of Purpose & Focus 1. Unclear Requirements

2. Communication 2. Rushed Planning

3. Visible Leadership 3. Blurred Accountability & Ownership

4. Simple & Clear Milestones 4. Indecision

5. Effective Governance 5. Politics & Perception

It was interesting to note the visual language people used to describe both the best and worst change they’d seen. We wondered if this would be reflected by a broader audience. This was the start of the Big Change Survey which ran throughout the summer of 2015. The research was designed to capture free-text responses on characteristics of successful and unsuccessful change in the opinion of experienced change professionals. We also wanted to take a look at attitudes towards change, driving factors, success rates and geographical perceptions of large-scale, technology driven change. The survey was completed by 240 respondents across a range of industries and geographies, with one thing in common – personal experience of ‘big change’ and a willingness to share it.

We enlisted the assistance of a PhD researcher from Goldsmiths University to provide insight on the latest thinking in Organisational Flexibility and were pleased to discover that these findings align well.

We hope you find the outcome interesting. As well as the results, this report also provides a number of proven approaches and novel tips for improving change success rates.

If you would like to discuss any of the results or recommendations in greater detail, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re happy to share the sources, references, templates and links that sit behind these recommendations.

Dan Russon Director, Research & Innovation Xceed Group

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The ResearchThe survey polled professionals from a range of industry sectors including Financial Services, IT, Energy and Utilities, Professional Services, Media and Retail.

Sectors

94% of respondents were Experienced Change Professionals

10%

50%

100%

We asked...1. Main Location2. Main Industry Sector3. Which role have you performed most often

during change projects?4. How much does your company embrace

change?5. Which part of your organisation is the

most resistant to change?6. How has the volume of technology driven

change initiatives changed?7. What have been the most common drivers

for technology change? 8. On average, please estimate how many

technology change projects are successful in your experience.

9. What are the Top Three characteristics of SUCCESSFUL change projects you’ve seen?

10. What are the Top Three characteristics of UNSUCCESSFUL change projects you’ve seen?

11. Looking forward, do you think that technology change projects will increase or decrease in frequency over the next 2-5 years?

12. In your opinion, have companies become better or worse at executing technology change projects during your career?

13. How do you personally feel about change (from Embrace to Fear)?

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Part I:

Key Findings1. The Five Critical Characteristics of Successful

Change, including : The Top Three Characteristics of Successful and

Unsuccessful Change2. Interim Results3. Organisations’ ability to execute change effectively is not

keeping up with increased demand 4. Positivity really does seem to breed success – but there’s

a clear disparity between individual and organisational acceptance of change

5. Those tasked with running a smooth and low-risk operation are seen as the most resistant to change

6. Cost Efficiency is still outweighing the more engaging drivers for change

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Frequency analysis of nearly 1,500 free text responses from experienced change professionals highlights a Big Five to focus on if you want to increase the success of your change initiatives:1. Clarity of Purpose and Scope

2. Communication – of purpose, plans and progress 3. Executive Sponsorship – visible leadership

and support4. Resource – Attitude was deemed more important than

Availability or Skill 5. Quality of Planning rated higher for

unsuccessful than successful change

1. The Five Critical Characteristics of Successful Change

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15% Resource –

Attitude

Notably, not a single respondent mentioned Project or Change Methodology as a significant factor. Companies focusing on implementing a new Project Management Methodology would do well to ensure it encourages Clarity of Purpose and excellent Communication as otherwise the choice of methodology may be irrelevant.

References to ‘Resources’ were split across three types of comment.

n Resource – Attitude

n Resource – Availability

n Resource – Skills

Plans provide goals, and theory and evidence have shown that goals are an important factor in motivating people and directing their actions. From my research, I would advise that plans – whether goals, decisions or actions – should be tied to a clear aspirational purpose. The benefit with mandating that linkage is that if an employee takes a decision in line with the organisation’s purpose-driven goals, it might not be the best action, it might not be the action you would have taken, but it might just be that spark of innovation that was really needed … and, if none of the above, maybe it doesn’t matter because it’s taken the organisation closer to its goals anyway.

Annie Gascoyne, PhD Researcher, Organisational Behaviour, Goldsmiths, University of London

1.4% Resource – Availability

0.5% Resource – Skills

16.9% Joint Resource

++

=

16.9% Joint

Resource

16% Communication

19.2% Clarity of Purpose

and Scope

Grouped together, Resource factors would

have made second place for successful, and fifth

for unsuccessful change

‘Attitude is more important than Skill.’

Resource – Attitude came out as the most important resource factor for both questions, while Resource – Skill came third for both – behind

Attitude and Availability. This confirms our experience that Attitude is more important than Skill when it comes to executing successful change. This seems to be reinforced by the evidence that the US, more embracing and positive about change, reports higher success rates.

Big Change Report 2015© Xceed Group

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Resource – Attitude Communication

Clarity of Purpose and Scope

15% 15% 16% 19.2%

Executive Sponsorship and

Leadership

1st2ndJoint 3rd

What Do We Think? The data, academics and our practical experience lead us to conclude that if you have Clarity of Purpose, excellent Communication, strong Executive Leadership, Resource with the right Attitude and robust Planning in place, you’re sure to beat the odds.

If you have none, it may be best to review your proposed project again before diving in. These five elements are vital, so focus on them and embrace anything that improves them.

As is often the case, the journey to completion can be as interesting as the final results. On August 14th Xceed Group delivered a webinar on ‘Stakeholders in Matrix Organisations’ to members of the APM (Association of Project Managers). ‘Communication’ did not enter the top three characteristics of either successful or failed change programmes until these last 40 responses were recorded. So when it comes to change, we found it interesting that a high percentage of the experienced APM audience viewed Communication as a determining factor for success. 

2. Interim Survey Results

Planning

Executive Sponsorship

and Leadership

1st2nd3rd

9% 11.6%

26.6%

Final Results for Successful ChangeSnapshot for Successful Change

Final Results for Unsuccessful ChangeSnapshot for Unsuccessful Change

3rd

Communication

13%

2nd

Planning

14.2%

1st

Clarity of Purpose and Scope

18.1%

Executive Sponsorship

and Leadership

13.1%

2nd

Planning

10.3%

3rd

23%

1st

Pre-Webinar Post-Webinar

Clarity of Purpose and Scope

Clarity of Purpose and Scope

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3. Organisations’ ability to execute change effectively is not keeping up with increased demand

The good news is that overall, almost two thirds of people (65%) reported some improvement in their organisation’s ability to deliver change. However, only 17% felt their company had become ‘Much Better’ while 22% felt they had become worse.

Why are organisations not improving at a faster rate? With the average tenure of CIOs being less than four years, one explanation is that organisations are suffering from ‘short-termism’ with priority and budget decisions geared towards near-term returns rather than long term maturity and institutional intelligence. Naturally, these changes in leadership also cause their own cycle of change every few years. This contributes to what we consider to be the main reason. The vast majority of businesses are not set up to learn from failure. Companies that have the processes and culture to learn from failure succeed both financially and with their Big Change initiatives. It’s a defining characteristic. The heart of the Toyota Production System has always been how they respond to failure – in change project terms this means ‘welcome the reds’ [See page 20}.

While there are a number of factors that can impede successful business change, with 94% of respondents predicting change volume and velocity to increase further, business leaders need to improve their change ability quickly. With the majority of our respondents (59%) stating that change will ‘Increase Greatly’, 0% predicting any reduction at all, and 100% of US respondents believing that rates of organisational change are only set to increase, businesses cannot afford to maintain the status quo. One headline recommendation may be deduced from an interesting difference between the EU and the US.

We asked respondents – Have technology driven change initiatives increased or decreased and in their opinion, have companies become better or worse at executing change technology projects during their careers?

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4. Positivity really does seem to breed success – but there’s a clear disparity between individual and organisational

acceptance of change

EU

US

All

53% 34% 9%

3 4 51 2

5%

4%

3%

75% 10% 10%

59% 30% 8%

EU

US

All

33% 25% 17% 19% 6%

6%

50% 25% 25%

28% 32% 12% 22%

Company Change AcceptanceWe asked – On a scale of 1-5, where 1 is embrace and 5 is fear, how much does your company embrace change?

Success Perception We asked – On average, please estimate how many technology change projects are successful in your experience.

Personal Change Acceptance We asked – On a scale of 1-5, where 1 is embrace and 5 is fear, how do you (personally) feel about change?

0-10%

11-20%

21-30%

31-40%

41-50%

51-60%

61-70%

71-80%

81-90%

91-100%

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

21-30%of change projects successful – the most common estimate for EU respondents

51-60%of change projects successful – the most common estimate for US respondents

50%Half of US respondents felt their companies were highly accepting of change, compared to only a third of EU respondents.

22% more US respondents were highly accepting of change than the EU.

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Overall, across the EU and the US our respondents bucked the trend (from Kotter to Lipman) of reporting 30% success rates, showing an average of 52% success. However, the most common estimate for the EU was 21-30% compared to 51-60% in the US – a stark difference. The averages were much closer at 50% (EU) vs 59% (US).

When this is compared against the responses to questions about how much individuals and organisations embrace or fear change, we see that US respondents were far more accepting of change on both a personal and organisational level.

This could suggest that the higher degree of acceptance with which both individuals and organisations in the US approach change could be responsible for a marked improvement in change success rates. Whether it’s the 9% difference in averages between the US and EU or the 100% difference in the most common estimates – positivity does appear to influence success rates.

A key idea behind flexible organisations is their ‘aspirational purpose’. It’s a powerful concept that can provide employees with direction without prescription, rather like a compass point might point you northwards without telling you how or which mountain to climb or river to cross. This long range direction can provide clarity, reason and meaning to people’s work – powerful motivators, too often lacking at work. Xceed Group’s survey appears to support the importance of this idea, with ‘Clarity of Purpose and Scope’ being the number one characteristic of success (or failure) in IT change projects.

Annie Gascoyne, PhD Researcher, Organisational Behaviour, Goldsmiths, University of London

* Reference: Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power for the social sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum and Associates.

‘Positivity increases success of change.’

This is given extra significance by the findings of recent Goldsmith research, which has identified a strong correlation between job satisfaction and organisational flexibility. The correlation coefficient (r) is .54 (where 0 implies there is no relationship, and 1 implies

a perfect correlation). In Behavioural Sciences, .54 is considered a large effect size*.

In short, the Goldsmith research suggests that how flexible a company is can predict employee job satisfaction. This indicates that increasing organisational flexibility is important to both the productivity and the well-being of employees.

The contrast in our data between Individual and Organisational acceptance of change (100% didn’t personally fear change but 30% of respondents felt their organisations were resistant), suggests a concerning disconnect for many businesses.

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5. Those tasked with running an efficient, low-risk operation are seen as the most resistant to change

With Operations clearly viewed as the most resistant department, it could benefit organisations to look at the principles of DevOps and to apply them across more than the Software Development Lifecycle.

Operations

Mar

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1%1%1%3%4%4%7%7%7%10%10%11%34%

5

10

15

20

25

30

35%

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Most resistant Least resistant to Change

We asked respondents – Which part of your organisation tends to be the most resistant to change?

DevOps brings Development, Test and Operations much closer together, often physically as well as philosophically, to break down the traditional barriers between functions.

With DevOps, there are fewer ‘Projects’ and more ‘Products’ which only stop once the Product is retired. This state of ‘continual release’ encourages collaboration and understanding across silos and results show that ‘Faster, Better and Cheaper’ are all being achieved with this approach.

Given that transformation has become continuous, we’d argue that a similar approach to all change initiatives is required. Make change a core ‘business as usual’ capability and involve all departments and functions from the outset.

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6. Cost Efficiency is still outweighing the more engaging drivers for change

Looking at what’s been driving this volume of change highlights another discrepancy Both Garther and Forrester report that increasing Agility and Innovation are the priorities for CIOs today. However, the more mundane ‘Cost Efficiency’ and ‘Technology Replacement’ are still what our respondents are seeing as the real drivers. Is this just a failure of Communication?

Given the emergence of Cloud, Big Data, The Internet of Things and, most of all, Digital Business, it’s understandable that C-Level Executives see a need for increased Agility and Innovation. Positioned well, these are exciting and clear ‘Purposes’ for people to rally behind for organisational change. However, the message that is getting through remains ‘Cost Saving’ and necessary ‘Technology Replacement’.

Change to save money, avoid risk, or just to update an application, can rapidly lead to ‘change fatigue’ whereas change that transforms a company’s revenue and improves customer experience is far easier to get people excited about. We’ve already seen that greater positivity leads to higher success according to our respondents, so communicating a positive purpose for change has to be beneficial. For example, Cloud adoption can definitely deliver large cost efficiencies. It can also increase Agility and Innovation. What you decide to emphasise and communicate as the reason for your change could have a marked impact on the success of the initiative.

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My three take-aways: 1. Provide clarity and reasons for people to

follow the organisation’s ‘compass setting’.

2. Reinforce the message for goals, decisions and actions to all align with that ‘compass setting’.

3. Let’s all accept that none of us is perfect 100% of the time. Leadership: reinforce that being open about imperfect work is the right thing to do, and that you’re not seeking to punish it.

Annie Gascoyne, PhD Researcher, Organisational Behaviour, Goldsmiths, University of London

Summaryn Technology Change has increased and is certainly set to increase

n Organisations’ ability to implement effective change has improved but is not keeping pace with demand.

n There are important differences between Individuals’ and Organisations’ willingness to embrace change that need to be understood – a gap that needs to be closed.

n Positive attitudes towards change are a determining factor for the success of a project – it pays to present and approach change as a positive, not a necessary evil.

n There is a disconnect between the reported drivers for change by Industry Analysts and CEO/CIO surveys (Innovation), and what people are seeing on the ground (Cost).

The Big Five for Successful Change:1. Clarity of Purpose and Scope

2. Communication – of purpose, plans and progress

3. Executive Sponsorship – visible leadership and support

4. Resource – Attitude was deemed more important than Availability or Skill

5. Quality of Planning rated higher for unsuccessful change than successful change

Would your company be interested in becoming more open to change at both an individual and organisational level?

Goldsmiths’ Institute of Management Studies is looking to recruit organisations to take part in the latest behavioural research in this area. Find out more on page 28, or email me (Annie Gascoyne) a.gascoyne@gold.ac.uk to discuss what’s involved and the value to your business.

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Part II:

Full Survey Results

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Full Survey Responses

9% Executive Sponsors

10% Programme

Directors

19% Programme Managers

14% Technical

SMEs

34% Project

Managers

6% End Users

8% PMOs

3. Which role have you performed most often during change projects?

1 2 3 4 5

4. How much does your company embrace change (from 1 – Embrace to 5 –Fear)?

6%

28%

32%

12%

22%

Embrace Fear Change

32% North America

63% Europe

1% South

America

1% Africa

2% Asia

1% Oceania

1. Main Location 2. Main Industry Sector

FS Investment

FS Retail

3% Public Sector

2.5% Media

2% Retail 7% Healthcare

0.5% Pharmaceutical

5% Energy and Utilities

3% Telecommunications

Service

10% Other

23% Information Technology

18% Professional

Services

10% FS Insurance

7% 9%

5. Which part of your organisation is the most resistant to change?

Europe

Operations

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5

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25

30

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Most resistant Least resistant to Change

61% Increased Greatly

27% Increased

Slightly

7% Stayed the same

4% Decreased Slightly

1% Decreased Greatly

6. How has the volume of technology driven change initiatives changed?

14% Revenue Growth

4% M&A

Activities

36% Cost Efficiency

26% Technology

Replacement

8% Risk & Resilience

Improvement

12% Regulatory

Replacement

7. What have been the most common drivers for technology change?

8. On average, please estimate how many technology change projects are successful in your experience.

0 – 10% 11 – 20% 21 – 30% 31 – 40% 41 – 50% 51 – 60% 61 – 70% 71 – 80% 81 – 90% 91 – 100%

2%8%

5%12%

15%11%

9%12%

7%

19%

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 %

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14.2% 13%18.1%

10. What are the Top Three characteristics of UNSUCCESSFUL change projects you’ve seen?

18.1% Clarity of Scope and Purpose

14.2% Planning 13.0% Communication 12.3% Executive

Sponsorship and Leadership

5.8% Budget and Funding 5.0% Other 5.0% Resource – Attitude 4.8% Technology Choice/

Performance

4.3% Resource – Availability

4.3% Project Management 3.2% Governance –

Process 2.9% Resistance to

Change 2.5% Governance –

Control 2.5% Change

Management 2.1% Resource – Skills

15% 15% 16% 19.2%

9. What are the Top Three characteristics of SUCCESSFUL change projects you’ve seen?

19.2% Clarity of Purpose and Scope

16.0% Communication 15.0% Executive Sponsorship

& Leadership 15.0% Resource – Attitude 11.0% Other 8.0% Quality of Planning 3.9% Governance – Processes

3.9% Project Management 2.8% Budget/Funding 1.4% Resource - Availability 1.4% Change Management 1.2% Technology Choice

/Performance 0.7% Governance – Control

0.5% Resource – Skills

12. In your opinion, have companies become better or worse at executing technology change projects during your career?

17%Much Better

49%Better

12%No

Change

20% Worse

2% Much Worse

11. Looking forward, do you think that technology change projects will increase or decrease in frequency over the next 2-5 years?

6%Remain the

Same

59%Will Increase

Greatly 35%Will Increase

Slightly

13. How do you personally feel about change (from 1 – Embrace to 5 –Fear)?

1 2 3 4 5

59%

30%8%

8%3%

Embrace Fear Change

Part III:

How Can We Change Change?

Stuart Riley: Transform perceptions to change resultsWe believe the perception of change first needs to be changed. It’s really that simple. Improving change agility and ability starts with viewing organisational change as a crucial core capability to be developed and nurtured, rather than as a temporary inconvenience. Many people will recognise and understand this from personal experience. However, there were several useful findings which point to ways of improving change success rates.Putting the results of the Big Change Survey together with lessons from Behavioural Science, analyst opinions and plenty of hard-won experience provides some actionable ways to really turn the dial on change success rates.

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Clarity of Purpose and Scope is Crucial

Visualisation – of Plans and Progress From the first round-table discussion to many of the Free Text responses, the language used to describe change is extremely visual. Marketeers and advertisers know that a picture is worth a thousand words – it seems that a clear picture for a change project is worth a thousand Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint packs.

1. Make the Purpose of your initiative clear, simple and easy to understand. Establish an unambiguous definition of the project’s objectives and its scope parameters.

2. Visualise and simplify wherever possible – from a ‘Plan on a Page’ to online counters and posters on walls, the language of successful change is startlingly visual and it pays to embrace this.

3. Ensure you have a clear design for your target state and roadmap for implementation.

4. Limit Objectives – don’t try to do too much e.g. don’t try to implement a merger or separation and change business processes at the same time.

5. There’s benefit in focusing on the value of the outcome. What will this change deliver? Not just in ROI terms to the CFO, but in experience and value terms to customers and employees? Focusing on the value helps keep scope tight and clear. It also gives people clarity on the real ‘critical success factors’ – in a way that enables individuals a degree of autonomy.

6. There’s a lot in a name – people associate more with nouns than verbs – give the initiative a title that focuses on the Value/Outcome as related to the Purpose. For example – you might call a Project and PMO Management Practice ‘Proceed’ – rather than ‘Programmes and Change’ to reflect its progressive aspirations.

1

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Communication – absolutely essential but not always a ‘business as usual’ skill for a technology PM or PMO. It is worth spending a lot more time and energy on, than most do today. Whenever possible, engage specialists.

1. Identify and engage an Executive Sponsor who has the drive, energy and belief to instil enthusiasm throughout the organisation. The message has to be ‘this is a marathon, not a sprint’.

2. The EAST framework – outlined by the CEO of the Behavioural Insight Team – this framework can be applied to much more than communications but it is easiest to apply here and proven to improve adoption of big change. Ensure your communications are Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely. [See page 25]

3. Conversion not Compliance – effective and lasting change comes from achieving buy-in through conversion rather than control. Ensure your communications set this tone.

4. Communication – needs to be both digital and personal. Understand and track Their Agenda – address this in communications and reality, and people will be far more supportive and engaged (Principle of Reciprocity).

5. Budget for more time and specialist input to your communications – by a factor of three. If you can’t justify a full-time Comms specialist then engage your PR, Marketing and Advertising teams for input and ideas.

6. Switch from using the term ‘Stakeholder Management’ to ‘Stakeholder Persuasion’ – far more reflective of reality and drives the right behaviours. There is a lot of good literature on the science of persuasion. [See Reading List on page 26]

2 Communication is Key

‘Communication is a two-way street – not broadcast only – Set to Receive.’

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One of the most interesting findings is the difference between the EU and the US when it comes to embracing change (personally and organisationally) and how successful they feel they are at delivering it. Positivity does seem to result in higher success. While this needs to be addressed at an organisational level it starts with the Executive Sponsor for any initiative.

1) Learn from Failure – Executive Leadership has the key role to play here. Create a culture that welcomes people reporting ‘Red’ rather than crucifying them. Question the Green status reports and welcome the Red, so long as you learn from them. Track lessons from Reds, risks and issues as you go – don’t wait till the end... Share, Learn, Unlock.

2) Use Opportunity Logs on every project to capture, evaluate and respond to the many constructive ideas that arise during a change but which are typically overlooked in the rush to deliver. Start your meetings reviewing the RADIO log rather than just the RAID log. What you talk about and report on sets the tone for the change.

3) Purposeful Practice – you learn fastest at the sharp end. What happens during a high-stakes implementation, like a cut-over event, is a distilled microcosm of the attitudes, people, skills, tools, decision making speed and Executive scrutiny you need for great change agility. What works well here will help all change initiatives. Any third parties you use in this space must have knowledge transfer in contracts.

4) Limit indecisiveness. Prepare people for potential issues and risks, before you start. Pre-agree an objective model for how they’ll be handled. Pre-mortem planning identifies the maximum range of hurdles to plan for. Done well this turns mountains into molehills. Indecisiveness is expensive and mid-flight ‘deep dives’ and debate are de-railing.

5) Ensure a clearly defined mandate of authority from the Board, so that their decision is final. Provide opportunities for stakeholders to meet and question the Executive Sponsor to build team spirit and a sense of ‘we can do it’.

3 Executive Leadership – Positivity does breed success

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4 Planning – involve all functions and visualise

1. Engage all parties earlier than usual – especially those involved in running a smooth, low risk operation. Gain the ‘buy-in’ of the typical resistors from early in the planning stage.

2. Ensure you can represent your plans and progress visually – this acts as a reference point and decision aide for all involved and interested.

3. Ensure you are clear about the Current Operating Model (COM) i.e. business processes, data, systems, networks, batch processes, internal and external interfaces etc. before you start.

4. Ensure you are clear about the Target Operating Model (TOM) i.e. business processes, data, systems, networks, batch processes, internal and external interfaces etc. before you start.

5. Ensure that the roadmap for migrating from COM to TOM – including any transition states – is fully defined.

6. Ensure the business has input to, and agrees with, the COM, TOM and transition states, especially where transition states require additional manual processes to support business operations.

7. Detail the definition of the implementation events at an early stage –this will also help you to define what business resources are required and when.

8. Continuous Quality Assurance and challenge on scope and thoroughness of plans is essential to minimise risk of omission and ensure the most efficient and effective solutions are implemented. An independent perspective, from outside the main change programme, can add significant value.

9. Pre-mortem Planning. Once you have your Plan in place, stop and step back. Split into two balanced groups and picture yourselves at the end of the project. Everyone in each group privately writes a case study – one set of people documenting the best change project they’ve ever been involved with, and explaining what made it so successful. The other group each writes the opposite – what caused it to fail spectacularly? Encourage everyone to be as detailed and explicit as possible. Ask them to consider things they’d never normally put in a plan or say in a group. This approach is shown to access far more of the knowledge and experience available to you than any group discussion. ‘Prospective Hindsight’ increases the ability to correctly identify the reasons for future outcomes by 30% according to Gary Klein. It will also lead to important revisions to your plan.

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5 People – Attitude outweighs Skill 1. Hire and promote based on Attitude, even above skill.

2. Develop an Attitude Framework for your organisation that makes ideal Attitudes and Behaviours as clearly understood as Competencies.

3. Attitudes for successful change will vary based on the culture of the organisation, it’s not one-size-fits-all. However, we have found these attitudes and behaviours to be common across many of the most successful change practitioners: Resilience, Tenacity, Sense of Urgency, Curiosity, Empathy, Ownership, Challenge and Positivity.

4. Think ‘User Adoption and Education’ rather than ‘User Acceptance Testing’ and ‘Training’ – and start both far earlier in the process than you normally do. This is proven to have a clear cost benefit impact as well as ensuring an improved perception of the success of the change. Failure to engage with this attitude can result in ‘malicious compliance’ at best.

5. Narrow the gap between the Organisations’ and Individuals’ perception of change – the closer aligned they are, the higher the level of engagement and productivity. Presenting change as a positive from the organisations’ perspective has an impact on individual perception.

6. Look to DevOps for some high-level principles and practices that can be applied to all big change – break down silos between groups and functions.

This Proceed Practice Webinar provides 10 tips for improving change in your organisation.

Clarity for complex change Clarity for complex change © 2015 XceedGroup

Changing Change Top 10 Tips for Improving Change

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Conclusion

Given what we’ve learned from the Big Change research, it’s clear their views were highly representative of a much wider audience, with the top fives aligning closely with the ‘Big Five’ identified by 20 times more people in this report.

The Big Five Results1. Clarity of Purpose and Scope

2. Communication – of purpose, plans and progress

3. Executive Sponsorship – visible leadership and support

4. Resource – Attitude was deemed more important than Availability or Skill

5. Quality of Planning rated higher for unsuccessful than successful change

As well as the consistently visual language, Clarity of Purpose, Communication, and Leadership all feature strongly, and Planning comes through as a reason for failure more often than being seen as a cause of success. It’s also notable that choices of technology or methodology don’t appear in any of the lists.

These themes continue to shine through in every conversation we have with customers. We recently travelled to Berlin where we spoke to dozens of senior IT and C-level executives across the top 20 European financial services firms. The one common theme was: The biggest challenges for technology driven change programmes are Cultural and Behavioural – it’s about People, Politics and Perception more than the technology or methodology.

Successful Big Change is dependent upon Attitudes, Influence and Persuasion so adding lessons from Behavioural Sciences to traditional experience and expertise is the smartest way to consistently improve change success rates.

Here’s to changing Big Change for the better in 2016. Dan, Stuart, Annie and John

To conclude, it may be useful to reflect on the results from the original round-table discussion, which highlighted the Top 5 characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful change in the view of 12 senior transformation specialists:

The Round Table Results Succeed Fail Clarity of Purpose & Focus Unclear Requirements

Communication Rushed Planning

Visible Leadership Blurred Accountability & Ownership

Simple & Clear Milestones Indecision

Effective Governance Politics & Perception

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Part IV:

Supplementary Materials

1. The EAST Framework from ‘Inside the Nudge Unit’2. Recommended Reading for Improving Change3. About the Authors4. Goldsmith University – Organisational Flexibility

research5. About Xceed Groupp

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1. The EAST Framework

Headlines Think About Examples

Easy Make it easy, people are much more likely to do something if it’s easy and low-hassle.

SimplifyFriction: remove or add it to inhibit Defaults: set the easy path as the healthiest, safest, option

Pensions: millions more saving as a result of auto-enrolmentSuicide: Reduced when easy routes blocked (introduction of natural gas) University Entry: 25% more students go when forms pre-filled

Attract People are drawn to that which catches their attention and is attractive to them.

Personalise: use recipient’s name; make relevant Salience: make key point stand out Messenger: experts and named individuals beat anonymous or distrusted sourcesLotteries: make incentives more attractiveEmotion: as important as reason

Tax: 10x more Doctors declared income with salient letterGiving: 2x more donations to emergency appeals with story of one child versus statistics of millions affectedCourts: 3x more likely to pay fines with a personalised text

Social People are strongly influenced by what others are doing or have done.

Norms: what are others actually doingNetworks: a friend or colleague recommends Reciprocity and Active commitments: promisesReminders of others: faces and eyes

Litter: 8x more likely to drop flyer if others already on groundTax: 16% more likely to pay if informed that most people pay on timeGiving: 7x more likely to give when learning that a colleague already gave

Timely Interventions are more effective before habits are formed, or behaviour has been disrupted for other reasons.

Habits: intervene before they become establishedKey moments: when behaviour is disruptedPriming and Anchoring: the power of what came just beforeTime Inconsistency: discounting of the future

Development: 2/3rds more farmers take-up fertiliser offer after harvest – when cash richHealth: 3x more workers choose healthy option a week ahead than on the dayTax: 2x more less likely to respond to nudge if late paying previous year

The EAST Framework from ‘Inside the Nudge Unit’ by David Halpern

Since 2010, some of the most intransigent of social issues have been addressed successfully by the ‘Behavioural Insight Team’, led by David Halpern. This framework is one of the most practical and easy to apply lessons from their work. It can be applied to much more than Communications but that’s a good place to start. David’s book and a recent lecture at LSE (Inside the Nudge Unit: how small changes can make a big difference) provide anyone interested in ‘Big Change’ with some ‘Big Ideas’ that have been proven through RCTs (Randomised Controlled Trials.)

The ‘Headlines’ outlined in the framework (below) are facts, not opinions. The ‘Examples’ of impact on the right, are all documented and explained in the book. The ‘Think About’ column provides short-hand reminders of the important factors and techniques to be considered or applied.

For further information on this topic, a number of the books listed in the ‘Recommended Reading’ section, overleaf, provide background, insight and findings that can be applied to improve big change.

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2. Recommended Reading for Improving Change

How brains work and what makes people tick1. Drive – The Surprising Truth

About What Motivates Us (Daniel Pink)

2. The Chimp Paradox – Mind Management (Steve Peters)

3. Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely)

4. Nudge (Thaler & Sunstein)

5. Thinking Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)

6. Incognito – Secret Lives of the Brain (David Eagleman)

7. Seeing What Others Don’t (Gary Klein)

8. Misbehaving (Richard H Thaler)

9. Bounce –The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice (Matthew Syed)

Business, Strategy & Leadership 1. The Small Big

(Martin & Goldstein)

2. Leaders Eat Last (Simon Sinek)

3. Start With Why (Simon Sinek)

4. Scaling up Excellence (Sutton & Rao)

5. Leadership – Plain and Simple (Steve Radcliffe)

6. Adapt – Why Success always starts with Failure (Tim Harford)

7. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy – the difference and why it matters (Richard Rumelt)

8. Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth about Success (Matthew Syed)

Influence and Persuasion 1. Flipnosis – The Art of Split

Second Persuasion (Kevin Dutton)

2. 59 Seconds – Think a Little, Change Lot (Richard Wiseman)

3. Yes – 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion (Martin, Goldstein & Cialdini)

4. Herd – How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing our True Nature (Mark Earls)

5. To Sell Is Human – The Surprising Truth About Persuading, Convincing, and Influencing Others (Daniel Pink)

6. Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini)

Listed below are some of the books which have provided us with ideas and inspiration for ‘changing change’. Very roughly categorised, they’re not classic project or Change Management books. However, for anyone interested in improving change by applying lessons from other disciplines, these books are thought provoking and valuable. All link to Amazon, other booksellers are available.

Referenced in the Top 10 Tips for Improving Change Webinar

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3. About the Authors Dan Russon: Director of Research and Innovation at Xceed Group. Absorbed in Behavioural Economics, Communication and accelerating Big Change, Dan has 17 years’ experience consulting with companies including BP, Citigroup, Cisco and Carphone Warehouse on people and change initiatives.

dan.russon@xceedgroup.com

Stuart Riley: Proceed Practice Director at Xceed Group. Passionate about delivery quality, client satisfaction and getting the best out of people. Stuart has 19 years’ experience, the majority spent at Thomson Reuters focusing on bridging the narrowing gap between the business and IT.

stuart.riley@xceedgroup.com

John Cox: Principal Consultant, Proceed Practice at Xceed Group. Fascinated by organisational dynamics, especially inertia and barriers to organisational learning with respect to lack of improvement in Big Change. John has 30 years’ consulting experience with companies that include PwC, LBG, AXA, Citibank Global Asset Management and BAT.

john.cox@xceedgroup.com

Annie Gascoyne: PhD researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London and independent business consultant. A strong desire to improve the behaviour of work led Annie to conduct research around organisational flexibility as a way to predict and influence organisations’ productivity and well-being. Annie has 18 years’ experience in managing people, projects, operations and change in multinationals such as PwC, BT, GSK, Quintiles, HSBC and Citigroup, as well as in start-ups and scale-ups.

a.gascoyne@gold.ac.uk

my Linked In Profile

my Linked In Profile

my Linked In Profile

my Linked In Profile

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5. About Xceed Group Xceed Group helps customers to migrate and transform technology rapidly, without increasing risk. We are a leading IT Management Consultancy with a track record of delivering high-stakes, complex change programmes. Our game changing migration acceleration platform mX accelerates Legacy to New Migration Programmes by over 30%, while increasing control and confidence. We believe big change brings more opportunity than risk, and our positive attitude, unique tools and flexible methodologies consistently deliver increased success rates for change initiatives while also providing lasting organisational agility improvements.

In over 12 years of operating with a range of FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 clients, many with challenging IT Programmes & Architectures, we have enjoyed consistent growth driven by recommendation and referral. With offices in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and New York, Xceed Group is an independent, private and employee owned company.

4. Goldsmiths‘Organisational Flexibility’ research Xceed Group’s report highlights the gap between organisational and individual openness to change: a relationship that is explored as part of my research. Being open to experiences (even if challenging experiences, as exemplified by change), whilst continuing to pursue organisational purpose and individual values, is a central characteristic of flexibility.

We know that individuals who are psychologically flexible are more behaviourally effective and more psychologically healthy; similarly, theory and early evidence suggest that organisations that are flexible are more productive and enhance the wellbeing of their employees. In fact, one of my central hypotheses is that organisational flexibility will create a climate that increases employees’ psychological flexibility.

We know how to increase flexibility, and so if the hypothesis is supported, we will have mechanisms to simultaneously help our organisations and employees to become more open to change, more effective and more healthy.

In the coming months, I will be gathering further evidence to support this theory with the goal of developing a new, proven model for predicting and influencing organisational flexibility. If your organisation might be interested in participating in this research, email me (Annie Gascoyne) a.gascoyne@gold.ac.uk, to discuss what’s involved and the value to your business.

Contacts:UK : 1 Alie Street, London E1 8DE T : +44 (0) 20 7480 0030 E : uk.info@xceedgroup.com

US : 100 Church Street, 8th Floor, New York NY10007 T : +44 (0) 20 7480 0030 E : us.info@xceedgroup.com

www.xceedgroup.com