CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Managing day to day is underestimated, but it is clear from our research that managerial skills are part of an essential repertoire
necessitating strategies to win over key people affected by the change. A head of European operations for a business in the chemicals manufacturing sector described the political processes he went through. “The finance team lost power and had some authority taken away. I made sure that I had the GM on board. I took the GM and finance director in a room for half a day and ran through everything with them. I got the buy-in from both. Although there was some stubbornness from some of the finance team, the strategic alliance I had made with the GM and FD made sure the initiative could succeed.” A general manager in a semiconductors manufacturing company described the political skill needed as being, “… the ability to unblock. I think the president provided a lot of support in terms of unblocking political problems quickly. He is very attentive with all [manufacturing] sites, well subbed into all the people, what the project objectives were, where the blockers were and…he would use his power”.
Managerial skills – least influential at the start Our research indicated that the need for sound managerial skills is most influential once the change becomes more sustained; they are less prominent at the start of the change initiative. Frequently managing day to day is underestimated, but it is clear from our research that managerial skills are part of an essential repertoire required to embed and sustain change. The skills involve consciously putting change into practice throughout the organisation: making the necessary modifications, getting people on board and monitoring and reviewing performance and how this is working in practice. It may involve clarifying responsibilities and informing each person subject to the change how he or she is accountable. As the wave of change increases, for example, managerial style, day in, day out is at its most
54
influential. As a site operations manager of a food processing business said, “Management style [in our plant] is evolving and we’ve given people more opportunity to take responsibility for an area instead of merely following instructions. We’ve allowed people to be more open, to criticise us more [and] talked about assumptions. Scepticism was apparent but coaching sessions and ongoing support from the leadership [has helped].” “Regular active communication is vital, [said a managing director of a chemical coatings company], just to try to change mind-sets.” A regional operations director of a chemical detergents company said, “I’ve seen a change in [management] style leading to more integration between departments and between head office and field teams. Previous change attempts fell down due to communication. Now people are welcomed in to join the process and actively encouraged…and communication within the company is improved vastly. Everyone originally was only interested in their little bit. Previously not enough people had an interest to drive ‘change’ forward. [The] only initiatives done were those forced on people. Now people are actively involved in deciding what the change issues might be or where improvements could be.”
Individual skills – contribute in later stages As change moves forward, much more focus needs to be placed on individual employees, their commitment and contribution. However, one of the more interesting findings from our research is that a change programme that ultimately becomes sustained can be launched without the vast majority being initially committed. However, once the initiative implementation phase is over, if the vast majority of individuals and teams are still not committed, the initiative is likely to peter out and fail. A regional operations director for a chemical
detergents company described the process of developing people and building up their commitment. He explained, “Training and the attainment of new skills [within the workforce] have been a big part of [sustaining the change]. However, I’m not saying that [maintenance of individuals’ commitment] has been cracked… instead, it’s been down to individual people becoming willing to drive our processes.” A site operations manager for a food processing company commented, “From a training viewpoint, we’re now doing a process called ‘new ways of working.’ It’s a series of workshops and vision sharing in terms of structure, job role changes and accountabilities. This we believe has become important to sustaining the change.” Redirection and redeployment may
September 2015
www.trainingjournal.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64