Making change happen

When John Kotter, the world’s preeminent thinker on the subject of change, wrote his seminal work he titled it ‘Leading Change’ not ‘Managing Change’. This is because his thesis is that the job of the leader is to bring about change whereas managers are more concerned with operational efficiency – plans, budgets, resources, measurement.

Of course, both are vital but we believe that it is the ability to change that will separate the successful from the also-rans in the increasingly fast-moving and unpredictable markets in which we operate.

Leadership is also a critical component of a firm’s culture; it both shapes and is shaped by the taken-for-granted assumptions about the way things are done, what is acceptable and what is not. Great leaders are able to change cultures rather than be subservient to them.

We work with leaders to develop their approach to change management to deliver strategic goals.

It is almost inevitable that, whether as a result of a strategy review or brand development exercise, several high-importance strategic projects arise.

When the management team has a strategic project to implement it faces several challenges – availability of senior resource, bringing the required change management skills to bear, defining clear lines of responsibility, and experience of implementing similar projects successfully.

Delivering demanding strategic projects to time, budget and quality targets is central to our work. We can assist in initial scoping of the project, agreeing the implementation plan and resources, managing the project delivery, and conducting post-project appraisal.

A rounded view of performance is critical to sustainable success.

We work with firms to design and deliver performance management and remuneration systems based on balanced scorecard techniques, employing both leading and lagging indicators of success.

We don’t believe that it is sensible or credible to expect everyone to be equally good at everything. Success flows from playing to strengths, recognising that a diverse and adaptive team will outperform a monolithic one over the longer term.

“What gets measured gets done” is a long-standing management adage. It is critical to define, measure, and reward the behaviours at every level of our organisations. By so doing we create a strong culture, align our people, and allow longer-term strategic objectives to be delivered and sustainable competitive advantage achieved.