Implementing Change in Organizations - Why is it so hard?

As a result of market force realities forcing us to constantly improve how we conduct business, 'change' has become the only real 'constant' in business today. 50-85% of all organizational change initiatives fail, not for lack of technical excellence, but for underestimating the effect that a change has on people - and that people can exert on a change. How often does that wonderful change end up as a "flavour-of-the-month" failure? How many times have you heard, "that's not the way we do it"? How frequently have you seen heads nod in agreement at a proposed change initiative, only to be followed by complete inaction? Business Change is fundamentally a change in people. Organizations change when people in them change, when people think differently about their work and approach their jobs in new and creative ways.

What is the Tipping Point?

The Tipping Point is an exciting new approach to change. It allows us to understand how change happens, how to create positive change, how to achieve lasting results and contagious commitment. It provides a focus for dialogue that helps teams and individuals learn from one another and improve their change implementation strategies. The Tipping Point recognises that successful change can be 'contagious'. That change happens when people actually modify their behaviour and they move from being disconnected to committed to that change.

At a strategic level, research shows that there are seven key areas (or 'levers') which impact on the amount of commitment to change. Getting the right balance and mix of these items is the key to gaining commitment.

The programme

This one day programme uses a computer run business simulation in order to understand the complexities of change. It is unique in that the workshop participants are able to use the seven levers of change and to see the impact on an organization of using various combinations of these levers.

The Tipping Point programme is effective because the facilitated workshop involves participants. It's fun and the simulation is engaging to play with. The competition built into the workshop adds a dimension that increases people's involvement. While devising strategies to beat other teams, participants discuss their ideas and hidden assumptions about organizational change. Once people are immersed in the simulation and thinking about change strategies, they can discuss in much greater depth how to implement change in their organisation. This helps teams form strategies that are richer and more likely to achieve 'buy-in' by the entire team. Real learning in real time leads to real business results.

Summary

This programme is unique in so much that it provides:

• A fresh new model of change that concentrates on creating an environment to support people making change.
• A computer simulation that focuses dialogue between people to create a shared vision when implementing a change.
• A tool to help people discover effective - and cost effective - change implementation strategies.
• Real learning in real time that leads to real business results.

This programme is suitable for:

• Teams/groups who are attempting to implement a change
• Managers and change leaders implementing a change initiative
• Employees affected by change initiatives.
• Individuals wanting to understand change more fully.
• Project teams who want to consider the impact on people of their change.