With the advent of digitisation today markets are no longer limited by national borders. Organisations are spreading rapidly on a global scale. With more competitors to adapt to in globalised operations it is vital for an organisation to improve the responsiveness and agility of its people to change, as we trade in what are increasingly Volatile Uncertain Complex and Ambiguous markets. This doesn't happen by accident. In this post we explore some key aspects of a global strategy to internalise and infuse change management best practices throughout an organisation.
Here are three key ways to implementing change management on a global scaleInternalising change management best practice is just the same as introducing any change to ways of working that is organisation-wide. There are a range of critical success factors:
- Secure executive sponsorship for your change efforts. If required coach the Sponsor in what change leadership needs to be.
- Treat it like a project. It is. Start change management at the same time as project management.
- Agree success criteria and ROI measures during project initiation.
- Resource it properly, with a budget and full-time people. Don't skimp. Be clear on technical and people-side accountability.
- Build critical competencies at all levels. Hold people at all levels accountable for their role performance.
- Use a common language, methodology and tool kit which works for your organisation. Start with a standard method (why reinvent the wheel) and customise if necessary.
CMC Partnership pride ourselves on helping you learn and practice the latest knowledge, tools and experience you need to begin internalising change management best practices in your organisation to deliver optimal business results. Building upon our success of working with SE Asia clients in Singapore since 2013 we are excited to announce that CMC is bringing the Prosci Change Management Methodology to Jakarta and Bali, supporting more organisations to plan globally, but implement locally.
Secure Executive Sponsorship for your Change Efforts
Sponsorship is crucial to every change effort and when that effort moves to a global scale, it becomes even more important to find influential leaders in each region, country, business unit or function who understand how to sponsor change. According to Prosci Best Practices data 58% of Sponsors don't know or understand what great sponsorship of a change requires of them. When access to these high-level sponsors is secured across the organisation you can support them with a "sponsor roadmap" to ensure they remain active and visible throughout the lifecycle of this change.
As sponsorship is a role not a title the importance of regional specific sponsorship goes beyond ensuring consistency in messaging. It is important that each leader is able to convey these messages actions in a way which resonates with the culture they are influencing while still maintain the core messaging of the global perspective.
Sponsors need to translate key messaging into the language which holds the greatest meaning and impact across the global organisation, answering critical questions such as:
- Why does this change (the introduction of change management best practices) matter?
- What results do we expect if change management best practices are successfully adopted?
- Why is this change being pursued now?
- What are the consequences to the organisation if we don't successfully adopt change management best practices?
Finally, the introduction of change management best practices can be achieved in several different ways. Sponsors need to determine, in consultation with their local change management experts, what is the optimum path to accelerate change management maturity for their organisation. The backdrop of the organisation's culture will significantly influence how best to introduce change management best practices. Integration and prioritisation of change management with and alongside other disciplines such as programme management, Lean 6 sigma, Agile software development etc is also vital, as is balancing doing great change management on existing projects versus introducing change management best practices as a project.
Build Internal Competencies at all Levels
Building up and strengthening internal competencies across all regions, countries, business units and functions is increasingly essential to global success. CMC provide a number of Prosci change management courses which can be used to support and strengthen these competencies at all levels.
Choose representatives who are embedded in the processes of that region and are ingrained in the culture to participate in training, allowing them to develop core competencies which support the overall organisational development and acceleration of change management maturity.
Delegates who complete the Prosci Train-the-Trainer program are subsequently able to deliver Prosci's role-based training programs within their regions, supplementing these with their own knowledge of cultural norms and business operations.
To learn more about how CMC could support you in developing change competencies globally, visit our website for more information on all courses offered.
Build a common language, methodology and tool kit which works for your organisation on a global scale
To be successful, it is important that each region understands the approach to change management as something which works for them, not something dictated by corporate with little understanding of the unique nuances of local operations.
Prosci Best Practices Research reports that use of a single structured change management method with excellence allows an organisation to have a six fold increase in the likelihood of its projects delivering their required ROI goals. So while a common change management language and process for change management is essential, it is equally important that this is communicated and adopted in a way which resonates with each region.
Successfully adopting a global perspective of change management requires taking the time to adapt training, tools and resources to meet the needs of the individual region.
Success is to be achieved when global organisations take the time to adapt the strategy and content to work with the individualities of a region while still remaining consistent; moulding it to best resonate, rather than simply enforcing a blanket approach.
