If you want to change something in an organisation, it pays to stop and think about five things: vision, purpose, plan, resources and skills. Without a vision you mostly get confusion about the how and why of the change. And if it isn’t clear why a planned change matters, it more than once leads to resistance. This model quickly shows you which elements need extra attention. Try it on the move to Agile working, or on the rollout of a new IT system in your organisation.
You can also look at a (planned) change through the “drivers of change” model by Anderson & Ackerman Anderson. It looks from the outside in at how change happens in an organisation. The model has seven drivers of change: environment, marketplace, business, organisation, culture, behaviour and mindset. When something shifts in the environment, such as the rise of available data and AI, the way you succeed in the market can shift too. For example by becoming data-driven and exploring how and where you can apply AI. The business then has to make strategic decisions to keep meeting customer demand, and that in turn leads to organisational changes in structure, processes and technology.
Now set that next to a recent client case. For several years our client had intended to become data-driven. After all, more and more data is becoming available, and used well, working with data is an ideal way to run the business better. The client had in mind organisation-wide reports, all based on a single version of the truth. Better forecasts of how much stock was needed and how departments should be staffed. And more efficient and effective scientific research.
The business set up a programme team to make data-driven working happen across the organisation. The programme set up the processes, worked out which tools fitted best and took care of training and information. Nice. With that, every structural element that counts as a driver of change in our reading of Anderson & Ackerman Anderson was in place.
But watch out. The aim was to work data-driven across the whole organisation. According to the model, you then also have to look at the collective behaviour in the organisation to know whether data-driven working will be a successful change.
Beliefs, attitudes, behaviour and mindset together make up an organisation’s culture. So how do you pay attention to a collective change in behaviour, where mindset, beliefs and assumptions shift to a new model, with collective behaviour that fits the change you want? In this case: working data-driven. Put differently: alongside structure, can we get culture to change as well?
Leap Company supports a range of organisations through change, and we always keep both structure and culture in sight. How do you make change in your organisation succeed?