Change challenges – Culture, Communications and Clutter

December 16, 2024|Accountants, Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Management Skills, Strategy|

At the recent PM Forum – PM Forum training workshop on “Supporting change” law and accountancy firm delegates progressed through three modules: individual change (psychological processes), organisational change and change processes and tools. Throughout the session there was delegate discussions and break out groups – a summary of which is shown below. Several themes emerged: Change challenges – Culture, Communications and Clutter (change frameworks and stakeholder engagement).

Why is change management so difficult?

Early discussions considered delegates’ experiences of past change projects. We shared views on why change management continues to prove so difficult. The many reasons appeared to fall into three areas – culture, communications and clutter.

Culture

Lack of unifying vision and focus
Lack of urgency (“We’re doing pretty well”)
Lack of psychological safety and/or trust
Competing teams (“Them and us”)
Different personalities and perspectives
Cultural differences between divisions and offices
Generational differences
Lack of systemic thinking (i.e. how change in one area impacts others)
Risk-averse attitudes

Communications

Lack of clarity
Imposition rather than consultation
Lack of leadership and sponsorship
Need for strong role models
Focus on the process rather than the outcomes
So many (different) stakeholders to engage
Failure to engage people’s hearts (emotions) as well as heads (rational)
Inconsistencies in the cascade and engagement process
Internal hybrid relationships not as strong as face-to-face relationships

Clutter

Never enough time
Information overload
Lack of focus in communication
Lack of data to build a case or challenge the status quo
Obsession with too much detail on peripheral topics
Too many competing projects causing change fatigue
People at different stages of the change journey
Recognition and reward systems supporting old behaviours
New projects eclipsing current projects
Constant flow of change programmes

Change frameworks

To bring structure and process to change management we considered various change frameworks. (including those for changing organisational culture). Usually, delegates prefer The 8-Step Process for Leading Change | Dr. John Kotter as it is widely used in professional services.

But in this instance the Rosabeth Moss Kanter framework appealed most. It is summarised in the Ten Commandments for Implementing Change – MBA Boost (“Implementing Change” chapter in The Challenge of Organizational Change by Rosabeth Kanter, Barry Stein, and Todd Jick (Free Press, 1992))

Analyse the organisation and its need for change
Create a shared vision and common direction
Separate from the past
Create a sense of urgency
Support a strong leadership role
Line up political sponsorship
Craft an implementation plan
Develop enabling structures
Communicate and involve people
Reinforce and institutionalise change

There might be many actions (and projects) needed under each of the 10 steps. We talked about the power of consultations and workshops to engage people throughout the entire 10 step process.

For example, in step one – “Analyse the organisation and its need for change” you might effectively have to run a strategic review. This might include:

Review (and revise) the vision, mission and values
Review (and revise) the business plan and strategic priorities
Assess the leadership, board and operational effectiveness
Analyse the external market and future trends that may impact the business
Analyse the competitor forces in the market
Obtain information and feedback from clients
Assess performance in operational areas
Obtain feedback from employees and other stakeholder groups
Conduct a review of infrastructure, systems and data

When the relevant analyses has been undertaken (see consulting skills – Consulting skills 2 – Book review: Flawless Consulting by Peter Block) the key challenges, desired change and priorities need to be assessed and agreed. This will drive (or not) the appetite for change – whether fear of decline or opportunities to grow.

Alternatively, the first step might be restricted to a narrow operational area – for example, to implement a new CRM system. But a similar range of activities would be needed – for example: analyse the current situation, measure the impact of the current (underperforming) system, take views from key stakeholders, assess the impact on other systems and processes, consider alternative approaches, calculate the benefits of improvement and assess the degree to which change is desired (compared to other change initiatives).

Stakeholder analysis

We considered several tools for analysing stakeholders – including the impact-influence matrix and stakeholder segmentation. However, there was limited time to look at how to use such tools in detail and to develop stakeholder consultation and communication plans in response.

However, there are many posts on achieving stakeholder engagement and buy-in:

Proactive Marketing and Business Development Executive (engage and educate fee-earners) December 2024

Achieve more engagement and buy-in March 2024

Influence and persuasion skills with Aristotle and Knights and Dinosaurs May 2023

Ten top takeaways on stakeholder engagement and buy in April 2022

Seven thoughts on stakeholder management, engagement and buy-In April 2021

Animal magic of buy-in and stakeholder engagement (Video) September 2020

Change management and Employee engagement April 2019

all about buy-in in professional services (Manchester and Dublin 2019) March 2019

This July 2024 article How to Apply Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s Management Theory supplements the change management “commandments”. The model is based on Kanter’s belief that an organization’s operations and its leaders’ actions play integral roles in employees’ attitudes and behaviours. The idea is that leaders boost team morale by using six keys to increase productivity, generate larger profits and create an openness to change.

Show up Leaders should be visible and present
Speak up Share information about business goals, be transparent and lead discussions across the whole organisation
Look up Have a higher vision and big picture view of staff and workflows
Team up Encourage collaboration between teams and build partnerships where employees solve problems together
Never give up Be resilient and flexible in the face of adversity and empower employees
Lift others up Provide support including training and bonuses and share success stories

About the delegates

Delegates were from law and accountancy firms and their roles included: director of M&BD, BD Manager, Marketing and Communications Manager, BD specialist (CRM), Strategic Projects Manager, Senior Corporate Communications Manager and Senior Strategic Accounts Manager.

Delegate aims for the session:

So much of my role is about driving change but I don’t have much formal training
To learn more strategies and techniques to implement changes with my firm’s new CRM system roll out
Helping to implement infrastructure changes in the marketing department (three key projects) and need to understand how I can manage this effectively. I am in the beginning to middle stages – a win would be a method to align and package all three projects as one infrastructure package
Learn how to recommend, design and help implement culture change in the business, which I haven’t had to do at a firmwide level before
We have a lot of change coming in the business in terms of data collection, new CRM roll out and our BD strategy
Explore ways in which we can promote change following a refresh of the client relationship programme
Hear new techniques, refresh learning and an opportunity to share challenges and ideas
Our team is implementing changes on how we manage client relationships and our strategic clients. We are on a journey and want to make sure we are taking everything into account when implementing our programme

Delegates’ change management experiences:

Biggest change project I’ve been involved in was when we implemented a new BD strategy about eight years ago (with mixed results)
The recent big change was to improve our CRM strategy in our EMEA offices and maximise the use of our CRM system
Achieved some changes in behaviour at a previous firm that didn’t have a sector go-to-market strategy, and I designed and implemented that. However, understanding of the ‘why’ and behaviour change was sporadic
Successfully implemented a transformation in the way we do internal communications which involved getting buy-in from the Managing Partner and budget sign off
Biggest change project to date has been the review and implementation of changes to our client relationship programme (still going)
Current project in strategic planning – would welcome tips to help implement so not sat in a drawer. Had some successes but a WIP

Delegate takeaways

Take an organisational view of change
Acknowledge the past
Map the stakeholders methodically
Check whether the team is ready for change in the first place, as this will dictate the approach (e.g. number of workshops/interviews etc) ready to change? remember the change process
Has the team/business got an adaptive mindset? Change management and creativity – the adaptive third
Use timelines to implement change and assess whether external support might be needed
Consider using GANTT charts to plan, break up and communicate change
Change management is a skill set emotional intelligence and teams in change management
Anticipate and plan for resistance and conflict Dealing with resistance to change
I like the checklist tool

Delegate Actions

Read the slides and supplementary materials (and recommended books)
Map the stakeholders
Speak with my manager about having a change expert at executive level to help drive the change needed and buy-in (build alliances at the top to be spokespeople and advocates).
Look at upskilling for conflict resolution Soft skills – Dealing with difficult conversations and facilitation How to facilitate groups – 2 (Herding cats in professional services)
The tools were great and are definitely thought provoking – I will work out the best ones to use for our situation
Think about where we are on our journey and what we could implement off the back of this session