Want Lasting Business Change? Leave the Tools on the Shelf

Rate this Column: (4.7 Stars | 38 Votes)   Thanks for your rating!

Why do so many businesses fail to achieve long-term and lasting change?, asks contributor Robin Barnwell. Because they fail to take account of the most important variable in any messy, uncontrollable and complex environment - the people.

Now I’ve always worked in services businesses. Never manufacturing so I cannot talk about that. In services it’s all about  People. Everywhere you look there are people talking, laughing, complaining, doing, not doing, inventing, making mistakes, making decisions and a whole myriad of other things. They are all different and can have diametrically opposed views and agendas. They take the systems, incentives, processes, culture, and own experiences and try to make it work. People are the true process. It’s a messy, uncontrollable and complex environment.

Now you could approach delivering improvement logically, systematically and by the book. Start at the top and gain buy-in. Build your objectives and delivery strategy. Organise communications. Train and sell the approach – win hearts & minds. Select “show case” projects to reinforce rapid delivery of benefits. Bring key people onboard to achieve the tipping point that allows the “herd” to follow. That sort of thing should do the trick, be orthodox and structured.

Then why do so many businesses fail to achieve long-term and lasting change? Because messy, uncontrollable and complex environments don’t work logically, systematically and by the book.  I’ve seen a number of major improvement programmes over the years. These initiatives get absorbed as yet another factor, rapidly evaluated and frequently rejected – people move on.  The need for people to actually change, to do something differently, has got to be compelling.

So the skills & training to understand people and their behaviour and influence them to change is absent from the approach. But in a services business it’s the single most important factor for delivering lasting change. Lasting change does not happen overnight it’s a hard slog. It starts with connecting with people, understanding them, seeing things from their point of view. Look to set in place the four things you need for people to change:

• A compelling reason to change – it’s got to make sense
• A clear direction agreed – people need to shape and  agree the outcome
• The resources to do the job – you can’t just be another item on an increased to-do list
• Clear and actionable next steps  - people need to know where to begin

You could read into this my own personality profile and the degree to which I believe I can change the environment and you wouldn’t be wrong. But from what I’ve experienced, if you really want to make a lasting change it’s all about people.

Contributor:   Robin Barnwell

Robin is a business process manager working for Aviva Investors in their London office. The purpose of his role is to ensure Aviva Investors’ processes consistently meet their clients' needs.

Robin first started working in process excellence in 2004 as a black belt and qualified with ASQ in 2008. He has since broadened his experience beyond Six Sigma and gone in-depth into approaches such as Lean, Customer Experience and Systems Thinking. He uses a pragmatic approach to select the right method for each problem encountered and loves the challenge of solving complex problems.

Robin’s early career was in IT where he has great practical experience of designing, building and deploying business applications. He finds this fusion of skills and ability to work with both business and IT colleagues brings many benefits.

Robin is happily married and a father of two boys. Hobbies include running, English history and making a few gallons of fantastic cider each year.

You Should Check Out:

Street Smart Lessons from a Caveman

Report Abuse   sbonacorsi 10/13/2011 8:01:28 AM EDT Hi Robin, Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that applies tools by people. I agree, people are critical to the success of process imrprovement. The culture, politics, relationships, attitudes, values (bith individual and shared), and the vision of the people drives all aspects of a successful deployment. Replies (1)   Report Abuse   rbarnwell 10/14/2011 5:54:04 AM EDT Thanks for feedback Steve - agreed its the combination of the two the deliver success. without getting the people right your a gonna Post a reply Sign in or Sign up to post a comment