We believe that change needs to be human not process driven

One of our greatest insights into how change succeeds (or not) is that change must be driven by people and not become a project or a process.  Too often, change in organisations is led by a project plan rather than what is possible in that organisation.  In this scenario, people are not at the heart of change.  So, what needs to be done differently?

We believe that there is a need to think about change differently.  This is not to criticize existing approaches and tools that are used in organisations.  However, focusing too much on project management and processes can mean that important aspects of change are missed.  For example, all organisations have hidden factors that can act as an anchor for the organisation and prevent it from moving forwards. This could be previous experiences of change implementation, the history of the organisation and how people within the organisation feel about both of these factors.

Our research shows that people within organisations change as individuals, not as a group, and so any change needs to be focused on the individual.  Change is too often treated as a rational process, underplaying the emotions and values of the individuals involved and the culture and history of the organisation.