Those made redundant , relocated or required to apply for their own job have long suspected that leaders of organisations are often guilty of change for change sake. The new chief executive wants to make their mark and what better way than a reorganisation, a modernisation, a downsizing, or a merger. This is not to deny that organisations need to respond to a fast changing world, that they need to adapt working practises, to be more efficient, to make best use of technological advances but does this inevitably require a major change, a transformation which will inevitably distract managers, demoralise employees and statistically is likely to fail? Is this really necessary or is it the leadership wanting something big and dramatic to happen, something they can get excited about, something that will show that the leadership is leading.
Before organisations use the pandemic, the development of AI or increased financial pressures to justify yet another reorganisation they need to examine the motivation of the leadership.
The alternative isn’t to do nothing but to take less dramatic and less disruptive action.
Home owners at various points in their lives consider whether they need to move or whether their existing property can be adapted/ expanded to better meet their changed needs. Moving house is expensive, house hunting can be time consuming and buying and selling a house is one of the top three most stressful life events. So will a loft conversion or extension provide the additional bedroom, would a conservatory provide the desired greater living space, could the garage be converted into an office. Would it be more cost effective to knock a wall down and creat an open plan living /dining/ kitchen area than to move to a more modern and more expensive house? An organisations should be going through a similar thought process and not jumping to the most dramatic option simply because that is the one that excites and energises the leadership.
It’s difficult to argue against the statistics that show the majority of major change initiatives fail or fail to deliver the anticipated benefits. The reason most commonly given is the failure to engage employees and get them fully on board. Rarely does an organisation concede that the initiative failed to deliver because it was the wrong solution. Probably because this was the solution that the leadership came up with.
Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
