10 important ingredients for a successful change implementation
10 tips for a successful chance implementation
What makes some succeed better with implementation of key messages in large organisations than others? The answer lies in that these companies have a simple and clear message adapted to reality, they create activity and participation in the whole organisation, everyone gets the same message, they follow-up, they give feed-back and support and finally the management actively shows that they walk the talk.
An effective implementation that gets everyone aboard lets the organisation develop in harmony, creating less friction, more respect, better understanding, better communication and stronger commitment. These soft values ultimately lead to more satisfied customers and better profit the organisation.
An implementation story
To describe what we mean we are going to use a case where a company is supposed to implement new core values (core values can be exchanged for environmental policy, ethical rules, customer strategy, code of conduct, brand promise or any other key issue that is supposed to be embraced by the organisation).
Scenario: The top management has just finished the meeting, the decision has been taken: A new set of core values shall from this moment permeate the whole organisation. Here is the real challenge: How does all employees get to know, understand and live our core values in their daily life at work? To think and live and conduct themselves according to the values, in every meeting with the customers or with colleagues, enabling us in a few years time to measure if our customers’ picture of the company is exactly like the one we want them to have – and most importantly is our image genuine?
Everything new replaces something old
To implement the decided core values means that the old ones will have to be removed, be these formal or informal. Environmental policies, ethical rules, customer policy, norms for leadership and so on, are all part of the daily life at work even if they are not formally formulated. In large organisations you will probably also find more or less openly “hostile” departments who have their own sets of values parallel or even instead of the official ones. All types of implementation are almost always a form of change or replacement work. To replace ingrained behaviours and long established ways of conducting business, to change the way people think and make them dare to see things in new ways is the big challenge in implementing a key message.
10 hints for a successful message implementation
Below you will find 10 important ingredients for a successful implementation. These 10 hints should not be seen a miracle cure that leads to instant success but they are a good starting point to get you on the right track.
- Simplicity. Is the message simple enough, or is the ambition too high?
- Reality. Success lies in the ability to formulate and deliver the message in a way that enables the recipients to accept it based on their own reality.
- Involvement. Above all else there are two things that stick out when one wants to create involvement: that the receiver feels that he/she is being listened to and that they can express their opinions about the message.
- Priority. The name of the game is to give the implementation of the core values top priority in the whole organisation.
- Conformity. During all key message implementations it is a major challenge to secure that the transfer of the message is done without distortion and any loss of the vitality and energy surrounding the message.
- Repetition. Said is done. This is a dangerous falsehood perceived as a truth for many Leaders and Senior Management Teams. Said is NOT done and the messages of the new core values must be repeated often and for a sustained period of time.
- Resistance. In all organisations there will be different forms of more or less active resistance to change (implementation of the core values).
- Respect. All successful communications (and implementations) are built on treating people with respect.
- Role model. The best way to convince anyone about the legality of the core values is to be the role
- model who with the persistency of a fool keeps finding new ways to live out and “be” the message.
- Ownership. In all implementation solutions there is a point where one has to hand over the ownership of the message to those it affects and who are going to realise it as practical actions in their daily life at work. You have to have a critical mass of at least 49% of people who are activated by your message.
Some of these 10 hints might seem obvious but together they make up part of a successful and proven formula for an implementation that creates results within an organisation. An implementation process can seem very complex but it is really not that difficult once one has the correct tools.
Feel free to contact us and we will be happy to discuss any key message implementation with you.
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