The Art of Ignorance

'Engaged Employees', 'Talent Management Systems', 'Dynamic Feedback Environments' - these are all aspects of cultural changes that are hot topics in organisational psychology and on the lips of many top executives. People in organisations are experts at discussing these highly sought after concepts and shelling out hoards of cash to bring in knowledgeable consultants who promise to deliver these desirable outcomes, resulting in highly motivated staff and elevated profits.

But, how much do people within organisations actually know about how to change and more to the point, how prepared are they to make the conscious effort to change in order to see successful implementation of these concepts and the benefits they promise to create. These changes have the power to make valuable differences to organisations if they are employed correctly and carried through over years of practice. These are not flash in the pan ideas; they are things that can really change how an organisation operates, but they only work when people truly understand, buy into and live the changes throughout the working environment. Organisations, like individuals are very difficult to change and since organisations are nothing without people, it is vital to get buy in from everyone before changes can have a positive impact. 

Organisations want to create high powered, all singing, all dancing systems to ensure their processes run effectively, but in doing this they often miss what is right under their noses. People need to inherently understand and believe the values that these concepts attempt to create, not just expect the implementation of the mechanics to mean the system will run independently and drag the organisations culture with it. Systems do not run in isolation; within an organisation all departments, people, services and systems are interlinked and all have an impact on each other. You cannot make changes to one element and expect the others to follow; you must design systems and educate and develop people so that they run in conjunction with each other.

In addition, effective change management involves detailed communication plans with consistent communication delivered through many different mediums. It involves processes which both drive the change through careful planning and factors that ensure successful release of the changes which are then followed through.

So why do those that hire consultants to do the work believe they know better than them, often disputing their ideas and not allowing them the time and appropriate resources to work effectively?! There is no sense in hiring someone to do half a job; you wouldn't walk into a restaurant and order a meal only to have it served half cooked, so why hire someone to implement changes and not give them the opportunity to ensure these are executed and managed effectively to create the results desired?? Sadly it is usually to save money… and organisations suffer because of it. Over 80% of cultural change initiatives fail and unfortunately many people are not aware of why this is the case.

Those that hire consultants need to give them the opportunity to do quality work and in part, this means giving them the time and information they require to work effectively. Good consultants really know their subjects and know how to implement changes so that they have positive impacts on a business. If organisations are going to invest, they must ensure that consultants can apply their knowledge and skills with enough time to complete the job and make it worthwhile. Otherwise why waste cash and be set up to fail! In our fast moving economy change is fundamental to survival and all organisations and people within them need to get on board.