News & views
Introducing our change team… Meet Will.
7 November 2024
Transformation
At CMC, we’re all about delivering long-lasting transformational outcomes to our clients.
We pride ourselves on offering bespoke solutions that focus on both organisational and individual behaviours to ensure that meaningful transformation happens – off the shelf packages and a ‘one size fits all’ just isn’t part of our thinking.
Our highly experienced change team specialise in delivering change, building change capability, managing change portfolios and enabling change leadership. Whether it’s a digital transformation, reorganisation, merger, acquisition or any other complex area of change that impacts people, they make sure that change is not only adopted but embraced, bringing about meaningful and successful transformations.
So, let’s meet one of them…
A professional coach and facilitator of change, our managing consultant, Will Izzard, has over 25 years’ experience in projects and change in business. He is an Experienced Prosci® Practitioner and Chartered Mechanical Engineer, who has a special focus on behaviours and the neuroscience of change. Will is also interested in the blend of change facilitation (directing attention on what to do) with interpersonal skills (how to actually do it).
Here Will shares some of his expert insights into successfully enabling change leadership, why changes in our behaviours are important and his takeouts for the successful adoption of change.
What is change leadership and why does it matter?
Change leadership is the practice of guiding people through transitions by focusing on behaviours, effective communication and creating an environment where positive habits can spread organically. It matters because meaningful, long-lasting change occurs when everyone in the organisation adopts new behaviours aligned with strategic goals, leading to a sustainable evolution of culture. Effective change leadership also involves strong sponsorship, with leaders actively supporting and championing the change, which significantly increases its chances of success.
What makes your approach to change leadership effective, and what techniques do you use?
Our approach is effective because it blends ideas from behavioural science with strategic communication and engagement, aligning change initiatives with organisational objectives. I personally use techniques like symbolic modelling and clean language to coach leaders, combined with insights from models like SCARF (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness), EAST (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely) and COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation – Behaviour) to understand and influence behaviours.
We also emphasise positive, persuasive language inspired by the advertising world to make change compelling – traditional change management can be terribly apologetic and you’d never get that in advertising!
Why are changes in our behaviours important and how do they support long-lasting change?
Behaviours are the building blocks of culture; when individuals adopt small, positive actions aligned with organisational goals, these behaviours can spread virally, leading to significant cultural shifts.
Our CMC ‘CAB’ model – Context, Approach, Behaviours – supports this by first understanding the context, then developing an approach that fosters the specific behaviours needed for meaningful and enduring change. Strong change sponsorship and ongoing engagement reinforce these behaviours, helping to sustain change over time.
How do you support and equip leaders to drive change effectively, and what resources do you provide?
We support leaders through coaching that enhances their ability to communicate effectively, inspire their teams and act as strong change sponsors. I myself am proud to offer an ‘under the radar’ service you could call ‘change therapy’ – when you are in the role of a change facilitator, it is a privilege that people open up to you, so I encourage all the folks in my change teams to notice this and value it.
We provide practical tools and resources – such as refining how feedback is sought and given, modelling behaviour, etc. – to help leaders adjust as needed. By equipping leaders with these skills and resources, we enable them to drive change effectively and sustain it over time.
What are your three key take-outs for the successful adoption of change?
- Focus on behaviours as the primary drivers of change; small actions aligned with strategic goals can lead to significant cultural shifts.
- Ensure strong change sponsorship by having leaders actively support and champion the change, reinforcing desired behaviours through effective communication.
- Improve the change capability of everyone involved, implement feedback loops and measure progress to sustain the change, making it a shared and ongoing responsibility across the organisation.
