News & views
Introducing our change team… Meet Tim.
4 September 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…
With over 13 years’ experience, our Principal Consultant and Head of Community, Tim Willott, has worked on a wide range of consulting assignments – from transformation programmes to rapid change initiatives, within both the public and private sectors.
Below he shares some of his expert insights into delivering change, his three key take-outs for successful organisational transformation and how he makes sure that change lasts for our clients.
What’s in your change toolkit and which tools do you use most in practice?
In many ways, change management is more about experience and behaviour (e.g. empathy, flexibility) than tools and techniques. That said, Prosci was my introduction to change nearly 15 years ago, so I have a ‘backbone’ of Prosci techniques I often fall back on, alongside Lean Change and a host of useful mnemonics like EAST (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely) and SCARF (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness). For facilitation I use Liberating Structures a lot – they’re fab.
How do you like to deliver change when working with our clients?
Change is never one-size-fits-all, whether you’re working at project, portfolio, department or organisation-level. So three key behaviours I bring to change:
- Respect for the people affected – engage, listen and adapt
- A ruthless focus on what’s important to users and sponsors
- Roll-your-sleeves-up attitude – get stuff done, get things moving
What does the best change outcome look like for you and can you give us an example?
Success in change has two dimensions: having real business impact, delivering real business benefit, and reducing any negative impact on the people affected. I worked with a government function which, at the start, was in near crisis, but by the end was a fantastic team having national impact; I felt privileged to be part of such a positive transformation.
How can you help to make sure that change lasts?
It can be difficult to sustain a change once the limelight shifts and the next big thing takes priority. Making sure there’s a drumbeat of leadership and communications is important. I also find that rituals can be powerful tools to avoid slipping backwards – for example, I set up a ‘wake’ for a company which was acquired to help it say goodbye to its old identity.
What are your 3 key take-outs for successful organisational transformation?
- Don’t wait until you have all the answers before you start talking – or people will make up the answers themselves.
- If engagement isn’t two-way, it’s not engagement. Create ways (forums, channels) to listen and adapt.
- Don’t fear change resistance – push-back is a form of engagement and is a great opportunity to make progress.
