Make Change Real

Achieving benefits is one thing, but achieving an engaged, content workforce focused on common goals is another. Effective change is about winning people over.

True change programmes place the impacted communities and individuals at the centre of its concerns. Opportunities can only be fully exploited by leveraging the knowledge and experience available in those communities and Change can only be sustained through empathising with them.


The change agenda is typically structured around what the programme needs in order to deliver on its goals, rather than what the business needs. The relationship with ‘the business’, the customer receiving the change, is often treated as just a necessary evil. The world is going customer-centric, but not for change programmes!

Through broad experience of transformation programmes, Leadent’s approach to managing change ensures that the impacted communities are brought into the heart of the initiative and the value of the relationships leveraged. Success for the programme is seen in terms of business outcomes and acceptance by the ‘customer’, not just in hitting project milestones.

Self-centred or Well-focused?

Projects and programmes are not important - they are just the facilitators of change. ‘Stakeholders’ and ‘End-users’ are not interested in the project; they are just interested in what will happen to themselves, their roles and their business after the project has done its job. So does this make them self-centred? Or just better-focussed on value-adding outcomes than most project managers?

For those that will be impacted by change:

  • Make it important to them – convince them it is essential for doing business in the future and they cannot do without it. Help them to understand how solutions being developed will benefit them or the broader business.
  • Make them want it – create interest outside of the immediate project team. Create ’pull’ rather than ‘pushing’ potentially unwanted technology out to users.

For business leaders:

  • Move it up their agenda – ensuring that the programme is a talking point will create inertia within the Leadership team and the Executive. Win allies, rather than have them sitting on the sidelines or being in the opposition.
  • Turn them into active champions – get them excited about what the new ways of working or new technology can do for their business…and their scorecards! They will be more willing to make time for the programme and free up resource.

Those factors that are important to this ‘business-centric’ view should form the cornerstone of the change management agenda.

Making it Count

Change management activity must have structure, as with any other aspect of a project. However it requires fluidity within the planning framework; with clear actions focussed on the diverse needs of specific communities, yet being capable of adapting in response to reactions received.

The change management team provides the ‘glue’ between the business and the project team. However, ‘change management’ is the whole project team’s responsibility and should never be considered as a separate work stream within the programme – it must appear as an integral part of each technology or ‘functional’ work stream.

Many programmes fall down when it comes to the ‘project-business’ relationship. It often manifests itself as a one-way street, with the project team only talking to the business when they want something, often leading to ill-feeling and resentment. To be effective, the project must recognise, respect and leverage the knowledge, insights and opportunities that this channel can bring.

Make it Real

With Leadent’s broad experience of transformation programmes, we place the business influences at the heart of change, using it to drive programme behaviours and actions. Our approach leverages the value the ‘customer’ can bring to the programme and builds momentum for change.

We build our Change Management agenda to ensure success is achieved - by everyone’s definition of success - and is sustainable.