In this episode we talk about the different aspects of the change ecosystem in your organisation. Why does it even matter? You could be investing in your change function but still not be achieving organisational agility or effective Program delivery. That is because Change does not function in a void. All of these aspects matter and working well together can add massive value.

You can listen to this episode here or read more in this post.

or on Spotify here.

We begin by setting the scene - why is the change ecosystem in your organisation important?

4:03 How central to this ecosystem is an organisation's culture.

6:55 Strategy - Critical for forward thinking and identifying opportunities.

7:30 Governance - decision making, and risk/opportunity trade off's. Robust governance provides visibility of the work being undertaken across your organisation. 

9:24 Customer Experience - customer research and journey mapping. For both customers and staff.  This assists design ch...

In my recent podcast episodes I talked about the Diamond of Change effectiveness in Programs. Diamonds however are not meant to be 2 dimensional but multi-faceted. So lets explore all of the aspects of your change ecosystem and fill out that diamond into a multi dimensional, quality, value add diamond. After all, when you walk into a room with significant BLING from that diamond on your hand, it gets noticed. The second element though is the carat and clarity. That is where the real value lies!

When looking at the change ecosystem in your organisation, you should be considering each aspect of this diamond which combines to create value in your organisation. This is achieved through clarity and how well all of these areas are aligned and working together.

Let's explore each area:

Strategy:  There is a big leap between strategy definition for an organisation and then the operationalisation of it. If the strategy is unclear in an organisation or too ambiguous, it can mean distorti...

So your change cup runneth over and not in a good way? Perhaps your organisation is showing signs of change fatigue, or potentially your programs and improvements aren't delivering as you had assumed? The discipline of managing and measuring change capacity can resolve many issues, and put the leadership team in the drivers seat. Here are some ways decision makers and governance forums can improve the change capacity and agility of your organisation. There are two areas of opportunity strategic and operational.

The first opportunity is in the strategic discussions of your organisation at Executive level

Integrate the change conversation into enterprise wide operating forums. In my experience this is can only be done if there is change maturity which exists in your organisation or if the organisation culturally is people centric. If your organisation is starting to experience the indicators of change fatigue, placing emphasis on a conversation regarding change within the change delive...

In this podcast Episode I cover what change management is with the aim to demystify it.  We cover the main elements of a change plan and the diamond of Change effectiveness which you can download below.

Here are some of the highlights:

2:10   Often people have different definitions of change in an organisation.

2:34   The ‘real world’ definition of change. The key aspects and focus of change management is to generate full and effective adoption of a new way of working in the shortest time possible with the best ‘user’ experience.

3:52   Change happens over time, not immediately at a Go Live.

4:35   Change Management is the plan which moves people from out of their comfort zone to a new comfort zone.

5:23  The Change Management plan is a bridge to close the gap between current state and future state. It is impermanent and exists to provide a clear pathway for people affected by the change.

5:45  We cover the key components of a Change plan.

6:48  The diamond of Change effecti...

There is a standard definition for Change Management. Oxford languages defines it as 'the management of change and development within a business or similar organisation.'

The simplified 'real world' definition is the following:

Change management is the planning and implementation of a series of tactical activities that support individuals, teams, leaders, and/or customers to move from a current way of doing things to a new way of doing things. The goal is to generate effective and full adoption of the new way of working in the shortest possible period of time.

Now that you have a frame of reference as to what it is, let's explore what change management is further and the many challenges with introducing change management into any organisation. As with any new discipline (shout out to behavioural insights specialists and customer experience practitioners), the struggle is real when looking to build credibility due to not many people knowing what change management is or even worse...

In this episode I explore the concept of Change overload in organisations.

In this Episode, Therese covers the ultimate organisational change question – how do you know when you are hitting change overload in your organisation? When is there just too much change taking place where it is impacting your people?

Therese discusses the signs in your organisation where you may be hitting your change capacity and what levers decision makers have in their grasp to better manage the capacity at an Enterprise Change level.

2:40 – Setting the scene for this year and how many are grappling with the ‘new normal’ and the impact of our seasons.

3:45 – We discuss the reality of Cognitive overload and what change practitioners need to consider with this

4:20 – The need to simplify and make Change in organisations easy to engage with.

6:00 – We cover some of the indicators of change overload in organisations.

6:58 – Do your people indicators need to be revisited to reflect ‘pandemic’ ways of w...

In this episode we talk about NAIDOC week and Therese shares the 3 key lessons she has learned through years of travel and then working with First Nations people that relate to Change Management. These lessons are: Listening, The Approach and Ritual.

1.55 Get up! Stand up! Show up! NAIDOC 2022 . While we have made progress there is a LONG way to go.

4.02 Art of listening. What 'listening' means in the context of projects.

5.40 Change resistance and the challenge to listen more earnestly

8:00 Lesson 2: How you approach change will determine it's success

11:00 Lesson 3: The importance of ritual. How do you integrate ritual into your organisation?

14.06 It is even more important to acknowledge First Nations People.

References and Resources

NAIDOC Events

Welcome to Country

Local Aboriginal Land Councils

Download the Diamond of Program Change Effectiveness

Organisations are at a crossroads, facing decisions regarding the future ways of working. One option is to try to go back to the way things were, another is to take the opportunity and reimagine the ways of working.

In many ways if considering ways to reimagine the ways of working, there are many opportunities which could result in innovation. From an organisational change perspective, there are new challenges to introducing change in times such as these.

Here are some highlights:

2:05    Shout out to all frontline workers and for carrying our communities during the pandemic

3:30     Therese discusses how different industries face different challenges

4:40     Therese discusses the Microsoft Annual Work Trend Index report for 2022.          

5:10     The Changing priority of health over work

6:05 Management challenges in engagement and organisations having ‘work/life’ balance

7:10 Management needing to shift focus managing to outcomes rather than ‘task’

9:05 Managers...

It's here!  The Next Level Change Success Podcast.

Here are the key highlights of this episode:

This Episode covers the evolution of Change Management. I share my own journey into change management, and the Diamond of Program Change Effectiveness.

Here are some highlights

At the commencement of the podcast Therese covers her own experience in projects and change early in her career.

 5:48     Therese covers what Change Management is and how it is about bridge building and being a translator 

6:26     Therese discusses why Change Management exists and shares a story about her own experience in the early days of customer experience

7:42     The Loyalty Effect by Frederick Reichheld 

9:42     Therese covers some of the key people aspects of Change Management

12:00   Therese discusses Program Change vs Organisational Change

14:00   Executive Sponsorship to support Change Management

15:16   The 3 areas of Change to be explored

17:10   The diamond of Change effectiveness 

Change is becoming even more important to implement well and effectively in organisations. One of the challenges facing Change practitioners today however, is how to achieve cut through in a hybrid working world. Add to this the 'noise' that can exist from day to day.  

Managing Change in a virtual world or one where there is a hybrid of working types (in the office and at home) means spending more time in some areas that were potentially taken for granted before. For example coaching Change Sponsors on effective communication techniques, ensuring technology is available that supports communication in various ways, and achieving cut through via multi-channel interventions are just some of the ways organisational change managers will need to adapt.

In some organisations, investment has been made in various technology platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoTo Webinar. However that is just investment in the enabler.  It will take time and practice to develop matching capabilities. H...