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June 2012 Newsletter

Change... Transition... Trust

"Lean, mean and fit for recession. Heaven help us should a growth opportunity occur - we'd be too depressed to spot it......If we don't want to impede recovery, management should acknowledge the full impact of the transition that survivors are likely to be undergoing"

- Crace J "Fittest Need a Hand to Survive", The Sunday Times, 12th February 1995


In this newsletter we consider whether, despite all our investment in leadership development and change management, we are handling things any better now, than we were in the 90's, when this quote was written.

Sadly for many, the consequence of change in organisations is redundancy, and we applaud the care offered to people in these circumstances. But how much time and resource is being offered to those people who remain? Sometimes known as the "survivors" of change, these are the people who are fundamental to delivering the future hopes, dreams and aspirations of the organisation!

Moving beyond the physical "change" like a new organisation structure, leaner processes or a different location, into the area of psychological "transition" characterised by feelings, thoughts and behaviours, is the key to success. We are all aware of the Transition Curve and using the analogy of a "journey", the real issues for organisations are: Achieving these three goals is critical given that in today's dynamic environment, after a brief breather to enjoy the view, our arrival at one destination is usually followed by the start of another journey.
Getting People On Board

Leaders can't make people engage in the change, but they can create an environment by their conversations and actions, where people choose or don't choose to try the new way and support them in the transition.

In our experience, one of the main blocks to getting started on the change journey is that organisations rely too much on their Change Management Process, but how can leaders deliver this with the necessary Emotion and Passion?

Please click here to find out more...
Maintaining Energy and Engagement

A great deal has been written about the leader's role during transition, which can be summarised as a combination of coaching, counselling, mentoring, training - and even "consultancy".

However details of the activities involved are not always clear. So at Wadenhoe, we have gone one step further by identifying a total of sixteen different activities, where leaders can really help their people through the Journey.

Please click here to find out more...
Arriving At A Better Place

In conversations with organisations that have gone through major change programmes, the outcomes are often described by senior management as having been successfully executed! They say that there has been some resistance at lower levels and managers have left who were "unable to hack it". But the organisations have become "fitter and stronger as a result of reorganisation".

Yet, we have identified two potential outcomes of change programmes that tell a different story.

Please click here to read more about them and how leaders can avoid them.
Reputation for Handling Change and Transition

An organisation's reputation for handling change and transition well is crucial in establishing trust for future journeys. So finally, here are two further reminders of this from 1990's quotes:

"It appears that minimising trauma to employees is the only way to reap the benefits that prompted the downsizing in the first place. The way a Company handles change communicates a message to employees. The foundation is laid by treating employees with respect"

- Lee C "After the Cuts", Training July 1992

"Tomorrow's organisations will require values of respect for the individual and trust to be deeply embedded......Building trust is the only basis on which commitment can be generated"

- Extract from an IPD (now CIPD) Positional Paper, 1995

You can find more on these themes in last month's Newsletter: "Trust - anchored in Reputation and Confidence" (Click here) and the follow up article: "Words... Actions... Trust" (Click here)
ABOUT THE WADENHOE CONSULTANCY

Not all potential clients realise that at least 25% of our business is pure, investigative consultancy. We are often asked to carry out internal research on a particular organizational issue and make recommendations for action, without the delivery.

As everyone in our team has senior General and HR Management experience across all sectors, we are able to provide an exact match between our people and individual client requirements. This, coupled with use of the integrated approach provided by The Wadenhoe Model®, always ensures actionable, practical, business-focused outcomes.





Ray Atkinson
Managing Director

The Wadenhoe Consultancy Ltd, Prama House, 267 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7HT
Tel: 01865 339558    Fax: 01865 339301    Email: info@wadenhoeconsultancy.com
Website: www.wadenhoeconsultancy.com      Registered in England No: 6717860

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