What we have experienced over the last 18–months is that the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to approach life differently. It impacted the way we socialised, exercised, worked, dealt with common problems. Life is still different, and we are still having to make changes, and these changes still need to happen quickly. One of the common issues that we have seen from the clients that we support is this ‘stickiness’ in the ability to progress with change, at pace, and they cannot put their finger on why that is.
Pre-COVID, large public sector organisations, working within the parameters of high levels of governance, found it almost impossible to respond to change fast. Yet, for the first time, the pandemic necessitated local authorities to respond to national change requirements at pace. Although it has been extremely challenging, and there has been constant uncertainty, we have learned that those that exchanged long drawn out, expensive projects in replace of short-term plans with quick, clear deliverable approaches have succeeded in ensuring their communities needs were met quickly, without delay.
So, what are the components needed to get it right? This is so important to understand as we come out of the pandemic crisis, because we cannot allow the things that have helped us to succeed to fizzle away. When you learn how to do something better, you should continue with that approach, right?
So here they are… the four things that Trueman Change learned about doing change differently:
- You need to have clarity and focus. Ask yourself what will be different, as you need to be clear and focused on this to drive change purposefully.
- You need to review your levels of governance, as although high levels of scrutiny are absolutely needed, there cannot be such a high attachment to control, which often prevents the change from happening at the time when it is most needed.
- Consider your capacity carefully, as people often underestimate the capacity needed.
The one which we have learned has helped to drive change significantly, is to understand the contradictions in your culture and fix them, so that people can be empowered by a shared purpose. We use a culture mapping tool to do this, and it is proving invaluable. Watch our video on Culture Shaping.
If you’re stuck not knowing where to start to make your organisational change happen, or are interested in any of the discussion points we’ve made, then you might be interested in watching our Managing Director, Lucy Trueman’s video at the stop of this page you can also catch up on our Change Chat focused around taking action here.
