The are many ways to implement change in an organization, the exact process followed depends on who implements the change and also the vision and strategy for the organization. The secret to a successful roll out is to keep it simple, logical and to document everything we do. I have seen many instances where initiatives are repeated within organizations because of the loss of intellectual property. People move continually, and they take all of their experience and knowledge with them, so we will lose everything if not recorded for posterity.

The second reason for documenting is to record the baseline and improvements over time. We continually need to refer back to measure how we are progressing against our plan because changes in the business environment often dictate modifications to the plan. Change can result from the implementation of a new process within a section of the organization or from a change required to conform to outside pressures in regulatory requirements. Each of the changes is an opportunity for the organization to improve to either maintain our current position in the market, or to be in a position to grow and strengthen our position against our competitors. Delivery of product to market is our prime goal in support of the business and our customers

1. Set up the improvement plan aligned to the shared vision to achieve commitment (Approve/revise/sign off)
2. Set up the strategy, aligning it to the shared vision with supporting deliverables. (Approve/revise/sign off)
3. Interrogate business processes using process and information mapping to identify structures that to target for improvement. (Approve/revise/sign off)
4. Identify performance measures for each team member so that we can assess progress continually. (Approve/revise/sign off)

Once the big picture has been captured and signed off, we can then drill down to each department within the organization and focus on roles and responsibilities in the current reality and then align them to the future vision. Policies and procedures will need to be reviewed and assessed for applicability to the strategy and measures aligned for each area with accountability for delivery placed in the correct places. The next series of articles will explore the change process in a generic organization and illustrate potential areas for growth and development.

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