Can happy Transformation projects really be a thing?

Can happy Transformation projects really be a thing?

By Alastair Youngson, Business Analyst

April 2021

 

In this business, it’s very well known what makes for a successful transformation project, and specifically a merger of organisations.

At Aim we frequently advise clients on how best to approach these projects and the most successful ones are those where the senior stakeholders closely follow the advice and lead from the top in developing a collaborative culture. We all know though, that if senior stakeholders do not lead from the top down the message can get lost, and barriers between legacy organisations can remain.

 

I had the happy experience recently of working on a project where best practice was adopted with great success, and although it’s a topic that has been covered many times before, I thought I’d revisit the simple steps that aid success.

 

In this case, the client had completed the purchase of another company in the same sector, and so tooling, processes and people all required convergence. And added into the mix were the ubiquitous strong-willed stakeholders with their different agendas, tight timescales and strained budgets. 

Despite the thorough planning and detailed approach that had been agreed, I did expect the initial  few months to be intense as they always are, trying to understand the nuances of each organisation via employees feeling, despite reassurances, sometimes vulnerable about their jobs and therefore sometimes reluctant to share their secrets.

Even from the beginning though on this project things were slightly different, and it started very simply. The management team was thoroughly on board with how the new culture should feel. Each employee from the new organisation received a welcome pack delivered to their house, formally welcoming them. Nothing mind-blowing - a t-shirt, a mug, a pen. A warm welcome letter.

 

Members of the senior team were present at every online meeting discussing any aspect of the plan. Collaboration, knowledge-sharing, understanding the strong points about the way each organisation worked, and acknowledging where one would be able to help the other were discussed in detail. As each side took a step forward, the other side came forward to meet them.

 

Specific actions were quickly put into place to get the two sides of the organisation working together, harnessing their strengths, and easing what could have been a stressful situation. A culture of give and take and helpfulness quickly emerged, and with it a homogenous group of employees looking at the merger as a positive change, ready to reap the rewards of working together.

 

For a Business Analyst, this was a welcome relief. Suddenly those twenty back-to-back sessions with each team, working through their processes, involved stakeholders willing to talk and work together. Meetings were engaging, and information readily provided, enabling me to create detailed RAID logs, Business Objectives and Process Maps. Importantly, because so many barriers were removed, this also released a lot of my time to help the organisation in other areas.

 

This open-armed management approach continued throughout, the CIO taking his time to personally welcome each new member, the programme manager working tirelessly to ensure the needs of all of the teams were covered, and a similar response by stakeholders in their dedication to get the job done. All in all, creating a strong sense of collaboration allowing for real gains to be made in minimal time. 

 

I for one was grateful for this approach from the client. Especially with so much focus on employee wellbeing and mental health, and the management team should be applauded for looking after their employees throughout this significant change. Hurdles were overcome as a team, and through creating a sense of purpose, milestones were hit as a team. More importantly though, everybody was on board and happy - happy to work hard, happy to cover each other’s work, and happy when they succeeded. Monday morning meetings were met with enthusiasm over what was going to be achieved. 

 

A very refreshing change, one where values were actually lived, not just nodded along to, and this simple and subtle step made all the difference. We could all do more of this.

 

 

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