WCL-ISO-certification

3 reasons why HR should lead organisational change

Every new project or programme an organisation carries out involves change of some sort. And any review of the literature will tell you that having a compelling vision, changing behaviours and communications are vital to any successful change programme.  Yet the vast majority of change programmes in large organisations fail. Why is that? We believe one reason they fail is that the leading role is not carried out by the HR function.  Many change programmes today have IT leading the change – which is why so many Project and Programme Management Offices (PMOs) are located in IT departments.  As organisations wake up to the fact that it is people who make or break change programmes, we believe that leading organisations will increasingly locate their PMOs within their HR Departments in the future.
  
So if you’re contemplating setting up a new initiative which will involve significant change across your business we believe you should consider your HR function for the lead PMO role because:
  1. Compelling vision – many organisations will have a vision statement saying something along the lines of “we want to be like this….”; or “we want to be best for customer service…”; and possibly some other statements that set out the values or behaviours that the organisation expects from its people. But how many have actually been tested by those who best understand the culture and people in your organisation?  Are these really the behaviours you want from your staff?  Can you realistically deliver, or are you setting yourselves up to fail? Having HR lead the vision setting and testing process is vital.
  2. Changing behaviours – if you want to be best for customer service, what does that mean your people have to do differently?  How will you incentivise them if they adopt the right behaviours, or penalise them if they don’t?  What will your managers need to do differently in terms of performance managing their staff?   What training, education and support will the managers need to make sure this is done properly?  You can’t change the culture of an organisation without HR, but you can massively increase your chances of success if you engage HR properly and from the start. 
  3. Communications – Kotter et al say that the biggest reason for change failure is insufficient communications.  A well-developed HR function is ideally placed to be at the heart of the communications; with business partners in each of the business units, with the ability to gather examples of good behaviour and good practice, having HR at the centre of communications (and therefore running the PMO) makes perfect sense.

One of the biggest challenges for many organisational HR functions is to be seen to be adding real business value rather than being viewed simply as the function which administers policy on recruiting, managing, developing and divesting staff.  What better way than for HR to lead the change programme that is vital to the company’s future survival and prosperity?

 

If you'd like to know more about WCL's services in this area, please contact Kieron White.

 


Neil Watkins, 31/10/2011