Consulting · Change Management
Change management consulting from initio
As a Change Management Consultancy, we help companies, organisations, and NGOs to quickly and effectively master change processes.
We ensure attention is paid to
- strong involvement of employees and managers
- an appropriate mix of bottom-up and top-down elements
- a pragmatic and practice-oriented approach
- feedback mechanisms that enable organisational learning
- agile loops and fast learning
- modern activating participation formats
- sustainable and effective anchoring of the change in the organisational structure, processes, regulations, habits - in other words: the cultural DNA of your company
What Does a Change Management Consultancy Do?
We understand change-management to be the sum of targeted actions to implement new
- strategies
- structures
- systems
- processes
- regulations
- and visible behaviours.
The aim is successful implementation and lasting, stable anchoring of the desired state.
In a sense, change-management is the "implementation component" in the context of organisational development.
Why Change Management Consulting?
Lack of experience:
by proceeding carelessly, you create resistance among employees and managers that could actually be avoided with skill and experience.
Poor communication:
the objectives and the necessity for change are not clear to everyone involved. It needs a clear "change story" - well crafted and perfectly conveyed.
Is it really the best solution?
What to do if employees do not believe in the "change story" - despite all reasoning and communication? Do you just have a "communication problem" or possibly not the best solution after all?
Resistance is not addressed:
Can you turn resistance into a productive force for change?
Hardened resistance:
what experiences has the workforce had with previous change processes?
Complex structures:
"Preservation of vested interests", "Not invented here" syndrome, "historically grown" staffing, unfavorable leadership culture - the more complex, the more Change Management Consulting with "effective levers" is needed
Lack of change structure:
complex situations in particular require a sophisticated and excellently executed sequence of actions and "dramaturgical tricks" (we call this an effective "change structure")
Inadequate project management:
a good plan is no substitute for excellent execution...
Managers not sufficiently qualified
Of course you can rely on us entirely as consultants. But it does no harm if your management also knows why we do things the way we do, and which mistakes in change management are to be avoided (that is one of the things you learn in our change management training).
Change-management specialists
Our Range of Services
Change-management for IT projects according to the ITIL standard
Change projects in IT contexts often have a different focus. Here, operational and transitional security have a higher priority.
These standards are defined and documented in detail in ITIL.
Here, change-management is defined as a process that ensures that all changes to the IT infrastructure are
- controlled
- efficient
- and minimise risks to the ongoing operations of the affected business areas.
In change-projects for IT departments, we align the form and content of change-projects with the standards defined in ITIL.
Typical Fields of Action in Change
- Strategy and goals - creating full transparency
- Define KCIs
- processes
- Digitization
- Automation
- Dynamization
- Agile - self-learning
- structures
- Organisational structure
- Locations
- Merger
- Sale - separation
- New structural principles / models of cooperation Circle structure
- Self-Organisation
- Process organisation
- Restructuring of departments / teams,
- Changes in responsibilities / management relationships
- systems
- ERP system
- IMS
- Management accounting
- New IT systems
- Resources
- Budgets
- Availability
- Allocation
- Personnel development
- Quantitative
- Qualitative
- Personnel planning
- Strategic
- Operational
- Budgets
- Leadership
- Leadership development is always an inseparable part of change management
- Corporate culture and values
- Understanding of leadership / leadership model
- Value system
- Transparency and participation
- Collaboration
- Breaking down silo mentality
- New Work
- Goal systems, leadership, compensation, hierarchy
- Framework conditions
- Leadership principles
- Assessment and management systems
- Compensation and reward systems
Involving all stakeholders in a change process is in our DNA. We support stakeholder analysis and develop a tailored and comprehensive concept for participation (ICP concept) together with you
If you would like to go deeper : Successful change management
our Role
We support you with know-how from 21 years of change management consulting – for example as
How we support you in your transformation project
Every change-project is different - in terms of the starting point, the objective and the framework conditions that need to be taken into account.
So there is no one-size-fits-all recipe for change.
But there are certain sequences of stepsthat help to develop together an approach that fits and is appropriate to the situation:
A typical sequence of actions includes:
- Analysis of the current state of affairs
- Clear definition of targets
- Analysis of stakeholders
- Planning the necessary change actions
- Development of an effective change-structure
- Development of a meaningful change-project structure
- Development of a joint communication strategy with all stakeholders
- Planning and implementation of modern formats of participation
This is how we proceed:
We listen - and ask questions
The key questions here:
- What needs to change?
- Why does it have to change?
- How did the current situation come about?
- What stabilising and destabilising factors were there and are there?
Only when we understand what happened and why it happened, do we understand the social system "organisation".
That is essential if we are to succeed as change consultants. Because change can only succeed in the long run if we work with the "social organism" that is the company – and not against all the existing forces and conventions.
We formulate goals and CPIs
The development of reliable indicators focusses the common understanding of the goals to be achieved.
In other words: only when there is a common understanding of how "success" should be measured can we be "success-full" together with you.
Analysing stakeholders together
Who is affected, who needs to be heard, who is needed to help develop tailor-made solutions?
We use this stakeholder matrix to analyse and prioritise the stakeholder landscape:
Developing a coherent change-structure
By "change-structure" we mean an overview of which stakeholders work in which phases and in which order on which topics and issues in order to move step by step towards a tailor-made solution.
Some fundamental decisions need to be made:
- How high should and can the level of participation among employees be?
- Which framework conditions are more appropriately decided "top down" and which solutions are developed "bottom-up"?
- Which milestones must be reached when and with what quality?
And last but not least, this question:
- How agile can (or should) the change-project be?
Following on from this: develop a change structure
As soon as we have compiled all the necessary information in the afore-mentioned steps, we can make an informed decision about the structure and management of the change-project.
Larger change-management projects often require a hierarchy of responsibility and decision-making with
- Project owner
- a steering committee
- project or sub-project groups
Smaller projects would be rather overloaded with such complexity. Less (bureaucracy) is often more here.
Or to put it another way: "the more agile, the leaner".
And finally: develop measures in the fields of action
When the
- goals of the change process have been defined,
- the change-structure has been coordinated
- and the project-structure has been decided,
the project groups coordinate the necessary actions with the steering committee in order to implement the changes step by step.
We support the planning groups in this - in different roles depending on the requirements:
- project developer
- Coaches
- providers of impulses
- Facilitators
- challengers
- or as specialist consultants using our in-depth change-expertise
Planning a change process?
Change-communication as a field of action
Change-management is often confused with "change communication".
However, communicating change is not a sufficient substitute for the change itself.
At the same time, changes, their goals, and steps towards them always need to be communicated in a digestible and truthful manner. The aim is maximum transparency about the purpose and objective of the change project:
Here are some approaches for coordinated change-communication that have proven successful in past projects:
Arrange a free initial consultation on your change-project here!
Agile Change Management Consulting
By "agile approach", we mean a change approach with a high proportion of bottom-up processes and a procedure in incremental loops. Here's an overview of the differences to the "classic" approach in change processes:
"Agile change" as a learning opportunity
The "agility" aspect of a change project is particularly important for three reasons:
- Today, agility is often the goal of a change-process so that organisations can react more quickly to changing requirements
- However, agility is often also a required characteristic for change projects. (Usually, this means a particularly high degree of flexibility and adaptability of the project architecture and project progress).
- Often, agility principles are to be anchored as a cultural feature in the organisation as part of a change project. (A change project can indeed be a not-to-be-underestimated "learning surface" for this).
We will always take the relevant requirements into account accordingly in our "change-structure".
Implementation step by step
The implementation will not go "according to plan" everywhere, just as it is not the case in "classic" projects. After all, in every company/all organisations, we are dealing with living and (hopefully) lively social organisms:
- Resistances emerge,
- unplanned events only appear late on the "radar",
- the external conditions are changing,
- responsibilities change
- and the "human element" plays a part, as it does in every project.
Therefore, change projects cannot be thought of and planned in a classic "waterfall" manner. To integrate unforeseen events into the project process as well as possible, we use an "agile toolbox" for implementation:
Target/customer focus
At the beginning of a change process, there is always the definition of a target image based on vision, purpose, mission statement/values, and strategic goals. This must be clear, understandable, and comprehensible and serve as orientation for all participants in the change process.
Together with you, we always ensure transparency and focus.
Self-Organisation
Based on a binding goal focus for everyone, we rely on the ability and willingness of employees and managers to shape approaches, method use, measures, and their implementation on their own responsibility, taking into account the framework setting. Here, too, the following applies: A market economy is much more successful than a planned economy - always within the framework of set rules and goals.
We support you in empowering and motivating those involved and in setting the right framework (can - will - may).
Learning in short learning loops
You can't try everything, but implementing and testing changes in small steps or on a small scale quickly is the basis for fast learning. Errors are connotated as a valuable resource in the process in the sense of the saying: "I have only learned from my mistakes, because if it worked, I already knew how to do it."
We create space for continuous joint learning, which ensures maximum flexibility, accuracy of fit and speed of implementation.
People before systems
People in an organisation play an outstanding role in their different roles, tasks, and responsibilities for the success of a change. They want to be taken seriously in a change process with their concerns and their emotional needs. Then most people are willing to walk even a difficult path and overcome obstacles.
Here are the key areas of action to ensure that change can be accepted:
Together with you, we ensure attentive participation, transparency and understanding of the goals and approach, time and space for exchange and emotions, regular feedback and recognition.
Our Approach as External Change Management Consultants
In change management consulting, we usually start from scratch: We listen and first form our own independent picture.
Strategy:
is the direction correct, is the strategy coherent and comprehensible?
Change story
does the "story" make sense, do questions remain unanswered?
Change-structure:
What actions are planned so far? Do they fit and work together? Is the sequencing correct?
Working with resistance:
what visible and hidden reactions are there to the change project? Which stakeholders are there - and how would they have to be adequately informed and involved?
Obtaining buy-in from managers:
how does management assess the planned change? Which are the "forces of resistance" that need to be dealt with?
Qualifying change agents:
we can do "change", but we will be gone again at some point. So your team should learn how to proceed once we are gone (in this and future change-projects).
Agile change-management
good planning is important, rapid adaptation to acute developments is even more important. Therefore, we work in agile change-management mode right from the start. And we will teach you and your staff the basics - and cutting edge change-know-how.
Excellent execution:
If you read carefully, you will already have spotted some of the pitfalls in change management. We know these and more (not to say pretty much All) - and we protect our clients from all the mistakes that others have already made.
With our change-management approach you will achieve the following goals:
- The changes are supported jointly and accepted
- Your employees' experience, knowledge and concerns are used as a powerful resource in the change process
- The Costs of the change is minimised for all sides
- Your organisation remains able to steer itself, your team is strengthened for the long term
As a consultancy specialising in change management, we have won many awards! We would be glad to advise you too, in a free initial consultation.
Not convinced yet? Put us to the test in a free initial consultation:
Greater speed:
change-processes are accelerated by our goal and solution-oriented consulting approach.
Lower costs:
conflicts that usually arise in change-processes are less inhibiting due to the consideration of differences in interests. Friction losses are thus significantly reduced.
Better results:
systemic organisational consulting supports decisions that take into account remote and side effects as well as potential "pitfalls".
Higher quality of decisions:
the inclusion of different perspectives, expertise and ideas from key stakeholders ensures that the best possible decisions are made.
More commitment:
by consciously managing the process with the involvement of employees, significantly more motivation and commitment is generated.
Better cooperation:
the systemic way of working promotes cooperation between departments in the company, even after the consulting process has officially ended.
More sustainability:
change-processes are firmly anchored in the company through participatory development and lead to greater acceptance of decisions.
More knowledge building in the company:
Systemic consultants do not see themselves as carriers of secret expert and methodological knowledge, but ensure a targeted transfer of knowledge into the company.
More freedom and relief for managers:
External consultants relieve managers of both the design and moderation of processes. You can focus more on content, solutions and team-work.
Free initial consultation
Not convinced yet? Put us to the test in a free initial consultation:
Together we look at your The challenge
We set out possible ways forward for you
If you are interested in going further, we produce an outline proposal
Costing of the costs involved
Here you get all the information you need:
We have more than 21 years of experience and would be glad to advise you! Book our free initial consultation. We will get back to you.
What our clients say
Successful companies benefit from our services:
A very helpful, well-run workshop. The results served us well through the restructuring phase too.
The strategy workshop was exceptionally productive. You kept the group focused on what mattered throughout. We recommend your facilitation without reservation.
It was striking how much came out of our workshop. That was outstanding.
Many thanks again for the excellent collaboration, the organisation and the very good workshop results.
The change management training was very good. You understand the subject in real depth, and it shows.
We received very positive feedback on your training. Thank you for that.
You prepared our workshop thoroughly and precisely. Both the method and the facilitation fitted our objectives very well. We were able to carry on working very successfully with the results. Many thanks.
Four days of workshop and still playful, creative, inspiring and well structured, with good methodology. Thoroughly recommended.
Thanks again for the excellent workshop — we have already started putting the first ideas into practice, and enjoying it.
Many thanks for a genuinely helpful seminar.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with you, personally and professionally, and it was a great pleasure to run this workshop with you.
You facilitated our two-day strategy workshop very professionally. It was a demanding brief and the result is very good. Thank you for that.
Free initial consultation
Contact.
We have more than 21 years of experience and would be glad to advise you. Book your free initial consultation – we will get back to you.