Client insight: Leading through change

Make it stick! I had the pleasure of hosting a group of large cross-industry Chief Ethics and Compliance professionals with my colleague, Zoe Thompson to discuss leading effective change management through challenges such as digital adoption, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory change, remote work, regulatory expectation change, and the war on talent. The following are a few common themes and key actions I gleaned from the thoughtful discussion:

• Change management processes and controls: You must be deliberate about change management to be successful at it. Work to foster a culture of collaboration between appropriate parties (e.g., business, technology, HR, Legal, Internal Audit).
• Change management methodologies: Work to overcome the challenge of implementing agile methodologies across risk and compliance functions given numerous complex risks and establish centralized dedicated change management teams. Recognize the importance of gaining trust, overcoming fears, and assisting through a non-linear change progression. Leverage digital adoption to implement programming designed to capture emerging risks within the business.
• Structure and skills: Develop a change management ‘scrum’ mindset and create/follow risk and compliance assessment frameworks to assess upstream/downstream impacts. Implement governance around the smaller—less obvious—changes that impact the business.

KPMG perspective

KPMG uses the “Make It” change management methodology, which provides a clear, tested approach to delivering successful change. Change management activities are designed to proactively guide organizations, their leaders, and individuals through five key phases of change.

Relevant thought leadership