How to 'do' change - BAU vs. Project?

The question of how best to deliver change, whether through Business As Usual (BAU) line management, or to set up a separate project team, crops up time and time again in organisations.

Arguably, this is something only large companies, with the luxury of having spare resources and budgets, have to wrestle with. But even for startups, an entrepreneur struggles to find time to develop the business while running the day to day operations themselves.

Perhaps unsurprisingly there is no hard and fast rule, but there are factors which can help determine whether the change can be successfully delivered in the line, or whether you're going to need a bigger boat. The top considerations which I believe help managers to rightsize the change initiative are as follows:

• Size and Scale
• Complexity
• Expertise
• Timescales
• Culture & Behaviours
• Making Change Stick

1 Size and Scale

Use your professional judgement to assess whether your team has the capacity to deal with the scale of change. This is what managers are paid to do. A team that's right-sized is probably busy 80-90% of the time, leaving 10-20% to take on continuous improvement, projects or ad hoc tasks.

If your team is twiddling their thumbs, or sitting with coats on every day waiting for the clock to reach 5pm, then they probably have the capacity to deliver an element of change on top of their day jobs. If your team are constantly falling over the pizza boxes stacked up by the filing cabinets from another night of late working, then be prepared for resignations and eye-rolling when you ask them to deliver an exciting new project on top of their 9-5 responsibilities.

2 Complexity

Hands up if you can do a single side of a Rubik's Cube. Two sides? How about the whole thing? A Rubik's cube is a really good analogy of the increasing complexity involved in change. The challenge of a single-side is akin to the change which an individual or team need to make which is completely self-contained, with little or no IT or systems involvement.

When others need to be play ball in order to effect the change, or there is an element of technology change, e.g. a systems upgrade or new equipment to roll out, things become more complex and project management support is generally required as a minimum.

When there are numerous interests - employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders - and the level of IT and process change is significant, e.g. an ERP implementation or migration, this will almost always require project management and dedicated project resource.

3 Expertise

Before you pick up the phone to the nearest firm of consultants, do some homework. You'd be amazed how much information is already out there on how to do that thing you've been scratching your head over. Flick through your business rolodex and have a good look at your LinkedIn network to see who might be able to offer up some advice, which might set you off on the right path.

However, if your change involves something which is highly technical, legal or involves Tax, then know your limitations and get specialist help. It's also worth remembering that many project and change managers are experts in deliveringchange itself. So although you may not want to cough up because you are the technical expert, they can potentially help to deliver a better outcome because of their expertise in changing behaviours, processes and systems in particular.

4 Timescales

In general, you would expect change which is delivered through project resource to be delivered more quickly than change being delivered by BAU teams, because other priorities and day jobs will undoubtedly get in the way. One tactic to counter this is to ensure the change projects are included in an individual's SMART objectives or bonus targets, to ensure they are incentivised to deliver on time, in addition to doing their day-job.

If there is a burning platform for the change, this is likely to drive pace and so may not require additional project resource. However it may lead to high stress levels for those trying to balance workload while delivering to a timescale which is out of their control.

5 Culture & Behaviours

There is a huge corporate myth that somehow all employees are capable of embracing change, or continuous improvement. After working in numerous organisations and with BAU and project teams, I have seen for myself (a Pollyanna at heart) that this is simply not possible and is a very frustrating line to hold.

Let's take accountants as an example, and because I am one. By and large, their raison d'être is summed up in the term 'no surprises'. You may as well replace this term with the phrase 'please don't do anything different'. Yet management are flabbergasted when these same teams are not at the vanguard of change.

Certain companies, personality types and professions are not naturals at delivering change. They thrive on safety, risk aversion, routine and repetition. Trying to deliver change in the line through these teams, without an injection of strong project or change management resource, is challenging at best and futile at worst.

6 Making Change Stick

The one area where I believe using BAU teams trumps project resource just about every time is making the change stick. There is a saying that people like change, they just don't like being changed. I'm not sure I always believed that wholeheartedly but the Brexit vote and ensuing debacle may have just proven that theory. Generally, people prefer to be in charge of their own destiny, particularly when there is uncertainty or ambiguity.

By leading change, BAU teams can shape and control the pace of the change. While this may slow things down, it can make the change ultimately more sustainable, with a better outcome from a morale perspective.

Conclusion

There is no silver bullet to delivering change, nor is there always an obvious answer to whether a change effort needs project resources or formal structure. I would suggest consulting with peers who have done something similar, speaking openly with the teams affected, wherever possible, and trust your gut instinct. If in doubt, at least get yourself a project manager and let them help you navigate what you need from there, or drop me a line, I'd love to hear about your latest challenge.