The challenge

The business was going through significant change, driven by industry regulation, increased digitalisation of processes, and changes in customer demand. This led to a high degree of people change as new roles and capabilities across the organisation were required.

The newly-appointed CHRO wanted to improve HR’s capability to lead and shape organisational change so they could guide the business better and add more value.

She asked Change Associates to help.

What we did

We started with a series of scoping workshops to understand what the client wanted to achieve, the challenges they faced, and the relationships between HR and business colleagues. These workshops identified that the business needed more expertise from HR in change management, and also that organisation design capability needed to improve, given the amount of change in this area.

We discussed options and agreed to develop two practical and complementary toolkits to create common ways of working and help build capability. We developed a methodology for change management and organisation design, supported by a series of detailed tools and templates.

Each toolkit was iterated and tested with HR teams and the wider business to ensure the methodology, tools and examples were tailored to, and relevant for our client. By working closely with colleagues across the business we also ensured a good fit with cultural requirements. To have credibility with the business, the toolkits needed to be practical, useable, and not over-engineered.

We used real-life examples of changes the client was experiencing to test scenarios and ensure the methodology and tools would work in practice. This also helped teams prepare for the implementation by understanding how they would do things differently with the new approach.

Our client was particularly pleased by the flexible way we worked, developing the approach and toolkit at their pace following a highly pressurised period during the pandemic. This meant we were able to understand their business, work as an integrated part of their HR team, and help the team learn and develop throughout the process.

The result

• Our client received a best practice approach to change management and organisation design with supporting toolkits that were relevant and tailored to their business
• The HR team felt confident in launching the new approach and taking a more proactive role in shaping and delivering change in the business

Image (c) Shutterstock | fizkes