We help many organisations on their change journey and often get questions about what time it will take from the organisation to make the change. I wanted to elaborate a bit on this as I see that many management teams significantly under-estimate the required time to make the change. We often refer to the change management paradox, e.g., that it requires a large investment of time up front to reach a situation where we require much less time to do the job in the future.
As consultants having seen several hundreds of organisations, we quickly see how the work is supposed to be organised and can suggest what it should look like (through standardised diagnostics and design work). This view is often at least 30% better than current performance. But there are usually reasons why the organisation are doing what they are doing, and those reasons are normally referred to as 'sour doughs'. To reach this improved condition it is important to properly solve these issues, otherwise we will end up only asking the organisations to work harder, not smarter. And to solve big problems required big resources and big skills.
"As a rule of thumb, to reduce required time by 30%, a team must spend 30% more time up front solving problems"
As a rule of thumb, to reduce required time by 30%, a team must spend 30% more time up front solving problems until they are removed to get there. This is where many change programs fail. The organisation is not ready to invest this time for a range of reasons. For what to do not to fall into this trap, you can read more in our knowledge section on the website or contact any of out consultants.