How well is the change going? Is there enough progress? Is the pace not too fast or too slow? Will the desired impact be achieved? And if not, is this visible to the right people, who can also act on it? In short, how do you measure and how do you report?
A lot of organisations have insufficient visibility and grip on the progress they make. To visualise the progress of an organisational change we advise to look at the realisation of business objectives on the one hand and measure the change management progress on the other.
Go back to your case for change, your change story and the indicators of success. What was the intended purpose of the organisational change? What did you want to improve? Is it the Net Promoter Score you want to improve or the Sustainability Index score? Is it about revenue growth in a new product category? Or to make a departmental process more efficient?
Usually, the business-related success indicators are about aspects such as product & service, financial indicators, employee-related indicators, … If you have not determined these indicators at the start of your transformation, do so now, together with important stakeholders.
To measure change management progress, you look at it on three levels:
– Does the organisation have a fertile breeding ground for change?
– Is the organisation ready to implement this change initiative, project, or program?
– Are individuals ready to embrace the behavioural change associated with this initiative, project, or program?
By answering these three questions systematically, you get a grip on the progress and the right questions are raised. The more people you give access to the data about the progress being made, the more you enable people to act as the owners of the change and help you move it forward.
Make sure roles don’t start shifting in the measurement process. The change leader is responsible for the progress of the change, the change supervisor identifies and advises on which follow-up interventions are needed now.
You measure change progress over two axes: business performance and change management progress. Measure periodically. And measure on three levels: at the level of the organisation, project, program, or initiative and at the level of the individual. Based on that, you can adjust the change plan.
