Nobody washes a rented car. In the same way, if staff don’t take ownership of BPM, it is likely to get neglected. This is why proper change management is needed to help BPM initiatives succeed, says Allan Dickson, a consultant at Compass Consulting.
Dickson, who will address the ITWeb BPM Summit in Midrand, next week, says it’s important to get staff buy-in when new BPM programmes are rolled out. “People like to be engaged and involved in the process rather than feeling imprisoned by it. Change shouldn’t be done ‘to us’ – forcing the action typically generates active resistance to the process,” he explains.
It helps to get employee acceptance; effectively communicating to them the objectives of the BPM initiative, Dickson says. “This is essential to promote ownership, but the definition must be appropriate and meaningful – not only to the delivery project but to all the business areas affected.
“For example, a stated objective of reducing unit costs may be interpreted by some as synonymous with job losses whereas a stated objective of increased productivity may be interpreted as having to work harder.”
Communications of this nature often form part of the change management responsibility, he adds.
“But all too often change management is seen as an ‘add-on’ to BPM initiatives rather than woven into the fabric of the delivery project. Within the delivery project there are generally people who can think in terms of the hard, quantified metrics associated with the project while those who are likely to be impacted by the ultimate change still have to focus on ‘business as usual’ throughout.”
Dickson cites research undertaken by consulting firm McKinsey in the US, which looked at change initiatives in 40 major organisations, including banks, hospitals, manufacturers and utilities. The study found 58% of the companies failed to achieve their targets and only 42% gained or exceeded the expected returns.
“Not surprisingly, the companies with the lowest returns also had poor change management capabilities. For the 11 successful companies in the study, change management clicked in at every level in the organisation,” Dickson notes.
ITWeb’s BPM Summit will be held at Vodaworld in Midrand on 14 and 15 September. Click here for more information and to register.
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