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Alidade MER, Inc.

Providing Insight, Advice and Support for Operations, Maintenance and Reliability Improvements

Making Change Stick

Why is it so hard to make improvements stick?

Millions of dollars are spent by individual  corporations and billions of dollars are spent worldwide every year for training, process reengineering, LEAN and a myriad of other activities intended to improve production and reduce working capital. On average over 80% of initiatives fail to meet or sustain their goals. There are two main reasons for this...

First, many organizations believe they need a tool to solve their issues; tools may be a new software application, a new technology such as RFID or vibration analysis, or a procedure such as Root Cause Analysis or LEAN.  Tools are great if the organization has achieved control & stability in their core processes. Core processes for a maintenance organization would be the work management process, repair parts inventory management and the like.  For production or operations it might include production scheduling processes, order receipt and fulfillment, etc.  Only a marginal benefit can be gained from tools if you do not have control and stability, but a leveraged benefit can be attained if these tools are applied to consistent processes. An example would be trying to apply LEAN to a process that was not documented.  You first need to have consistent processes to generate actionable information.

The second reason for failures in meeting goals is a lack of follow through. Some may believe the act of buying training is the solution. A lot of attention is focused on the consultant or corporate support person that will be providing the training and the content of what will be provided for training.  Much less attention is paid to how the training is made actionable. We have all experienced a training event that went well; participants felt it was good training, the trainer was a good fit for the audience, and things went off without a hitch. When the participants get back to their jobs there is a lack of management support for applying the new leanings, or the training is not followed up with a development and implementation plan to drive the change. Sometimes the new processes and behaviors wither and die because the leadership team does not maintain vigilance over the change progress or key result areas.

Making change stick requires effort; not just buying and installing tools, and not just dedicating time to training with a halfhearted attempt to sustain the change.

Drive Change from the Top Down

People are creatures of habit. When we try to change an organization there is inherent resistance to change.  Sometimes this resistance to change is made worse because of multiple previous attempts that ended badly. People don’t like change for change sake.

Alidade MER has developed a change management workshop specifically designed for the senior leadership of an organization. The Change Management Workshop (and companion book) provides a foundation for common understanding of how to initiate a change management project by first creating a sense of urgency about the need for change.  We help you develop a strong guiding team who will work together to formulate the vision and strategy for change.  Next, the vision and strategy are communicated to achieve buy-in throughout the organization. Momentum builds as people are empowered to fulfill the vision, as fewer and fewer resist change.  Short term wins are celebrated providing greater momentum.  Subsequent waves of change follow until the vision is achieved.

Change is sustained through a combination of engaged leadership and a new culture that triumphs over the old ways.

Office: (321) 773-3356     Mobile: (321) 961-4306    Email: info@alidade-mer.com