Change management and transformation
Before change begins: do your leaders agree on why?
Change programs rely on tools, plans and employee communication, and they matter. They work best when the leaders themselves agree on the reasons and priorities, so employees hear one message. Strategic alignment starts there: with the leaders.
When does change succeed best?
In many organizations the transformation plan is approved and the change team works hard. Everyone's work becomes easier when the leaders have agreed in the same way on: why are we changing, what comes first, and who decides what?
Change management models agree that successful change needs vision, skills, incentives, resources and an action plan. When the vision is shared among leaders, the other elements work together more easily.
Signs your organization needs strategic alignment before change
- Each department explains the change in its own way
- Decisions are delayed or reopened after approval
- Employees hear different messages from different managers
- Resistance from middle management
- Transformation initiatives compete for the same resources
A partner that complements the change team
How strategic alignment works with change management
Before change
Leaders agree on the reasons and priorities, in an interactive consultation with the top leader and the team.
During change
The change team works with its usual tools, while leaders carry one message to their teams, so resistance drops.
After change
An internal strategic alignment officer follows up on what the leaders agreed, and the impact is measured after 90 days.
For change management consultants: your program works better when leaders start aligned
The hardest moment for a change program is when leaders disagree on its reasons and priorities after it has started. We work before or at the start of your program, with the leaders only. Your client stays your client; our work prepares and complements your program. With the organization’s consent, you also receive the “gap map”: it shows leadership readiness before your program, in terms of agreement on direction and where leaders differ, so you can build on it.
Start by sending the index to your client: a free diagnostic for its leadership team, with results that serve your program.
What the organization receives
- Leaders agreed on why and what comes first, speaking to their teams with one message
- Middle managers more convinced of the change, so resistance drops
- Awareness of challenges: a shared recognition by the participating leaders of the challenges of change, and agreement on how to overcome them, before they turn into resistance
- An executive summary showing shared understanding before and after, the challenges and their solutions, and innovative ideas from the participants themselves
- Agreement that lasts: a leader from your organization follows up, and impact is measured after 90 days
Start with a diagnostic
The Strategic Alignment Index takes five minutes, needs no sign-up, and shows your level of strategic alignment, your two weakest areas, and a first step. The index is available in Arabic and English.