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Change / Transformation Programmes
Why Do They Fail?

There is an abundance of data available with eye-watering failure statistics in relation to change / transformation programmes - a key statistic that is regularly quoted is - 70% of major change / transformation programmes fail - why is this?

Organisations by their very nature are constantly changing - growing, shrinking, merging, adding new products or services, so why do so many change programmes fail? And how can organisations significantly improve the success of any organisational change / transformation programme, small or large?

1. The Main Point:

There is a lot of data freely available that details the high-level statistics in relation to change programme failures:

• 70% - average failure rate of major transformation programs
• 39% - failure rate aligned to employee resistance
• 63% - success rate in programs that focus heavily on positive communications
• 70% - success rate in programs that focus on employee engagement

The real issue is that change, especially a large change programme is normally complex and difficult. How do organisations communicate, educate, engage and drive change that is both effective & measurable?

2. How Organisations Generally Communicate & Engage

Change by its very nature is difficult. A major transformation programme is usually instigated by the CEO / the main Board for a number of reasons - political, environmental, competitive, economic etc. And the outcomes required are often linked to a very limited number of overarching transitions - e.g.

• Journey - a transition from an existing state to a new state, M&A, consolidation of numerous back-office functions, aligning multiple global locations
• Growth - create a new division, increase revenue, acquire more people, gain market share 
• Defend - secure an existing market segment, deliver higher customer satisfaction or change a product offering
• Attack - take over a competitor, aggressively acquire more customers, make a product more competitive to the market

NB: Most change programmes consist of multiple variations of the transitions listed above. 

The key people involved with the delivery of the change programme will normally take part in numerous facilitated workshops, detailed planning meetings, education in new technologies hosted by innovation solution centres. Plans are created, changed and agreed - finally the change programme is signed off and is launched.

Organisations tend to utilise the tools that we are all familiar with, the difficulty with most standard communications tools is that they are very 'one way' or 'push' communication channels, especially when there is a requirement to engage with a large number of people.  

• PowerPoint - is a really useful and valuable tool within the business world, however most presentations are delivered by a single presenter to an audience. The style and persona of the presenter is a major part of the success or failure of the messages portrayed, as is the interpretation of the messages - it can be really difficult to successfully engage with everyone at the same time.
• Town Hall Meetings - These are not dissimilar to PowerPoint, depending upon the size of the meeting. They generally seem to be more successful at the team, department broadcast, where interaction is far greater. Again though, this method does not easily engage the whole audience.
• Intranet / Posters / Leaflets - Visual notices within the workplace are often used for reinforcement - security messages, core values, new ways of working etc. The reinforcement is only a visual reminder, that hopefully assists to deliver the required change or governance.
• Small Group Meetings - Are usually the most successful method of engagement, interaction and discussion. The messages delivered however can vary from group to group depending upon the personal interpretation and objectives of the group leader, this can lead to key content, messaging being occasionally misaligned.

So - 'How do you Create Engagement, Generate the correct Action andDeliver  successful Change' and which tools can organisations utilise to communicate, engage, educate and reinforce a Consistent set of messages?

3. How can an organisation communicate, engage, educate and drive change effectively and in a measured way to 200, 500, 1,000 or even 5,000 people?

If you observe how people communicate and engage with each other outside of work, it can easily be argued that our working environment is 'less ideal' - people generally interact by telling stories (at home, in pubs), watching or reading stories (cinema, YouTube, DVD, Netflix, books) and via play (with children, sports participation, video games). People generally prefer interaction to be interactive, inclusive and engaging.

This personal environment is far smaller than a corporate environment, making engagement and inclusion easier, however if we look at how people interact in their personal environment and try to align an organisations engagement methods with our personal world - then surely Change should be more successful?

If an organisations change programme could be communicated in a totally consistent way - delivered as if every meeting had the same experienced facilitator, agreed content and messages to small groups of people who engage, interact and are educated, both from an organisational perspective and an individual / team perspective, followed by the ability to reinforce and review the messages and if necessary alter the content or outcomes should the change programme alter over time - how powerful would that be?

4. Applio & HELM

We here at Applio have spent the last 18mths developing HELM - HELM is a Cloud / SaaS based solution that utilises gaming technologies. HELM allows organisations to upload their content, messages, business scenarios etc. Thus providing a reusable gaming architecture that can be delivered to large numbers of people in a consistent, engaging and entertaining manner. We are currently completing a number of field trials, the results of which are hugely positive. 

If utilising gaming technologies to improve communications, education, engagement and ultimately behavioural change might be of interest to you, please get in touch - we would appreciate your opinion.