CMI Level 7 LO2.1 Introduction PDF

Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Introduction Develop a proposal for leading strategic change LO2.1 Introduction Within learning outcome 2.1, you will look at the process of developing a proposal for leading...

Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Introduction Develop a proposal for leading strategic change LO2.1 Introduction Within learning outcome 2.1, you will look at the process of developing a proposal for leading strategic change. The ability to propose and implement effective strategic change is critical for sustaining competitive advantage and driving organisational success. This part of the programme aims to equip you to craft a clear and robust proposal for strategic change within your organisation. You begin with an outline of the proposed strategic change. This includes a synopsis of the change initiative, clearly articulating the need for change and the anticipated benefits. You will see how to present a strong business value statement, highlighting how the change will enhance organisational performance, efficiency or market position. Additionally, you will examine how to define an anticipated timeframe for the change process, ensuring that goals are realistic and achievable. Understanding resource requirements, including financial, human, and material resources, is crucial for planning and securing the necessary support for the initiative. LO2.1 Introduction Setting clear aims and objectives for strategic change is a vital step. You will be guided on how to formulate aims and objectives that align with the overall strategic goals of your organisation. Ensuring that the the proposed change aligns with strategic goals and is essential for gaining Executive buy-in and ensuring progress towards the organisation’s vision. Compliance with organisational, legal and regulatory frameworks is another key aspect covered in this part of the course. You will learn to navigate their complexities, ensuring that your proposal meets all necessary standards and guidelines, thereby minimising risk and facilitating smoother implementation. You will use a range of tools and techniques to deliver strategic change effectively. Diagnostic and action-planning methods will help you identify the current and desired future states, allowing for detailed planning of the change journey. Stakeholder mapping techniques will enable you to identify and analyse the influence and interests of all parties affected by the change, ensuring their needs and concerns are addressed. LO2.1 Introduction The course will show how to integrate a range of change models of change into your plan. These models provide structured approaches to managing change, helping you apply best practices and proven strategies to your initiatives. Project management structures, risk identification and mitigation strategies, contingency planning and governance and reporting structures are also crucial for success. These will enable you to effectively plan, monitor and control the change process, ensuring accountability and transparency. Understanding the potential impact and consequences of strategic change is essential. This part of the course will help you gain insights into the effects of change on various aspects of the organisation, including employee morale, operational efficiency, and stakeholder relationships. Strategies for overcoming resistance to change will be discussed, equipping you with techniques to manage opposition and encourage a positive change culture. You will also learn to monitor outcomes to ensure that the change delivers the intended benefits and make necessary adjustments. LO2.1 Introduction Finally, developing a robust communications strategy is critical to supporting and disseminating strategic change. You will examine ways to craft clear, consistent and compelling messages that convey a change initiative's purpose, benefits and progress. Effective communication fosters understanding, builds support, and sustains momentum throughout the change process. By the end of this part of the course, you should clearly understand how to develop a detailed and persuasive proposal for strategic change. Consequently, you will be better prepared to lead successful change initiatives that drive your organisation forward. Please now scroll down Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©  Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Part 1 Develop a proposal for leading strategic change Part 1 Outline for change Asking the right questions It has been said that in strategy, everything is simple, but nothing is easy. At its heart, a proposal for strategic change should align with and support the direction an organisation takes to achieve future business success. In learning outcome 1, you have been introduced to models of and approaches to strategy and many tools and techniques that can help assess your current position and evaluate options for the future. Whether new or familiar, such tools should not be regarded as recipes for success but should be used carefully to help analyse and understand the strategic context in which your organisation finds itself and the potential contribution of a strategic change. Asking the right questions To achieve success when implementing change, you need a roadmap that outlines the steps by which you plan to achieve your change goals. Take a moment to focus on the overall direction of your organisation and how your proposal will support that direction. Key questions you can consider include: What business are we in? Or what business should we be in? (Mission) Where do we want to be? (Vision) How are we doing? What is going well? What is not so successful? How did we get to this point? What went well? What went wrong? How can we improve our position? What options are open to us? What might hinder us from getting there? What do we need to do to get there? What should we not do? Asking the right questions When identifying strategic change, there are 10 questions that should be considered. This section will focus on the highlighted: What organisational change needs to take place? What rationale is being offered for this organisational change? What is the scale and scope of this organisational change? What is the timescale for this organisational change? What has been the recent organisational history of change? Who will make the approval decision to change? How will this organisational change be communicated? Who is managing this change and how will it be managed? How will the success of this organisational change be evaluated? Who can influence the success of this organisational change? Asking the right questions What organisational change needs to take place? Specific organisational changes include a merger or acquisition, a cultural change programme, quality management initiatives, legislative deadlines, or downsizing. Strategic changes are unlikely to happen in isolation. They take place against a backdrop of everyday operational changes, requiring careful consideration of the scale and scope of the change. What rationale is being offered for this organisational change? Consider the explicit and implicit rationale for the change needed. What are the triggers, drivers, and environmental factors? A bank may declare that it is removing back office operations from branches to improve customer services while making considerable cost savings through this change. What is the problem you are trying to solve? Tools to Plan the Strategic Change Whatever the proposed change, allocating sufficient planning time and developing a clear understanding of the change's overall purpose is important. Useful tools and models that capture a synopsis of change, a statement of business value and benefits of change, the anticipated timeframe, resources needed, aims and objectives of the change are: Business Case Project Management - Project Initiation Document Project Management - Checklist Model - Lewin Change Model Model - Kotter Change Model. Detail how your strategic change fits with the existing strategy, goals, practices, and resources, fits in with the business's current or future needs and allows the company to exploit new opportunities or respond to new threats. Strategic Change Business Case The Business Case commits to paper the justification for starting a strategic change. It defines a specific business need and how the change will meet that need and, therefore, benefit the organisation. It also describes the costs and impact associated with the change. A good business case provides the organisation with evidence to support its decision- making and assures stakeholders that it has acted ethically and responsibly. The process should involve scrutiny of all relevant financial and non-financial aspects of a proposed strategic change to ensure that the best possible solution is selected for a given set of circumstances. A business case needs to be persuasive in answering the what’s in it for me a question for decision-makers realistic and avoid overstating the benefits Please now scroll down Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©  Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Part 2 Develop a proposal for leading strategic change Part 2 Aims and objectives Asking the right questions When identifying strategic change, there are 10 questions that should be considered. This section will focus on the highlighted: What organisational change needs to take place? What rationale is being offered for this organisational change? What is the scale and scope of this organisational change? What is the timescale for this organisational change? What has been the recent organisational history of change? Who will make the approval decision to change? How will this organisational change be communicated? Who is managing this change and how will it be managed? How will the success of this organisational change be evaluated? Who can influence the success of this organisational change? The strategic change you are considering What is the scale and scope of this organisational change? There is enormous variability in the scale and scope of changes. You can differentiate between evolutionary changes, which focus on incremental change, and revolutionary change, which focuses on radical change. “…more than 95 per cent of organisational changes are evolutionary’ (Burke 2008).” Scale can range between small-scale and large-scale change. Scope of change refers to who or what will be affected by the change. For example, the scope of a large-scale redundancy programme may refer specifically to middle management. Be clear about what is not included in this change. What is the scale and scope of your strategic change? The strategic change you are considering What is the timescale for this organisational change? The precision or imprecision of organisational change timescales is highly variable. For example, a head office can be relocated within an exact timetable, whereas the timeframe for achieving cultural change will be far less accurate. Managers may specify wanting to change an organisational culture over six months. Still, it will likely take years to change the attitudes, values and beliefs informing an organisational culture. Burke (2008) identifies four phases of change: pre-launch, launch phase, post-launch phase, and sustaining phase. While Burke acknowledges that change is unlikely to follow exactly such a linear pattern, the phases are a useful aid to thinking about organisational change in terms of time. What is the timescale of your strategic change? The strategic change you are considering Having worked out the rationale for the change, including scale, scope, and timescales, what are the aims and objectives of your strategic change? The aim must align with and support an organisation's direction to achieve future business success. For example, the objective might be to maintain and grow market share in line with Company Goals. Objectives must be SMART and relate to the organisation's business strategy. For example, implementing the change will increase the number of new customers by 25% by the end of April 2025. Tools to Plan the Strategic Change Valuable tools and models that capture a synopsis of change, a statement of business value and benefits of change, the anticipated timeframe, resources needed, aims and objectives of the change are: Business Case Project Management - Project Initiation Document Project Management - Checklist Model - Lewin Change Model Model - Kotter Change Model Please now scroll down Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©  Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Part 3 Develop a proposal for leading strategic change Part 3 Alignment of goals Asking the right questions When identifying strategic change, there are 10 questions that should be considered. This section will focus on the highlighted: What organisational change needs to take place? What rationale is being offered for this organisational change? What is the scale and scope of this organisational change? What is the timescale for this organisational change? What has been the recent organisational history of change? Who will make the approval decision to change? How will this organisational change be communicated? Who is managing this change and how will it be managed? How will the success of this organisational change be evaluated? Who can influence the success of this organisational change? Questions on change What has been the recent organisational history of change? The dynamic nature of change means that in every organisation, the past, present, and future are interconnected. The organisational context can matter; for example, staff’s experiences of change initiatives such as business-wide digital upgrades, green agendas, or quality management initiatives will inform the subsequent reception (positive or negative) of your proposed change initiative. Who will make the approved decision to change? Who is the person or persons making the approval decision to change? Answering this question provides insights into the significance of an organisational change and, by association, often neglected issues of power and politics. Is the change about top-down or bottom-up approaches to facilitating change? How significant is your strategic change, and where does power lie around your proposal? Context and compliance Organisational change does not happen in isolation when identifying and planning a strategic change; several compliance frameworks may need to be considered. Compliance with organisational, legal and regulatory frameworks include: Legal, eg legislation (current and planned), trading and market places (UK, European, Global) or quality and production standards (ISO) People, eg HR policies linked to restructuring & consultation, or Health & Safety Projects, eg Prince2, Agile and approvals Financials, eg capital and revenue projects and investments) or procurement and commissioning systems and protocols Values, eg supporting Company values and being a corporately socially responsible business. Operations, e.g. Industry regulators and auditors, governance & company oversight. What does your strategic change need to comply with? Context and compliance Context - connections and the consequences of the change A strategic change may seem worthwhile if the immediate effect is good, but the change may not be valuable if you deliberate to look at longer-term consequences. Conversely, a strategic shift that has good long-term consequences may not seem very enticing at the moment. For example, the invention of the petrol engine made automobiles, aeroplanes, the oil industry and a great deal of pollution possible. Think ahead about your proposed strategic change. Identifying the effect of a decision to do or not do something is part of alignment mapping. The key is to project forward - what are your proposed change's immediate, medium and longer-term consequences (internally and externally)? Do not make assumptions or judgements about those consequences until you capture them all. (Edward De Bono, Consequence and Sequels) What are the consequences of your strategic change? Please now scroll down Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©  Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Part 4 Develop a proposal for leading strategic change Part 4 Tools and techniques Asking the right questions When identifying strategic change, there are 10 questions that should be considered. This section will focus on the highlighted: What organisational change needs to take place? What rationale is being offered for this organisational change? What is the scale and scope of this organisational change? What is the timescale for this organisational change? What has been the recent organisational history of change? Who will make the approval decision to change? How will this organisational change be communicated? Who is managing this change and how will it be managed? How will the success of this organisational change be evaluated? Who can influence the success of this organisational change? Who is managing the change and how will it be managed? Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) developed classifications of change strategies, in which they highlighted education and communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation and agreement, manipulation and co-optation, and explicit and implicit coercion as potential change strategies. This classification underpins Kotter’s later ideas in the 8 Steps to Successful Change model. Whatever the approach, several tools are available to plan Stakeholder Management Risk Identification, mitigation and risk management Communication, quality management and control plans Who can influence the success of this change? This question asks you to identify the stakeholders who can positively or negatively influence the outcome of an organisational change. A stakeholder is “Any person or organisation who can be positively or negatively impacted by or cause an impact on the actions of a company [Freeman, 1984] Think of all the people affected by or interested in the outcome of your proposed strategic change. There are probably quite a few, and that’s where Stakeholder Analysis comes in. Identify the key people, groups and organisations you have to keep onside or win over so that the changes you need to deliver succeed. Identify their needs and interests, and then classify these groups of interest. Identify the likely conflict areas, such as organisation vs stakeholder or stakeholder vs stakeholder. Prioritise, reconcile and balance stakeholders' needs. Take the time to align significant stakeholder needs with the organisation's strategies and actions. Map your stakeholders on a power-interest grid. Map your stakeholders on a power-interest grid Models of Change: Kotter’s Eight Steps Models of Change: Kurt Lewin - Unfreeze, Change Freeze The Unfreeze, Change Freeze model is an analogy for changing a block of ice. Going ahead and directly trying to change a block of ice from one shape to another will be challenging. Frozen h20 crystals are firmly set in their ways; they have a fixed pattern that will resist change. The way to make ice more receptive to change is to melt it into water so that you can find a mould with a new shape that you want and refreeze it until you get the desired result. If you only do step two (make the change) but without steps one and three, success is fleeting because the final ‘freeze’ hasn’t happened or is not achieved. Models of Change: Formal Projects All formal projects have a lifecycle, four or five stages that take the change from its conception to its closure. The stages are: 1. Initiation. 2. Planning and Design. 3. Execution. 4. Monitoring and Controlling. 5. Closing. A project management method is a broad set of principles and rules to manage a specific change. The process provides a “way” to systematically realise change in terms of time, cost and quality. It uses a particular approach, templates, forms, and checklists over the project life cycle. Some features of project methods: A process that documents a series of steps and procedures to bring about the successful completion of a change An integrated assembly of tasks, techniques, tools, roles and responsibilities A defined process for accomplishing an end A series of steps through which the change progresses A collection of methods, procedures, and standards designed to deliver a product, service, or solution Models of Change: Formal Projects A traditional approach uses consecutive stages in the project management process, i.e. a step-by-step sequence to design, develop and deliver a product or service, Prince2. More modern methods do not focus on linear processes but provide an alternative way of managing change processes, e.g. a Lean approach helps define solutions but doesn’t always offer a way of tracking and reporting. SCRUM is an example of an Agile project method: Waterfall Methodology Agile Methodology Scrum Methodology PMI / PMBOK Critical Path Method (CPM) Kanban Methodology Extreme Programming (XP) Lean Methodology Six Sigma PRINCE2 Choose the method based on the type, size and nature of the change, the context and available resources Risk Identification and Mitigation A risk is something that may affect the change being implemented in the way that is planned. All organisational change is subject to uncertainty and, therefore, to risk. The earlier you identify potential risks and plan to manage them, the greater the chance of success. Risk refers to future conditions or circumstances outside the control of the change team that will adversely impact the change if they occur. Risk is simply the likelihood that your change will fail in some way. The higher the risk, the more likely that one of those problems will happen. By analysing and managing risk upfront you can: Anticipate situations, glitches and problems, as well as build contingency plans. Conduct change activities in proportion to the amount of risk Manage the expectations of the stakeholders and those implementing the change Brainstorm to Identify Project Risks What can go wrong with this change? Time: could extend past the scheduled finish date Cost: could blow out Quality: might need to be downgraded Resources: might not be available as scheduled What will happen to the change if it goes wrong? Credibility of the change lead/ manager and change team members Timeline extensions Additional funding approvals needed Resources sourced Changes to the scope What can the stakeholders do about it? Take preventative action (Hartley 2003) Mitigating Risks & Contingency Once identified, you have to analyse a risk to decide whether you will tolerate it or take action to address it. This is known as risk tolerance or risk appetite. Prevention – Terminate the risk by doing things differently, removing the risk if feasible. This can be achieved by putting countermeasures in place. Reduction – Treat the risk by taking some action to reduce the impact if this risk occurs; maybe some contingency planning Transference—The impact of the risk is passed to a third party, e.g., by taking out an insurance policy or by using penalty clauses in a contract. Acceptance – Tolerate the risk because probability and/or impact are acceptable. Alternatively, the cost(s) of taking action to mitigate the risk may be unreasonable. Live with the consequences if the risk occurs or deal with it at the time. Contingency – Prepare planned and organised actions to implement if the risk occurs. All or part of these may be implemented depending on various factors considered when the risk occurs. Governance and reporting structures Change implementation requires everyone to work according to the plan and report any delays or problems to the relevant change lead. Regular meetings and report-back methods are an essential part of successful change. Why does governance matter during change? People lose sight of the ‘change plan’ People assume things will work, too, and go as planned. Continuation of momentum during change implementation is not a given. It is very unusual for any change to go precisely to plan. Things can and will go wrong. Governance and reporting structures It is important to monitor the degree to which the change plan is being followed and to take appropriate action if things deviate significantly from it. You will need a system to monitor and control it as much as possible. Any change control system should do the following: Focus on what is important to the organisation What are we attempting to do? Which parts of the change are the most important to track and control? What are the essential points at which controls need to be placed? Enable corrective action or early responses. What is your governance plan? Governance and reporting structures Please now scroll down Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©  Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Part 5 Develop a proposal for leading strategic change Part 5 Assess the impacts Asking the right questions When identifying strategic change, there are 10 questions that should be considered. This section will focus on the highlighted: What organisational change needs to take place? What rationale is being offered for this organisational change? What is the scale and scope of this organisational change? What is the timescale for this organisational change? What has been the recent organisational history of change? Who will make the approval decision to change? How will this organisational change be communicated? Who is managing this change and how will it be managed? How will the success of this organisational change be evaluated? Who can influence the success of this organisational change? How to evaluate the the success of organisational change “The identification of a successful outcome of a particular organisational change appears to be very desirable, although the problematic nature of judging the efficacy of change programmes is acknowledged” (Iles and Sutherland, 2001). The concern here is whether a successful outcome has been specified and openly communicated, and if so, what will be the criteria for establishing its achievement? How explicit are the criteria for success in your proposal for change? Monitoring and Measuring Success Harvesting the Benefits of Change Some of the benefits are easy to quantify and measure, while others are not (e.g., the benefits of organisation-wide education in risk management). You will need to ensure that three conditions exist before the change is finally put to bed: The criteria by which product or service benefits will be measured or assessed are clear. The points in time at which the measurement or assessment will be carried out are established. A named person has accepted responsibility for carrying out the measurement or assessment in the agreed way at the agreed points in time. The impact and effects of Change: Stakeholders There are many positive reasons why we spend time thinking about, engaging with stakeholders and valuing their contribution. Contributions that stakeholders can make are: This puts more ideas on the table than would be the case if work development and implementation were confined to a single organization or to a small group of like- minded people. Includes varied perspectives from all sectors and elements of the community affected, thus giving a clearer picture of the community context and potential pitfalls and assets. Gains buy-in and support for the effort from all stakeholders by making them an integral part of its development, planning, implementation, and evaluation. It becomes their effort, and they’ll do their best to make it work. Fair to everyone. All stakeholders can have a say in developing an effort that may seriously affect them. The impact and effects of Change: Stakeholders There are many positive reasons why we spend time thinking about, engaging with stakeholders and valuing their contribution. Contributions that stakeholders can make are: It saves you from being blindsided by concerns you didn’t know about. If everyone has a seat at the table, concerns can be aired and resolved before they become stumbling blocks. Even if they can’t be resolved, they won’t come as surprises that derail the effort just when you thought everything was going well. Strengthens your position if there’s opposition. Having all stakeholders on board makes a huge difference in political and moral clout. Creates bridging social capital for the changing community. Social capital is the web of acquaintances, friendships, ties, obligations, and other social currency that can cement relationships and strengthen community connections among diverse groups that might not otherwise interact. Increases the credibility of your organisation. Involving and attending to the concerns of all stakeholders establishes your organisation as fair, ethical, and transparent and makes it more likely that others will work with you in other circumstances. Overcoming resistance to change using Change Agents Successful change depends not only on how change agents manage it but also on employee attitudes toward change, which are shaped by psychological antecedents. Specifically, well-informed employees with high social support will be more positive about organisational change efforts. Successful Change Agents: Diagnose problems – Understand the business drivers and the organisation well enough to identify performance issues and analyse their impact on short- and long- term business results. Build relationships with others – Form partnerships with mutual responsibility for the change effort's outcomes. Because the risk is higher than with most other roles, the level of trust required is much higher. Overcoming resistance to change using Change Agents Successful Change Agents: Solve Problems – When it comes to the change agent role, problems are often loaded with emotional and political dynamics. The change agent must possess the insight to recognise the problem, the sensitivity to see its importance to those involved, the courage to take honest and often difficult measures to resolve it and the credibility to be heard. Implement Plans to Achieve Change Goals - Successful organizational change on any significant scale can be attributed to the right strategy and appropriate change in organizational culture. Culture change, in turn, relies heavily on aligned and supportive people policies, systems, and processes. Overcoming resistance to change using Models Why are people resistant to change? Knowing and understanding the reasons will help you anticipate, prepare for and overcome resistance and lead your staff to welcome and embrace new opportunities. Paul Kirkbride and the Change House - The Change House uses four rooms of a house to explain the typical human reactions to and the journey through change. They were created by Paul Kirkbride of Melbourne Business School, inspired by his interpretation of Swedish psychologist Claus Jensen’s ‘Four-roomed apartment of change’. The four rooms are the Contentment and Complacency Room, the Denial and Denigration Room, the Confusion and Chaos Room, and the Renewal and Revitalisation Room. Everyone is different, so their travel speed through the various rooms will vary as they process the change happening to them and around them. A manager’s challenge is knowing what to say and do to move someone from one room to the next while keeping that momentum going through the change. Overcoming resistance to change using Models Appelo Culture Change and Personal Change Skills - Brought together by Jurgen Appelo (2012), this model contains the problematic questions that change agents can use with individuals or groups to confront changes. Kurt Lewin and ForceField Analysis - Identifying and setting out the key forces for and against change in a given situation in a graphic force field analysis format provides a complete overview. Force-field analysis is based on the premise that change will only occur if the forces driving the change are more significant than the forces resisting the change. Kubler Ross Change Curve - the model shows a chain of reactions that individuals in their team might experience right from when a significant change is announced. There are no shortcuts from one side of the ‘dip’ to the other, no bridge over that chasm. The manager’s role is to support people to get through from one side to the other (shock, denial, anger, depression, bargaining, acceptance and moving on) Please now scroll down Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©  Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Part 6 Develop a proposal for leading strategic change Part 6 Communicating channge Asking the right questions When identifying strategic change, there are 10 questions that should be considered. This section will focus on the highlighted: What organisational change needs to take place? What rationale is being offered for this organisational change? What is the scale and scope of this organisational change? What is the timescale for this organisational change? What has been the recent organisational history of change? Who will make the approval decision to change? How will this organisational change be communicated? Who is managing this change and how will it be managed? How will the success of this organisational change be evaluated? Who can influence the success of this organisational change? How will this organisational change be communicated? For some authors, organisational change initiatives fail without appropriate communication with employees (Barrett, 2002). The question focuses upon internal organisational communications and processes, with what is not communicated often being as informative as what is spoken. “Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful, it is threatening because it means things may get worse. To the hopeful, it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident, it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.” King Whitney Jr. Communication is The most important tool a change manager has in overcoming operational or behavioural barriers. How will this organisational change be communicated? Main principles to apply to all communications during change: Communication must be easy to understand Keep it positive Make it direct - to ensure that communications are not viewed with suspicion and produce an adverse reaction. Keep to the point. Keep it brief David Rock’s SCARF framework Rock (2008) describes 5 factors that motivate your staff during change as follows: Status: Our relative importance to others Certainty: Our being able to predict the future Autonomy: Our sense of control over events Relatedness: Our sense of trust and safety with others Fairness: Our perception of fair exchanges between people What does this mean for a change leader? Status: Look for opportunities to recognise individual’s contributions during change. Draw attention to small but significant acts of personal dedication and sacrifice. Make your change journey as rich and as rewarding as possible and highlight significant personal development that can be gained. Certainty: Communicate regularly and thoroughly. Engage your team in meaningful discussion and avoid endless downloads. Highlight that there will inevitably be some uncertainty related to the change. Build trust and tell your employees all that you know about the change and how they will be affected. David Rock’s SCARF framework What does this mean for a change leader? Autonomy: Create a feeling of empowerment rather than powerlessness. Show people they can control or influence more than they give themselves credit for. Involve your team in key decisions and give them their areas of responsibility during the change. Relatedness: We are aware of the risk of fragmentation during change. Invest time in maintaining relationships and try to meet with your team regularly. Treat every individual with respect and dignity. Fairness: Fairness is always tricky. Some people perceive fairness as treating everyone equally, whereas others perceive it as treating everyone as individuals and on merit. Surface these perceptions and clarify which definition will apply and in what context/situation. Can you build the SCARF framework into your change communications plan? Please now scroll down Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©  Level 7 Learning Outcome 2: Know how to propose a strategy for leading strategic change Learning Outcome 2.1 Conclusion Develop a proposal for leading strategic change LO2.1 Conclusion This part of the course, which covered developing a proposal for leading strategic change, has provided you with essential tools, techniques and knowledge to develop a clear proposal for a change initiative. You have effectively examined how to outline your proposed strategic change, stating its value, benefits and resource requirements. By setting clear aims and objectives, you can ensure alignment with your organisation's strategic goals, gaining executive buy-in and support. Understanding the importance of compliance with organizational, legal, and regulatory frameworks ensures that your proposal meets all necessary standards and mitigates potential risks. The diagnostic and action-planning methods and stakeholder mapping techniques have provided you with a robust foundation for identifying key factors and addressing the needs and concerns of all affected parties. LO2.1 Conclusion By exploring various models of change and structured project management approaches, you have now considered ways in which to implement best practices and proven strategies in your change initiatives. You have gained insights into the potential impacts and consequences of strategic change and how to overcome resistance and monitor outcomes to ensure success. Developing a comprehensive communications strategy was highlighted as critical for supporting and disseminating change. Effective communication develops understanding, builds support and sustains momentum, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned and engaged throughout the change process. With these insights, you are well-prepared to propose successful strategic change initiatives within your organisation. You should now be able to: Assessment criterion 2.1: Develop a proposal for leading strategic change  You have now completed all the online learning for Learning Outcome 2.1 - Please now test your knowledge below. Copyright Academy of Leadership & Management Ltd 2024 ©