“…we re-frame and attack the next cause célèbre. We energise once more; we rationalise that it will be different this time and gather up the requisite head of steam, only to be given lip service by an organisational culture that’s seen it all before and knows, “this too will pass…” Ferris (2008)

“A fad is a flash in the pan, a quick trick you can turn to make your money and run” on the other hand; “Trend knowledge is invaluable. To get to where the consumers are just before they get there, offering these consumers what they didn’t even know they wanted spells success. In reading the Trends, you’ll start to see that there are patterns to follow, ideas and suggestions to aid you..,” Popcorn (1997: 34-35)

Corporate change initiatives will easily be derailed by cynics or by new influential members recently added to the team.

  
“41% of change projects fail and 59% that “succeed” only half meet the expectations of senior management.” Ferris (2008)

  
Ferres (2008) argues that we do not need research projects to tell us what we already know. It is hard to mobilise an organisation to take a different path. New priorities and crises emerge just as initiatives are gaining momentum. Teams of consultants promise transformational results, and leave behind fancy presentations, detailed reports that look impressive but are not actionable.

How does one implement effective and sustaining change?

I started my research and career in Organisational Development in my late twenties. Today twenty years later, it’s all coming together. In those early days I experienced a lot of frustration when clients would demand proof, relentlessly throwing the same question to me:  “Why is your way different and will this yield different results?”

A recent report on Executive Education launched by the Financial Times (Bradshaw: 2008) emphasised the use of experiential learning as methodology. Photographs of participants being blindfolded and their physical involvement in problem solving activities clearly indicate the high regard for the AEL methodology.

The question beckons: “How does one implement effective and sustained change?”

Research and experience brought about the following imperatives to address the question:
•    Active support and participation by Leadership optimises program success
•    Change-initiatives introduced as a “quick fix” do not last because participants experience this as short term and      faddish (change-initiative is experienced externally: on the balcony)
•    Change-initiatives work when introduced experientially. This creates an internal locus of control and elevates     
     the change-initiative in becoming transformational (change-initiative is experienced internally and becomes
     part of the organizational culture: in the dance)
•    Information overload confuses participants, rather introduce change initiatives slowly to give participants the     
     opportunity to internalise and apply the newly acquired behavioural patterns.
 
Bridges in Ferris (2008) explains that change is not the same as transition. Change is situational: the new site, the new boss, the new team roles, etc. Transition is a psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. When my Father passed away, I methodically went through the change-effect his absence created when I cleaned up his garage and gave some of his belongings to family and friends. The transition-effect is emotional when I long for his wisdom and guidance, having to deal with the reality of his absence. Transformation follows when one realises that there is no return and one has to deal with a new reality.

The only way to manage this to commit to a strategy and apply the principle of “fast is slow and slow is fast”. A change-strategy that broadly engages the organisation will mitigate fear and give employees something to hold onto when they are faced with the reality of transformation.

Leadership has to become the champion of the change-strategy. Transformation will never become reality from the balcony; one has to engage in the dance.

We cannot talk or lecture people into reality, because there is no reality to describe if they haven’t experienced it.

The AEL methodology has been refined through research and experience to facilitate organisational transformation.

*AEL (Adventure-related Experiential Learning)