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Moving an elephant - Webinar summary

On 21st March 2017, Change Management Institute NSW held the first of our 'Spotlight' webinar series, which was hosted at the Ambition offices in Sydney.

Ross Anderson presented the on-line event to an excited audience who were keen to hear the tips and tricks Ross used to deliver the complex and fast-paced AML3 Program at a leading Australian Bank.

The highly respected Portfolio Director provided the audience with some excellent insights and practical takeaways from his experience leading the Program in his role as Portfolio Director for the Bank's Regulatory Reform Centre of Excellence. The demands were high, with nine months to deliver a $100m Program.

He offered the webinar’s participants a range of effective Change Management principles for getting the job done effectively.

In the initiative, Ross was able to use this need for Regulatory Change to drive broader operational and cultural transformation through the setting up of their off-shore Know Your Customer (KYC) Hub, a model which has now been emulated across other areas in the Bank.

Ross’s lessons learned can be applied to all projects across size and industry.

Here are 10 of his key tips summarised for you:

1.   Take a step back and define the intent of the change.

  • Ask what the desired future state should look like and be part of the process.

  • Avoid jumping straight to solution mode at the beginning.

2.   In partnership with the Business owner, come up with three possible options.

  • One with all the bells and whistles, the middle ground and then the minimum viable product.

  • Analyse the risks, opportunities and costs.

  • Present these options to the Senior Executives and get their agreement on the solution, building a level of comfort and agreement upfront.

3.   Deliver a One Page message that a 10-year-old can understand.

  • Boil down the key options and outcomes to a simple and clearly defined communication that can be understood quickly by all stakeholders.

4.   Build a culture of trust, honesty and transparency.

  • Failure comes when the customers and staff do not understand what is changing and why.

  • Communicate the vision, so that everyone understands what it is, what the impacts are and can see the value.

  • Breakdown siloes, encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing.

5.   Have a cut-off point when you say no to scope creep and avoid scope ‘avalanche’.

  • Know where the project tipping point is, when and where to escalate, don’t leave it too late

6.   Get the Business engaged.

  • Set expectations with the Business and get their support.

  • Identify the Business Leaders with the most skin in the game and get their buy-in, others will follow

7.   Be brave.

  • Ask the challenging questions and be prepared to receive challenging feedback

  • Change the paradigm by embracing tension and encourage a culture where constructive (not destructive) conflict and debate is facilitated

8.   Get Change involved from the start.

  • Success is often dependent on change being part of the business case and upfront strategy setting of the program

9.   Manage Change weariness within your team.

  • Articulate the end goal and don’t sugarcoat how tough it will be to get there

  • Reward staff for good work and give them the opportunity to rest and recharge when needs be

10. Get senior level support.

  • Work with the most senior people in the business so that they can see the opportunities and risks and how your program will deliver to expectations.

We hope that these tips provide you with some practical tools that you can use in delivering your change initiatives.

Your feedback is always appreciated, so please do let me know your thoughts, as well as if there are any other topics you would like to see covered in our future ‘Spotlight’ webinars.

The next CMI 'Spotlight' event is set for May 17th when Silvio Giorgio, the GM at Australia Post will be sharing his secrets on how he has shifted group team culture towards a more collaborative, sharing and coaching mindset. With insights into how to get everyone on the same page in understanding their role in delivering on the strategy.

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