BQF Innovation

We had a lively meeting of the BQF Innovation Group yesterday.  It was kindly hosted by MITIE at their offices in the Counting House near London Bridge.  They presented a case study on overcoming resistance to change in a major corporate outsourcing project.  We then had a workshop session where we discussed change initiatives and the reasons why people resisted change.  The main reasons we identified were:

1. Fear of the unknown
2. Suspicion of motives
3. Bad prior experiences of change leading to low expectations
4. People stuck in their ways
5. Lack of self-confidence about accomplishing the change
6. Change seen as unnecessary
7. Evolutionary change seen as extended pain
8. People not used to commercial bottom-line thinking

We then carried out a lotus blossom exercise on each of the these 8 items and 8 groups found 8 causes for each of these 8 top level issues.  We then had 64 possible reasons for resistance to change.  We prioritised  the subsidiary reasons and some of the highlights were:

1. Ineffective communication
2. People do not feel in control
3. Distrust of management
4. Wrong vocabulary used
5. Fear of redundancy
6. Fear of failure
7. If it’s not broken why fix it?
8. Internal focus - do not see bigger picture
9. Fear they lack the skills
10. Bad management

Groups then chose a forthcoming change in their organisations and did a force field analysis to see what forces promoted the change and what forces impeded the change.  They then generated ideas to reinforce the positive or mitigate the negatives.  It was agreed to be a highly effective way of articulating the issues and planning for the change.

The next meeting is on Feb 18th 2009 in London when we will discuss - ‘Innovating for Cash’.  It will be hosted by A D Little.

Paul Sloane

The next meeting of the BQF Innovation Unit will take place on the morning of Tuesday December 2nd in London.  It is kindly hosted by MITIE and will be at their offices at 1st Floor, Counting House, London. SE1 2QN (nearest Tube is London Bridge).  It starts at 9.15 and finishes at 12 noon.

Keith Philips, Director at MITIE, will give a presentation on Managing Change and I will lead an interactive workshop session on Overcoming Resistance to Change.  MITIE is a £1.4B turnover company that provides facilities, property and engineering services to some of the largest private and public companies.

The agenda topics are of key interest to executives in all enterprises, especially in these challenging times.  There is a small charge to cover costs.  Places are limited so please book early on the BQF Events page.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Paul Sloane