" AN EFFECTIVE CHANGE

­PROGRAMME ADDRESSES
THE ROOT CAUSES OF AN
ORGANISATION’S PROBLEMS
'

THE BATTERIES
OF CHANGE
IS YOUR ORGANISATION ENERGISED FOR CHANGE?

This white paper by Prof Peter De Prins, Prof Geert Letens

and Prof Kurt Verweire sets out a new change model
and outlines how you can use it to make lasting,
effective change happen in your organisation.
THE BATTERIES OF CHANGE
INTRODUCTION GENERATING THE
In today’s fast-paced, uncertain world, ENERGY YOU NEED
organi­sations need to adapt quickly to survive.
But change doesn’t always happen easily.
TO CHANGE
And many change programmes don’t deliver There are six key areas in your organisation
the expected results. that must be energised for change to be
­successful. We call these areas the “batteries
There are various models that set out a process of change”. The rational batteries cover the
or series of steps to follow to achieve successful ­“hardware of change” – strategy, ­management
change. But change is increasingly continuous infrastructure and project and process
– and in today’s change programmes, it’s hard ­management. The emotional batteries affect
to identify a start and end point. Which means the “software of change,” including the
seeing change as a purely top-down, sequential ­dynamics within your top team, people
process can be dangerous. and culture.
This is why we’ve taken a different approach. To be effective, a change programme has to be
The starting point of our change model is that holistic. Which is why the batteries cover all
effective change is all about managing energy. aspects of your organisation – from strategic
Each organisation has a level of energy – and to operational. Without strategy, sustainable
when you generate enough energy, you can use change will never happen. But equally, without
it to make lasting change happen. But if your a solid implementation plan, your big ideas will
energy reserves are running low, your change never get off the ground. Similarly, focusing
efforts will quickly fizzle out. solely on the rational batteries won’t lead to
sustainable success – because launching project
Our model for change management sets out
after project without tackling the emotional
which aspects of business generate energy
batteries will lead to resistance from your teams.
for change. This white paper presents the
new model and outlines how you can use it to At the same time, concentrating on the
make lasting, effective change happen in your emotional batteries alone will not help address
organisation. problems in strategy or project delivery.

RATIONAL/FORMAL

ACTION
POWERFUL
CLEAR PLANNING
MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC AND
OPERATIONAL

INFRA-
DIRECTION IMPLEMEN-
STRATEGIC

STRUCTURE
TATION

STRONG
AMBITIOUS HEALTHY CONNECTION
TOP TEAM CULTURE WITH
EMPLOYEES

EMOTIONAL/INFORMAL
RATIONAL BATTERIES EMOTIONAL BATTERIES
CLEAR STRATEGIC DIRECTION AMBITIOUS TOP TEAM
A robust strategy is crucial to make change The most important source of energy is your
happen and keep everyone in your organisation leadership team – it drives change by setting
working towards the same goals. ambitious goals and aspirations.

POWERFUL MANAGEMENT HEALTHY CULTURE

INFRASTRUCTURE Culture can enable change – or be a barrier to it.
This is the bridge between the strategy and In environments that are open, collaborative and
the many projects that help to implement it. receptive to new ideas, change is more likely
It’s made up of the structures and systems that to be far more successful than in unhealthy
help managers run your organisation. environments.

ACTION PLANNING STRONG CONNECTION

AND IMPLEMENTATION WITH EMPLOYEES
Effective change demands sound process and To make change stick, everyone in your
project management. This is where your strat- ­organisation needs to commit to it.
egy is translated into clear customer benefits Your teams need to be willing to embrace
and improved organisational capabilities. change and the opportunities it brings.

TESTING THE MODEL

In 2016, we asked managers in 112 companies to fill out a question-
naire on their batteries of change. Our sample included both smaller
companies and subsidiaries of inter­national corporations – including
Merck, Medtronic, Yusen, ING and KBC. And it spanned many differ-
ent industries – from ­financial services, media and logistics through
to automotive, technology and professional services.
As well as collecting information about their batteries of change,
we asked respondents to tell us about the characteristics of their
change programmes – and how effective they were.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
When your batteries are fully charged, your rate the transformation a success.
organisation will be generating enough energy
Change failure rates ranged from 30-58%,
to deal with change effectively.
­depending on the change effectiveness
If, on the other hand, your batteries are running measure. This is far lower than the traditional
on empty, any change you initiate will be expen- estimate of 70% failure that change manage-
sive, time consuming and short-lived. ment literature suggests – but it’s worth noting
that while 30% of change programmes don’t fail,
RESULTS only a few organisations report overall success.
The results of our research showed that over-
Most organisations had “low positive” battery
whelmingly, companies with highly charged
scores – suggesting that while they did well in
­batteries had higher change effectiveness
some areas, they weren’t completely satisfied
scores. The more batteries that were fully
with how they performed in others.
charged, the more likely executives were to

FIGURE 1: NUMBER OF BATTERIES CHARGED AND CHANGE SUCCESS

Number of Number of % of respondents reporting % of respondents reporting

batteries charges observations ‘moderate success’ ‘great success’

0-2 43 30% 0

3-4 29 69% 7%

5-6 39 95% 26%

N=111

FIGURE 2: ENERGY LEVELS PER CHANGE BATTERY

Ambitious top team 11% 77% 11%

Clear strategic direction 25% 72% 4%

Powerful management infrastructure 43% 55% 2%

Healthy culture 21% 74% 6%

Action planning & implementation 34% 66%

Strong connection with employees 13% 85% 2%

low medium high

HOW CAN YOU CHARGE YOUR BATTERIES?
The first step of any effective change programme is identifying how much energy you
have in each battery. Before you start implementing change initiatives, make sure you
understand where your organisation generates positive energy – and if there are any
“short circuits” that could reduce your energy levels.
Each battery comprises a number of factors to help you identify whether it will boost
energy for your change programme – or drain it.

AMBITIOUS TOP TEAM

The strength and energy of your organi- POWERFUL

ACTION
CLEAR PLANNING
sation starts in the c-suite – and without STRATEGIC
DIRECTION
MANAGEMENT
INFRA-
AND
IMPLEMEN-
STRUCTURE
the support of senior leaders, change is
TATION

almost impossible. So how can you make

sure your top team battery is firing on all
STRONG
AMBITIOUS HEALTHY CONNECTION
TOP TEAM CULTURE WITH
cylinders? EMPLOYEES

LEAVE EGOS AT THE DOOR: To run your BUILD INFLUENCE AND CONNECTIONS:
organisation effectively, everyone in your leader- Get support from key stakeholders – such as
ship team needs to be a role model for the rest shareholders, unions and the board – to get
of your organisation. There’s no room for big things moving. Build the networks and connec-
egos or power struggles. tions you need to make change happen.
TAKE TIME TO BUILD A TEAM AT THE TOP: SET ENERGISING ASPIRATIONS: You may
Leaders often struggle to work together. But set specific goals to achieve through change –
one person can’t make change happen – it takes like increasing profits or minimising costs. But
a cohesive team with everyone working towards you also need aspirations that will inspire your
the same objectives. people and shape your organisation’s future.
Financial goals don’t inspire!
PUSH TO IMPROVE: Energised leaders should
always be looking for the next challenge or
opportunity to improve. They need to be
con­vin­ced of the need to change and need to
drive change from the top – otherwise it won’t
happen.
CLEAR STRATEGIC DIRECTION

Too often, the what and why of change

ACTION
programmes is undefined – which leads CLEAR
STRATEGIC
POWERFUL
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING
AND
INFRA-
to confusion and a lack of focus. But a DIRECTION
STRUCTURE
IMPLEMEN-
TATION

fully charged strategy battery provides

a clear direction to your change STRONG
AMBITIOUS HEALTHY CONNECTION
initiatives. TOP TEAM CULTURE WITH
EMPLOYEES

DEEP INSIGHT: Before you can start to KNOWING WHAT NOT TO DO: Companies
change, you need to understand why you need that lack a strategic focus often jump from one
to. If you jump in and tackle the wrong issue, management fad to another – often without
you’ll just confuse your teams. Detailed analysis much success. An important part of defining
into why and what you need to change should your strategic focus is choosing what not to do.
underpin any strategy.
EXPERIMENTATION AND FLEXIBILITY:
FUTURE PLANNING: In today’s turbulent In today’s fast-changing world, organisations
business environment, planning for today is no need to experiment with new business models
longer enough. You need to scan the periphery and build a portfolio of growth initiatives that
– and identify potential newcomers who may ­challenge the status quo.
disrupt your industry.
AN OVERARCHING BUSINESS STRATEGY:
Rather than individual strategies for each area
of the organisation, you need an overall strategy
that provides direction for the whole company.
All company projects should fit in your strategic
framework.
POWERFUL MANAGEMENT
INFRASTRUCTURE
Any change programme should take
ACTION
your organisation’s structures, systems CLEAR
STRATEGIC
POWERFUL
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING
AND
INFRA-
and processes into account. Many DIRECTION
STRUCTURE
IMPLEMEN-
TATION

change initiatives fail because the right

systems and processes aren’t in place – STRONG
AMBITIOUS HEALTHY CONNECTION
or because they aren’t aligned with the TOP TEAM CULTURE WITH
EMPLOYEES

organisation’s strategic direction.

SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE: Many managers decides what gets done and what goes on the
get stuck into the day-to-day actions of run- back burner. This leads to a perception that
ning a business. They firefight and move from leaders don’t know what they want or where
challenge to challenge – but they aren’t working they’re going.
to an overarching plan. To make their changes GET MEANINGFUL DATA: Don’t overload
stick, they need to step back, see the bigger teams with reporting data. Instead, be selective
picture and tackle challenges systematically. about what you measure – and use your findings
TRANSLATE STRATEGY INTO ACTIONS: to influence and guide the next stages of your
All of your actions should be aligned with your change programme.
organisation’s strategic direction. Without a LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES AND
strategy map, departments will just work on SHARE INSIGHTS: There’s no point in reinvent-
their own thing – and may end up with conflict- ing the wheel. Make sure knowledge is shared
ing projects. and easily accessible across your organisation.
YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL AT ONCE: Prioritising Document the results of change – both positive
projects – and giving them the resources they and negative – so you can improve and refine
need – is essential. Otherwise, you become without making the same mistakes again.
overwhelmed and “management by decibels”
A HEALTHY CULTURE

Your organisation’s culture can make

ACTION
or break a change programme. CLEAR
STRATEGIC
POWERFUL
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING
AND
INFRA-
So how can you make sure your DIRECTION
STRUCTURE
IMPLEMEN-
TATION

culture generates energy for change

– rather than drains it? STRONG
AMBITIOUS HEALTHY CONNECTION
TOP TEAM CULTURE WITH
EMPLOYEES

LIVE AND BREATH YOUR COMPANY PROMOTE POSITIVITY: A toxic, fear-driven

VALUES: In many organisations, values are culture sucks the energy out of your people. It
framed on the wall, but they aren’t translated stops them from making suggestions and get-
into concrete behaviour or actions. But when ting involved. An uplifting, encouraging culture
your values live in your organisation, people has the opposite effect. Teams feel energised
take pride in their work – and in what their and motivated to make change happen.
organisation wants to achieve.
BE PREPARED TO TAKE RISKS: When you
RAISE THE BAR: In a conformance-driven cul- refuse to take risks, you limit your ability to
ture, teams are happy with the status quo – and respond to new threats and challenges. When
leaders don’t push them to improve. Whereas you seek out opportunities – and know that
in a performance-oriented culture, ambitious it’s OK to fail – you can learn what works and
teams are continually raising the bar and help- build it into your organisation’s processes. You
ing their organisation to consistently improve. become more agile – and equipped to cope
with disruption.
ONE COMPANY: In a siloed organisation,
i­ndividual goals often come at the expense
of the company as a whole. Managers focus
on their own goals and fail to see the bigger
picture. A collaborative culture focuses on “we”
– supporting each other and working towards
the same overarching objectives.
ACTION PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

Having a clear strategy is the first part

ACTION
of change. Next you need to plan how CLEAR
STRATEGIC
POWERFUL
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING
AND
INFRA-
to go about making it happen. To get DIRECTION
STRUCTURE
IMPLEMEN-
TATION

your action planning and implementa-

tion battery charged, you need to build STRONG
AMBITIOUS HEALTHY CONNECTION
robust process and project manage- TOP TEAM CULTURE WITH
EMPLOYEES

ment skills into your organisation.

START WITH THE END IN MIND: A good ­ rganisations use the intelligence and energy
o
start is half the work. That is not selling a of a well-trained team. Bring a team together
long list of activities and solutions. Refer to for a fixed time period to get fast, productive
day-to-day issues to drive the need for change. results.
But define an inspiring end-state to mobilise BALANCE DATA ANALYSIS WITH
your teams for a journey of hope. Let top ­EXPERIMENTATION: Plans based on
­management take the lead on the why, who ­ ssumptions won’t give you ­reliable products –
a
and when of projects. or accurate estimates of ­timings and budgets.
GIVE PEOPLE SMART MANDATES: Too Use a structured, data-based approach to get to
often, people are made responsible for a project the root cause of issues. But use creativity and
without any reflection on needs or constraints. experimentation to build robust solutions.
Give people what they need if you want them MAKE CHANGE SUSTAINABLE: The best
to be successful: time, resources, tools, budgets. organisations deem a project successful when
Use clear project charters that bond top it’s maintained and improved time after time
­managers and project managers. again – not just when they hit the target. Their
BRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE TOGETHER: teams continuously tackle new challenges and
Low-energy organisations depend on heroes work towards their next objective – laying the
who excel in crisis management. Smart foundation for repeated success.
STRONG CONNECTION WITH EMPLOYEES

The route to making change happen in

ACTION
your organisation might seem straight- CLEAR
STRATEGIC
POWERFUL
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING
AND
INFRA-
forward on paper. But organisations are DIRECTION
STRUCTURE
IMPLEMEN-
TATION

made up of people – and asking people to

change isn’t always easy. Some are enthu- STRONG
AMBITIOUS HEALTHY CONNECTION
siastic – others resist. But when you build TOP TEAM CULTURE WITH
EMPLOYEES

a strong connection with your teams, you

can turn resistance into positive energy.

COMMUNICATE TO CONNECT: People aren’t CREATE STABILITY AND MANAGE

motivated to change just because their em- ­RESISTANCE: To create new habits, you need
ployer wants to. They need to understand their patient but determined resistance management.
role in the change – and what it means for them. Be sensitive to people’s resistance to change –
but don’t tolerate refusal to change.
WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS: Be under-
standing in your communications to teams. REINFORCE CHANGE: Don’t limit rewards
Support each person and encourage them to to the high performers. To get everyone in your
think about their individual career goals. organisation to embrace and participate in the
change, you need to keep track and discuss
PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH: When
progress. Share successes and identify best
there’s a disconnect between what manage-
practices – it keeps people energised and
ment says and what actually happens, cynicism
fired up.
begins to creep in and teams start to lose
energy. On the flip side, when people see
initiatives being put into practice, they start to
believe in the change and get involved.
ANALYSE YOUR CHANGE PATHOLOGY
Our research shows that every battery of DELIRIOUS ORGANISATIONS
change is linked with successful change. But it (17% OF OUR SAMPLE): These organisations
also proves you’re more likely to make sustained have emotional batteries generating energy –
change happen if you address several batteries but rational batteries that drain it. Rather than
at once. In today’s business world, change is stick to a long-term strategy, they chase oppor-
inescapable – you need to be able to charge all tunity after opportunity. Overly entrepreneurial
of your batteries at the same time. organisations are “delirious”.
An effective change programme addresses AUTISTIC ORGANISATIONS
the root causes of an organisation’s problems – (4% OF OUR SAMPLE): The opposite of deliri-
and you can use the batteries of change model ous, these organisations have well-established
to get a clear overview of what your challenges systems and processes – and change is planned
are. and well-structured. But there’s little attention
given to the emotional aspects of change –
A successful change programme should infuse
which limits its success.
positive energy to all six batteries. However,
only 35% of the companies we surveyed were PARALYSED ORGANISATIONS
energised and healthy – suggesting that most (6% OF OUR SAMPLE): These organisations
organisations don’t reach the ideal state of six have an energised top team and clear strategy –
fully-charged batteries that allow you to deal but struggle to put it into action.
with change effectively. CHRONICALLY-ILL ORGANISATIONS
(30% OF OUR SAMPLE): These companies
WHERE COULD YOU BE LOSING are struggling – losing energy in both their
ENERGY? rational and emotional batteries. Changing a
Our research highlighted a number of different chronically-ill organisation takes substantial
pathologies: time, resources and effort.

" Most organisations don’t search the ideal

state of six fully charged batteries that
allow you to deal with change effectively
'
 " When your batteries are fully charged,
your organisation will be generating enough
energy to deal with change effectively
'

MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN WITH VLERICK

Join our Leading Change programme and Learn the successful components of ­
become the agent of change in your organisation bringing about positive change – and how
or contact one of our learning and development to turn r­ esistant teams into willing advocates.
consultants for a tailor-made learning journey.

READY TO FIND OUT MORE?

Read Six Batteries of Change: Energize Your Company
by Peter De Prins, Geert Letens and Kurt Verweire,
(LannooCampus, 2017)

WWW.VLERICK.COM/CHANGE
Do you have all the competencies you need Looking for a customised
to add value to deal with change effectively? learning journey, tailored
Join our change programme for executives exactly to the needs of your
and become a successful change champion. organisation?

Let’s talk! Let’s talk!

Silke Van Cauwenberg Alexandre Segers
Product Manager People Business Manager
Management and Leadership Customised Programmes
+ 32 2 225 41 30 + 32 9 210 97 32
silke.vancauwenberg@vlerick.com alexandre.segers@vlerick.com