Reinvigorating a Change Program

The new CIO of this organization had tried to implement a new service management paradigm in IT to little effect. His leadership team backed the need for change but, overwhelmed by the ongoing demand for new applications, a backlog of bug fixes and overdue maintenance, the organization continued to operate in the same outdated fashion.

LH&P quickly recognized that the momentum for behavioral change disappeared at management level. To address this, we worked with the leadership team to repurpose their all-management meetings, replacing presentations with round-table working sessions. Managers were encouraged to raise concerns, questions, and barriers to change, and work creatively to find solutions. Obstacles and constraints were identified, and as progress restarted, a new set of natural leaders emerged. With momentum building, we gathered “lessons learned” and helped the leadership team incorporate the insights into the next wave of change.

The move to service management proceeded at a pace the organization could tolerate. Improved upward communication allowed leaders to recognize which new processes and roles needed to be clarified so they could prioritize interventions and remove impediments. Even better, longstanding (non-service management) problems were easier to understand and address as trust increased throughout the organization.